Jimmy Barnhill, who has a blog with the delightful title of “In Search of Truth, Blue Cheese, and a Platform. . .,” posted about his concerns regarding the “highly qualified” requirements for teachers in current US federal laws. Mr. Barnhill, who teaches special education in Minnesota, warns that he is making a political comment, and then launches into his view of the ill effects of the requirement that special educators be highly qualified to teach content area curricula.
Apparently, I’m not considered by the federal government “highly qualified” to teach a learning disabled student who can’t read past the 3rd grade ANY SCIENCE, because I don’t have a degree in science, or a professional license in a science field. Ditto for social studies, and get this, probably math and english! This is tantamount to saying that I am not qualified to teach my LD kids ANYTHING. In effect, my Master’s in Education is utterly useless, sort of like a theological degree.
Link to Mr. Barnhill’s commentary.
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I share Mr. Barnhill’s frustration…. and his problem. I have been teaching my ED students first, second, and kindergarten math/science/social studies for 15 years, and yet my qualifications are suspect.
I await our human resources analysis of my transcripts to see what new classes I have to take in
order to meet the federal designation. Never mind that I am a nominated county Teacher of the Year, Mentor to 14 interns over the years, etc. Getting extra math and content area classes under my belt will do nothing for my teaching practice.
Hurrummph.