The Birmingham News published another of my Letters to the Editor, entitled State Punishing Good Teachers:

I am deeply distressed by the way the state Department of Education has handled the “highly qualified teacher” provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act. I deal with this legislation on a daily basis, and the department has drastically misinterpreted the law’s requirements.

I thank the state Board of Education for questioning the plan and hope its members will craft something that meets the requirements of the law, but does not go out of its way to punish good teachers and confuse the public.

There should be flexibility in the definition to give teachers time to meet the requirements outlined; a lot of good teachers are going to be deemed not “highly qualified” based on only one or two college courses.

Most important, Alabama should follow South Carolina and other states in meeting the parental notification requirement by making information about teachers’ qualifications available to parents. All parents in the state should get a letter, advising them of their right under the law to see the teachers’ qualifications. This is not in dispute.

There is no requirement to send a letter to the parents of each and every student whose teacher is not “highly qualified,” informing them of this fact. Why the Department of Education insists on going beyond the letter of the law is baffling.

The intent of the law was not to panic parents, but for the state to make progress toward ensuring every child has a qualified teacher in the classroom.

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