V. DEFINITION OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED SPECIAL EDUCATION TEACHER
CCD supports the Senate definition of a highly qualified special education teacher {Sec. 602 (10)} with one change. In Sec. 602 (10) (A) (i), after “other comparably rigorous methods,” the “or” should be changed to “and.” The House bill does not contain a definition of a highly qualified special education teacher.
Rationale:
No Child Left Behind rightly sets high expectations for the achievement
of special education students. The key ingredient to meeting
those expectations is instruction by highly qualified teachers – those
who are knowledgeable and skilled in special education and who
have the curricular content knowledge necessary that aligns with
state standards. Too many special education students are taught
by teachers who are neither knowledgeable nor skilled in either
special education or curricular content instruction. Consequently,
too many special education students fall short of meeting state
standards and, more importantly, fail to develop their full potential.
This is costly for these students, their families and society.
The Senate bill address the two critical components for a “highly qualified special education teacher”: 1) the demonstration of knowledge and skills in special education and 2) the demonstration of content knowledge. However, in the first area, the bill does not clearly prohibit a single paper and pencil test in special education as being the sole determiner of full certification in special education. While a test might be a reasonable measure of academic subject knowledge (such as history), it cannot stand alone as an effective measure of special education knowledge and skill. Like the practice of medicine, special education is an applied skill that cannot be learned without training and supervised practice. The Senate bill also appropriately requires full state certification, rejecting emergency, temporary or provisional certification.
We understand that the discussion about this definition continues to evolve in the conference. We believe that there are additional meritorious options for ensuring that special education students will have the same degree of access to the general education curriculum as general education students, including the application of the Department’s guidance on rural teachers in situations where the secondary special education teacher is responsible for delivering the content instruction in several core content areas. The Senate bill appropriately applies the High, Objective, Uniform State Standard of Evaluation, (HOUSSE) that is authorized in NCLB to veteran secondary special education teachers who teach multiple subjects and an expansion of the HOUSSE may be useful. We would be pleased to work with you on further fleshing out this definition.
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