LVCA NCLB Highly Qualified Teachers Plan

The Collaborative Teaching Model

 

Policy

According to the Federal NCLB Highly Qualified Teachers regulations, all our students must be taught by a NCLB certified “Highly Qualified Teachers” (HQT) beginning in the 2007 school year.  Each local educational agency (LEA) must develop a plan to ensure that all elementary, middle and high school teachers who are assigned to teach core academic subjects meet the NCLB requirements to ensure they are highly qualified. For LVCA this means that the “teacher of record” (the assigned ES) must either be NCLB certified in each particular subject each of their students are taking, or the student must also have another “teacher of record” who is qualified also serving the student.  All ESs must be NCLB-compliant in at least one subject area.

 

The Collaborative Teaching Model

LVCA will be utilizing a model called the Collaborative Teaching Model to meet the Federal NCLB requirements.  Under this model, each student continues to be served by one ES who is their “supervising teacher” for all subjects. The assigned ES is also the “teacher of record” for all courses their students are taking that they are NCLB certified to teach (See examples below).  For any NCLB subject areas in which the assigned ES is not NCLB-certified, their students must be additionally served in another way for those courses. All ESs are encouraged to obtain as many NCLB certifications as possible, so that they might be better able to serve all assigned students.

 

NCLB Core Academic Subjects for 9th to 12th grades

The core academic subjects for California High Schools are: English (which includes Drama and Theater), Reading/Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Sciences (which include Civics, Government, Economics, History, and Geography), Foreign language, and Arts. As of now, PE and dance courses do not requires a NCLB certified teacher, along with all other electives not in subject areas named above.

 

Ways that a student can be served by a HQT in a subject area in which their ES is not currently certified

Any of the following are recognized ways to meet the NCLB HQT requirements for your students:

  • Take courses at a community college
  • Use the services of a “highly qualified” tutor

 

Subject Matter Experts (SME)

"Subject Matter Experts" (SME) will be identified in each of our 9 charter school core areas in each school. These subject matter experts (with a single subject credential in their certified area) will each be available as a resource and support in their field of study.  The ES will enroll each student into the course for which you are not certified to be the “teacher of record”, and one of the other 3 options are not being used.

 

The SME must also sign the Student Written Agreement each semester as well as the supervising teacher (ES). The SME will be available for questions and support from the ESs and students during the semester, as all students must have access to a HQT in each of their subject areas.  The ES and SME will collaborate on the educational materials being used, the grading system for the course, and the SME will make the final determination of the grades and credits earned for each student in their course.

 

Examples

  1. 9th grade Student A is assigned to multi-subject ES Ms C.  Ms C is NCLB certified in Multi-subjects, and because she had a supplemental authorization on her credential for English and Social Sciences, she is also NCLB certified to teach all grades levels in these subject areas. Student A is taking these 35 credits in these ways:

 

    • Geometry (Doing an online course, since it is qualified, and Ms. C is not)
    • English (Ms. C is teacher of record, due to her English NCLB certification)
    • World History (Ms. C is teacher of record, due to her Social Science NCLB certification)
    • Biology (Taking this course at the community college, due to Ms C not being NCLB certified)
    • PE (Ms. C is teacher of record, as no NCLB certification is necessary for this subject)
    • Visual Arts (Signed up with a SME for this course, since Ms C is not NCLB certified)
    • Computer 1 (Ms. C is teacher of record, as no NCLB certification is necessary for this subject)

 

In this situation above, Ms C will need to ensure that she signs her student up in a timely manner with the SME for Visual arts, emails the SME with what curriculum will be used, works out an agreeable grading system between the parent/ES/SME, and provides work samples to the SME as requested.  The ES will submit the grades and credits agreed to by the SME at the end of the semester on the report card.  In the case of a disagreement about the grades and credits, the SME is the teacher of record, and has the authority under California law to award the grades and credits.

 

  1. 12th grade Student B has Mr W as an ES.  Mr. W has a single subject credential and is NCLB certified in Mathematics. He also has his CLAD, and is certified in Reading. Student B is taking these 25 credits in these ways:

 

·         Basic English 12  (Mr. W is teacher of record, due to his Reading NCLB certification, and most of this course is CAHSEE prep)

·         Algebra 1 (Mr. W is teacher of record, due to his Math NCLB certification)

·         Government (Signed up with a SME for this course, since Mr. W is not NCLB certified, and the student did not qualify to take this course at the community college due to their low GPA)

·         Health (Mr. W is teacher of record, as no NCLB certification is necessary for this subject)

·         Life Choices (Mr. W is teacher of record, as no NCLB certification is necessary for this subject)

 

 

ES Procedures

Each semester after discussing with the parent the courses the student will be taking the next semester, determine if you will be able to officially be the “teacher of record” for each of those courses based on your NCLB certifications.  For those courses you may not “oversee”, identify alternative options for those courses.  Discuss the options with your parents/students and select the best choice for that student.  Enroll in the option asap.  If a school employee will be the “Teacher of Record” for a course for your student, email them that you need them to sign a SA additional page—print out as a pdf and email to the employee.

 

Watch for further procedures as they are developed in this pilot year—2008.