Week+1

Week One Project Has Been Submitted. Below is a copy of what was submitted. Thanks to everyone for your hard work. We are all so lucky to have Amy in our group. I think she is going to keep us straight.

I, Katie Cook, verify that the members of our group listed below worked with me to complete this assignment. Megan Lines Aurora Arnett Amy Morris Katie Cook Alison Dick
 * Section 1:**
 * Section 2:**
 * //Megan Lines//** is currently teaching kindergarten in a public school. This is her third year in this position. She meets the requirements for HQT. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood education. She holds a 5 year professional license in Early Childhood (Prek-3). She has passed the Praxis PLT, Praxis II, and Praxis III.


 * //Aurora Arnett//** is currently an Intervention Specialist in a public school. This is her fourth year in this position. She meets the requirements for HQT. She holds a bachelor’s degree in education. She passed the Praxis II and III. According to her license she is certified to teach K-12. She continues to attend workshops through her school district in order to receive CEU credits.

//**Amy Morris**// is currently teaching fifth grade math and science in a public school. This is her ninth year of teaching. She meets the requirements for HQT. Amy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in education. Her certification qualifies Amy to teach all subject areas, grades 1 – 8. She passed the Praxis exams, as well as the NTE, before her graduation date in 2000.

//**Katie Cook**// is currently teaching second grade in a public school. This is her third year of teaching. She meets the requirements for HQT. She holds a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She has a five-year teaching license K-3 with a reading endorsement. She also successfully passed the Praxis II: EYC (#0021), the Praxis PLT (Principles of Learning and Teaching) and Praxis III.

//**Alison Dick**// has been working at a charter school in Trotwood, Ohio for three years and is highly qualified in grades 7-12 for Language Arts. She earned her bachelors degree and passed her Praxis III last year giving her a five-year license until July of 2014. Alison is now an Assistant Principal at her charter school—Trotwood Preparatory and Fitness Academy.

We do believe that Ohio's HQT criteria are reasonable, simply due to the fact that it makes sense that a teacher should possess at least a 4-year degree and exhibit competence in their teaching areas. Teacher subject-matter knowledge greatly affects student learning. In our present era of high standards and high expectations, having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom has never been more important. We feel it is reassuring when teachers better understand their area and are given opportunities to further their learning, for it is a secure way of making sure the students are getting the education they need. The idea of having more accountability for the students and the teachers helps those who are not in the education field to feel more comfortable with what is going on in the classroom. Parents of children attending public schools can be reassured that their child’s educators are qualified in these ways. One thing that we would change would be the availability of an alternative evaluation tool that could be used instead of the Praxis exam. The passage of a paper-pencil exam does not ensure success in the classroom or the teacher’s ability to successfully teach children. New teachers who can ace the Praxis exam can fail in the ability to instruct and relate to struggling learners. In conjunction with the Praxis, perhaps more standardized expectations for student teachers would be appropriate. The NCATE accreditation has specific criteria, but we are thinking of something more along the lines of the Ohio Academic Content Standards that are the same for every teacher. In most cases it is up to the cooperating teacher to decide what is worked on and how much. We think there should be some standardization in the student teaching experience. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a great cooperating teacher. Another area that might be considered for revision is the limited room for expansion with the teachers who have to teach a specific set of grade levels. The demand for teachers is so great, that we feel more job opportunities for HQT teachers would open up if their license did not limit them to just those certain grade levels. We would like to see certifications for K-5 and 5-12. This would open up more of the middle school aspect and help with movement that is needed in the elementary buildings since most elementary buildings are structured K-5. An additional change to Ohio's criteria would be to allow those certificated teachers working in areas they are not formally certified in to be allowed to use their classroom experience as part of fulfilling requirements to be highly qualified in that area. Teaching a topic can be a much more effective method of gaining expertise than taking a class on that topic. For example, it takes several courses on reading instruction in order to gain a teaching degree in reading. It isn't until an educator enters his own classroom, however, that he truly understands the subtleties of teaching a child to read. Therefore, it follows suit that professional experience should definitely be a factor in gaining highly qualified status in a particular subject area.
 * Section 3:**

Most of the members of our group were not yet employed when the initial paper-work took place to ensure that all staff members were HQT. In most of our school districts, the new HQT requirements were not a serious concern, as most teachers met the requirements. In fact it was mentioned that the paperwork was a bit insulting. The districts had already been supplied with evidence of teachers' various degrees and areas of expertise, and many staff members had several successful teaching years under their belts. This additional paperwork and time consumption seemed a bit unnecessary. One issue experienced by a member of our group was the loss of an excellent special education educator. This young man had the skill and the compassion to work with multiple-handicapped students. His understanding of autistic children was amazing. Two years ago, his teaching contract was non-renewed because he was unsuccessful in passing the Praxis II exam. The entire teaching staff felt the profession had lost a “great” teacher. This year two veteran teachers had to be moved from the primary grades to the intermediate grades. In the past, when grade levels numbers caused reduction of classes at one grade level and an increase at another, seniority always came into play. But because of the K-3 licensure, the newer teachers could not be moved to the intermediate grades where the extra classrooms were needed. Another issue that has affected school districts is the hiring of long-term substitutes. Finding teachers with the correct licensure to fill these long-term positions has been a struggle for the administration, especially since many of the substitutes on current sub-lists are not certified teachers; they just have four-year college degrees and a substitute license. One of our members works in a charter school. In order to teach in any of the charter schools in her district, the teachers must be highly qualified. This is important because of the scrutiny which charter schools face. Charter schools are under such a microscope that they need extremely qualified professionals to deal with the territory. Also, charter schools do not have the resources like the traditional public school so teachers have to be fully aware of what it is they are teaching and how to teach it above and beyond the norm. These high quality-teaching skills allow the teachers to show the professionals around them that they are capable. Without the training necessary to achieve highly qualified status, this would be a difficult environment to teach in.
 * Section 4:**