COMMONWEALTH OF VIRGINIA
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
P.O. BOX 2120
RICHMOND, VIRGINIA 23218-2120
SUPTS. MEMO NO. 135
June 25, 2004
INFORMATIONAL
|
TO: |
Division
Superintendents |
|
FROM: |
Jo Lynne
DeMary Superintendent
of Public Instruction |
|
SUBJECT: |
Highly Qualified
Teachers for the 2003-04 School Year |
Superintendents
Informational Memorandum Number 97, dated May 7, 2004, announced that the Board
of Education approved Virginias definition of the alternate route for highly
qualified teachers. The requirement that teachers
must be highly qualified applies to all public schoolteachers employed by a
local educational agency who teach a federal core academic subject. The term
core academic subjects as defined in No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
legislation, means English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science,
foreign languages, civics and government, economics, arts, history, and
geography.
Based on the new
definition of the alternate route for highly qualified teachers approved by the
board, the number of classes taught by highly qualified teachers was
recalculated for each division. You may
access this information based on the 2003-04 instructional personnel report
through the Department of Educations Single System Web Sign-On (SSWS). The report provides the percentage and
number of classes taught by highly qualified teachers in your school division
and by school. This information also
will be mailed next week directly to superintendents. The data for your division will be reported
on Virginia School Report Cards for the 2003-04 year.
Virginia was required by
the No Child Left Behind legislation to identify state performance
targets for highly qualified teachers ensuring that all teachers who teach a
federal core academic subject are highly qualified by the end of the 2005-06
school year. The goal is that schools, divisions, and the state will meet these
performance targets. The performance
targets for classes taught by highly qualified teachers are as follows:
2002-03
83 percent
2003-04
85
percent
2004-05
90 percent
2005-06
100 percent
If
you have questions regarding the recalculations of the number and percent of
classes taught by highly qualified teachers, please contact Dr. Thomas A.
Elliott, assistant superintendent for teacher education and licensure, (telliott@pen.k12.va.us) at
804-371-2522 or Mrs. Patty S. Pitts, director of licensure, (ppitts@pen.k12.va.us) at (804) 371-2471.