Coalition Sues DOE, Spellings for Violating NCLB
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Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 8/28/2007 2:00:00 PM
If teachers in training can fall under the “highly qualified” category of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), why are media specialists still being left out?
That’s the big question everyone’s asking, now that a coalition of California parents, students, community groups, and legal advocates has filed suit against the U.S. Department of Education and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings for violating the “highly qualified” provision of the law.
Specifically, the group is concerned about a major loophole in NCLB that allows teachers who are still in training to be labeled as “highly qualified.” That designation better protects teachers’ jobs and qualifies them for professional development money.
NCLB requires a “highly qualified” teacher in every core academic classroom, but since librarians currently are not included with that coveted group, school districts can replace them with less expensive paraprofessionals.
Emily Sheketoff, executive director of the American Library Association’s (ALA) Washington office, says that this problem explains why ALA is a firm supporter of the SKILLs Act, a newly proposed bill that would classify media specialists as “highly qualified” and require a certified media specialist in every school by 2010.
“We know what a state certified school library media specialist can bring to a child’s education and that’s why they should be a part of the “highly qualified” group,” Sheketoff says.
In the first lawsuit of its kind, the coalition argues that the loophole harms kids nationwide. “Students of color and students in low-performing schools are far more likely than any other students to be taught by intern teachers or teachers who are still in training,” says Lorie Chinn, a member of the grassroots advocacy group, California Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN). “A primary purpose of NCLB was to address this problem, but the Department of Education’s regulations continue to allow too many inexperienced teachers in schools serving large numbers of poor and minority students. This is just wrong.”
More than 100,000 teachers nationwide participate in alternative certification programs enabling them to be labeled “highly qualified,” according to Public Advocates, a nonprofit public interest law firm and advocacy group in San Francisco. The lawsuit, Renee v. Spellings, was filed in federal district court in San Francisco, and the plaintiffs include Californians for Justice, California ACORN, and several individual students and parents.
