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Sept. 28: Court ruling first step; policy needed to ensure quality teachers

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  • 09-29-2010
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UCLA IDEA Director John Rogers comments on next steps to ensure high-quality teachers at low-income schools

A federal appeals court ruled Monday that teaching interns cannot be considered "highly qualified" teachers in public schools.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that dumping uncredentialed teachers in low-income neighborhoods did not meet the requirements under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

There are about 10,000 teaching interns in the state and 62 percent of them teach in the poorest half of California schools, according to an Associated Press article

Though the total number of underprepared teachers has dropped over the past decade, schools with the highest proportion of African-American and Latino students have the least access to high-quality teachers, said John Rogers, IDEA director. Those schools have difficulty retaining teachers for various reasons, including lack of support from principals, poor school facilities, and lack of necessary teaching tools.

"Just by saying you can't do this anymore is not enough alone," Rogers said. "There will need to be a series of policy responses that will ensure an equitable distribution of teachers."

Read full article in San Jose Mercury News.

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