New York state is making progress in raising the percentage of core academic classes taught by highly qualified teachers and narrowing the gap between high-poverty and low-poverty districts.

In a progress report to the Board of Regents, State Education Department data showed that 95 percent of core classes in high-poverty elementary schools were taught by highly qualified teachers in 2006-07. That's up from just under 92 percent the prior year.

The gap between high- and low-poverty elementary schools narrowed from 16 percent in 2004-05 to 4 percent in 2006-07. In middle-level and high schools, the gap was wider and only narrowed from about 17 percent in 2004-05 to 13.2 percent in 2006-07.

SED officials singled out New York City schools for dramatic improvement in the April report. In 2006-07, nearly 91 percent of core classes in New York City were taught by teachers deemed highly qualified under the No Child Left Behind Act. That's up from 79 percent in 2004-05.

United Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten attributed the significant increase to efforts by her union — NYSUT's affiliate in New York City schools — to get teacher salaries increased.

"We have long said that New York City needed to raise teacher salaries to attract and keep good educators, and now that teacher salaries here have risen by 43 percent we are doing just that," Weingarten said. "We can do even better if we reduce class sizes, improve working conditions, bolster school safety and give our educators the latitude to teach as they see fit instead of putting student test preparation above all else."

Despite the improvement, several of the Big 5 Cities still have relatively high percentages of teachers in some core subjects who did not meet the federal definition of "highly qualified."

NCLB defines highly qualified teachers as those who have at least a bachelor's degree, meet state certification requirements and demonstrate knowledge of the core academic subjects they teach.

The sciences remain a subject area with a shortage of highly qualified teachers. More than 16 percent of earth science classes in New York state were taught by teachers who were not highly qualified. The rates were 25 percent in New York City, 42 percent in Rochester and 43 percent in Syracuse.

High-poverty middle-level and high schools also remain a challenge. Despite steady improvement, less than 84 percent of core classes last year were taught by highly qualified teachers, SED reported.

In charter schools, 21.2 percent of the core classes were not taught by highly qualified teachers in 2006-07, including 38 percent of science classes, 32 percent of mathematics classes and 60 percent of foreign language classes.

Next steps

NYSUT Vice President Maria Neira said attracting and retaining high-quality teachers in shortage subject areas and hard-to-staff schools are critical to ending the achievement gap among students.

"We are making progress, but there's still a long way to go," Neira said. "There must be a greater focus on high-quality induction programs, mentoring and professional development programs and financial incentives to improve teacher retention and effectiveness, especially in high-need schools."

Last week the Regents met in Yonkers for a panel discussion of the special needs of urban teachers and strategies to recruit, retain and support highly qualified teachers for those schools.

Neira, who served on the panel, noted that certification changes in 2004 (that created as many as 45 special education certification titles) may have exacerbated the shortage of special education teachers.

The Regents and SED are reviewing the requirements of three certification areas where highly qualified teachers are in short supply: special education for grades 7-12, the sciences and languages other than English.

Five regional pilot partnerships have been developed among school districts, BOCES and teacher preparation institutions to increase the supply of teachers in shortage subject areas and hard-to-staff schools.

In addition, SED data on teacher supply and demand is being used more widely to better advise students in teacher preparation programs about where future jobs openings will be.

— Sylvia Saunders