While the testing and reading provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act have been monopolizing the spotlight, the requirement that all teachers in core academic subjects be fully qualified within four years is starting to attract its share of unfriendly attention. In an article in last week's Sacramento Bee, Wayne Johnson, the president of the California Teachers Association called it "fantasy legislation" and said, "It's not going to happen." But Rep. George Miller (D-California), one of the key backers of the legislation, is dead serious about the goal. "How long do they suggest we should have unqualified teachers in the classroom?" he asked. "How long would they accept unqualified firemen, policemen, doctors? The answer is, they wouldn't. People are running around yelling 'We can't do this, we can't do this.' Well, you haven't even tried yet. ... Not only is this an attainable goal, but it is absolutely essential if you're going to improve the quality of education in the poorer-performing schools. For too long, states and school districts have looked the other way as they've hired people who are unqualified." Perhaps what makes the goal of a qualified teacher in every classroom seem impossible to some people is their unwillingness to imagine changing any of the ground rules and procedures that today determine who can teach and who cannot, rules and procedures that discourage and demoralize many talented teachers and prospective teachers. Redefining what is meant by qualified teachers to focus on effectiveness in the classroom rather than paper credentials, and reorienting our systems for training, hiring, inducting, and deploying teachers around this new definition could dramatically increase our chances of finding a qualified teacher for every classroom. See "Federal teacher goal is blasted," by Erika Chavez, The Sacramento Bee, January 4, 2002.
