Highly qualified teachers

Faced with various shortage and sorting problems, the Arkansas Department of Education has had little choice but to allow more and more teachers to teach out-of-field. The problem is even worse for high-poverty schools. For example, in high-poverty secondary schools in 2004, 32% of students took a class with a teacher who lacked even a minor in the subject. The federal No Child Left Behind Act has required that each classroom have a “highly-qualified” teacher.

You might find this mundane, but here's some information associated with highly qualified teachers in Arkansas school districts who teach out-of-field. The memo was prepared pursuant to Act 57 of the 2nd special session of 2003.

There are eight columns associated with each school district, and here's what each column represents:
Column 1: Percentage of black students in the school district;
Column 2: Percentage of teachers with full certification;
Column 3: Percentage of teachers with a provisional license;
Column 4: Percentage of teachers with a graduate degree;
Column 5: Percentage of classes without a highly qualified teacher;
Column 6: Percentage of students eligible for free and reduced lunch;
Column 7: Average Comprehensive ACT score
Column 8: Percentage of teachers teaching out of field.

Click here for the report.