NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools

Abstract

Teacher shortages in special education have been a source of longstanding concern for professionals and parents involved in the education of students with disabilities. Because of their geographic location, culture, and lack of resources, rural administrators have always struggled to staff their schools with qualified special education teachers. No Child Left Behind and its definition of highly qualified teacher present new challenges to rural district administrators attempting to secure adequate numbers of special education teachers. In this paper, we outline the challenges rural administrators face in reducing special education teacher shortages, present strategies being used nationally and regionally to reduce strategies, and critique those strategies. We conclude our paper by advocating for a more comprehensive approach to solving teacher supply and demand problems, one that is driven by personnel data.

Retaining Science Teachers in Rural School Districts: Examining the Unintended Consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act

“…As noted, Monk (2007) argues that this policy creates difficulties for rural school districts. Prior research has found that rural school districts before this policy were already having difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers in specialized areas such as foreign languages, mathematics, science, and special education (Reeves, 2003;Brownell, Bishop, & Sindelar, 2005;Erickson, Noonan, & McCall, 2012;Howley, Rhodes, & Beall, 2009;Opuda, 2003). While most of the prior literature has been based on qualitative interviews, this study leverages a district level panel dataset to examine the impact of NCLB on teacher retention in rural school districts.…”

“…For this reason, rural school districts tend to have difficulties recruiting and retaining teachers in specialized areas such as foreign languages, mathematics, science, and special education (Reeves, 2003;Brownell, Bishop, & Sindelar, 2005;Erickson, Noonan, & McCall, 2012;Howley, Rhodes, & Beall, 2009;Opuda, 2003). For out-of-area applicants, rural school districts struggle to compete with their urban or suburban counterparts based on various factors such as amenities, salaries, teaching demands, and opportunities.…”

Responding to Multicultural Challenges in Rural Special Education

“…This new law dispensed with previously held strategies used by rural districts to staff special education classrooms, that is, using emergency authorization and provisionally certified teachers. Statistics showed 35.8% of rural teachers are uncertified, compared to 11% nationally (Brownell et al, 2005).…”

“…According to government statistics, approximately 12.3% of the 13.6 million special education teachers lack certification in special education (U.S. Department of Education, 2005). With the average teacher case load in special education about 16 students, approximately 800,000 students with disabilities are served by uncertified teachers (Brownell, Bishop, & Sindelar, 2005).…”

Riding Fences

“…This issue begins with two articles on the effects of policy on services for rural special education students and a commentary. The first article is a reprint of a classic, "NCLB and the Demand for Highly Qualified Teachers: Challenges and Solutions for Rural Schools," by Brownell, Bishop, and Sindelar (2005). The article is often cited, but with the passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; 2015), the provision of the "highly qualified teacher" has changed.…”