NCLB Has Failed To Address Teacher Quality In Low-Income Schools

The Bay State (MA) Banner (6/30, Cooper) reports that research shows that NCLB has made "little progress in reducing the number of teachers of low-income students who are inexperienced or teaching classes outside their subject areas," despite being intended in part to "stop school districts from putting less qualified teachers in classrooms with low-income students." The piece quotes ED's Russlynn Ali saying that "No Child Left Behind meant 'for the first time ever, people were talking about the inequitable distribution of teachers in new ways.' She cites statistical and anecdotal evidence from some states and districts indicating that teacher assignment has become more equitable in those places."