High School Courses and Federal Requirements

 

Policy

 

According to the Federal NCLB Highly Qualified Teachers regulations, all our students must be taught by a NCLB certified “Highly Qualified Teachers” (HQT) as “teacher of record” beginning in the 2008 school year.  Each local educational agency (LEA) must develop a plan to ensure that all elementary, middle and high school teachers who are assigned to teach core academic subjects meet the NCLB requirements to ensure they are highly qualified. For IEM schools this means that the assigned ES must either be NCLB certified in each particular subject each of their students are taking, or the student must have another “teacher of record” who is NCLB certified serving the student for that course,  the student is taking that course at a community college,  the course is taken from a school approved vendor that has curriculum that aligns with California standards, the CSTs, and CAHSEE.  All ESs must be NCLB-compliant in at least one subject area.

 

The Collaborative Teaching Model

 

IEM schools will be utilizing a model called the Collaborative Teaching Model to meet the Federal NCLB requirements. 

 

Under this model, each student continues to be served by one ES who is their “supervising teacher” for all subjects.

 

The assigned ES is also the “teacher of record” for all courses their students are taking that they are NCLB certified to teach.

 

For any NCLB subject areas in which the assigned ES is not NCLB certified, the ES must see that each of their students is being served in another approved way for those courses.

NCLB Core Academic Subjects for 9th to 12th grades

 

The core academic subjects for California High Schools are:

        English (which includes Drama and Theater for NCLB purposes),

        Reading/Language Arts

        Mathematics

        Science

        Social Sciences (which include Civics, Government, Economics, History, and Geography)

        Foreign language

        VAPA – Visual and Performing Arts

        As of now, PE and dance courses do not requires a NCLB certified teacher, along with all other electives not in subject areas named above.

 

Ways that a student can be served by a HQT in a subject area in which their ES is not currently certified

 

Any of the following are recognized ways to meet the NCLB HQT requirements for your students:

 

        Take courses through a school approved online or HQT vendor

        Take courses at a community college

        Take a Sky Mountain Subject Matter Expert (SME) course (see your ES for a current list of SME courses)