Teacher standards

School districts across the country have until July for 100 percent of their teachers to be highly qualified teachers, a designation that means that they are fully certified to teach the classes they teach.

The federal No child Left Behind Act requires that 100 percent of classes must be taught by highly qualified teachers.

No states are on track to meet this NCLB requirement. In Missouri, fewer than 40 of the 524 school districts have gotten to the goal. None of those 100 percent districts is in Southeast Missouri.

Most of the districts in Southeast Missouri have more than 90 percent highly qualified teachers. Lowest on the roster is Leopold at 84 percent. Under NCLB rules, Leopold's Carlton Thoma is not qualified to teach his business class, even though he has a bachelor's degree in business administration. Thoma's lifetime teaching certification is in math, a subject he also teaches at Leopold High School.

Achieving this NCLB goal is difficult, especially for smaller districts where teachers often are called on to teach a variety of subjects. The question is whether this struggle for absolute 100 percent certification is necessary. Many school districts hire good teachers in anticipation that they will become certified in a subject. That makes sense.

Ultimately, basing the standard for teachers solely on certification is too limiting. The standard should be based on the outcomes of the teaching -- how well students learn.

If NCLB is to achieve the goal its name proclaims, it must allow schools to practice the art of teaching as well as the science.