On the Issues

Special Education Teacher Quality

The Colorado Department of Education (CDE) is attempting to address the many discrepancies that face Special Education teachers who want to meet the Highly Qualified definition in NCLB. According to advice from CDE in January 2006, if a special education teacher (middle or high school) is teaching a core content subject to students that is outside of the licensed or endorsed area, he or she must be Highly Qualified in the core content area(s) taught. The federal law does give some time flexibility if a teacher is Highly Qualified in one core content area.

The charts from CDE may assist Special Education teachers in determining what they need to do to be Highly Qualified.