Notes Regarding the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements
To be “Highly Qualified” for employment with an EC-12 Special Education teaching certificate to teach at the Elementary level (Grades EC-6) teachers must also earn an EC-6 Generalist, 4-8 Generalist or a 4-8 content specific teaching certificate. The UHCL undergraduate program includes the EC-6 Generalist certification. Those following a post-degree teacher certification plan will need to earn an additional certification by taking the appropriate TExES after having completed the UHCL EC-12 Special Education program. Fully certified teachers can register for the additional TExES as “By Exam Only.”
To be “Highly Qualified” for employment with an EC-12 Special Education teaching certificate to teach at the Secondary level (grades 7-12) teachers must also earn the 4-8 Generalist, a 4-8 content specific teaching certification, or an 8-12 content specific. Fully certified teachers can register for the additional TExES as “By Exam Only.”
As of Fall 2008, the federal government is allowing Texas school districts some flexibility in the above requirements by allowing for High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation or “HOUSE” points within the first two years of employment for elementary teachers. For secondary teachers, the federal government is allowing use of passing an additional content test or holding an additional academic major, graduate degree, or hours of course work to be considered Highly Qualified. For information pertinent to a Special Education job within a specific school district, contact the Texas Education Agency’s No Child Left Behind (NCLB) representative at 512-463-9374, or view their website: http://www.tea.state.tx.us/nclb/hqteachers.html . See the section called “Guidance for Implementation of NCLB Highly Qualified Teacher Requirements.”
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