Highly Qualified Teacher Standards
In 2003 as many as 2,500 teachers were teaching at least one class in which they had not majored or minored.

North Dakota provisions to define “highly qualified” mean:

• “New to the Profession” teachers hired after January 1, 2005 must have taken and passed the Praxis II test before they are eligible for hire. Teachers hired for the 2005/06 school year were required to take and pass the Praxis II test before the end of the 2005-2006 school year in order to be named “highly qualified”.
  
• “Not new” elementary education teachers, including those hired between 2002-2004, are considered highly qualified if they have
  • a bachelor’s degree
  • full state licensure
  • major in elementary education documenting a minimum of 42 semester hours in the core content areas of Math, Science, Social Studies, Engllish/Language Arts, and reading.
• In 2004 the US Department of Education created a Rural Flexibility Endorsement Policy that allows teachers in eligible rural districts, who are highly qualified in at least one subject to have a three-year time period from the date of hire to become highly qualified in the additional subjects they teach. Teachers must apply for the rural flexibility endorsement.
  
• In 2005 the ND Legislature HB1076 created additional flexibility for ND schools including:
  • Allowing elementary prepared teachers to teach grades 5 or 6 in middle schools.
  • Allows elementary prepared 1 – 8 grade teachers to teach grades 1 – 8 in elementary schools.
  • If a teacher is defined as “highly qualified” in another state, they will be considered highly qualified in ND, subject to administrative rules.

Requests an exception to NCLB if a teacher is not highly qualified but the school is unable to fill a position.