But Still Trails State
City Attracts Better Class of Teachers

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

The city made significant progress placing "highly qualified" Teachers in its classrooms last year, but it still lags markedly behind other parts of the state, according to the state Department of Education.

RANDI WEINGARTEN: Can improve even more.

The state's federally mandated report showed that 87 percent of all core middle and high school classes were taught by highly qualified Teachers in 2005 - 2006, versus 79 percent the year before. Elementary school classes had Teachers who met that standard in 93.6 percent of the cases, but shortages in secondary school subjects such as science and art meant that between 70 and 80 percent were taught by highly qualified Teachers.

Under Federal Pressure

The Bloomberg administration said more progress is being made in the current year, but it is unlikely the city or the state will meet the goal set by the No Child Left Behind Act, and failure to do so could trigger a loss of Federal aid. The law mandates that 100 percent of core courses be taught by highly qualified Teachers by July, although a Federal spokeswoman said a state's progress would be taken into account in any funding decisions.

JILL LEVY: Means nothing without resources.

The United Federation of Teachers acknowledged the progress but noted that there are other factors that affect teaching quality, such as class size and a supportive working environment.

"The good news is that the significant across-the-board Teacher salary increases since 2002 mattered," said UFT President Randi Weingarten. "In order to increase Teacher quality even more, we must lower class size, vigilantly promote safety and create a more cooperative relationship between Teachers and Principals."

Teachers are considered "highly qualified" if they have at least a bachelor's degree in the subject they teach, full state certification, and a passing grade on the state exam in their subject area. A first-year Teacher could be considered highly qualified since experience is not a factor, according to the Federal guidelines.

'Social' Advances

Social studies classes had the best rates in the city, with 90.1 percent of Teachers deemed highly qualified, up from 87.1 percent in 2004-2005. Arts was the worst subject area, with 68.7 percent, little-changed from 69.2 percent the year before. Science overall came in with 79.7 percent, up from 74.9 percent. Earth science was at 48 percent and physics 71 percent. Reading made significant improvement rising to 82 percent highly qualified from 68.6 percent last year.

The city credited recruitment and retention programs such as higher salaries and housing credits for Teachers who move to the city to teach in high-needs areas for the improvement. "We feel like it's evidence that we're getting more qualified Teachers into classrooms," said Andrew Jacob, a spokesman for the city Department of Education.

The state's average percentage of classes taught by highly qualified Teachers rose to 94.5 percent from 92.1 percent the previous year. Three of the state's other big cities made some progress as well. Buffalo came in at 97.2 percent, while Rochester and Syracuse both were at 89.4 percent.

Too Many Leaving

Education advocates stressed that qualifications were only one way to ensure effective teaching results. They said that class size and experience were important factors and that the city's turnover rate was too high.

"New York City has twice the attrition rate of the rest of the state," said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. "That's because class sizes are so much bigger here."

The city had a turnover rate of 25 percent last year, according to the state's 2005 New York State of Learning Report, versus 13 percent for large city districts in the rest of the state.

A report released Jan. 5 by the city showed some classes significantly above the 34-student limit mandated by the UFT contract. For example, 10th grade English classes at the Enterprise Business and Technical High School topped the list with an average of 46.5 students.

The city said that class size had decreased by an average of three students in high schools since Mayor Bloomberg took over the school system, but stressed the importance of qualified Teachers.

Size Counts Only So Much

"In our view, the most important element in instruction is to assure high-quality Teachers in every classroom," said Melody Meyer, a spokeswoman for DOE. "No parent would prefer her child to be in a class of 20 with a poor Teacher rather than a class of 25 with a great Teacher."

Ms. Weingarten said that separating teaching qualifications from working conditions missed an important part of the picture.

"In schools where Teacher quality remains problematic," she said, "what you see all too often is that relationships are so bad that our most-qualified Teachers don't want to work there."

Council of School Supervisors and Administrators President Jill Levy said that she was pleased that city Teachers had made progress, but stressed the need for ongoing professional development.

"Needless to say," Ms. Levy remarked, "qualifications and professional development are less effective without the support of appropriate resources."