Education Department hopes to make policy more flexible for rural schools

Speaking to a group of agriculture teachers at a rural Arkansas high school Thursday, the Obama administration's top rural schools official said the Education Department is looking to make federal education law more flexible for small, rural schools. John White, the Education Department's deputy secretary for rural outreach, said the department "is seeking a change in key wording in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act from requiring 'highly qualified' teachers to requiring 'highly effective' teachers," Mary Schulken of Education Week reports on the Rural Education blog.

"That way, when you've got a science teacher in a rural school who also teaches math and another subject as well, and does so effectively, and at a high level of mastery, he or she can continue doing those duties without the school being penalized," White told Schulken. White's comments came after speaking to three agriculture teachers at Hamburg High School in southeast Arkansas following a stop by Education Secretary Arne Duncan's Get on the Bus Tour. "The criteria to be considered 'highly qualified' are that teachers hold at least a bachelor's degree, be fully licensed by the state, and demonstrate content knowledge in each subject they teach," Schulken writes. All core academic teachers must meet those requirements, which may be a problem in rural schools where teachers teach several subjects. (Read more)