A lawsuit challenging the U.S. Department of Education’s regulations on highly qualified teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act goes before a federal district judge in San Francisco on Wednesday.
Public Advocates, one of the groups behind the suit, issued this media advisory. The suit contends that the NCLB statute defines a “highly qualified” teacher as one who has a full state teaching credential, while the Education Department’s regulations improperly count teachers in alternative-certification programs as meeting the standard. The complaint is here.
Education Week reported on the suit here last year.
This case should be worth watching, not least for how the court evaluates regulations promulgated to carry out the NCLB law. Just today, Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings proposed a host of new NCLB rules. The department’s summary page is here, and EdWeek’s story is here.