Cairo Association of Teachers - Newsletter

CAT Tracks for June 16, 2005 EXTENSION FOR TEACHER ASSISTANTS

According to the NEA web site, a moment of sanity has occured in the U.S. Department of Education. They have agreed to align the deadlines for paraprofessional and teachers for becoming "highly qualified" under the guidelines of NCLB. Paras...like teachers...now have until the end of the 2005-2006 school year...instead of January 8, 2006.

One small step for man...one giant leap for the U.S. DOE...

Victory: Paraprofessional Deadline Is Extended

Thanks to NEA's lobbying efforts, the deadline for Title I paraprofessionals to meet the "highly qualified" requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act has been extended from January 8, 2006, to the end of the 2005-2006 school year. Below is the text of the letter from to Congressman Mike Simpson (R-ID) from Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon on this change.

June 15, 2005

Honorable Mike Simpson
House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Simpson:

Thank you for your recent questions about the time frame within which all paraprofessionals working in Title I-funded programs must meet certain qualifications.

The relevant qualifications and time frame for paraprofessionals are detailed in section 1119(d) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as amended by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). In general, this section states that all Title I paraprofessionals hired before enactment of NCLB must demonstrate competency by no later than four years after the law's enactment, i.e. January 8, 2006.

As you may know, the ESEA permits all veteran teachers of core academic subjects to have until the end of the 2005-2006 school year to demonstrate that they meet the requirements of NCLB; yet, as mentioned above, Title I paraprofessionals have only until January 8, 2006-the middle of the school year. We agree that it is unusual to have a deadline in the middle of the school year, and believe that the paraprofessional and highly qualified teacher provisions should be consistent. The Department will continue to be supportive of States, school districts and schools, in implementing these particular requirements.

You have suggested that the timeline for Title I paraprofessionals be consistent with the timeline for teachers. Your suggestion is reasonable and practical. Therefore, to enable the Department to enforce these two requirements in an efficient, effective and coordinated manner, the Department will align the paraprofessional time line with the teacher time line.

Thank you for contacting me.

Sincerely,
Raymond Simon

Cc: Chairman John Boehmer

Follow-up story from the Associated Press...

Aides receive extra time to become highly qualified

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Teacher aides, under federal pressure to prove they are qualified to stay in the classroom, will get extra time to comply under a new Education Department policy.

To keep their jobs, aides in schools that receive federal poverty aid have been told to become highly qualified by January 2006 -- marking four years since Congress passed the No Child Left Behind law. That deadline, set in the law, applies to aides hired before the law passed.

Now the time frame for aides to get qualified will be pushed back to the end of the 2005-06 school year, the same deadline for teachers in poor schools to prove their qualifications.

Deputy Secretary Ray Simon said Wednesday it was unusual to have a deadline for aides that fell in the middle of the school year and that differed from the teachers' deadline.

In a letter to Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, who sought the extended deadline, Simon said the idea was reasonable and he confirmed his agency would give aides the extra time.

Simpson said he was grateful for the change.

The American Federation of Teachers, whose members include instructional aides, had also sought the change in a letter to Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. The union's president, Edward McElroy, said it was "simply a matter of fairness."

To be deemed highly qualified, aides, or paraprofessionals, must compile at least two years of college study or earn at least an associate's degree. Their other option is to pass a test proving their knowledge of reading, writing and math and their ability to help teach.

Newly hired aides must have such qualifications before they can get the jobs.

Overall, roughly 1 million teacher aides help run the nation's classrooms. They work with students individually, reinforce the teacher's lessons and help keep order in class.