How should teachers be graded?

 As the curtain opens on a new school year, the spotlight is on teachers. Off in the wings, a noisy debate ensues about how to ensure that public school teachers are well qualified—and receive enough support—to do their jobs. Stirring the current debate is the fact that Congress is expected to take up re­authorization of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) this fall. One part of the law requires states, districts, and schools to have 100 percent “highly qualified” teachers for key subjects. But as of last winter (the latest data available), 17 percent of US school districts did not expect to meet the June 2007 deadline for highly qualified teachers, according to a new report by the Center on Education Policy (CEP) in Washington. In addition, 33 states were not on track for all teachers in their state to be “highly qualified.” Read more about the qualifications vs. performance debate in this article from The Christian Science Monitor.