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Highly Qualified Teachers and Paraprofessionals

HOUSSE Rubric ReminderTeachers in core content areas who were determined to be highly qualified through a HOUSSE Rubric on or before June 30, 2007 may continue to use the HOUSSE to meet the highly qualified requirement provided that a physical copy of the completed rubric form, along with all supporting documentation, are available and on file within the LEA. For a HOUSSE Rubric to be valid, teachers must have been teaching in the core content area at the time of completion. It is the responsibility of the LEA to retain all proper documentation for each teacher.  It is also strongly recommended that teachers keep a personal copy of their HOUSSE Rubric and supporting documentation since they cannot be recreated; no new rubrics may be completed at this time.  In addition, please note the following:

  1. The Highly Qualified Attestation Form provides the HOUSSE Rubric as an option to determine content competency by earning a minimum of 100 points and providing supporting documentation.
  2. Teachers who hold a HOUSSE Rubric with supporting documentation that was completed on or before June 30, 2007, in a specific content area are able to use it any time during their professional career even if they move to a different teaching position and then return to the position for which they hold the HOUSSE Rubric.  This is true of all of the HOUSSE Rubrics created during this timeframe.
  3. In the HQT Application, the HOUSSE Rubric is an option in the highly qualified criteria drop down menu.  Teachers will be highly qualified if the teaching position is the same as the one that the HOUSSE Rubric was completed for with the supporting documentation.

The federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), reauthorized in 2001, requires that all teachers be highly qualified in the core academic content area(s) they teach. NCLB places major emphasis upon teacher quality as a factor in improving achievement for all students. This emphasis grows out of the research showing that teachers’ mastery of the academic content they teach is critical to engaging students and is a significant factor in raising levels of student achievement. All veteran teachers of core academic content areas should have met the highly qualified teacher requirement by the end of the 2005-2006 school year. All instructional paraprofessionals in Title I school-wide or Title I targeted assistance programs should also have met the highly qualified paraprofessional requirements by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.

The following Highly Qualified Teacher information/links serve as a guide to assist Arizona’s school administrators, teachers, and paraprofessionals in identifying and reporting highly qualified data. The following links will provide you with specific information about NCLB highly qualified requirements.

Contact Information

Director of Effective Teachers and Leaders (formerly Title II-A): Todd Petersen
Tel: (602) 364-1842
Fax: (602) 542-5010

Deputy Associate Superintendent of Educator Excellence Section: Jan Amator
Tel: (602) 364-2242
Fax: (602) 542-3050

Highly Effective Teachers and Leaders
Arizona Department of Education
1535 West Jefferson Street, Bin 45
Phoenix, Arizona 85007