The rate was startling: Nearly six in 10 teachers at California’s lowest-performing schools were not properly credentialed for the classes they led. It’s a rate California has worked to shrink for the past six years. It’s also a rate that was wrong.
The percentage of teachers and other certificated staff lacking proper credentials was actually 29 percent, not the 58 percent the state reported for the 2005-06 school year. The revelation, sparked by errors in state data identified by California Watch, means the state has been using an incorrect baseline as it measures progress at its lowest-performing schools.
Misassignments, as they’re known, have decreased dramatically since the state agreed to give the problem greater attention at low-performing schools. Unlike higher-performing schools, which are monitored every four years, the lowest-performing schools are monitored annually. The action was one of many stemming from the settlement of Williams v. California, a landmark class-action lawsuit that sought to ensure all students were taught by qualified, credentialed teachers.
via State reported inflated rate of teachers lacking credentials.