What's Your School District Doing to Ensure
that all students have access to a highly qualified teacher?

Here are five questions you can pose to the Board of Trustees and Superintendent of your District:

1) Do you know what the teacher qualification data say about each school in the district?
        - Is the percentage of underqualified teachers higher or lower than the state average?
        - How evenly (or unevenly) are qualified teachers spread throughout the district?
        - Are there high concentrations of beginning teachers in some schools?
        - If the district officials do not know what the data say, urge them to visit this site.

2) If a problem with teacher qualifications exists in the District, are you committed to solving it?
        - This may sound like a silly question, but until a district formally and publicly commits to solving a problem, it is very easy for it to take a back seat to other matters.
        - Urge the Board to adopt a resolution that states its position.

3) Have you convened a meeting to discuss the problem with school officials and representatives of the teachers' union?
        - Districts that have been successful in solving the problem have done so in collaboration with key stakeholders.

4) Have you looked at what other districts have done to solve the problem?
        - If not, urge them to see the "Success Stories" and "What California's 10 largest school districts are doing to ensure their students have access to 'highly qualified' teachers" posted on this site.  No reason to re-invent the wheel. 

5) Have you developed and implemented a strategic plan to solve the problem?
        - It's never enough, of course, merely to say you want to solve a problem.  You must have a plan!