skip to main content









Donation Heart Ribbon

New Report Finds Teachers Improperly Assigned


Aired 4/19/09


A new report finds a surprising number of California public school teachers don't have the proper training or credentials to teach the subjects they're teaching. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has more. 


The state's Commission on Teacher Crendentialing found that over the past four years, there have been more than 20,000 cases in which teachers were assigned to classes they were not qualified to teach.


John Affeldt is with Public Advocates , the group that took the state to court over teacher quality issues.

Affeldt: Misassignment could be the PE teacher teaching math or it could be a teacher teaching English learners who has never been trained to teach English learners. Why that matters is because effective teachers have a significant impact on student achievement.     


A state court forced the commission to conduct the detailed study. More than half of the cases involved teachers without proper training to teach kids who speak English as a second language.


Affeldt says the good news is more teachers are signing up for extra training or schooling once they've been identified.  


Affeldt: That doesn't always help their immediate students but it does get these teachers into the system so that in a semester or by next year, they will have completed their program and they will be properly trained and authorized. 


Affeldt says the problem is a result of the state's teacher shortage. 


Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.     



comments powered by Disqus