The sad tale of a dedicated-yet-unhighly-qualified teacher with bells on her tap shoes but no test to take:
Though her superiors will tell you otherwise, dance teacher Jennifer McClung at Homewood High School isn't considered "highly qualified" under federal guidelines imposed under President Bush's No Child Left Behind act. The designation is required for teachers in core teaching areas such as English and math and other disciplines including foreign languages and fine arts.
Dance falls under fine arts.
McClung graduated from Auburn University with a music education degree. While touring with a show choir in Alaska, she was asked to take over Homewood High's program. After seven years of teaching dance, including coaching the Star Spangled Girls dance group of the school's marching unit, McClung and her administrators are seeking a way to get her highly qualified status.
To become highly qualified, McClung has two options.
One would send her back to school to get about 30 credits of dance classes by May 2006, when all public school systems must have their teachers highly qualified. The other option would be to take a Praxis standardized test that passes state muster and would evaluate her teaching ability.
But for now, no such test exists for dance.
"There is no way that I would be able to get a bachelor's in dance in the time that they're requiring me to do so," McClung said. "For me to stay highly qualified in dance, the Praxis is the only way for me to stay in fine arts."
Posted by kswygert at January 10, 2005 05:51 PM