'Highly qualified' teachers don't always equal high student scores

Amy L. Kovac and Jaci Smith of New Jersey's Herald-News used state education data to show that in Passaic County, having a "highly qualified" teacher doesn't always mean that students will do better on standardized tests. "The largest disparity was in Passaic's Lincoln Middle School. About 71 percent of eighth-graders there failed to achieve proficiency on their state exam; 89.2 percent of their classes were taught by teachers who meet the federal definition of 'highly qualified.' At The Learning Center in Passaic, 96 percent of fourth-graders scored at or above proficient on their standardized test; 60.5 percent of classes in the school were taught by 'highly qualified' teachers."