Report: Neediest children often get least-prepared teachers

[Judi Lynn]

Published Saturday, December 18, 2004

Report: Neediest children often get least-prepared teachers

The Associated Press
SARASOTA, Fla.
The least-qualified teachers are more likely to be in classrooms with the poorest children in Florida, a newspaper reported after reviewing the test scores of nearly 100,000 teachers.

Teachers have failed the test in every county, but a third of all teachers, teachers' aides and substitutes flunked the state's basic skills test for teachers at least once. The Sarasota Herald-Tribune reports that left more than 500,000 students in classrooms with uncertified teachers.

"This has always been the central issue in terms of the kind of rigged casino in American education," said David Haselkorn, dean of national education programs and policies at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass. "The kids that arguably need the best teachers get the least-prepared teachers."

Teachers at poor schools were 44 percent more likely to have failed than those at rich schools, the newspaper reported in a series published last week. The gap in teacher scores is even more pronounced in predominantly minority schools.
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http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20041218/APN/412180680