By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE Public School System says that a degree, even an advanced one, is not sufficient evidence of effective teaching in the classrooms.
In a presentation during yesterday’s Board of Education meeting, federal programs officer and acting finance director Tim Thornburgh disclosed that of the 96 highly qualified teachers, or HQTs, in high schools 30 have master’s degrees; 62, or 30 percent, have bachelor’s degrees; 4, or 6 percent, have Ph.D.s and juris degrees.
He said they expect 26 teachers with BA and nine with MA degrees to become highly qualified soon.
“This is evidence of the wisdom of BOE in requiring the rigor of core content knowledge (or Praxis 2) testing at the secondary level even if the (No Child Left Behind Act) allows states and territories the option of a less rigorous standard,” Thornburgh said.
According to Education Commissioner David M. Borja, a teacher having a master’s degree, but not in the specific subject that she is teaching, is not helped by this degree to teach the content knowledge needed by secondary students.
“Even though an individual has an MA, for example, in education, but not in the specific subject area that he’s teaching…his degree does not help him because what is needed is particular knowledge in that content area,” he said.
“Those who really have strong backgrounds in the subjects that they are teaching, their Praxis result is very positive,” Borja said.
Praxis 1, he added, is “totally different” from Praxis 2. Praxis 1 is a test of knowledge of reading, writing and mathematical ability while Praxis 2 is a test of core content knowledge.
Records show that there are 35 high school teachers who are non-highly qualified — six have BA degrees and teach in their fields of expertise, while 20 teach “off-field,” which means that they do not have a major, or an advanced degree, and have not passed Praxis 2 in the subject that they are teaching.
Thornburgh said PSS has eight high school teachers with MA degrees who are teaching “in field” but are non-HQTs. and one with an MA teaching “out of field” is non-HQT.
“It is interesting to note that 9 of 43, or 21 percent, of our high school teachers with MA degrees are non-highly qualified. This underscores the importance of taking and passing core content knowledge tests. A degree, even an advanced degree, in the subject being taught is not a guarantee of core content knowledge,” he said.