Recruiting and Supporting Teachers: Highly Qualified Teachers

SALT Survey findings and Barriers to Reform / Teacher Efficacy

View/download sample report (PDF)

What you are looking at

The graphs in the top two “fields” on this page show you teacher responses to several specific questions on the annual SALT Survey, administered to all students, parents, and teachers in the state. The responses show the percentage of teachers in the school (and in the state at this school’s level) who said that they agree or strongly agree with various statements about barriers to reform and about the nature of their work with students. You can also see the percentage of teachers in the school (and in the state) who took part in the SALT Survey.

What you are looking for

First of all, you would like to see a high teacher participation rate on the survey, for that is one indicator of a teacher’s engagement with the life of the school. You would like to see relatively few teachers indicating that they face barriers to reform (the top field) and a relatively high percentage of teachers expressing satisfication with their work (the middle field).

By noting which areas teachers single out as barriers to reform and which areas they feel are not part of their effective daily work, members of the school community can figure out where to focus their efforts as they work toward school improvement.

Additional Teacher-Quality Indicators

Teachers with emergency certification: Individuals who do not qualify for full state certification may be granted an emergency certificate to teach in the public schools, upon written request of the Superintendent of Schools, when fully certified applicants are not available. The Superintendents must advertise for certified candidates in the statewide newspaper and must contact local colleges and universities with educator-preparation programs.

Classes not taught by highly qualified teachers: “Highly Qualified Teacher” is a term introduced by the No Child Left Behind Act. Within the guidelines of that federal law, each state was allowed to establish its own criteria for determining if a teacher is “highly qualified.” The criteria in use in Rhode Island are posted on the RIDE Web site, www.ride.ri.gov, under “Educator Certification.” RIDE surveys all teachers in core subject areas to determine what percentage of classes are taught by “highly qualified teachers”; note that a teacher may be highly qualified in one subject he or she teaches, but not in another (e.g., a science teacher may be highly qualified in biology but not in physics).