In a speech at the first annual Teacher Quality Evaluation Conference (recently held in Washington, DC), US Secretary of Education Rod Paige urged all states to radically alter their teacher certification programs by increasing the standards and decreasing the barriers that currently keep many qualified candidates from pursing teaching careers. Paige's speech was based on results of the 78-page report to Congress entitled Meeting the Highly Qualified Teachers Challenge: The Secretary's Annual Report on Teacher Quality. Released Tuesday, June 11, 2002, this document is the first annual report to Congress on the state of teacher quality nationwide, as required by Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1998. The report is based on responses from state reports on teacher quality submitted to the Department of Education, and includes comprehensive data, by state, on certification and license requirements; statewide pass rates on assessments of 1999-2000 graduates preparation programs; number of teachers on waivers or emergency/temporary permits; teacher standards and their alignment with student standards; and state criteria for identifying low-performing schools of education.

Like the No Child Left Behind Act, the Secretary's report elicits higher teacher standards in order to enhance the educational process. The report proposes that states require prospective teachers to pass rigorous exams in the subjects they plan to teach. "Research shows that teachers with strong academic backgrounds in specific content areas are more likely to boost the academic performance of their students in those subjects." To lower barriers, the report calls on states and institutions of higher learning to reshape their teacher preparation programs by eliminating some of their rigid certification requirements, such as the massive number of pedagogical courses required. For more information concerning the teacher quality evaluation conference, users may access the first two links above. For a copy of Paige's remarks at the conference and a copy of the report, viewers may access links three and four, respectively. Finally, the fifth link leads to the No Child Left Behind Web site, and the last link opens the Title II home page, which features state reports and other state materials.