Teacher Qualifications

Parents have the right to request certain information regarding their child’s teachers. Upon request, you can be provided with information regarding, information regarding whether professionals are highly effective, including the qualifications of the student’s teachers and paraprofessionals. This includes information about whether the student’s teacher:

1. has met state qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
2. is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which state qualification or licensing criteria have been waived;
3. is teaching in the field of discipline not of the certification of the teacher; and
4. is teaching alongside paraprofessionals and, if so, the paraprofessional’s qualifications [ESSA § 1112(e)(1)(A)].

In the event that the Cocke County School System must employ a teacher not meeting licensure requirements for four (4) or more consecutive weeks, the parents of students receiving instruction from this teacher will be notified.

Also, paraprofessionals, or instructional assistants, are valuable assets to our educational community. Under ESEA, Title I paraprofessionals must have a required academic background in order to provide instructional assistance to your child. In order to be highly-qualified, a paraprofessional must have passed a competency test, earned an associate degree or higher, or completed two or more years of higher education. All of the Title I paraprofessionals in the Cocke County School System are highly-qualified under ESEA. You also have the right to request information about the paraprofessionals that may work with your child.