Options for Middle School Special Education Teachers to become Highly Qualified

Effective July 2006 compliance with NCLB – to meet Virginia Department of Education’s definition of “Highly Qualified” one of the following must be met if the special education teacher is teaching a core subject area:

New teachers (less than one year of experience)must pass the Praxis II for the appropriate content area (see #3 below) or have an academic major, graduate degree or coursework equivalent to an undergraduate major in the content area. New teachers of two or more academic subjects who are “Highly Qualified” in either Mathematics, Language Arts, Social Studies or Science has a two-year window to become highly qualified in the other core academic subject(s) taught.

Experienced Teachers (at least one year of experience)must meet one of the following requirements:

  1. Be classified as a Consultative Teacher – where the Teacher of Record is endorsed in the content area taught. (A “Teacher of Record” endorsed in the proper content area taught can be assigned until the Special Ed Teacher becomes HQ.)
  2. Hold an Endorsement on a valid Virginia Teaching License in the area being taught.
  3. Complete the Praxis II Specialty Area Test for each area taught:

Middle School English/Language Arts

Middle School Mathematics

Middle School Science

Middle School Social Studies

  1. Designated as “highly qualified” in another state or District of Columbia (verification from school district required)
  2. National Board Certified in the area taught
  3. Have an academic major or coursework equivalent to an undergraduate academic major in the subject area (s) taught.
  4. Renewal of License by completing 180 points in the content or academic subjects being taught

Example -2 content college courses in the area taught or 180 points earned in MS Education. Please note that if you teach in more than one core subject area – all areas must be met. Ex: if you teach both English and History, one content course must be in English and one content course must be in History.

  1. Complete a 30 hour content knowledge based activity or course in the content areas of mathematics, science, Language arts/reading/English, and social studies (history, government, geography and economics). Middle School special education teachers of science are required to take an institute in each content area of science (biology, chemistry, earth science and physics) being taught.

If you have already completed content based professional development activities or course work in the content area(s) taught you may already be HQ in that area and you may not need to complete another activity or course.

  • College and Staff Development “content” courses will be accepted towards the 30 hour content knowledge based highly qualified requirement.

(ex. SPOT, Developing Lifelong Readers, Reading in the Content Area or Language Acquisition will be accepted for content in English; Inquiry-Based Mathematics Instruction in Grades K-8 will be accepted for Math.) A total of 30 hours required; time spent doing homework can be included; and can be combined with other coursework in the content area taught. All college credit course work must be completed within the last five year period.

You must complete a 30 hour institute for each core subject area taught if you choose Option #8

  1. Completed 3 years of successful teaching experience and

a.An interdisciplinary major or equivalent

b. a minimum of 18 semester hours in the middle school area taught – mathematics, science, language arts/reading/English; and social studies (history, government, geography and economics)

Special Education Teachers who teach core academic subjects exclusively to children who are assessed through the Virginia Alternate Assessment Program (VAAP) on an elementary level may be Highly Qualified by meeting one of the Options for Elementary School Special Education Teachers.

Submit a completed Highly Qualified Verification Form with supporting documentation to the Office of Certification when you have met one of the above options for a special education highly qualified designation.

Reimbursement funds may be available for course work or Praxis II assessments completed to meet the NCLB HQ requirements, please review the guidelines at then choose PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY SCHOOLS CERTIFIED TUITION REIMBURSEMENT PROGRAM (Praxis II scores should be submitted in the same manner as a course reimbursement)

Revised 09/18/2014