About 1 in 5 courses in LAUSD are taught by a teacher without full, proper credentials

During the 2020-21 school year, approximately 83% of courses in Los Angeles County and the state’s K-12 public schools, including charter schools, were taught entirely and by appropriately certified teachers. at Los Angeles Unified, the number was Slightly lower, yet comparable, according to data released by the California Department of Education on Thursday, June 30.

While most classes were taught by appropriately assigned teachers, there were only about 1 in 5 courses left that were not.

In addition, the percentage of class assignments considered “ineffective” was 5.1% in LAUSD that year, which was 1 percent higher than the LA county or state.

A teacher’s assignment to teach a course is considered “ineffective” if the instructor only has an emergency teaching permit, teaching outside of his or her credentialing area without state authorization—known as mis-assignment. goes to – or has no credentials, permits, or authorization to teach. California.

During the 2020-21 school year, 83.1% of teaching assignments across the state were labeled “explicit”—indicating that a class was led by a credentialed teacher who was fully qualified to teach that curriculum. was authorized.

Meanwhile, 4.4% had “out-of-field” assignments – courses were taught by teachers with credentials but not in the subject they taught, or they were not given credentials to teach certain pupils, such as That English learners, but they were assigned such students.

The other 1.5% of classes were taught by teachers with an apprentice credential, who did not meet the training or credentialing requirements.

At LA Unified, overall, 82.3% of teaching assignments were clear, 3.9% were out-of-field and 2.6% were led by teachers with intern credentials.

But digging deeper, the percentage of “clear” courses with fully certified teachers in major courses in English language arts, math, and science was less than 80%.

In LAUSD, the percentage of classes taught by a fully authorized and appropriately certified teacher was only 77.7% in English language arts, 78.6% in maths, and 76.6% in science.

Parents and the public can view statewide, county, district or school-specific data to see how many courses at their child’s school are taught by properly certified teachers, or they can compare results across campuses. whether some schools have more teachers are not considered fully trained or certified to teach their courses. The data is available on the Teaching Assignment Monitoring Outcomes webpage, which is available through DataQuest, a state Department of Education site.

“As we begin to emerge from a global pandemic, this data is an important tool for negotiating how we can best serve students,” said Mary Nickley, chief deputy superintendent of the state’s Department of Education . In his statement, he said, “By launching this annual report, we are providing a new level of transparency … including statewide education workforce reduction.”

For years, teachers have been warning of a national teacher shortage that was not triggered by the pandemic, but worsened by that crisis. Result: filling classrooms with teachers not considered fully or properly certified.

Labor shortages have been felt locally, with the country’s second-largest school district failing to keep up with the number of teachers last year to help students recover from the pandemic.

This spring, LAUSD superintendent Alberto Carvalho deployed hundreds of non-classroom district employees with credentials to teach in classrooms as a temporary fix for teacher vacancies. Staffing issues were worsened by the COVID-19 vaccination mandate, which forced hundreds, if not thousands, of workers to be laid off from on-campus assignments.

In a statement, the district said it hopes to start the upcoming school year with an “appropriate staffing level” and is working with principals to reduce the number of courses that must be completed entirely, or are not taught by properly, certified teachers.

“Los Angeles Unified is working closely with our partner institutions of higher education, our internal pipelines, and the state to ensure that we have appropriately certified teachers in every classroom,” the statement said.

The latest data is the result of a 2019 bill requiring the California Commission on Teacher Credentials to develop a system to track teacher assignments annually to ensure they meet federal reporting requirements under the Every Student Success Act.