Failure to Track Teachers Could Cost State

That is the title of an article published today by News-Leader.com out of Springfield, MO.  Under the No Child Left Behind law, states are to have "highly qualified" teachers in every core classroom.  The article reports that the state of Missouri is one of four states that failed a review and are being requireed to submit data and a plan to the US Department of Education, or face losing $2.2 million in federal funding.   The other states are Utah, Hawaii, and Wisconsin. Link

Based on the article it seems that one of the clear challenges that the state faces is the inability to obtain the proper supporting documentation from the school districts.  This is a clear indication that districts are lacking Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS). The article goes on to

say that in Missouri there is a group of teachers, 16,500 who obtained their certificates prior to 1988, that have been issued a certificate called a "Lifetime Teaching Certificate".  These teachers are having to provide their districts with the information or documentation that proves that they are highly qualified within the subjects that they teach.

This type of information is easily captured and maintained within a Human Resource Management System (HRMS).  A district could easily keep track of all the credientials of their employees, and report that information to the state.  One can only assume that some of these teachers who are affected by this are not very happy with having to dig up and provide this type of information to their employer.