No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB)

Technical assistance provided by the USDOE after SED issued its interim definition makes it necessary for SED to issue a new definition of the HOUSSE.

This definition is aligned with section 100.2(o) of the Commissioner's Regulations, shown in Appendix C, which requires an Annual Professional Performance Review (APPR) for each public school teacher in New York State. As shown in bold-faced type in Appendix C, subparagraph 100.2(o)(b)(1)(i) requires an APPR to include an evaluation of a teacher's knowledge of the subject matter area and curriculum. A HOUSSE evaluation conducted as part of an APPR would only need to be changed in one way: the evaluation of a teacher's knowledge of the subject matter area and curriculum would need to be based, at least in part, on objective, coherent information acceptable to the Commissioner, as described in Item C3 and Appendix D. 

The HOUSSE definition also refers to the use of the HOUSSE in a “pre-employment review.”   Teachers beyond their first year of certification who are candidates for teaching positions but who have not yet demonstrated subject matter competency for each subject that their prospective employer may want them to teach may use the HOUSSE, if the prospective employer agrees, to demonstrate their subject matter competency before they are hired.  In the short term, this would permit LEAs to meet the NCLB requirement that all teachers hired after September 2002 to teach core academic subjects and supported by Title I, Part A funds must be “highly qualified” when hired.  In addition, they would permit all employers to hire only “highly qualified” teachers after June 2006, when all public school teachers of core academic subjects must be “highly qualified” for each core subject that they teach.

Charter schools are not subject to section 100.2(o) of the Commissioner's Regulations because charter schools are generally exempt from State regulations governing public schools. However, a charter school may voluntarily use Annual Professional Performance Reviews in order to meet the HOUSSE requirements.

A record of the HOUSSE evaluation must be retained by an employer for six years from the date of the teacher’s termination, according to section 185.11, Appendix I of the Commissioner’s Regulations concerning Records Retention and Disposition.  However, SED recommends that public school employers retain these records for seven years from the date of a teacher’s termination in order to be consistent with the teacher’s employment rights.  The names of laid-off teachers eligible for recall must be maintained on a preferred list for seven years.

• Part 1 is for common branch elementary school classes in grades K through 6 and for special education classes covering instructional content at the level of grades K through 6.
  
  
• Part 2 is for classes in core academic subjects in grades 7 through 12, including special education classes specially designed to be equivalent to the general education curriculum at this level, and classes in the arts, foreign languages and reading at all grade levels.  

Parts 1 and 2 of Appendix D can serve as HOUSSE evaluation tools because they permit a local evaluator to record the points that a teacher earns for each type of information related to subject matter competency.  

SED welcomes suggestions for additional “objective, coherent information” that would demonstrate that a teacher has subject matter competency.  Please send suggestions to nclbnys@mail.nysed.gov.  As needed, SED will issue updates of Appendix D.

Teachers and their evaluators should interpret the lists of information in Appendix D based on the information provided in this document and the plain language of the lists.  Questions may be sent to nclbnys@mail.nysed.gov.  SED will issue updated guidance as needed, but HOUSSE evaluations based on the lists in Appendix D in this document are valid regardless of any revisions that may be made to the lists in the future.