For Immediate Release

City’s teaching force grows more “highly qualified”

Apr 15, 2008 5:57 PM

The New York State Board of Regents released figures on April 14 showing that the state raised the percentage of core classes taught by highly qualified teachers in all subjects between the 2005-06 and 2006-07academic years and narrowed the gap between high and low poverty school districts. The Regents also noted that New York City continued to improve with more highly qualified teachers in every subject. Nearly 91% of core classes in city public schools in 2006-07 were taught by highly qualified teachers compared to 79% in 2004-05.

UFT President Randi Weingarten responded with the following statement:

“The UFT is pleased but not surprised by the significant increase in the percentage of highly qualified educators teaching core classes in all subjects. We have long said that New York City needed to raise teacher salaries to attract and keep good educators, and now that teacher salaries here have risen by 43 percent we are doing just that. As both the mayor and I have often said this year, we have one of the best teaching corps in the nation. We can do even better if we reduce class sizes, improve working conditions, bolster school safety and give our educators the latitude to teach as they see fit instead of putting student test preparation above all else.”