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June 30, 2006 was the deadline under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act for ensuring “...that poor and minority children were not taught at higher rates than other children by inexperienced, unqualified, or out-of-field teachers...” In the weeks after the deadline, the US Department of Education informed state departments of education that while no extension had been declared, states can still be in good standing if they show a “good faith” effort. Though states bear this responsibility, districts have the most direct influence on the distribution of “highly qualified” teachers. It is the district that directly recruits, selects, hires, and places teachers in all its schools. Therefore, the district makes the final decisions that control, in many ways, the balance of the distribution. This study, therefore, takes a district-level perspective for understanding the distribution of highly qualified teachers (HQTs) across schools. A multiple methods study approach was used to understand the various influences on the distribution of highly qualified teachers. In particular, I used three distinct, yet related methods in this study. They were: (1) Quantitative Analysis; (2) Geographical Analysis; and (3) Qualitative Analysis. The quantitative analyses revealed that weaker definitions of teacher quality mask the teacher quality shortage and gap that exists between local districts and between schools of varying demographic characteristics---particularly those with high concentrations of poor and minority students. The geographical analyses suggested that quality of geographical space influenced the presence of teacher quality in schools. Lastly, the qualitative analyses revealed that the district plays a mediating role as it enacts its own policy. In this process, the district is both influenced and is itself an influence on the final distribution of HQTs. The interviews with district and school staff revealed that the district's definition of teacher quality becomes stronger as the process moves closer to an actual hiring decision. It is at the school site where they seem to apply or screen for the fuller range of characteristics consistent with what the literature has identified as a HQT. In the end, these findings contribute to understanding the distribution of teacher quality more fully.

ISBN: 9781109960174