The HOUSSE process

1.  What does HOUSSE mean?

High Objective Uniform State Standard of Evaluation.  The US Department of Education approved CT’s consolidated state application, which included the intent to have each district use its approved teacher evaluation plan as its HOUSSE plan.

2.  Who would have to rely on the HOUSSE plan to meet the NCLB requirements

 for being “highly qualified” (HQ)?

Teachers who were hired before July 1, 2006, must rely on the HOUSSE plan if they met any one of the following conditions:

    1) they have not passed a standardized teacher exam (e.g., Praxis II) in the core subject area(s) they teach;

    2) they do not hold an undergraduate or graduate major (or equivalent) in the core subject area(s) they teach;

    3) they do not hold a master’s degree in the core subject area(s) they teach;

    4) they do not hold an advanced certification (e.g., National Board Certification) in the core subject area(s) they teach.

Special education teachers hired after July 1, 2006 must be HQ in the subject area they will teach before being hired.  If the teacher will teach more than one core subject, s/he will have to be HQ in one of three core academic subjects – reading/language arts (elementary) or English (secondary), mathematics, or science.  Once the teacher is hired, the district may use the HOUSSE plan within two years to determine subject-matter competency in the other core subject area(s) that s/he teaches.  When the teacher completes the BEST portfolio (with a focus on either numeracy or literacy), that would also ‘count’ as demonstrating HQ for that subject area.

3.  To use the HOUSSE plan, then, I have to be evaluated and show that I have

appropriate subject area knowledge.  Does the evaluation have to include classroom observations?

No, it doesn’t.  There are many ways a teacher can demonstrate subject area knowledge, and if the district evaluation plan includes such avenues (e.g., action research, writing for publication, curriculum development work, etc.) those may be used.  The important thing is that the evaluation be based on the Common Core of Teaching and the Discipline-Based Teaching Standards.

4.  Who should conduct the evaluation to determine my HQ status?

Ideally, it should be conducted by an appropriately certified administrator (holding an 092 endorsement).  That would mean, then, that for an elementary teacher, an elementary principal who has a background in elementary education; for a middle or high school teacher, that would mean a middle or high school administrator who has a background in, and would be able to meet the HQ requirements in, the same subject area you teach.

5.  What if we don’t have enough (or any) administrators who have the same

subject area backgrounds as the teachers they are to evaluate?

The district could have department chairs who hold the 092 endorsement (administrator) conduct (part of) the evaluation.  In smaller districts where there are no department chairs or curriculum coordinators who might take on this role, the district should do the best they can to evaluate teachers’ subject area knowledge appropriately.

6.  If I’ve demonstrated HQ in one subject area I teach, my teaching assignment

changes and I begin teaching another core subject (under that endorsement that I hold), do I have to show HQ again?

Yes.  NCLB requires that teachers demonstrate HQ in each subject they teach.  But you could do this under the HOUSSE process.

7.  If I demonstrate HQ in a subject area in through the HOUSSE plan in district

A, and want to apply for a position in district B, will my HQ status be accepted in district B?

That will be district B’s decision.  District A will have had to put documentation in your file that you met the NCLB HQ requirements so that your status could be ‘portable.’  In order to be hired by district B, you would have had to met the HQ requirements under NCLB; if district B won’t accept district A’s documentation, you would have to show HQ through another route in order to be hired in district B. 

8.  What kind of ‘documentation’ would go in my file?

The form it will take will be up to the district to decide.  It could be a letter or a certificate.  Whatever its form, there are specific pieces of information that should be included on it: your name, the district name, the subject(s) in which you have demonstrated HQ under NCLB, the superintendent’s name and signature, the evaluator’s name and signature, the date of the evaluation, and optionally, the method by which you demonstrated HQ.

9.  Would I receive a copy of this documentation?

Yes, and you should retain it in your professional folder.

10.  When can or should our district begin using the HOUSSE plan?

Your district can begin at any time.  However, if you have been evaluated according to your district’s teacher evaluation plan at any time since January 2002, you have already met the NCLB HQ requirement, and would not have to be evaluated again.  Documentation could simply be added to your file.