Minnesota Education Commissioner Cheri Pierson Yecke talked to teachers Wednesday at Albert Lea High School about their new requirements under the &uot;No Child Left Behind&uot; law.

As before, teachers will be required to have a four-year degree and a teaching certificate. The third portion requires that teachers demonstrate competence in the subject they teach. &uot;This one is a little tricky,&uot; Yecke said of the third requirement.

New teachers must pass certain tests and hold degrees in the subjects they teach; current teachers will have a different standard.

She gave the example of a math teacher with 20 years experience.

&uot;She’s a fabulous teacher. But she teaches out of her field, because her undergraduate degree is in biology,&uot; Yecke said.

She said the qualifications would be used keep good teachers in, and also not to defer people that choose teaching as a second career.

She listed a number of ways a teacher could qualify, including teaching awards, college coursework, and length of time teaching a subject. She asked the teachers to send in suggestions on how different qualifications should apply.

Albert Lea Area Schools Superintendent David Prescott said this portion of the law was not a large concern. The law requires testing and regulations that some have called unreasonable. He said that Minnesota generally has high standards for teaching and that the federal legislation will more likely affect states like California the most.

Smaller rural schools in other states have complained that their one science teacher is disqualified because he or she teaches several science subjects but only has a degree in one, something Yecke said she would work to accommodate

Robin Brown, an Albert Lea High School teacher, said she didn’t think the qualifications were all that different from what they are now. But if somehow she doesn’t qualify, &uot;I don’t mind taking a few classes.&uot;

(Contact Tim Sturrock at tim.sturrock@albertleatribune.com or 379-3438.)