A Highly Qualified Geography Teacher


Position Statement Developed to Endorse the Need for Highly Qualified Geography Teachers and to Communicate the Geography Community's Recommendations

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) sets as a goal that a highly qualified teacher be placed in every classroom in the United States. GENIP endorses this goal and has developed a definition of a highly qualified K-12 Geography Teacher. GENIP organizations believe that every K-12 student in the United States who studies geography deserves a highly qualified teacher who is well prepared in the discipline-a teacher who recognizes that, as an essential school subject, geography offers a powerful analytic framework for students to understand the people, places, and environments of Earth and the connections to the students' own lives.

A complete copy of the Position Statement and accompanying statement explaining why studying geography is important is available here for download. Defining A Highly Qualified K-12 Geography Teacher

NCLB establishes that highly qualified teachers are those who:

  • (1) hold a bachelor's degree;
  • (2) have demonstrated broad content and teaching skills by successfully completing an undergraduate major (or advanced certification) in their subject area(s) or passing a State test; and
  • (3) hold a license to teach. For current practitioners, the option is added to hold a bachelor's degree and either meet the 2nd requirement or pass a State test of academic subject areas.

GENIP believes that a highly qualified geography teacher understands the geography content, perspectives and skills necessary to the discipline as presented in Geography for Life: National Geography Standards (1994). We believe that if students are to learn standards-based geography well in school; if improvement in student achievement is to be documented on the National Assessment of Educational Progress and other measures; and if our graduates are to be prepared for life-long geography learning, it will be necessary to implement the definition of a highly qualified teacher provided in the No Child Left Behind Act, primarily by requiring specific undergraduate coursework and ensuring specific “content pedagogy” skills.

Definition of a Highly Qualified K-12 Geography Teacher
Highly qualified teachers demonstrate appropriate content and pedagogical mastery to ensure high student achievement in geography.

  • Content Competency
    The geography education community expects highly qualified teachers to have achieved the following content preparation appropriate to the grade level in which they practice as professionals:
    • 1. High School teachers should have successfully completed course work or the equivalent to a content major in geography (at least 30 credits).
    • 2. Middle School/Junior High School teachers should have successfully completed course work or the equivalent to a content minor in geography (at least 15 credits).
    • 3. Elementary School teachers should have completed course work or the equivalent of a minimum of three content courses (nine credits) introducing Earth's physical and human systems.
  • Instructional Competency
    In addition to content mastery, geography teachers at the elementary and secondary levels must possess the following instructional competencies necessary to effectively convey geographic knowledge and skills and to make instruction and inquiry engaging for students:
    • 1.Planning and organizing units of study in geography, using current geospatial technologies where appropriate;
    • 2. Developing daily lesson plans that actively engage students;
    • 3. Accommodating instruction so that it is responsive to different learning styles and to the increasingly diverse populations that characterize schools in the United States;
    • 4. Preparing assessments that evaluate students creatively and authentically at a variety of levels;
  • Professional Development
    Highly qualified teachers regularly renew their initial teacher preparation by participating in professional development to enhance their geographic content knowledge, classroom technology, curriculum plans and instructional practices in meaningful ways.

Closing
A highly qualified geography teacher has a solid grasp of the discipline of geography and its content; promotes a mastery of knowledge about place and space, scale and context; and practices the principles of sound pedagogy, implementing best practices so that students can learn to think geographically. The highly qualified geography teacher creates a classroom culture where students move beyond knowledge of the facts to develop an informed worldview, a proficiency in geographic skills, and an awareness that the value of geography lies in its problem-solving applications.

The GENIP steering committee believes that this statement will be of value to the members of each constituent organization as well as educators nationwide.

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