Assessment/Accountability No Child Left Behind
Highly Qualified Teachers and Paraprofessionals

Guidelines on the Disclosure of Educator Information as Outlined by the Federal NCLB Law and the Massachusetts Public Records Law

The federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law requires districts to notify parents about their rights to request information related to the professional qualifications of their child's classroom teacher (http://www.doe.mass.edu/nclb/hq/samples.html). The federal law specifies that parents may request the following information:

• Whether the teacher has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
• Whether the teacher is teaching under an emergency license or waiver through which the State qualifications or licensing criteria have been waived;
• The baccalaureate degree major of the teacher and any other graduate certification or degree held by the teacher, and the field or discipline of the certification or degree; and
• Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, their qualifications.

In addition to federal requirements, the Massachusetts public records law, M.G.L. c. 66, § 10 and M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 Cl. Twenty-sixth (http://www.state.ma.us/sec/pre/prepdf/pubreclaw.pdf), governs the disclosure of this information by school districts. Certain professional information relating to public employees and members of licensed professions, including public school teachers and administrators, is a public record that must be disclosed upon request.

For example, under Massachusetts law any person, whether or not he or she has a child in the school, is entitled to ask for and receive the list of staff members that the school district maintains under the Educator Licensure Regulations (603 CMR 7.00) as well as any other public record information about staff that the school district maintains. This public information includes staff names, certification/licensure status, and degree(s) earned, including the field of study and the institution that awarded the degree(s). In contrast, disclosure of additional personal information about district staff may be restricted under the public records law. Specifically, the public records law exempts from public disclosure employees':

• "personnel and medical files or information" and
• "any other materials or data relating to a specifically named individual, the disclosure of which may constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy;" 1 and
• the home address and home telephone number of all public employees. 2

The Massachusetts public records law does not require the school district to create a document or record that does not already exist; it simply requires the district to provide, upon request, a copy of any public record that the district maintains that is responsive to a request for records or information.

Below is a chart that outlines the types of information that may be requested and provided under Massachusetts public records laws and the No Child Left Behind law, as well as the information that should not be given out to the public, including parents, unless the staff member consents to release.

If you have additional questions about what you may disclose under NCLB and Massachusetts public records laws, please consult with your school's or your district's legal counsel.

1 M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 Cl. Twenty-sixth (c), is known as the "privacy exemption" in the public records law.

2 M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 Cl. Twenty-sixth (o), enacted in 2002. Formerly, and as described in prior guidance issued by the Department, this information could be made available to the public upon request. See Pottle v. School Committee of Braintree, 395 Mass. 861 (1985). However, the new public records exemption now exempts from disclosure home addresses and phone numbers of all public employees, unless the request for such information is made by a labor union, a nonprofit organization for retired public employees, or a criminal justice agency.

3 "Personnel files or information" is any record that is "useful in making employment decisions regarding an employee." Wakefield Teachers Ass'n v. School Committee of Wakefield, 431 Mass. 792, 798 (2000).

4 M.G.L. c. 4, § 7 Cl. Twenty-sixth (o).

5 See Attorney General v. Assistant Com'r of the Real Property Dept. of Boston, 380 Mass. 623, 625 n.2 (citation omitted).

6 Additional information about HQ requirements for Massachusetts teachers is available at http://www.doe.mass.edu/nclb/hq/.