Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application (Page 3 of 4) in pdf

SECTION 7: DEFINITION OF HIGHLY QUALIFIED

Public school teachers (including teachers employed by educational service agencies) and private school teachers may meet different criteria in order to be considered “highly qualified” for the purposes

of the Teacher Loan Forgiveness Program, as explained below.

Public School Teachers

To be a highly qualified teacher, a teacher of public elementary or secondary school students must:

• Have obtained full state certification as a teacher (including certification obtained through alternative routes to certification) or passed the state teacher licensing examination, and hold a license to

teach in that state, except that when used with respect to teaching in a public charter school, the term “highly qualified teacher” means that the teacher meets the requirements set forth in the state’s

public charter school law; and

• Not have had certification or licensure requirements waived on an emergency, temporary, or provisional basis.

In addition:

A teacher of elementary school students who is new to the profession also is considered highly qualified if the teacher:

• Holds at least a bachelor’s degree; and

• Has demonstrated, by passing a rigorous state test, subject knowledge and teaching skills in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum (which may

consist of passing a state-required certification or licensing test or tests in reading, writing, mathematics, and other areas of the basic elementary school curriculum).

A teacher of middle or secondary school students who is new to the profession also is considered highly qualified if the teacher:

• Holds at least a bachelor’s degree; and

• Has demonstrated a high level of competency in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches by:

o Passing a rigorous state academic subject test in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches (which may consist of a passing level of performance on a state-required

certification or licensing test or tests in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches); or

o Successful completion, in each of the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches, of an academic major, a graduate degree, coursework equivalent to an undergraduate academic major, or

advanced certification or credentialing.

A teacher of elementary, middle, or secondary school students who is not new to the profession also is considered highly qualified if the teacher holds at least a bachelor’s degree and:

• Meets the applicable standards of a teacher of elementary, middle, or secondary school students who is new to the profession; or

• Demonstrates competence in all the academic subjects in which the teacher teaches based on a high objective, uniform state standard of evaluation that:

o Is set by the state for both grade appropriate academic subject matter knowledge and teaching skills;

o Is aligned with challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards and developed in consultation with core content specialists, teachers, principals, and school

administrators;

o Provides objective, coherent information about the teacher’s attainment of core content knowledge in the academic subjects in which a teacher teaches;

o Is applied uniformly to all teachers in the same academic subject and the same grade level throughout the state;

o Takes into consideration, but is not based primarily on, the time the teacher has been teaching in the academic subject;

o Is made available to the public upon request; and

o May involve multiple, objective measures of teacher competency.

Private School Teachers

To be a highly qualified teacher, a teacher in a private, non-profit elementary or secondary school who is not a highly qualified teacher as defined above must:

• Be permitted to and satisfy rigorous subject knowledge and skills tests by taking competency tests in applicable grade levels and subject areas. The competency tests must be recognized by five or

more states for the purposes of fulfilling the highly qualified teacher requirements under section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965; and

• Achieve a score on each test that equals or exceeds the average passing score for those five states.

SECTION 8: ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• To qualify for loan forgiveness under this program, you must not have had an outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or FFEL program loan on October 1, 1998, or on the date that you obtained a

Direct Loan or FFEL program loan after October 1, 1998. This means that if you had an outstanding balance on one or more Direct Loan or FFEL program loans on October 1, 1998, or on any Direct

Loan or FFEL program loans that you obtained while you had an outstanding balance on a Direct Loan or FFEL program loan made on or before October 1, 1998, you may qualify for loan

forgiveness if you later paid all of those loans in full so that you had no outstanding balance on any Direct Loan or FFEL program loan at the time you obtained a new Direct Loan or FFEL program

loan after October 1, 1998.

• If you are in default on a Direct Loan and/or FFEL program loan(s), you must have made satisfactory repayment arrangements with the holder of the defaulted loan(s) to be eligible for forgiveness of

the loan(s).

• The loan(s) for which you are seeking forgiveness must have been made prior to the end of your five academic years of qualifying teaching service.

• You must not have received benefits through the AmeriCorps Program under Subtitle D of Title I of the National and Community Service Act of 1990 or loan forgiveness under the Direct Loan Public

Service Loan Forgiveness Program for the same teaching service for which you are seeking forgiveness on your Direct Loan and/or FFEL program loan(s).

• You must have been employed as a full-time teacher for five consecutive, complete academic years at an elementary or secondary school or for an educational service agency that:

o Is in a school district that qualifies for funds under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended;

o Has been selected by the U.S. Department of Education based on a determination that more than 30 percent of the school’s or educational service agency’s total enrollment is made up of

children who qualify for services provided under Title I; and

o Is listed in the Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits (See website address at

). If this directory is not available before May 1 of any year, the previous year’s directory may be used.

If your school or educational service agency meets the above requirements for at least one year of your teaching service, but does not meet these requirements during subsequent years, your

subsequent years of teaching at the school or educational service agency may be counted toward the required five consecutive, complete academic years of teaching.

Note: All elementary and secondary schools operated by the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) or operated on Indian reservations by Indian tribal groups under contract with the BIE qualify as

schools serving low-income students. These schools are qualifying schools for purposes of this loan forgiveness program.

• You may qualify for forgiveness based on qualifying teaching service for five consecutive, complete academic years at any combination of eligible elementary schools, secondary schools, or

educational service agencies. However:

o Teaching at an eligible elementary or secondary school may be counted toward the required five consecutive, complete academic years only if at least one of the five years of teaching was after

the 1997–1998 academic year.

o Teaching for an eligible educational service agency may be counted toward the required five consecutive, complete academic years only if the consecutive five-year period includes qualifying

service for an eligible educational service agency performed after the 2007–2008 academic year.

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Teacher Loan Forgiveness Application Page 3

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