Miss. and La. get poor marks for teacher quality

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A national nonprofit advocacy group has given Mississippi a D-plus and Louisiana a C-minus in recruiting and retaining quality teachers and getting rid of those who are ineffective in the classroom.

The National Council on Teacher Quality recently released its 2008 State Teacher Policy Yearbook. The report finds that laws and regulations in most states discourage promising new teachers from staying in the classroom while doing little to rid schools of inadequate teachers.

The report gives Louisiana a D-plus in identifying effective new teachers, a C in retaining effective new teachers and a C-minus in getting rid of ineffective new teachers.

Mississippi fared even worse, getting a D-plus in identifying effective new teachers, a D in retaining effective new teachers and a D-plus in getting rid of ineffective new teachers.