Teacher qualifications have a direct positive correlation with student achievement. Linda Darling-Hammond found that whether the teacher was fully certified and had a major in the field they were teaching had a tremendous influence on the academic progress of the students. She said, "Measures of teacher preparation and certification were by far the strongest predictors of student achievement in reading and mathematics, both before and after controlling for student poverty and English language proficiency." Sanders and Rivers did another study in 1996, in which they studied school systems in Tennessee. Students with teachers who had high credentials scored in the 83rd and 96th percentile, where students with teachers from other fields and fewer credentials scored in the 29th and 44th percentile. This applied across the spectrum of low and high-achieving students. Students simply perform better if their teachers are knowledgeable. This will inevitably place more importance on the educators to be highly qualified in their field of study; thus, changing the landscape the educators must cross in order to be a qualified teacher.
             Because of the undeniable importance of a highly qualified educator in the classroom, it has become apparent that the teaching profession must raise the overall level of their teaching in order to promote the greatest student achievement. The change from semi-professional to true professional stature of a teacher is what must happen for students to fully benefit from their education. Just as doctors, lawyers, accountants, and even soldiers must continue their education in order to keep abreast of the latest and greatest ways to do their jobs effectively and proficiently, so must teachers in this new era of teaching. Teachers must not only know the content of what they are teaching but must also represent an understanding of the subject matter far beyond what will be covered in the classroom. It is stated that "e...