Teachers can prove they know their content by passing a test or having a major in each subject they handle. But many teachers find those options unrealistic or demeaning.

So veteran teachers often qualify under a third option not available to new teachers — meeting a state standard of quality.

Many states use point systems to grade whether teachers are experts, giving credit for conferences attended or committees served on. Other factors include years in the classroom, teaching awards and job evaluations. Some states use gains in test scores by a teacher's students; others say having a state license is simply good enough.

Utah teachers have to follow state licensing requirements, which includes a level 1 for new teachers and requires professional development and successful evaluations before moving to level 2.

Under No Child Left Behind, Utah secondary schoolteachers teaching outside their major field of study would have to earn subject endorsements and do one of three things: take a test in the subject area; have 30 semester hours of credit; or rack up an additional 200 "points." Up to half of those points can be awarded for years of what evaluations show to be successful experience; the rest have to come by taking classes in college or other setting.

The idea is to make it so teachers can meet the requirement if they're considered to have minored in a subject, Patterson said.

Utah education bosses see their process like this: If a college gives a teacher a degree, if the teacher is assigned to teach in his or her subject area, if the teacher receives good evaluations — Jordan District is a stickler and requires remedial help for those not up to snuff, Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk says — and they made it through their student teaching, that's enough.

"What more do you want from these people?" Patterson said.

"Every teacher in Utah is highly qualified in something," she said. "It's just that they've been assigned to teach things that are outside of their major field."

Still, becoming highly qualified under No Child Left Behind is a complicated process. And to teachers nationwide, it's often confusing, burdensome and ill-focused. The law aims to make sure a math teacher knows math. But it does not measure a teacher's devotion or ability to connect with students.

"It has nothing to do with me as a teacher," said Terrie Tudor, a drama teacher from Wheaton, Ill. "It's a legal definition and a document. That's what we're trying to reach."

Norma De La Rosa, a reading teacher in El Paso, Texas, said it is fine to hold teachers accountable, but the judging often is unfair and subjective.