Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - June 09, 2005)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Mr. KENNEDY (for himself and Mr. Durbin):

S. 1218. A bill to amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Higher Education Act of 1965, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve recruitment, preparation, distribution, and retention of public elementary and secondary school teachers and principals, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege to join my distinguished colleague, Senator Durbin, in introducing the Teacher Excellence for All Children Act of 2005. Its goal is to bring us closer to giving every child a highly qualified teacher, and enable more teachers to obtain the support they need to improve their instruction. We join our distinguished colleague Congressman George Miller in this effort, who is introducing this legislation in the House, and commend him for his leadership on the issue.

One of the major challenges we face today is to improve the recruitment, preparation, and retention of good teachers. Few issues are of greater importance to our future than education. The Nation is strongest when our schools are strongest--when all students can attend good schools with good teachers to help them learn. In this new era of globalization, a well-educated citizenry and well-skilled workforce are essential to our role in the world.

We owe a great debt to America's teachers. They work day in and day out to give children a decent education. Teachers are on the front lines in the Nation's schools, and at the forefront of the constant effort to improve public education. It is their vision, energy, hard work, and dedication that will make all the difference in successfully meeting this challenge.

We took a major step forward in the No Child Left Behind Act and its recognition that all students deserve first-rate teachers to help them reach their potential and succeed in life. This act made a bold national commitment to guarantee a highly qualified teacher in every classroom. But to reach that goal, we need to recruit, train, retain and support our teachers. The TEACH Act addresses four specific challenges head on: to increase the supply of outstanding teachers; to ensure all children have teachers with expertise in the subjects they teach; to improve teaching by identifying and rewarding the best practices and expanding professional development opportunities; and to help schools retain teachers and principals by providing the support they need to succeed.

Since enrollment in public schools has reached an all-time high of 53 million students, and is expected to keep increasing over the next decade, additional highly qualified teachers are needed to meet the growing demand.

Many schools face a teacher crisis, particularly in our poorest communities. Currently, there are approximately 3 million public school teachers across the country. Two million new, qualified teachers will be needed in the next 10 years to serve the growing student population. Yet we are not even retaining the teachers we have today. A third of all teachers leave during their first 3 years, and almost half leave during the first 5 years.

Too often, teachers also lack the training and support needed to do well in the classroom. They are paid on average almost $8,000 less than graduates in other fields, and the gap widens to more than $23,000 after 15 years of teaching. Thirty-seven percent of teachers cite low salaries as a main factor for leaving the classroom before retirement.

The TEACH Act will do more to recruit and retain highly qualified teachers--particularly in schools and subjects where they are needed the most. The bill provides financial incentives to encourage talented persons to enter and remain in the profession and it offers higher salaries, tax breaks, and greater loan forgiveness.

To attract motivated and talented individuals to teaching, the bill provides up-front tuition assistance--$4,000 per year--to high-performing undergraduate students who agree to commit to teach for 4 years in high-need areas and in subjects such as math, science, and special education.

One of our greatest challenges in school reform today is to equalize the playing field, so that the neediest students have access to the best teachers to help them succeed. Research shows that good teachers are the single most important factor in the success of children in school, both academically and developmentally. Children with good instruction can reach new heights through the hard work, vision, and energy of their teachers. Good teaching helps overcome the harmful effects of poverty and other disadvantages on student learning.

Unfortunately, we still have a long way to go. In high-poverty schools, teacher turnover is 33 percent higher than in other schools. In the poorest middle schools and high schools, students are 77 percent more likely to be assigned an out-of-field teacher. Almost a third of classes are taught by teachers with no background in the subject--no major degree, no minor degree, no certification.

Despite our past efforts, this problem is worsening. In most academic subjects, the percentage of secondary school teachers ``out-of-field''--those teaching a class in which they do not have a major, a minor, or a certification--increased from 1993 to 2000. Clearly, we must do a better job of attracting better teachers to the neediest classrooms and do more to reward their efforts so that they stay in the classroom.

Because schools compete for the best teachers, the bill provides funding to school districts to reward teachers who transfer to schools with the greatest challenges, and provides incentives for teachers working in math, science, and special education.

The TEACH Act also establishes a framework to develop and use the systems needed at the State and local levels to identify and improve teacher effectiveness and recognize exceptional teaching in the classroom. States will develop data systems to track student progress and relate it to the level of instruction provided in the classroom. The bill also encourages the development of model teacher advancement programs with competitive compensation structures that recognize and reward different roles, responsibilities, knowledge, skills and positive results.

Too often, teachers lack the training they need before reaching the classroom. On the job, they have few sources of support to meet the challenges they face in the classroom, and few opportunities for ongoing professional development to expand their skills. The bill responds to the needs of teachers in their first years in the classroom by creating new and innovative teacher induction models that use proven strategies to support beginning teachers. New teachers will have access to mentoring, opportunities for cooperative planning with their peers, and a special transition year to ease into the pressures of entering the classroom. Veteran teachers will have an opportunity to improve their skills through peer mentoring and review. Other support includes professional development delivered through teaching centers to improve training and working conditions for teachers.

Since good leadership is also essential for schools, the bill provides important incentives and support for principals by raising standards and improving recruitment and training for them as well.

This legislation was developed with the help of a broad and diverse group of educational professionals and experts, including the Alliance for Excellent Education, the American Federation of Teachers, the Business Roundtable, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the Children's Defense Fund, the Education Trust, the National Council on Teacher Quality, the National Council of La Raza, the National Education Association, New Leaders for New Schools, the New Teacher Center, Operation Public Education, the Teacher Advancement Program Foundation, Teach for America and the Teaching Commission. I thank them for their help and their work on behalf of our Nation's children.

As Shirley Mount Hufstedler, the first United States Secretary of Education, has said:

The role of the teacher remains the highest calling of a free people. To the teacher, America entrusts her most precious resource, her children; and asks that they be prepared, in all their glorious diversity, to face the rigors of individual participation in a democratic society.

We must do all in our power to help them in this endeavor.

I urge my colleagues to join in supporting this bill and I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD, as follows:

S. 1218

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

http://thomas.loc.gov