Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce with Senator LEMIEUX and Senator BROWN of Ohio, the Teacher and Principal Improvement Act, to foster the development of highly skilled and effective educators.

We are slated to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act--ESEA--this Congress for the first time since 2001. My top priority for reauthorization is to build the capacity of our Nation's schools to enhance the effectiveness of teachers, principals, school librarians, and school leaders.

Decades of research have demonstrated that improving teacher and principal quality as well as greater family involvement are the keys to raising student achievement and turning around struggling schools. Studies have found that more than 50 percentile points of the difference in student academic performance is attributed to teacher quality. The world's top performing education systems invest heavily in supporting and developing teachers. Teachers in top-ranking countries such as Finland and Singapore get 100 hours of fully paid professional development training each year. It is clear that the United States must also increase its investments in our educators to stay academically competitive in an ever-expanding global economy.

Unfortunately, every year across the country thousands of effective teachers leave the profession--many within their first years of teaching. A 2003 study by Richard Ingersoll found that one-third of all new teachers quit after three years. That turnover rate increases to nearly half--one out of every two new teachers hired--after 5 years. A report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future also estimated that the nationwide cost of replacing public school teachers who have dropped out of the profession is $7.3 billion annually.

However, research has shown that comprehensive mentoring and induction reduces teacher attrition by as much as half. New teachers need extra support and guidance. As such, our bill would help schools implement the key elements of effective multi-year mentoring and induction for beginning teachers, including rigorous mentor selection; ongoing mentoring with paid release time; training for mentors; and the use of research-based teaching practices such as the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards.

The bill also significantly revises ESEA's current definition of ``professional development'' to foster an ongoing culture of teacher, principal, school librarian, and staff collaboration throughout schools. All too often current professional development still consists of isolated, check-the-box activities instead of helping educators engage in sustained professional learning that is regularly evaluated for its impact on classroom practice and student achievement. Effective professional development is collaborative, job-embedded, and data-driven. Research has shown that this type of professional development has a positive impact on student learning.

Research has also increasingly emphasized the important role that effective evaluation systems can play in teacher and principal development. Unfortunately, most evaluation systems nationwide have significant flaws, including a lack of: clear standards of expected performance; meaningful differentiation of teacher performance; ongoing evaluations and classroom observations; and rigorous training of evaluators. As such, our Teacher and Principal Improvement Act would for the first time in federal law require school districts to establish rigorous, fair, and transparent evaluation systems to assess whether teachers and principals are having positive impacts on student learning. If evaluation is done right, it provides teachers and principals with individualized ongoing feedback and support on their strengths, weaknesses, and areas in need of improvement.

Principals and school leaders also have a critical role to play in leading school improvement efforts and managing a collaborative culture of ongoing professional learning and development. Research has shown that leadership is second only to classroom instruction among school-related factors that influence student outcomes. As such, this bill would provide ongoing high-quality professional development to principals and school leaders, including multi-year induction and mentoring for new administrators. In this way, we will ensure that principals and school leaders possess the knowledge and skills to use student data to inform decisionmaking, communicate with families and local communities, and design and implement strategies for addressing student needs, including for students with disabilities and English Language Learners.

Additionally, our bill recognizes the importance of creating compensated leadership opportunities for teachers to take on additional roles and responsibilities outside the classroom, which will increase collaboration and the sharing of expertise among teachers and staff and improve instructional practices throughout the school. It also seeks to include for the first time in law a requirement that districts conduct surveys of the working and learning conditions educators face so this data could be used to better target investments and support.

Another precedent set as part of this legislation is that it requires an independent, formal review of professional development, mentoring, and evaluation programs. This review would look at whether these programs are effectively implemented and raise student achievement; retain effective teachers; improve classroom and leadership practice; and increase family and community involvement. We must ensure that our teachers and school leaders not only have access to high-quality professional development opportunities, but also know whether or not those programs are actually working to improve classroom practice and student learning.

Lastly, throughout the bill, school district collaboration with teachers and staff is viewed as a key element, particularly in the development and implementation of the teacher evaluation system. Research has shown that true ``teacher buy-in'' is an important factor in ensuring the sustained success of school reform efforts. In Rhode Island, we have seen in recent months an example of this as the Providence School District, educators, and the local teacher's union partnered together to embark on critical school improvement efforts. I am pleased that the Administration also has recently recognized the importance of teacher buy-in when it awarded the first Race to the Top grants to Delaware and Tennessee--both states that had applications with nearly 100 percent local teacher union support.

I worked with a range of education organizations in developing this bill, including the Alliance for Excellent Education; American Federation of School Administrators; American Federation of Teachers; American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education; Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development; Center for American Progress; Educational Testing Service; National Association of Elementary School Principals; National Association of Secondary School Principals; National Board for Professional Teaching Standards; National Commission on Teaching and America's Future; National Middle School Association; National Staff Development Council; National Writing Project; New Teacher Center; New Teacher Project; Pi Lambda Theta; and Teacher Advancement Program. I thank them for their input and support for the bill.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this bipartisan bill and work for its inclusion in the upcoming reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD,

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