Fact Sheet - Teachers at the
Table Act of 2007
September 18, 2007
U.S. Senator Russ Feingold will be introducing
the Teachers at the Table Act of 2007, a bill that would create
a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to advise Congress
and the Department of Education on the impact of No Child
Left Behind on students, their families, and the classroom
learning environment. This legislation is the Senate companion
to the Teachers at the Table Act introduced by Representatives
Carolyn McCarthy and Lee Terry in the House and is fully paid
for through offsets.
Senator Feingold holds listening sessions in each of Wisconsin’s
seventy-two counties every year, and education has consistently
been one of the top issues he hears about throughout Wisconsin.
Feedback on No Child Left Behind and the law’s implementation
from Wisconsin’s educators, administrators, and parents has
been invaluable to Senator Feingold over the past five years.
Establishment of this advisory committee would provide nationwide
feedback from some of America’s best teachers on NCLB’s impact
in our nation’s classrooms.
Feingold’s legislation contains the following provisions:
- Directs the Secretary of Education to
establish a Volunteer Teacher Advisory Committee to monitor
the effects of No Child Left Behind in classrooms.
- Specifies that the Volunteer Teacher
Advisory Committee be comprised of past or present Teachers
of the Year who have submitted a competitive application
to the Department of Education.
- States that the focus of the Volunteer
Teacher Advisory Committee’s work will be solely on the
impact of NCLB on children and families.
- States that the Secretary of Education,
the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate, the Speaker
of the House, and the Minority Leader of the House shall
each pick four members to serve on the Volunteer Teacher
Advisory Committee from the Teachers of the Year who submitted
applications to the Department of Education.
- Mandates that the Volunteer Teacher
Advisory Committee shall represent diverse and multiple
geographic regions, grade levels, and specialty areas.
- Requires the Volunteer Teacher Advisory
Committee to submit annual reports to Congress and the Secretary
of Education on NCLB’s impact on students and their families.
|
