|
WASHINGTON, DC -- Representative George Miller (D-CA), the senior Democrat on the House education committee, issued the following statement today on a new report from the Education Trust that shows that poor and minority students are less likely to be taught by highly qualified teachers. The report provides new information on the effect of teacher quality on student achievement. It also offers recommendations for getting highly qualified teachers into poor and minority schools.
“The No Child Left Behind act requires a highly qualified teacher in every classroom in the country. We still have a long way to go to make that goal a reality, and we must keep working hard on it. This new report confirms what I’ve been hearing from people all over the country – that way too many poor and minority students are still not being taught by highly qualified teachers. We know what happens when disadvantaged students are taught by teachers with less experience or less subject matter expertise – they lose time and learning opportunities that they are unlikely to ever get back. This report shows just how much those missed opportunities hurt their academic achievement and chances for success.
“It’s unfortunate that, until only very recently, the Department of Education has failed to adequately implement the teacher quality provisions of No Child Left Behind. The Department is improving on that score now, but valuable time has been lost over the four and a half years since No Child Left Behind was enacted. It’s also extremely disappointing that Republican leaders in Congress have failed to make teacher quality a higher priority. Just yesterday, a House subcommittee cut teacher quality by $300 million – a 10 percent cut. This cut will make it harder to solve the problems outlined by the report.
“Both in legislation that I offered last year and in this report’s recommendations there are a number of steps we could take to get highly qualified teachers into the schools that need them the most. Congress should give those ideas serious debate and consideration, because the evidence showing the importance of teacher quality to student achievement is overwhelming.”
Last year, Miller introduced the TEACH Act of 2005, intended to attract and retain highly qualified teachers to America’s public schools. For more information, visit: http://www.house.gov/list/press/ed31_democrats/rel52405.html.
### |
