Miller, Kennedy Introduce Comprehensive Bill to Promote Excellence in Teaching

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

WASHINGTON, DC -- Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) today introduced legislation to build and elevate the teaching profession to make sure that every classroom is headed by an excellent teacher. The lawmakers said that the Teacher Excellence for All Children (TEACH) Act provides a blueprint for improving teacher quality under No Child Left Behind law.

"Teacher quality is the single most important factor in determining a child's success in school. Closing the teacher quality gap is key to closing the academic achievement gap," said Miller, chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee. "We owe it to teachers and their students to provide more than rhetoric about our commitment to encouraging talented people to enter the field and stay there. We must dedicate the necessary resources and demand the necessary results to make sure that every classroom in America has a high quality teacher."

"A good education begins with a good teacher," said Kennedy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.  "One of the most significant steps we can take to improve the nation's schools is to do more to support the recruitment, training, and retention of high quality teachers.  Day in and day out, in thousands of schools across the country, teachers struggle to give our children the knowledge and skills they need to succeed.  Our teachers are 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."

States are experiencing a severe shortage of highly qualified teachers, and an unprecedented percentage of the current teacher workforce will retire in the next five years. The teacher shortage is especially acute in high poverty schools and in the subject areas of math and science. America's most at-risk students are too often taught by the least prepared, least experienced, and least qualified teachers. Students in high poverty schools are twice as likely as their peers to be taught by teachers with less than three years of experience.

The TEACH Act of 2007 would help increase the supply of excellent teachers, ensure that children are taught by teachers with expertise in their subject area, build a teaching career ladder, identify and reward the best teachers, and retain the best teachers and principals.

The TEACH Act:

• Provides financial incentives including performance pay to encourage excellent teachers and principals to enter the professions and to elevate the standing of the professions;
• Promotes the establishment of teacher career advancement ladders by augmenting the salaries of teachers who expand their knowledge and skills and take on new professional and leadership roles such as mentor and master teachers;
• Addresses the math, science, foreign language, special education and English language learners teacher shortage crisis through incentives that would encourage outstanding students in these fields to teach including loan forgiveness and upfront tuition assistance; and
• Creates TEACH Grants that would provide up-front pre-paid tuition assistance of $4,000 per year for high-achieving graduate and undergraduate students who commit to teaching a high-need subject in a high-need school for four years.

For more details of the TEACH Act, please click here.

The TEACH Act is supported by broad array of education, civil rights and business groups, including: Alliance for Excellent Education, American Federation of Teachers, Associations of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Business Roundtable, Center for American Progress Action Fund, Children's Defense Fund, Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, Council of Urban Boards of Education, Education Trust, Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, National Council of La Raza, National Council of Teachers of English, National Council on Teacher Quality, National Education Association, National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, National School Boards Association, New Leaders for New Schools, New Teacher Center at UC-Santa Cruz, New York City Department of Education, Operation Public Education, Teach for America, and The Teaching Commission

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Kiley / Rachel Racusen
2181 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-226-0853