CONGRESSMAN Jared Polis 2nd DISTRICT OF COLORADO

Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) today announced the introduction of the Great Teaching for Great Schools Act, which would provide new, targeted resources to support high-quality professional development for teachers and school administrators. Polis was joined at Lafayette’s Justice High School for the bill’s unveiling by Colorado State Board of Education member Angelika Schroeder, the Colorado Education Association’s Linda Barker, Stand for Children’s Lindsay Neil, and Colorado Teacher of the Year Michelle Pearson.

“The single best guarantee of our children’s success in school is an excellent teacher in every classroom,” said Polis. “We must support effective professional development that allows educators to be their very best. An inspiring, dedicated teacher shouldn’t just be the stuff of Hollywood movies; it should be the norm in every school in every community.”

Studies show that teacher and school administrator quality rank first and second among school-related factors influencing student achievement. Yet, the average American teacher receives only 14 to 16 hours of professional development per year. The bill addresses the large, unmet need for new targeted investments that will help teachers and administrators become more effective so students can achieve at higher levels.

"Professional development for teachers, teacher leaders and principals is the key to ensuring the success of an enhanced evaluation system,” said Schroeder. “It's all about increasing the knowledge and capacity of our educators to prepare our children for the changing world."

"In Colorado and across the country, we are witnessing a wave of change in how we evaluate educators,” said Lindsay Neil, Colorado Executive Director of Stand for Children. “In order to have the greatest impact on student learning, it is imperative that stronger evaluations be paired with targeted professional development that help teachers improve their practice."

"Regular, on-going professional learning addressing teacher needs is critical as evidenced by the 2011 Colorado Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning survey where 65 percent of over 30,000 educators expressed a need for professional development on how to use technology for classroom instruction to make a difference for student learning," added Barker.

"Each day teachers make a difference in the lives of the children they teach," said Pearson. “Through quality professional development opportunities, educators can receive the training needed to meet the needs of their students in the classroom while at the same time ensuring that students have the skills to meet the challenges of the 21st century."

Research strongly correlates quality, ongoing, collaborative professional development with better student outcomes.

• Several California studies found teacher learning teams improving student outcomes for a wide range of students, including for poor and Hispanic students.
• A range of other studies in the past decade have linked comprehensive professional learning with better math, literacy, science and history scores, and lower dropout rates.
• Other countries (England, Singapore, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands) that provide more support and time for quality professional development have had better student learning gains than the U.S.