[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 59 (Thursday, May 8, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E875-E876]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE TEACHER TECHNOLOGY TRAINING ACT OF 1997

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CONSTANCE A. MORELLA

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 8, 1997

  Mrs. MORELLA. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation that 
will provide teachers with the technology training they need to meet 
the classroom challenges of the 21st century.
  The Teacher Technology Training Act of 1997 would include technology 
in teacher training and professional development programs authorized 
under the Elementary and Secondary Schools Act of 1994. This 
legislation would require States to incorporate technology requirements 
in teacher training content and performance standards. School districts 
and local education agencies that receive Federal funding would have to 
include technology classes in their programs, and institutions of 
higher education would be encouraged to incorporate technology into 
their education curriculum.
  During the 104th Congress, language was included in the 
Telecommunications Act to provide affordable access to the Internet for 
our Nation's schools. The Federal Communications Commission [FCC] 
yesterday announced final regulations for the implementation of this 
language, which means that schools across the country will receive 
meaningful discounts for the latest telecommunications technologies. 
Access to the Internet will only be helpful to our educational system 
if teachers are equipped with the knowledge to use that technology.
  The Office of Technology Assessment [OTA] recently released a study 
showing that a majority of teachers feel they need additional training 
in order to adequately use a personal computer. School districts across 
the United States spend less than 15 percent of their technology 
budgets on teacher training.
  The Subcommittee on Technology, which I chair, held a hearing this 
week on technology in the classroom. Witnesses included education 
technology specialists from around the country, and each one testified 
that there is a lack of teachers who understand how to incorporate 
technology into the classroom curriculum. Kalani Smith, who is an 
instructional specialist in the Office of Global Access Technology in 
the Montgomery County, MD, Public Schools, told the subcommittee that 
training should focus on helping teachers to use the computers in their 
classrooms as tools to teach what they have always been teaching, but 
in new and innovative ways.
  Kathleen Fulton, the associate director of the Center for Learning 
and Educational Technologies at the University of Maryland, used to 
work for the OTA. She said that OTA also studied the competence of new 
teachers just entering the classroom. The study, ``Teachers

[[Page E876]]

and Technology'' was less than promising, for it showed that ``most new 
teachers graduate from teacher preparation institutions with limited 
knowledge of the way technology can be used in their professional 
practice.''
  Advanced technology has improved America's economic competitiveness 
and improved the quality of life for millions of Americans. By the year 
2000, just 3 years away, 60 percent of American jobs will require 
technological skills. Our classrooms must have teachers who know how to 
use technology in order for our children to succeed into the next 
century. We are taking steps to put computers in our classrooms; now we 
must make sure that our teachers know how to use them effectively.

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