[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 149 (Thursday, October 28, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S13421-S13425]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM:
  S. 1827. A bill to provide funds to assist high-poverty school 
districts meet their teaching needs; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.


                       transition to teaching act

  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, today I introduce legislation which is 
entitled ``Transition to Teaching. This legislation starts from a 
personal experience.
  Bill Aradine is a first-year teacher. He tells me he is greatly 
enjoying his experience in the classroom. He has 150 students from the 
9th to the 12th grade at North Marion High School near Ocala, FL. Mr. 
Aradine teaches automobile mechanics. He has sparked an interest in 
students that may lead many of them to rewarding, lucrative, and 
challenging careers. I know Mr. Aradine because I did one of my 
workdays--in fact, my most recent workday--at North Marion High School. 
It is the story I learned that day at North Marion that brings me to 
the Senate floor today.
  Up to this point, it may not seem that unusual of a story--a 
beginning teacher facing new challenges--but Mr. Aradine brings 
something else to his first year at North Marion High School. He brings 
a previous career of 11 years on-the-job experience. He has years of 
experience in a local Chevrolet car dealership. He is now starting a 
second career as a teacher. The students look to him with a different 
perspective. When he says, you will need to know this if you are going 
to get the job done, they know he knows what he is talking about. 
Having just come directly from the industry, he teaches at the cutting 
edge.
  The information he brings to his students is what he was actually 
doing in the workplace not that long ago. Mr. Aradine is also a bridge. 
He is a bridge between North Marion High School students and the world 
of employment. He offers them advice, counsel, and real-life 
connections to future jobs.
  Mr. Aradine learned of the opening at the high school when one of the 
automobile mechanic's teachers retired. He applied for the job. He was 
allowed to obtain a temporary teaching certificate based on his prior 
work experience. He will take four courses over the next 3 years to 
obtain a permanent teaching certificate. North Marion High School 
principal, Walter Miller, could not be more pleased with the situation. 
Mr. Aradine is doing an excellent job with the students. North Marion 
High School was able to fill a vacancy and ease its teacher shortage.
  More and more schools will be turning to teachers who are in their 
second career. The Washington Post of October 4 of this year remarks on 
the trend of professionals entering teaching after years of work in a 
nonacademic job.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the end of my remarks, 
a copy of an article entitled, ``Disillusioned Find Renewal in 
Classroom,'' be printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  (See Exhibit 1.)
  Mr. GRAHAM. Every August and September, another school year begins. 
Thousands of young Americans enter the classroom. Almost every year at 
this time, I hear from school districts throughout Florida about 
teacher shortages. What did I hear in 1999? I heard from Miami Dade 
that they had hired 1,700 new teachers for the 1999 school year but 
still had 300 vacancies to fill on the first day of classes. 
Hillsborough County, Tampa, hired 1,493 teachers for the start of the 
school year. They were still 238 teachers short when the first school 
bell rang. Orange County, Orlando, needed 1,300 teachers for the new 
year and still had 50 vacancies a month after school started.
  These concerns will only get worse. Forty percent of current 
schoolteachers are over the age of 50. They are nearing retirement. Who 
will be the future role models to the next generation of Americans? Who 
will take their places in the classroom? The importance of having high 
quality teachers in sufficient numbers is crucial, if we are to look at 
the challenges facing education in the future.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record 
an article by Dr. Robert McCabe entitled, ``A Twenty-First Century 
Challenge: Underprepared Americans.''
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

       A Twenty First Century Challenge: Underprepared Americans

                         (By Robert H. McCabe)

       The essential mission for higher education in the new 
     America of the 21st Century will be creating opportunity for 
     new populations. Higher education will be more important than 
     every before, but the scope of services will be very 
     different and should be dramatically expanded to match the 
     changed environment. In short, the current emphasis on 
     exclusion must shift to inclusion.
       In the new America, we will be older, less white, and more 
     diverse. Our workforce will shrink. Information technology 
     will impact everything and everybody. Business will function 
     in a global economy and unskilled jobs will be exported to 
     low wage developing nations. The gap between the skills and 
     competencies of Americans, and those required for an 
     Information Age workforce will continue to widen, threatening 
     the very well being of our nation.
       As we enter the 21st Century we face three critical 
     challenges: remaining competitive in a global economy; 
     reversing the growth of a

[[Page S13422]]

     seemingly permanent and disenfranchised underclass; and 
     developing a broad based workforce possessing Information Age 
     skills. Whether or not we successfully meet these challenges 
     will depend on the achievement of our educational system. The 
     public schools, however, face ever greater difficulties. 
     Increasing numbers of diverse children will enter the schools 
     with significant educational and life deficiencies. Despite 
     the school reforms that are sweeping the nation, it is 
     virtually certain that increasing numbers of individuals will 
     reach adulthood unprepared for 21st Century life and 
     employment. Failure to educate these individuals would result 
     in a catastrophic decline in our economy and standard of 
     living. The role of higher education is critical. It must 
     provide leadership in reshaping an educational system that is 
     significantly more successful at all levels. Colleges will 
     experience extraordinary enrollment growth from previously 
     undeserved and underprepared populations. They must assist 
     these Americans in achieving the higher order competencies 
     necessary to succeed in the Information Age. To reach this 
     goal, colleges must partner with public schools to 
     participate in school reform. They must also insure that 
     strengthened and well-supported college remedial education 
     programs are available, primarily in community colleges, to 
     rescue underprepared adults for their own benefit and to the 
     benefit of the nation as a whole.
       The following is a review of factors that will redefine the 
     mission of higher education in the new America of the 21st 
     Century.


                       business/industry and work

       In a global economy, business and industry will get its 
     work done where it is least costly. Manufacturing is already 
     moving from the United States to less developed nations where 
     wages are lower. This trend will continue. Sustaining 
     America's current prosperity will depend on its ability to 
     lead and develop knowledge industries, which are based on a 
     highly skilled and a more productive workforce. Brainpower 
     and technology can multiply individual productivity, thus, 
     compensating for higher wages and helping America to retain 
     global competitiveness.
       Experts believe--judging from successful economies already 
     functioning in the new global environment--the countries that 
     remain competitive in the next century are those with the 
     highest overall literacy and educational levels--that is, 
     nations, such as Germany and Japan, that have a strong 
     ``bottom third.'' This should be a compelling wake up call 
     for America because demographic trends indicate that the 
     future U.S. work force will be increasingly composed of 
     groups such as minorities and immigrants, who have 
     disproportionately high rates of illiteracy and educational 
     underachievement (Immerwahr et al. 1991 p. 15).
       Beyond the basics, workers need additional skills to meet 
     workforce demands--even if they hold the same job. Regardless 
     of the product or service offered, the competitive workplace 
     of today is a high-skill environment designed around 
     technology and people who are technically competent.
       A 1997 National Alliance of Business report, ``Job Cuts 
     Out, High Skills In,'' states: ``With the explosion of 
     technology in the workplace, skill level requirements are 
     being ratcheted up by employers. Inventory, sales, marketing, 
     expense analysis, communications, and correspondence are 
     being one faster, better and cheaper, and with greater 
     efficiency in the workplace'' (National Alliance of Business, 
     p. 1).
       Through turbulent years of reorganization, companies have 
     raised skill requirements in order to hire employees with the 
     competencies they need to be more competitive. More highly 
     skilled workers have replaced employees with lower or 
     outdated skills. Job elimination and downsizing have declined 
     to their lowest levels in the decade, as companies are 
     prepared for increased productivity and profitability. 
     ``We're seeing the payoff after a decade of pain,'' says Eric 
     Greenberg, director of management studies for the American 
     Management association. ``The same forces that were costing 
     jobs in the earlier years, such as restructuring, re-
     engineering and automation are now creating jobs that demand 
     high skill levels. The people going out the door don't have 
     them, the people coming in do'' (National Alliance of 
     Business, 1997, p. 6).
       At the same time that necessary skill levels are rising, 
     the skills of American workers are declining--a bleak picture 
     indeed. In 1995, The National Workforce Collabative estimated 
     that the incidence of low basic workplace skills among U.S. 
     workers ranging from 20 to 40 percent.
       Business and Industry estimates that 80 percent of the 21st 
     Century workforce will need some post-secondary education. In 
     addition, they will need higher order information 
     competencies as a base for life long continuing education. 
     Today, fewer than half of Americans have achieved this level 
     of competence and demographic changes indicate that in the 
     future even fewer will be as well prepared.


                          DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES

       As the millennium approaches, stores analyzing the state of 
     the nation and predicting its future fill the public 
     discourse. Demographers can accurately describe what Newsweek 
     magazine termed the ``face of the future'' (Morganthau 1997). 
     In the 21st Century, the United States will become more 
     ethnically diverse, more crowded and much older.
       The greatest changes will occur in the Hispanic population. 
     Today, Hispanics make up nearly 30 million people and 11 
     percent of the population. With high birthrates and high 
     legal and illegal immigration, this share will continue to 
     increase. Hispanic Americans average 2.4 to 2.9 children per 
     couple, compared to white Americans average of just under two 
     children per couple (Sivy 1997). In addition, the majority of 
     today's immigrants are Hispanic, a trend that is expected to 
     continue. Within the next seven years, Hispanics will 
     overtake African Americans as the nation's largest minority. 
     By 2005, Hispanics will number more than 36 million people 
     compared to a projected 35.5 million African Americans. 
     (Holmes 1998). By 2050, they are expected to comprise nearly 
     one quarter of the total population, almost 96 million 
     people. (Morganthau 1997). This growth is remarkable 
     considering that in 1970 Hispanic accounted for just nine 
     million citizens or roughly four percent of the national 
     population (Population Reference Bureau 1999).
       Virtually all of our growth will be from minorities, 
     principally Hispanics. These groups are disproportionately 
     poor, and thus, disproportionately educationally 
     underprepared. To illustrate, African Americans are 13 
     percent of the general population and 40 percent of welfare 
     recipients while Hispanics are 11 percent of the population 
     and 22 percent of welfare recipients.


                              IMMIGRATION

       Changing patterns of immigration are rearranging the face 
     of America. Immigrants make up a significant portion of 
     population growth. These new Americans differ in origin from 
     those of earlier years. Between 1820 and 1967, 40 million of 
     America's 44 million immigrants came from European countries. 
     From 1968 to 1994, only three million of the 18 million 
     immigrants came from Europe--a decrease from 90 percent to 17 
     percent. Today's immigrants come primarily from Latin America 
     and Asia, and most importantly, from underdeveloped nations. 
     Unfortunately, the immigrant population that is a major 
     source of future workers also adds to our underprepared 
     population. In the early 20th Century, most European 
     immigrants were also unskilled. At that time, however, work 
     was predominantly unskilled, and the immigrants provided much 
     needed unskilled manpower. Circumstances are now quite 
     different. Less than 20 percent of today's jobs are 
     unskilled. Few new immigrants arrive on our shores with the 
     job skills that business and industry need, yet these ``new 
     workers'' represent a key source of potential employees 
     needed to fill the void created by retiring ``Baby Boomers''.


                          THE AGING OF AMERICA

       In 1900, the average life expectancy was 48. Today it is 
     76. In addition, America's fertility rate has dropped below 
     the 2.1 children per woman population replacement rate. In 
     1950, the average age of Americans was 21 while today it is 
     37. Demographer Samuel Preston reports that the population is 
     rapidly growing older and will continue to do so in the next 
     half century (1996). Between 1995 and 2010, the number of 
     people 65 and older will grow slowly from 33.5 million to 
     39.4 million, as people born in the 1930s and early 1940s 
     (when fertility was low) grow older. By contrast, between 
     2010 and 2030, with the ``Baby Boomers'' aging, the number 
     will soar from 39.4 million to 69.3 million. Meanwhile, the 
     population in the prime working ages of 20 to 59 will remain 
     stationary at about 160 million. In 1900, there were 10 times 
     as many children below 18 as there were adults over 65. By 
     2030, there will be slightly more people over 65 than under 
     18.
       Most discussion about the aging of Americans has focused on 
     the viability of Social Security and Medicare. The Social 
     Security system uses a pay-as-you-go model whereby payments 
     by current workers are used to pay benefits to retirees. The 
     concept was that when current workers retire, new workers 
     would be available to pay into the system to support their 
     retirement. That is history. In the future, it will simply no 
     longer be the case. When the system began, 17 to 20 workers 
     paid in for each retired worker receiving benefits. By 1960, 
     the ratio had fallen to five workers for each retiree. Today 
     it is 3.4 to one and by 2020 there will only be two workers 
     for each retiree. While this forecasts serious problems, they 
     are not nearly as severe as the problem of a declining 
     percentage of the population in the workforce. Quite simply, 
     to sustain our economy, everyone in their prime work years 
     will need to be in the workforce. They must be highly skilled 
     and extremely productive to support more retirees.


                                POVERTY

       With our high standard of living and prosperity, America 
     continues to have a persistent underclass with more 
     individuals living in poverty than other developed nations. 
     This is an unacceptable, deeply imbedded and seemingly 
     unresolvable American problem. In the 1950s and 1960s, a near 
     national consensus believed that the problem of poverty and 
     equal opportunity for all could and should be resolved. 
     Today, cynicism has replaced optimism. People living in 
     poverty feel there is no way out and that the system is 
     rigged against them. Those supporting the dependent 
     population are frustrated and angry and increasingly blame 
     those who live in poverty for their own poor circumstances.
       Politicans applaud the apparent successes of welfare reform 
     efforts intended to quickly remove individuals from the 
     welfare rolls. A closer look, however, reveals that the 
     successes are more a result of a robust economy

[[Page S13423]]

     than successful reform programs. Many have only progressed 
     from poverty to joining the working poor. Persistent 
     poverty appears to be impervious to every attempt at 
     improvement.
       From kindergarten to college, poverty correlates more 
     closely with academic deficiency than any other factor. The 
     strong relationship between socio-economic status and 
     educational achievement and the rising skill levels required 
     for employment result in growing numbers from impoverished 
     neighborhoods being undereducated for 21st Century jobs. 
     These underprepared individuals add to the nation's 
     unemployed, are dependent on the society and expand the gap 
     between the haves and have nots--a destructive and dangerous 
     situation.


                        THE NEW AMERICAN FAMILY

       Today, nearly half of all American children experience the 
     breakup of their parents' marriage. Family arrangements are 
     diverse, and increasingly, do not involve a full-time father. 
     In 1963, 77 percent of white children, 65 percent of Hispanic 
     children, and 36 percent of African American children lived 
     in two-parent families. By 1991, only half of the United 
     States' children and teens lived in a traditional nuclear 
     family. Fifth percent of white children live with a divorced 
     mother; while 54 percent of African American children and 33 
     percent of Hispanic children have mothers who have never 
     married (McCabe and Day 1998, p. 7). More children are born 
     to unmarried women, 33 percent in 1994 compared with 5 
     percent in 1960 (Preston 1996). Even those children from a 
     two-parent household spend less family time together. About 
     70 percent of mothers with children at home are working 
     (Edmondson 1997). Children are often shuttled between day 
     care centers, baby sitters, and extended family members.
       According to Prather (1995), ``There are three problems 
     that impact the learning abilities of young children that are 
     exacerbated by the changing structures of families: 
     Insufficient parenting, poor prenatal care, and inadequate 
     health care.'' One-fourth of the pregnant women in America, 
     particularly those who live in poverty, receive no prenatal 
     care. Problems in the womb often lead to learning 
     disabilities and other cognitive disorders.
       Recent brain development research indicate that ``wiring'' 
     of neurons occurs after birth, and that experience during 
     infancy and early childhood plays a critical role in defining 
     an individual's capacity to learn. The child's brain and 
     central nervous system develop rapidly during the first three 
     years of life in response to parental attention and 
     stimulation, such as talking, seeing and playing. Absence of 
     these critical early child care experiences, can result in 
     permanent loss of learning capacity. This obviously occurs 
     more frequently in single parent families because there is 
     less time available for the children.
       Children who suffer from inadequate economic resources and 
     parental attention are children at risk of school failure. 
     When these students progress into secondary schools, they are 
     often tucked away in a holding pattern in general studies 
     programs, and other programs that set lower expectations and 
     develop less information competency. These students are 
     destined to become underprepared adults.
       The decline in the traditional family and the rising 
     percentage of children born into poverty raises the question 
     of whether children of the 21st Century will be sufficiently 
     nurtured and prepared to mature to the productive adults that 
     America needs.
       At the heart of the United States' future will be the 
     changing concept of family--a kind of new social 
     demographics. Tomorrow's family will be less traditional and 
     more complex. The 1950s nuclear family with the father as the 
     sole breadwinner will be a distant memory. Instead, family 
     life will be plagued by much of the same problems it suffers 
     from today--divorce, single parenting, and a fractured and 
     harried household.
       Taken together--an analysis of demographics and family 
     structure--we have a clear picture of the 21st Century. The 
     United States will be crowded, diverse, older, and Americans 
     will be less well prepared for employment. But what then does 
     all this really mean? How will these changes influence 
     everyday life? How well will we prepare our children for the 
     future? What challenges will they face? How will we care for 
     our elderly, infirm, and needy?


                  EDUCATING A MAJORITY MINORITY NATION

       The demographic realities--particularly the growing 
     diversity--will have the greatest impact on our education 
     system. We know that by 2020 half of the nation's youth will 
     be ``minority.'' But what is most striking about this 
     statistic is the shifting concept of minority. Demographer 
     Hodgkinson explains that educating tomorrow's minority will 
     be more complicated because of who they are. Between 1820 and 
     1945, the nations that sent us the largest numbers of 
     immigrants were (in rank order): Germany, Italy, Ireland, 
     United Kingdom, Soviet Union, Canada, and Sweden. The nations 
     that send us the most immigrants now and through the year 
     2000 are (in rank order): Mexico, Philippines, Korea, China/
     Taiwan, India, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Canada, 
     Vietnam, United Kingdom, and Iran (Hodgkinson 1993).
       This shift indicates a clear transformation. The United 
     States has gone from a nation of Europeans with a common 
     European culture to a nation of the world. Students from all 
     over the world will be in the same classrooms--making our 
     schools truly international in composition (Hodgkinson 1993). 
     The change brings with it a set of unique instructional 
     problems. In the past, schools could use the European 
     commonality to socialize immigrant children. Today, children 
     come to classrooms with different diets, different religions, 
     different individual and group loyalties, different music, 
     and different languages.
       Tommorrow's students will be problematic for an even more 
     profound reason--their lack of academic skills. Teachers will 
     not only struggle with their diversity but also with their 
     poor language skills and lack of educational attainment. 
     Minorities have traditionally lagged behind academically. 
     Educational policy makers often view them as an 
     afterthought--gearing their decisions to the more successful 
     white majority. As the demographics shift, however, educators 
     will face a nation dominated by struggling students, at the 
     same time more must complete their education with higher 
     order skills.
       The statistics illustrate a wide educational gap between 
     minorities and non-minorities. In 1996, 30 percent of 
     Hispanics had less than a ninth grade education, compared 
     with 10 percent of African Americans and only about five 
     percent of whites. Little more than one-half (53 percent) of 
     Hispanics ages 25 or older had completed high school, and 
     less than 10 percent had at least a bachelor's degree. Nearly 
     85 percent of non-Hispanic adults were high school graduates, 
     and nearly 25 percent were college graduates (del Pinal 
     1997). The high school dropout rate--the percentage of 
     people, ages 16 to 24, who do not have a high school 
     diploma--reflects a similar disparity. In 1993, 27.5 
     percent of Hispanic students, 13.6 percent of African 
     American students, and 7.9 percent of white students fell 
     into this category (Coley 1995).
       Minority children start two or three steps behind their 
     white counterparts. They start elementary school with fewer 
     social skills and lower language skills than their white 
     counterparts (del Pinal 1997). Their path of underachievement 
     then continues throughout their academic career.


                                summary

       A series of circumstances are converging to create a 21st 
     Century American dilemma that threatens the nation's economic 
     and societal well being. The global economy is forcing 
     manufacturing and businesses that utilize less skilled labor 
     out of the country. The nation's hope for continued 
     prosperity is to be the leader of the world's knowledge 
     industries. This requires a highly skilled, highly productive 
     workforce. Formidable obstacles must be overcome to reach 
     that goal. With the aging population, the percentage of 
     individuals in their primary work years will decline. It is, 
     therefore, necessary to insure that the maximum number of 
     Americans are well prepared and in the workforce. They will 
     have to be more productive both to offset the competitive low 
     salaries in less developed countries and to support the 
     growing number of elderly. America does not have any one to 
     waste!
       Virtually all of our population growth will be from groups 
     that are disproportionately underprepared--immigrants mostly 
     from Third World countries, and minorities, principally 
     Hispanic, who are disproportionately poor. Changes in the 
     American family will also contribute to underpreparation. 
     Changing family and work circumstances result in poor 
     parenting practices that are linked to early children sensory 
     deprivation and learning disabilities. Due to the hardships 
     of growing numbers of single parent families, children's 
     social, physical and educational progress is impeded.
       The workforce could be both undersized and 
     disproportionately underskilled. It would be unable to 
     sustain a knowledge based economy and our quality of life.
       America must depend on education to avert this pending 
     national crisis. Despite reforms and hoped for improvements 
     in the public schools, more Americans will reach adulthood 
     underprepared. States are now taking school reform seriously 
     and there is evidence of some improvement. The task, however, 
     is monumental. The public schools cannot be expected to solve 
     it alone.
       The following graph dramatically demonstrates the scope of 
     the problem. Currently, 85 percent of young Americans 
     graduate from high school, 56 percent enter college and, 
     unfortunately, only 39 percent are prepared for college work. 
     This means that unless there is tremendous improvement, less 
     than 40 percent of young Americans will be prepared for the 
     80 percent of high skill jobs. Sixty percent will only be 
     prepared for the 20 percent of low skill jobs. It will be the 
     essential and daunting task of public schools and college 
     remedial programs to raise the 39 percent prepared to 80 
     percent. Substantially more students need to achieve higher 
     skills at the same time large numbers of children will enter 
     the educational system with serious life and educational 
     deficiencies.
       The great strength of America is the belief in the value of 
     every individual and the commitment to equal opportunity for 
     all. Higher education can do nothing more important and more 
     difficult than helping the underprepared achieve educational 
     parity. Higher education leadership is essential in meeting 
     this challenge. Colleges must join with public schools in 
     unified efforts to raise the educational achievements of all 
     children. They must also insure the availability of quality 
     remedial education programs, primarily in community colleges. 
     This will assure that

[[Page S13424]]

     the critical final bridge to full participants in our society 
     is available to everyone.


                               references

       Cassidy, J. ``Who Killed the Middle Class?'' The New 
     Yorker, October 16, 1995.
       Coley, Richard, Dreams Deferred: High School Dropouts in 
     the United States. Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing 
     Service, 1995.
       Del Pinal, Jorge. ``Generations of Diversity: Latinos in 
     the United States,'' Population Reference Bureau, October 
     1997.
       Hodgkinson, H. Bringing Tomorrow Into Focus, Washington DC; 
     The Institute for Educational Leadership, 1996.
       Immerwahr, John Johnson, Jean and Kerman-Schloss, Adam. 
     Cross Talk: The public, Experts and Competitiveness 
     (February). A Research Report from the Business-Higher 
     Education Forum and the Public Agenda Foundation.
       McCabe, Robert and Day, Philip. Developmental Education: A 
     Twenty-First Century Social and Economic Imperative. Mission 
     Viejo: League for Innovation in the Community College, 1998.
       Mitchell, S. ``The Diversity Generation: Demography's 
     Roller Coaster Brings an Echo Boom into Your Classrooms,'' 
     The American School Board Journal, April, 1996.
       National Alliance of Business. ``Job Cuts Out, High Skill 
     in,'' Work America, Vol. 14, November/December 1997.
       National Alliance of Business. ``Enhancing Education and 
     Training Through Technology, Workforce Economic Trends, 
     December, 1997.
       Prather, J.E. ``Presidential Address: What Sociologists Are 
     Learning About the Next Generation of Students: Are We 
     Prepared To Teach in the 21st Century?'' Sociological 
     Perspectives, Vol. 39, No. 4, 1995.
       Preston, S.H. ``Children Will Pay, Demography's Crystal 
     Ball Shows that 21st Century America Will be Older, Wiser and 
     More Ethnically Diverse. But Kids Face Trouble.'' New York 
     Times Magazine, September 29, 1996.

  Mr. GRAHAM. Dr. McCabe raises several crucial demographic and 
societal changes that will affect American education in the coming 
years. Let me mention two of these issues.
  First, the American family structure will change in the coming 
decades. Half of all children will spend some of their childhood in 
single-parent homes and are more likely to live in poverty.
  Of the children who grow up in a nuclear family, very often both of 
their parents will work; thus, they will be less able to be involved in 
the child's school and schoolwork. That is what is happening to 
American families. That is what will increasingly in the family 
environment from which American schoolchildren will enter the 
classroom. But as they exit the classroom, societal expectations for 
students upon graduation will be greater.
  In the middle of this century, 50 years ago, 20 percent of American 
jobs required a specific skill. At the end of this century, today, 80 
percent of jobs need skilled workers. Thus, the American student will 
need to graduate from school better prepared for the high-tech world 
than ever before; but single-parent families and dual-income families, 
in general, will face more challenges in being able to be actively 
involved in the support of that child's education.
  These challenges, and others, will face the American educational 
system. I rise today to take one step forward in easing the nationwide 
teacher shortage and offering challenging new opportunities for 
America's professional working people by introducing the Transition to 
Teaching Act of 1999.
  Senator Kennedy is to be commended for his work in including similar 
language in the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization 
Bill. Representatives Jim Davis of Florida and Tim Roemer of Indiana 
have taken the lead in the House of Representatives on this issue.
  We have a very successful model on which to build the Transition to 
Teaching program. Since 1994, the Troops to Teachers program has 
brought more than 3,000 retired military personnel to our classrooms, 
particularly as math, science, and technology teachers.
  Schools in my State of Florida have benefitted by more than 270 
individuals who have successfully completed the Troops to Teachers 
program, and are bringing their life experience to the classroom today.
  Troops to Teachers, and now Transition to Teaching, assist in 
overcoming two of the main obstacles that mid-career professionals face 
when they want to become a teacher. It is not impossible to do this 
now, as Mr. Aradine has shown; but this legislation will assist with 
and simplify the process.
  The first issue that is addressed involves teaching colleges within 
universities. These teaching colleges are often set up for the 
traditional students in their early twenties, right out of high school, 
just starting their new lives.
  These programs are generally taken over a multiyear period as a full-
time college student. This legislation encourages teaching colleges to 
develop curriculum suitable for an individual who already has many 
years of experience. These programs are more streamlined, more flexible 
in school hours, and recognize that the mid-career student brings more 
life and work experience than does a traditional college student.
  By developing such programs, teaching colleges can maintain high 
standards, but allow a mid-career worker, making the change into 
teaching to become certified in a more efficient, streamlined manner.

  Teaching colleges are also asked to develop programs to maintain 
contact with and support for these new teachers during at least their 
first year in the classroom.
  Second, Transition to Teaching will assist teachers who come to the 
profession in mid-career in a very tangible way.
  Grants will be awarded, up to $5,000 per participant, to offset the 
costs of becoming a certified teacher. Why are these grants 
appropriate? The traditional college student comes directly from a 
family setting. They typically have limited personal or family 
financial obligations. In contrast, people like Mr. Aradine have their 
own families, spouses, children, and they have a house and car 
payments. They have the kind of financial obligations that would be 
typical of any mid-career adult. They would need this financial 
assistance in order to give them that little degree of support and help 
that will allow them to make this transition to become a certified 
teacher and move into a second career in the classroom.
  Thus, this legislation deals with two of the biggest obstacles to 
becoming a teacher in mid-career. The certification process is 
streamlined, and stipends are provided to offset the cost of this 
additional education.
  The success can be highlighted best with a personal story--a personal 
story, not like Mr. Aradine who is in his first year, but the personal 
story of a man who is already well into his second career. Ronald 
Dyches grew up in a military family. His father was a noncommissioned 
officer. When Mr. Dyches attended college at Sam Houston State, he 
followed in his family's military footsteps and enrolled in the ROTC.
  When he graduated, he became a commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. 
For more than 21 years, Mr. Dyches served our Nation as an Army 
intelligence officer, living throughout the United States and Europe. 
He feels the highlight of his career were the three years he spent on 
General Norman Schwartzkopf's staff at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa 
during the Gulf war. Mr. Dyches retired from the Army in 1995. But you 
can say his service to the country did not end.
  With the help of the Troops to Teachers program, Mr. Dyches began a 
second career teaching social studies at Bloomingdale High School in 
Brandon, FL. He has been on the faculty at Bloomingdale since 1995--and 
this year he is teaching three periods of Honors World History and two 
periods of an elective class that he created: The History of the 
Vietnam War.
  Mr. Dyches' military experiences are an integral part of his 
classroom teaching. In addition to developing new elective courses, 
such as the one on the Vietnam war, Mr. Dyches uses the wealth of 
knowledge acquired living and working twelve years in Europe with the 
military to enliven his World History class. With his background, he 
offers advice and counsel to students including those considering a 
military career or wishing to attend one of the Nation's service 
academies.
  Mr. Dyches feels that this classroom experience would not have been 
possible without the Troops to Teachers program. It rekindled his 
interest in teaching from his college days, and it opened doors to 
certification that would have been closed to him.
  In some sense, Troops to Teachers helps make ``perfect marriages.''

[[Page S13425]]

 Bloomingdale High School needed a social studies teacher. Ron Dyches 
needed a challenging, rewarding second career. He, the school, and all 
of Bloomingdale's students have benefited from this perfect marriage.

  Other professionals, other workers, should be allowed to follow in 
the footsteps of the retired military personnel like Mr. Dyches, who 
have set such a shining example for us and the students that they 
serve.
  Law enforcement, attorneys, business leaders, scientists, 
entrepreneurs, technically competent men and women, and others in the 
private sector should be encouraged to share their wisdom with 
students.
  As I mentioned, under the Transition to Teaching Act, colleges and 
universities would be awarded grants to design educational programs 
modeled after Troops to Teachers to train mid-career professionals, and 
others, to become teachers.
  Individuals would be eligible for grants of up to $5,000 to pay for 
the courses and training they need to become qualified teachers.
  In return for the training, the new teachers would agree to teach in 
low-income schools, determined by the percentage of title I students in 
the school population, for three years.
  This legislation is timely. We are on the cusp of retirement of 
millions of baby boomers.
  By encouraging recent retirees, or mid-career professionals, to 
become certified through Transition To Teaching and spend a few years 
in the classroom, we will bring the life skills of experienced 
professionals to our youngest citizens.
  I encourage my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Our nation's children deserve our best efforts to provide them with a 
world class education that they will need in the 21st century.

                               Exhibit 1

Disillusioned Find Renewal in Classroom--New Teachers Coming From Other 
                              Professions

                            (By Liz Seymour)

       To become a teacher, Mary Ann Richardson left a $113,000-a-
     year job lobbying Congress as a U.S. deputy assistant 
     secretary in the Labor Department.
       Now she's a 46-year-old intern at Falls Church High School, 
     a substitute teacher in history, government and civics 
     without her own classroom or even her own desk. Next year, 
     after she receives her master's degree in education, she will 
     be applying for teaching jobs that pay about $80,000 a year 
     less than what she used to earn.
       She grapples with a new identity and the loss of family 
     income that she worked 16 years to get and will never see 
     again. But, she said, ``when those kids look up to you or 
     they're having a crisis and you can help . . . I can tell you 
     right now, I have found a purpose.''
       The teaching profession, shunned for decades by college 
     graduates in search of higher pay and prestige, is attracting 
     a growing number of people who started their careers in 
     another field. Some are downsized corporate executives who've 
     heard about the national teacher shortage and are enticed by 
     the job security. Others, like Richardson, are disenchanted 
     lawyers and lobbyists who found that their high salaries did 
     not make up for job pressures.
       They are being lured, too, by an easing of teacher 
     licensing requirements for career-switchers in many states 
     and school districts, a trend that is likely to continue as 
     the national teacher shortage worsens.
       About 55 percent of the students currently enrolled in 
     post-undergraduate teaching programs started their careers in 
     another field, according to a study to be released this week 
     by the National Center for Education Information, a 
     Washington-based think tank. The study also found that 27 
     percent of universities have programs solely for second-
     career teachers, up from 3 percent in 1984.
       Officials in several Washington area school districts said 
     they are seeing more people like Richardson, although they do 
     not keep such figures.
       ``People used to be driven by the financial rewards of 
     their career,'' said Kevin North, the director of employment 
     for Fairfax County schools. ``People are starting to step 
     back and say, `Other things are more important to me, and I 
     want something more fulfilling.' ''
       Second-career teachers are appealing job candidates in 
     several respects, said Linda Darling-Hammond, a professor of 
     education at Stanford University and director of the National 
     Commission on Teaching & America's Future. They are more 
     mature than first-career teachers and often have experience 
     with children through parenting. And because their decision 
     to teach usually requires a substantial pay cut, they tend to 
     have a deeper commitment to public education, she said.
       Jerome ``Rick'' Peck, 55, a first-year science teacher at 
     Loudoun County's Seneca Ridge Middle School, said the biggest 
     attribute he brings to the classroom is ``the ability to say 
     to the kids--and to mean it and to know it--`Hey, this is 
     something you're going to need later in life.' ''
       A certified public accountant with a master's degree in 
     business administration from the Wharton School, Peck was 
     earning a six-figure salary as chief financial officer of a 
     magazine publishing company until it was sold a few years 
     ago. He was financially secure and his decision to teach was 
     ``really selfish,'' Peck insists, because he saw it as 
     something he would enjoy.
       Five weeks into the school year, he still feels that way. 
     But the transition hasn't been easy. He is mired in more 
     paperwork than he expected. Many of his students fared poorly 
     on the first test he gave, about the metric system, and some 
     complained that he was lecturing too fast.
       ``When it comes to teaching, I'm definitely still 
     learning,'' Peck said.
       James R. Fields, 38, a former supervisor at United Parcel 
     Service, is studying for his master's degree in education at 
     George Washington University and substitute teaching at Sligo 
     Middle School in Silver Spring.
       Fields was earning $59,000 a year after 14 years at UPS. 
     But when he moved from the Miami area to Montgomery County to 
     get married, the company wouldn't transfer him.
       He probably won't earn more than $35,000 a year when he 
     gets a full-time teaching job next year. Fields said he is 
     lucky that his wife, a gynecologist, has a salary that allows 
     him to pursue teaching.
       Fields, who is African American, said he hopes to be a 
     strong influence on young black males. But right now, his 
     main goal is to learn the routines of running a classroom. He 
     said it's a challenge sometimes just to get his students to 
     settle down--never mind actually paying attention and 
     comprehending his lessons.
       ``It's kind of tough as a sub--[the students] think it's a 
     field day,'' Fields said. ``In a sense I see that as a plus; 
     you quickly develop some classroom management skills.
       Tom Brannan, 52, quit his $83,000-a-year job as an 
     assistant city manager in Alexandria to enroll in the 
     master's degree program at George Washington. He enjoyed many 
     aspects of his job but not the long hours and frenetic pace. 
     Time with his family was often cut short, he said.
       In just a few weeks as a substitute teacher at Fairfax's 
     George Marshall High School, Brannan already has seen 
     rewards. One day, he was assigned on short notice to teach a 
     history class, with little time to prepare a lesson. After 
     sweating out the period, the bell rang and the students filed 
     out. One stopped to ask him: ``Are you gonna be back any time 
     soon?''
       Career-switchers typically take fewer education courses 
     than students who go into teaching as a first career but 
     often get more field work in schools.
       Despite the growing calls from politicians and school 
     officials to streamline the certification process for second-
     career teachers, they may still face challenges getting 
     hired, said C. Emily Feistritzer, president of the National 
     Center for Education Information.
       Some may possess several advanced degrees, which would put 
     them at a higher pay scale than most beginning teachers. 
     Feistritzer said she has spotted another hurdle: Principals 
     are sometimes less inclined to put older adults on their 
     teaching staff because they won't be as easy to supervise as 
     a 22-year-old college graduate.
       Amy Harris is 26, younger than many of the other teachers 
     who started in a different profession. She gave up a job at a 
     brokerage firm in Minneapolis to lead 27 fifth-graders at 
     Loudoun's Cool Spring Elementary School. Although she didn't 
     take much of a pay cut to become a teacher, she eventually 
     would have earned far more if she'd stayed in financial 
     services.
       She acknowledges that she second-guesses her decision once 
     a month, when she writes a check to pay down $25,000 in debt 
     from graduate school loans. But she is energized by her 
     students. ``I really enjoy their wit and their cleverness,'' 
     she said.
       Richardson's journey toward teaching began last year, when 
     her mother was dying. She came to live with Richardson for 
     the last four months of her life, during which mother and 
     daughter had many soul-searching talks about careers, family 
     and, above all, happiness.
       ``She said, `Look, you've got about 20 years [of working] 
     left--you need to do what you think is important and what you 
     want to do.' '' Richardson recalled.
       Richardson, whose husband is an archivist, has put her two 
     children on strict allowances to reduce household expenses 
     since she quit her high-paying Labor Department job.
       The worst of it, she said, is being viewed as an 
     inexperienced newcomer at age 46.
       ``I worry that when I get done with this program, I have to 
     start over and sell myself again,'' she said. ``If I get 
     through this, they should want me!''
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I send to the desk the legislation and ask 
for its appropriate reference.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill will be received and appropriately 
referred.
                                 ______