[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 7 (Monday, January 22, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S395-S396]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mrs. FEINSTEIN:
  S. 120. A bill to establish a demonstration project to increase 
teacher salaries and employee benefits for teachers who enter into 
contracts with local educational agencies to serve as master teachers; 
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.


                          master teacher bill

  Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing a bill to 
create a demonstration grant program to help school districts create 
master teacher positions.
  The bill authorizes $100 million for a five-year demonstration 
program under which the Secretary of Education would award competitive 
grants to school districts to create master teacher positions. Federal 
funds would be equally matched by states and local governments so that 
$200 million total would be available. Under the bill, 6,600 master 
teacher positions could be created if each master teacher were paid 
$30,000 on top of the current average teacher's salary.
  As defined in this bill, a master teacher is one who is credentialed; 
has at least five years of teaching experience; is judged to be an 
excellent teacher by administrators and teachers who are knowledgeable 
about the individual's performance; is currently teaching; and enters 
into a contract and agrees to serve at least five more years.
  The master teacher would help other teachers to improve instruction, 
strengthen other teachers' skills, mentor less experienced teachers, 
develop curriculum, and provide other professional development.
  The goal of this bill is for districts to pay each master teacher up 
to $30,000 on top of his or her regular salary. Nationally, the average 
teacher salary is $40,574. In California, it is $45,317. School 
principals receive $76,768 on average nationally and $72,805 in 
California. School superintendents nationally earn $106,122 and in 
California, $102,054. The purpose of the master teacher concept in this 
bill is to pay teachers a salary closer to that of an administrator to 
keep good teachers in teaching.
  The bill requires State and/or local districts to match federal funds 
dollar for dollar. It requires the U.S. Department of Education to give 
priority to school districts with a high proportion of economically 
disadvantaged students and to ensure that grants are awarded to a wide 
range of districts in terms of the size and location of the school 
district, the ethnic and economic composition of students, and the 
experience of the districts' teachers.
  There are several reasons we need this bill.
  Beginning teachers face overwhelming challenges in their first year, 
but in the real world, they get little guidance or support, in a year 
that will have a profound impact on the rest of their professional 
career. They often feel ``out there'' and ``alone,'' thrown into an 
unfamiliar school and classroom with a room full of new faces. By the 
current sink-or-swim method, new teachers often find themselves ill 
equipped to deal with the educational and disciplinary tasks of their 
first year.
  A new teacher can get experienced guidance from a master teacher who 
is paired with the new teacher. The master teacher can help plan 
lessons, improve instructional methods, and deal with discipline 
problems. Having this kind of professional support can give these new 
teachers the skills and confidence to stay in teaching.
  Second, master teacher programs can bring more prestige to teaching 
as a profession, by increasing the teacher's salary, by rewarding 
experience, and by giving teachers opportunities to supervise others. A 
master teacher designation is a way to recognize outstanding ability 
and performance, and to reward the good teachers. A master teacher 
position can give teachers a professional goal, a higher level to 
pursue. A 1996 report by the National Commission for Teaching and 
American's Future said that creating new career paths for teachers is 
one of the best ways to give educators the respect they deserve and to 
ensure that proven teaching methods spread quickly and broadly.

  In one survey of teachers which asked which factors make teachers 
stay in teaching, 79 percent of teachers said that respect for the 
teaching profession is needed in order to retain qualified teachers. 
Eighty percent said that formal mentoring programs for beginning 
teachers is key (Scholastic/Chief State School Officers' Teacher Voices 
Survey, 2000). Over 70 percent of teachers said that more planning time 
with peers is needed to keep teachers in the classroom. This amendment 
should help.
  Because of the higher pay and enhanced prestige, a master teacher 
program can help to recruit and retain teachers. Mentor systems provide 
new teachers with a support network, someone to turn to. Studies 
indicate higher retention rates among new teachers who participate in 
mentoring programs. According to Yvonne Gold of California State 
University-Long Beach, 25 percent of beginning teachers do not teach 
more than two years and nearly 40 percent leave in the first five 
years. In the Rochester, New York, system, the teacher retention rate 
was nearly double the national average five years after establishing a 
mentoring program.
  As Jay Matthews wrote in the May 16, 2000, Washington Post, programs 
like this ``can provide a large boost to the profession's image for a 
relatively small amount of money.'' These programs can keep good 
teachers in the classroom, instead of losing them to school 
administration or industry.
  Higher salaries and prestige for master teachers could deter the 
drain from the classrooms.
  Another reason for this bill is that teacher mentoring programs can 
make teacher performance more accountable. A master teacher can help 
novice teachers improve their teaching and get better student 
achievement. ``Teachers cannot be held accountable for knowledge based, 
client-oriented decisions if they do not have access to knowledge, as 
well as opportunities for consultation and evaluation of their work,'' 
said Adam Urbanski, President of the Rochester, New York, Teachers 
Association. He went on: ``Unsatisfactory teacher performance often 
stems from inadequate and incompetent supervision. Administrators often 
lack the training and the resources to supervise teachers and improve 
the performance of those who are in serious trouble.''
  Good teachers are key to learning. Lower math test scores have been 
correlated with the percentage of math teachers on emergency permits 
and higher math test scores were linked both to the teachers' 
qualifications and to their years of teaching experience, according to 
``Professional Development for Teachers, 2000.''
  This bill could be very helpful in California where one-fifth of our 
teachers will leave the profession in three years, according to an 
article in the February 9, 2000, Los Angeles Times. One-half of our 
teachers are over age 44.
  California will need 300,000 new teachers by 2010. ``More students to 
teach, smaller classes, and teachers leaving or retiring means that 
California school districts are now having to hire a record 26,000 new 
teachers each year,'' says the report, ``Teaching and California's 
Future, 2000.'' California's enrollment is growing at three times the 
national rate. With these kinds of demands, understaffing often leads 
to under qualified and new teachers entering the classroom. We have to 
do all we can to attract and retain good teachers.
  The true beneficiaries of master teacher programs are the students 
and that is, of course, my fundamental goal. As stated in Rochester's 
teaching manual, the goal is ``to improve student outcomes by 
developing and maintaining the highest quality of teaching, providing 
teachers with career options that do not require them to leave teaching 
to assume additional responsibilities and leadership roles.''

[[Page S396]]

  I believe this bill can begin to provide teachers the real 
professional support they need, can attract and retain teachers and can 
bring to the teaching profession the prestige it deserves.
  I urge my colleagues to join us in support of this bill.
  I ask unanimous consent that this bill be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 120

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Master Teacher Act of 
     2001''.

     SEC. 2. MASTER TEACHER DEMONSTRATION PROJECT.

       (a) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) Local educational agency.--The term ``local educational 
     agency'' has the meaning given the term in section 14101 of 
     the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
     8801).
       (2) Master teacher.--The term ``master teacher'' means a 
     teacher who--
       (A) is licensed or credentialed under State law;
       (B) has been teaching for at least 5 years in a public or 
     private school or institution of higher education;
       (C) is selected upon application, is judged to be an 
     excellent teacher, and is recommended by administrators and 
     other teachers who are knowledgeable of the individual's 
     performance;
       (D) at the time of submission of such application, is 
     teaching and based in a public school;
       (E) assists other teachers in improving instructional 
     strategies, improves the skills of other teachers, performs 
     mentoring, develops curriculum, and offers other professional 
     development; and
       (F) enters into a contract with the local educational 
     agency to continue to teach and serve as a master teacher for 
     at least 5 additional years.
       (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
     of Education.
       (b) Establishment of Demonstration Project.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than July 1, 2002, the Secretary 
     shall conduct a demonstration project under which the 
     Secretary shall award competitive grants to local educational 
     agencies to increase teacher salaries and employee benefits 
     for teachers who enter into contracts with the local 
     educational agencies to serve as master teachers.
       (2) Requirements.--In awarding grants under the 
     demonstration project, the Secretary shall--
       (A) ensure that grants are awarded under the demonstration 
     project to a diversity of local educational agencies in terms 
     of size of school district, location of school district, 
     ethnic and economic composition of students, and experience 
     of teachers; and
       (B) give priority to local educational agencies in school 
     districts that have schools with a high proportion of 
     economically disadvantaged students.
       (c) Applications.--In order to receive a grant under the 
     demonstration project, a local educational agency shall 
     submit an application to the Secretary that contains--
       (1) an assurance that funds received under the grant will 
     be used in accordance with this section; and
       (2) a detailed description of how the local educational 
     agency will use the grant funds to pay the salaries and 
     employee benefits for positions designated by the local 
     educational agency as master teacher positions.
       (d) Matching Requirement.--The Secretary may not award a 
     grant to a local educational agency under the demonstration 
     project unless the local educational agency agrees that, with 
     respect to costs to be incurred by the agency in carrying out 
     activities for which the grant was awarded, the agency shall 
     provide (directly, through the State, or through a 
     combination thereof) in non-Federal contributions an amount 
     equal to the amount of the grant awarded to the agency.
       (e) Study and Report.--
       (1) In general.--Not later than July 1, 2005, the Secretary 
     shall conduct a study and transmit a report to Congress 
     analyzing the results of the demonstration project conducted 
     under this section.
       (2) Contents of report.--The report shall include--
       (A) an analysis of the results of the project on--
       (i) the recruitment and retention of experienced teachers;
       (ii) the effect of master teachers on teaching by less 
     experienced teachers;
       (iii) the impact of mentoring new teachers by master 
     teachers; and
       (iv) the impact of master teachers on student achievement; 
     and
       (B) recommendations regarding--
       (i) continuing or terminating the demonstration project; 
     and
       (ii) establishing a grant program to expand the project to 
     additional local educational agencies and school districts.
       (f) Authorization of Appropriations.--There is authorized 
     to be appropriated to carry out this section, $100,000,000, 
     for the period of fiscal years 2002 through 2006.
                                 ______