[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 26 (Thursday, March 1, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1783-S1785]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. WELLSTONE (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Schumer):
  S. 444. A bill to amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 to support teacher corps programs, and for other 
purposes; to

[[Page S1784]]

the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, if there is one thing we all can agree 
on in education, it is that quality teachers are absolutely critical to 
how well children learn. Yet, the nation confronts one of the worst 
teacher shortages in history. With expanding enrollment, decreasing 
class size and one third of the nation's teachers nearing retirement 
age, public schools will need to hire as many as 2.2 million teachers 
over the next decade.
  The need is greatest in specific subject areas such as mathematics, 
science, special education and bilingual education, all important 
subjects if the nation is to have an educated work force to keep it 
competitive in the world marketplace.
  Teacher shortages are also greatest in specific geographical areas 
such as the inner city and rural areas. Ironically, it is the most 
educationally and socio-economically disadvantaged students that are 
under-served. If there is one action we can take that is guaranteed to 
help struggling schools and children, it is to provide states and 
school districts the means to ensure that there is a highly qualified 
teacher in every class room.
  My bill, Teacher Corps, which I am proud to introduce today with my 
colleagues, Senators Kennedy and Schumer, who for so long have fought 
to bring the best possible educational opportunities to all of 
America's children, is designed to do just that. Its components are 
based on a definite need and sound research concerning effective 
mechanisms for meeting that need.
  Teacher Corps would fund collaboratives between state education 
agencies, local education agencies and institutions of higher 
education. The collaboratives would recruit top ranked college students 
and qualified mid career individuals, who have not yet been trained as 
teachers, to teach in the nation's poorest schools in the areas of 
greatest need--both geographically and academically. Districts and 
universities would work together to recruit only candidates who have an 
academic major or extensive and substantive professional experience in 
the subject in which they will teach.
  The collaboratives would provide recruits a tuition free alternative 
route to certification which includes intensive study and a teaching 
internship. The internship would include mentoring, co-teaching and 
advanced course work in pedagogy, state standards, technology and other 
areas.
  After the internship period, the collaboratives would offer 
individualized follow up training and mentoring in the first two years 
of full time teaching.
  Corps members that become certified will be given priority in hiring 
within that district in exchange for a commitment to teach in low 
income schools for 3 years.
  A good teacher can mean the world to any child whether it is through 
caring or through providing children with the skills they need to open 
their own doors to the future. Every time I enter schools in Minnesota, 
I am in awe of teachers' work. When a skilled, energetic teacher 
creates an invigorating learning environment for his or her students it 
is truly a magical thing. In my travels to schools around Minnesota and 
the country I see a great deal of that magic happening.
  That is why it is so tragic to think that there are so many children 
that do not have access to qualified teachers, at the same time that 
many people interested in teaching are either not entering the 
profession or are not staying there once they have qualified.
  Teacher Corps will help meet the growing need for teachers in low 
income urban and rural schools, and in high need subject areas such as 
math, science, bilingual and special education.
  It will do so because Teacher Corps is rooted in three fundamental 
parts. Recruitment, retention and innovative, flexible, high quality 
training programs for college graduates and mid-career professionals 
who want to teach in high need areas.
  The first principle is recruitment. As I mentioned before, we may 
need to hire as many as 2.2 million new teachers in the next decade to 
ensure that there are enough teachers in our schools. But, overall 
quantity is not the only issue. Quality and shortages in specific 
geographic and curriculum areas are equally critical. While there are 
teacher surpluses in some areas, certain states and cities are facing 
acute teacher shortages. In California, 1 out of every 10 teachers 
lacks proper credentials. Fifty-eight percent of new hires in Los 
Angeles are not certified.
  There are also crucial shortages in some subject areas such as math, 
science, bilingual and special education. In my home state of 
Minnesota, 90 percent of principals report a serious shortage of strong 
candidates in at least one curriculum area. Fifty-four percent of the 
mathematics teachers in the state of Idaho and 48 percent of the 
science teachers in Florida and Tennessee did not major in the subject 
of their primary assignment.
  The report recently released by the Commission chaired by our former 
colleague John Glenn highlights this problem in the area of math and 
science teaching. The Glenn Commission--in its report ominously, but 
accurately, titled ``Before It's Too Late''--called on all the 
decision-makers in our country to establish an ongoing system to 
improve the quality of mathematics and science teaching in our 
elementary and secondary schools and to improve the quality of those 
teachers' preparation for the classroom.
  Teacher Corps would meet this need because it would recruit and train 
thousands of high quality teachers into the field to meet the specific 
teaching needs of local school districts.
  It would recruit and train top college students and mid-career 
professionals from around the country, who increasingly want to enter 
the teaching profession.

  More college students want to enter teaching today than have wanted 
to join the profession in the past 30 years. In the surveys of incoming 
college students that UCLA conducts each fall, in recent years over 10 
percent of all freshman consistently have said they want to teach in 
elementary and secondary schools.
  Second, the design of the program ensures that the needs of local 
school districts will be considered so that only those candidates who 
meet the specific needs of that district will be recruited and trained. 
If, for example, there is a shortage of special education, bilingual, 
math and science teachers in a particular district, Teacher Corps would 
train people with only those skills. In setting up collaboratives in 
this way, teacher corps helps avoid the overproduction of candidates in 
areas where they are not needed.
  Finally, Teacher Corps gives priority to high-need rural, inner 
suburban and urban districts to ensure that new teachers will enter 
where they are needed most.
  However, it does not help to recruit teachers into high-need schools 
and train them if we cannot retain them in the profession. Teaching is 
one of the hardest, most important jobs there is. We ask teachers to 
prepare our children for adulthood. We ask them to educate our children 
so that they may be productive members of society. We entrust them with 
our children's minds and with their future. It is a disgrace how little 
support we give them in return. It is no surprise that one of the major 
causes of our teacher shortage is that teachers decide to change 
professions before retirement. Seventy-three percent of Minnesota 
teachers who leave the profession, leave for reasons other than 
retirement. In urban schools, 50 percent of teachers leave the field 
within five years of when they start teaching.
  To retain high quality teachers in the profession, we must give 
teachers the support they deserve. Teachers, like doctors, need 
mentoring and support during the first years of their professional 
life. Teacher Corps offers new teachers the training, mentoring and 
support they need to meet the profession's many challenges. It includes 
methods of support that have proven effective in ensuring that teachers 
stay in schools. The key elements for effective teacher retention were 
laid out by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future in 
1996. Effective programs organize professional development around 
standards for teachers and students; provide a year long, pre-service 
internship; include mentoring and strong evaluation of teacher skills; 
offer stable, high quality professional development.

[[Page S1785]]

  Each of these criteria are included in the Teacher Corps program.
  Further, Teacher Corps supports people who choose teaching by paying 
for their training. Through this financial and professional support, 
Teacher Corps will go a long way toward keeping recruits in teaching.
  But, it is still not enough to recruit and retain teachers. Quality 
must be of primary importance. Research shows that the most important 
predictor of student success is not income, but the quality of the 
teacher. Despite this need, studies show that as the proportion of 
students of color and students from low-income families increases in 
schools, the test scores of teachers decline.
  This is wrong. We are denying children from low income areas, 
children from racial minorities, children with limited English 
proficiency, access to what we know works. Several studies have shown 
that if poor and minority students are taught by high quality teachers 
at the same rate as other students, a large part of the gap between 
poor and minority students and their more affluent white counterparts 
would disappear. For example, one Alabama study shows that an increase 
of one standard deviation in teacher test scores leads to a two-third 
reduction in the gap between black/white tests scores.
  We cannot turn our back on this knowledge. We must act on it. We must 
give low income, minority and limited English proficiency children the 
same opportunities that all children have and we must do it now.
  The very essence of Teacher Corps is to funnel high quality teachers 
where they are needed most. Teacher Corps would help ensure quality by 
using a selective, competitive recruitment process. It would provide 
high quality training, professional development, mentoring and 
evaluations of corps member performance, all of which have been proven 
to increase the quality of the teaching force and the achievement of 
the students they teach.
  Further, by creating strong connections between universities and 
districts and by implementing effective professional development 
projects within districts, we are setting up powerful structures to 
benefit all teachers and students.
  We have an opportunity to do what we know works to help children who 
need our help most. Good teachers have an extraordinary impact on 
children's lives and learning. We need to be sure that all children 
have access to such teachers and all children have the opportunity to 
learn so that all children may take advantage of the many opportunities 
this country provides.
                                 ______