[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 37 (Tuesday, March 20, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E395]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  TEACHER SABBATICAL LEAVE GRANTS ACT

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                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 20, 2001

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Teacher 
Sabbatical Leave Grants Act.
  Without a quality teacher in the classroom, it is impossible for us, 
as a nation, to provide the education our children deserve. It is 
essential that we ensure quality teachers are in every classroom in 
every school.
  Professional development helps ensure our teachers' skills grow and 
change as our students grow more diverse and as our technology changes. 
However, our teachers will never get the in-depth development training 
they need to stay on top of their field from one-day workshops.
  Recent findings have shown that 99 percent of our teachers have 
participated in at least one professional development activity in the 
past year. However only 12 percent of teachers who spent only 1 to 8 
hours in professional development said it improved their teaching a 
lot. That is a dismal figure. We must work to provide teachers with 
intensive professional development, so 100 percent of teachers who 
receive the training feel that it improved their teaching. Without it, 
we will never be able to ensure our children are being taught by 
quality teachers.
  My bill will give teachers the opportunity to receive intensive 
professional development training. This bill creates a program to 
provide grants for public school teachers who take one or two semesters 
of sabbatical leave to pursue a course of study for professional 
development. The grant covers one-half of the salary the teacher would 
have earned if the teacher had not been granted a leave of absence. 
Teachers are eligible if they have been approved for sabbatical leave 
and if they have enrolled in a course of study at an institution of 
higher education designed to improve classroom teaching.
  By providing teachers with financial resources, they will be free to 
pursue an intensive course of study that can greatly improve their 
teaching skills.
  And studies have shown that the more qualified a teacher is, the 
better the students' performance will be.
  For instance, in Boston, students assigned to the most effective 
teachers for a year showed 18 times greater gains in reading and nearly 
16 time greater gains in math than those students who were assigned to 
the least effective teachers.
  In Tennessee, similar students with 3 very effective teachers in a 
row scored 50 percentile points better than students who were assigned 
3 very ineffective teachers in a row.
  All of our students deserve to achieve these same gains.
  By providing teachers with the opportunity to receive intensive 
professional development, my bill will help put more effective, 
qualified teachers in the classroom.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Teacher Sabbatical Leave Grants 
Act.

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