[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 78 (Friday, May 23, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1073]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             INTRODUCTION OF THE READY TO TEACH ACT OF 2003

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                           HON. PHIL GINGREY

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 22, 2003

  Mr. GINGREY. Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing the Ready to Teach 
Act of 2003 to reauthorize teacher quality provisions under Title II of 
the Higher Education Act through fiscal year 2008. The first in what 
will be a series of bills to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, the 
Ready to Teach Act seeks to meet the call of the No Child Left Behind 
Act to place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom by making 
improvements that will help ensure teacher training programs are 
producing well-prepared teachers to meet the needs of America's 
students.
  The caliber of teacher education programs at institutions of higher 
education has come under increased scrutiny over the past several 
years. Among other things, teacher preparation programs have been 
criticized for providing prospective teachers with inadequate time to 
learn subject matter; for teaching a superficial curriculum; and for 
being unduly fragmented, with courses not linked to practice teaching 
and with education faculty isolated from their arts and sciences 
faculty colleagues.
  Accordingly, the Ready to Teach Act authorizes competitively awarded 
grants to: (1) increase student academic achievement; (2) improve the 
quality of the current and future teaching force by improving the 
preparation of prospective teachers and enhancing professional 
development activities; (3) hold institutions of higher education 
accountable for preparing highly qualified teachers; (4) and recruit 
highly qualified individuals, including minorities and individuals from 
other occupations, into the teaching force. As in current law, funds 
for these grants will be distributed in the following manner: 45 
percent of the funds are reserved for State grants; 45 percent of the 
funds are reserved for partnership grants; and 10 percent of the funds 
are reserved for teacher recruitment grants.
  State grants under the Act must be used to reform teacher preparation 
requirements, coordinate with teacher activities under Title II of the 
No Child Left Behind Act, and ensure that current and future teachers 
are highly qualified. Programs administered through state grants would 
focus on effective teacher preparation, placing a renewed emphasis on 
the skills needed to meet the highly qualified standard: the use of 
advanced technology in the classroom, rigorous academic content 
knowledge, scientifically based research, and challenging state student 
academic content standards.
  In addition, states are authorized to use grant funds for innovative 
methods for teacher preparation programs, such as charter colleges of 
education, which can provide an alternative gateway for teachers to 
become highly qualified. Teacher advancement and retention initiatives 
will also be created, such as merit-based performance systems and 
professional growth opportunities. These activities will help ensure 
that schools are able to recruit highly qualified teachers while having 
the necessary flexibility to remove incompetent or unqualified 
teachers.
  The Ready to Teach Act authorizes partnership grants so educational 
entities can combine expertise and resources to improve teacher 
training. Each eligible partnership must include at least: (1) a high 
quality teacher preparation program at an institution of higher 
education; (2) a school of arts and sciences; (3) a high need LEA; and 
(4) a public or private educational organization. Among other things, 
partnership activities will help to ensure that teachers are able to 
use advanced technology effectively in the classroom, address the needs 
of students with different learning styles (particularly students with 
disabilities), and receive training in methods of improving student 
behavior in the classroom.
  Teacher recruitment grants under the Ready to Teach Act will help 
bring high quality individuals into teacher programs, and ultimately 
put more highly qualified teachers into classrooms. The Ready to Teach 
Act recognizes the need to ensure that high need local educational 
agencies are able to effectively recruit highly qualified teachers, and 
will help answer that need by increasing the number of teachers being 
trained. Additionally, this legislation places a priority on applicants 
that will emphasize measures to recruit minorities into the teaching 
profession.
  Current law provisions in Title II of the Higher Education Act 
include annual reporting requirements to hold states and teacher 
preparation programs accountable for producing a competent teaching 
force. The Ready to Teach Act strengthens these reporting requirements 
to ensure complete and effective information is available to determine 
the effectiveness of teacher preparation programs. Under this 
legislation:
  States must report annually to the Secretary of Education on the 
percentage of students passing state certification or licensure and 
rank the quality of all teacher preparation programs in the state.
  The Secretary of Education must analyze teacher qualifications and 
preparation in the United States, providing: a comparison of states' 
efforts to improve teaching quality; and the national mean and median 
scores on any standardized test that is used in 1 or more state for 
teacher certification or licensure.
  Institutions of higher education with teacher preparation programs 
must report on the number of students passing state certification 
requirements, with improved reporting requirements that will prevent 
``gaming'' of data that leave results without meaning. Additionally, 
institutions must compare both pass rates and average scores of their 
program participants with those of other programs in the state, making 
effective comparison data available to measure program quality.
  The Ready to Teach Act of 2003 will improve the quality and 
accountability of our nation's teacher preparation programs. I ask my 
colleagues to support this legislation and look forward to working with 
the distinguished Chairman of the Subcommittee on 21st Century 
Competitiveness, Mr. McKeon, and the Ranking Member of the 
Subcommittee, Mr. Kildee, to move this bill so we can ensure our 
children are receiving a world class education.

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