[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 38 (Thursday, March 30, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E487-E488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               COLLEGE ACCESS AND OPPORTUNITY ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. RUSH D. HOLT

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 29, 2006

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 609) to 
     amend and extend the Higher Education Act of 1965, with Mr. 
     Bishop of Utah in the chair.

  Mr. Chairman, I rise to reiterate and reinforce my remarks yesterday 
during the debate on the McMorris-Holt amendment. I restate my 
commitment to work with those who want to see improvements in the 
adjunct teacher corps.
  As I said in my previous comments, having been a professor of physics 
at the university level, I am well aware that knowledge of a subject is 
only one part of helping students learn. Being an effective teacher is 
much more than that. Pedagogy is both an art and a science, and 
pedagogical training is a critical part of being an educator.
  Placing an Adjunct Teacher directly into the classroom without any 
pre-service training would be unfair to the Adjunct Teacher and to the 
students he or she would be teaching. To raise the level of performance 
in the classroom, Adjunct Teachers must undergo advanced training. This 
training must not be cursory, and should include pedagogy and the most 
recent research on how students learn science, mathematics, and foreign 
languages. It should also include practical experience with real 
students in classroom settings.
  I want to emphasize that the Adjunct Teacher Corps program is not 
about replacing teachers. As the word ``adjunct'' signifies, these 
teachers would be an additional supplement to school facilities. 
Schools applying for these grants will tailor their Adjunct program to 
suit their unique needs, and in doing so, they must include parents and 
teachers in the planning process. This program will particularly help 
those educational agencies facing dire teacher shortages, or levels of 
achievement so low that no one teacher can solve it on his or her own. 
As it currently stands, many of our high-need school districts do not 
have enough people who are currently qualified under No Child Left 
Behind to teach math, science and foreign languages. While we increase 
those ranks, we can also supplement them with adjunct teachers with 
subject matter expertise. Specifically, this amendment requires adjunct 
teachers to possess, at a minimum, a bachelor's degree and demonstrated 
expertise in mathematics, science, or a critical foreign language as 
defined by No Child Left Behind. Every school, in every town, should 
have a diverse faculty with pedagogical and subject matter expertise.
  I also want to state that the size of this program is very small. 
This program will be competing for funding with five others for a share 
of a $41 million authorization.
  It is my hope that this program will have long-term beneficial 
results. Before it was introduced, I wanted to ensure that the 
amendment includes provision for pre-service training and continued 
mentoring of these content specialists. Just as Teach for America has 
been a valuable asset to many school districts, I believe that these 
content specialists can make

[[Page E488]]

valuable contributions to schools. After participating in the adjunct 
teacher program, I hope that many of these individuals will decide to 
stay in their school districts and serve as certified teachers.
  Notably, our focus is on the most dire needs first. The amendment 
requires that those who apply for the funds demonstrate the need for, 
and expected benefits of, using adjunct teachers in the participating 
schools. This may include information on the difficulties that 
participating schools face in recruiting qualified faculty in 
mathematics, science, critical foreign language courses. They must also 
demonstrate measurable objectives for the project, including the number 
of adjunct teachers the eligible entity intends to place in classrooms, 
and academic gains that the students should make.
  As pleased as I am with the amendment's progress so far, I also 
recognize that more work needs to be done in conference. Specifically, 
I am most concerned with perfecting the ``Use of Funds'' section to 
make clear that reimbursement of outside entities for the costs 
associated with allowing an employee to serve as an Adjunct Teacher 
must comply with collective bargaining agreements. I believe we can do 
that by spelling out that section 2(F)'s requirement that applicants 
demonstrate their compliance with existing contractual obligations 
includes collective bargaining agreements. That is my current reading 
of the amendment, but it could not hurt to tighten the language.
  In closing, I want to thank my colleagues for the bipartisan support 
they have given to this amendment. I want to especially thank my 
Republican colleagues on the House Education and Workforce Committee 
for accepting some of my changes and working with me to improve the 
amendment from where it started. I look forward to ensuring this 
amendment's continued progress in conference with the Senate.

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