[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 75 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E987-E988]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE TEACHER EXCELLENCE FOR ALL CHILDREN ACT

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 8, 2007

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Madam Speaker, I am pleased today to 
introduce an important piece of legislation, the Teacher Excellence for 
All Children Act: the next step our country needs to take to ensure 
that every child, in every classroom, is taught by an excellent 
teacher.
  First and foremost, I want to thank our teachers for their dedication 
and commitment to taking on the overwhelming demands of their 
profession. We ask them to perform miracles every day in our 
underfunded and overcrowded system. And we owe it to them and to their 
students to provide more than rhetoric about our commitment to 
encouraging talented people to enter the field and stay there.
  Let me also thank the organizations, and their members, who go to 
work every day with the commitment to help our schools and our students 
succeed. They are a great constituency for this legislation, and I 
appreciate all of their input into this bill. Thank you to the Alliance 
for Excellent Education, the American Federation of Teachers, the 
Associations of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the Business 
Roundtable, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, the 
Children's Defense Fund, the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights, the 
Council of Urban Boards of Education, the Education Trust, the Mexican 
American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the National Commission on 
Teaching and America's Future, the National Council of La Raza, 
National Council of Teachers of English, the National Council on 
Teacher Quality, the National Education Association, the National 
Institute for Excellence in Teaching, New Leaders for New Schools, the 
New Teacher Center at DC-Santa Cruz, Operation Public Education, Teach 
for America, and The Teaching Commission.
  We all remember the difference that outstanding teachers have made in 
our lives, but we also know that students who most need the best 
teachers are least likely to get them. There are many reasons why 
people decline to enter the teaching profession or decide not to remain 
there including reasons such as low pay, lack of meaningful 
professional development, lack of respect, inappropriate working 
conditions, or little opportunity for advancement.
  By failing to address this problem, Congress is shortchanging our 
children and costing taxpayers an estimated $2.2 billion annually to 
replace teachers who have left the profession. We need to act 
immediately to ensure that we have an adequate supply of exemplary 
teachers for the next generation of students.
  My 43 colleagues who are original cosponsors and I are prepared to 
respond to this challenge facing American education with an innovative 
approach that matches the seriousness of the challenge with the ``The 
TEACH Act of 2007''--the next step our country needs to take to ensure 
that every teacher, in every classroom, teaching every child, has the 
supports they need to help their students succeed.
  The single most important factor in determining a child's success in 
school is the quality of his or her teacher. We all remember a 
teacher--or even several teachers--who made us proud of ourselves for 
what we accomplished and helped us face our future with hope and 
confidence. Imagine if every one of our teachers over the years had 
given us that same strength.
  The TEACH Act will accomplish four critical goals:
  Increase the supply of outstanding teachers.
  Ensure all children have teachers with expertise in the subjects they 
teach.
  Identify and reward our best teachers.
  Keep the best teachers and principals in our schools.
  This bill is a major legislative initiative that will attract our 
most talented teachers to our nation's classrooms where they are needed 
the most--and encourage them to stay there.
  Over the next decade, we will need to hire more than two million new 
teachers to serve in our public schools. Yet today, we have no national 
plan for attracting outstanding students into the teaching profession, 
or keeping them there.
  My bill addresses this need by helping school districts to pay more 
competitive salaries and by offering up-front tuition assistance to 
talented undergraduates committed to a career in education, to 
established teachers working in fields like math and science, where the 
teacher shortage is most acute, and to retirees with math and science 
expertise who would like to join the ranks of our nation's teachers.
  The TEACH Act also offers up to $20,000 in loan forgiveness to highly 
qualified teachers who are working in high priority communities.
  We know that too many teachers do not receive adequate preparation or 
training for their jobs to improve during the first years on the job. 
As a result, over half of new teachers leave the profession within five 
years.
  The TEACH Act helps new teachers transition into the classroom and 
build their skills through state-of-the-art induction programs

[[Page E988]]

that include proven strategies such as structured mentoring, common 
lesson-planning, and intensive professional development. This bill also 
helps veteran teachers improve their skills through peer mentoring and 
review programs.
  My bill also addresses the problem that poor children are far less 
likely to be taught by expert teachers. Nearly three-quarters of math 
classes in high-poverty middle schools are taught by teachers who lack 
a major--or even a minor--in math. The TEACH Act provides higher pay 
for outstanding teachers and principals who transfer into the hardest-
to-staff schools where they can help the children who need them most. 
Making sure these children are taught by a well-trained teacher is 
crucial.
  The TEACH Act also helps create true career ladders that allow 
teachers to advance in the profession as they gain new knowledge and 
skills. The bill would augment the salaries of teachers who seek out 
opportunities to advance their own professional development and to 
mentor colleagues who are new to the profession.
  We also know that nothing is more important in attracting--and 
keeping--outstanding teachers than outstanding principals. My bill 
raises standards and improves recruitment and training for new 
principals.
  Teaching is not just another job. Teaching is a career that must be 
satisfying itself, that must attract the best people, and that must 
instruct our children to succeed in an increasingly competitive world.
  We can have a dynamic and exciting future for America's schools and 
their students. We have the national resources. Now, we must make the 
commitment.
  We must dedicate the necessary resources, demand the necessary 
results, and stay with it to the end to make sure that every child in 
America has a teacher we can all be proud of and that every teacher in 
America can say they are proud of us too for the support we give them.
  I would also like to acknowledge three reports that were particularly 
useful. The Teaching Commission's report, Teaching at Risk: A Call to 
Action; the Center for American Progress report, Ensuring a High 
Quality Education for Every Child by Building a Stronger Teaching 
Force, and the National Academy of Education report A Good Teacher in 
Every Classroom: Preparing the Highly Qualified Teachers Our Children 
Deserve. All three reports were extremely instrumental, particularly in 
identifying practices that are working well and need to be taken to 
scale.
  The TEACH Act will take us where research and experience say we need 
to go: stronger teachers, stronger principals, and stronger schools. I 
look forward to achieving the vision of a better school system for all 
of our children.

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