[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 91 (Thursday, June 7, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7349-S7350]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. OBAMA:
  S. 1574. A bill to establish Teaching Residency Programs for 
preparation and induction of teachers; to the Committee on Health, 
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
  Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, we will soon begin consideration of 
legislation to educate America's students, with Head Start, the 
Elementary and Secondary Education Act, and the Higher Education Act 
all slated for reauthorization. One of the most important aspects of No 
Child Left Behind is its provision for a highly qualified teacher for 
every child, in every classroom in America.
  Expert teachers are the most important educational resource in our 
schools, and also the most inequitably distributed. In the United 
States, too many students in high-need schools are taught by 
inadequately prepared teachers, who are often not ready for the 
challenges they face, and thus leave the classroom too soon. High-
poverty schools lose one-fifth of their teaching staff each year. This 
constant turnover of inexperienced, inadequately prepared teachers 
undermines efforts to create stable learning cultures and to sustain 
school improvement, especially in schools with greatest need.
  Many schools are being identified as in need of improvement, and many 
students are asked to be successful in schools where success is a rare 
commodity. Rather than being a leader in a competitive world where 
educational attainment is precious, America has one of the lowest high 
school graduation rates in the industrialized world. Three out of every 
10 ninth-grade students will not graduate on time, and about half of 
all African American and Hispanic ninth graders will not earn a diploma 
in four years. Less than 2 out of every 10 students who begin high 
school will receive a postsecondary degree within a reasonable time. 
Students of color, new immigrants, and children living in poverty are 
all being left behind. A good education is granted to some, but denied 
to others, denied not only to children of color in our cities, but also 
to children living in poverty in our rural areas. We must end this.
  We must recruit the best and the brightest Americans to become 
teachers and we must transform teaching, restoring its luster as a 
profession, so that when new teachers join it, they are successful, and 
want to stay. As teachers and principals are increasingly being held 
individually responsible for student success, it is increasingly 
important that we adequately prepare teachers to become successful.
  Research shows that inexperienced teachers are less effective than 
teachers with several years of experience, but good preparation 
programs can make novice teachers effective more rapidly. We must help 
novice teachers get the training and coaching they need. Teacher 
preparation seldom provides the opportunity to learn under the 
supervision of expert teachers working in schools that effectively 
serve high-need students. Most new teachers lack such support, and so 
leave the profession before achieving success.
  Today I am proud to introduce the Teaching Residency Act, which 
builds on a successful model of teacher preparation similar to medical 
residencies. Teaching Residency Programs are school-based teacher 
preparation programs in which prospective teachers teach alongside a 
mentor teacher for one academic year, receive master's level coursework 
in teaching the content area in which they will become certified, and 
attain certification prior to completion of the program. Once 
certified, graduates of the program are placed in high-needs schools, 
and continue to receive strong mentoring and coaching for their first 
years of teaching. This bill proposes establishing Teaching Residency 
Programs as a provision of Title II of the Higher Education Act.
  I am particularly proud to introduce this legislation today, because 
it is a model of effective teacher preparation that I have supported 
since before I was elected to the Senate in 2004. I have seen the power 
of teacher residencies through the very successful Academy for Urban 
School Leadership in my home State of Illinois. And I am pleased to be 
supported in this effort by the introduction of legislation in the 
House by my good friend, Congressman Rahm Emanuel.
  It is critical to develop programs that increase the probability that 
recruits will succeed and stay in those classrooms where they are most 
needed. Teaching Residency Programs are based on what we know works 
best to improve teacher preparation. We know that mentoring is critical 
to help young teachers develop in the early years of their career and 
to retain many of new teachers who would otherwise leave the profession 
in their first years. We cannot afford to lose any more high quality 
teachers because they do not feel supported or do not feel that they 
are progressing professionally.

[[Page S7350]]

  I hope my colleagues will support this important legislation.
                                 ______