[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 194 (Tuesday, December 18, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S15914-S15916]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. BINGAMAN:
  S. 2496. A bill to amend title II of the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Act of 1965 to enhance teaching standards and provide for 
license portability; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and 
Pensions.
  Mr. BINGAMAN. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Enhancing 
Teaching Standards and License Portability Act of 2007. This bill would 
encourage the development and implementation of rigorous 21st century 
teaching standards throughout the U.S.
  Since the release of the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk, educators and 
policymakers have sought to strengthen our Nation's weakening grip on 
global competitiveness. Despite these efforts, low achievement outcomes 
for too many students, particularly low income students, remain a 
threat to our current and future standing in the global economy, and to 
our children's future security. I am concerned about the continuing 
struggles of many of our schools.
  In order to graduate from high school ready to succeed in 
postsecondary education and the workforce, students need a world-class 
21st century education. Their success depends on access to high quality 
teachers who have both state-of-the-art content knowledge and excellent 
teaching skills. Teachers deserve access to the most up-to-date 
teaching standards if they are to attain these professional criteria. 
Moreover, assessments of quality teaching must be based on the 
characteristics that are known to influence student achievement 
outcomes.
  The Enhancing Teaching Standards and License Portability Act provides 
the commitment and resources needed to help teachers attain these 21st 
century teaching skills.
  In the early 1990s, the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support 
Consortium, INTASC, developed core teaching standards for beginning 
teachers, standards that have since been used--voluntarily--by 
individual States to develop teaching and certification requirements. 
Professional organizations such as the National Council of Teachers of 
Mathematics also developed subject-area teaching standards. This bill 
would build upon these efforts to improve teacher quality by supporting 
the refinement, development, and testing of K-12 teaching standards 
aligned with demands of the 21st century. These demands reflect content 
area advances in subject areas such as science and technology; advances 
in understanding of how students learn; the principle of universal 
design for learning that advocates flexible teaching to accommodate 
different learning styles; educators' recognition of the need to foster 
critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills in addition 
to subject area knowledge; and demographic changes in student diversity 
such as the recent dramatic increase in English-language learners and 
the increased inclusion of students with disabilities in the classroom.
  Specifically, this bill would provide a funding mechanism to develop 
or refine 21st century teaching standards, and to link those standards 
to performance-based teacher assessments. It would also provide 
subgrants to states to adopt, pilot, and implement these teaching 
standards and associated teacher assessments, and align their teacher 
licensing systems accordingly. In addition, the bill would promote and 
facilitate reciprocity and portability of teaching licenses across 
states. I am very pleased that this bill is supported by several 
education groups devoted to enhancing the quality and coherence of 
teaching standards, including the Council of Chief State School 
Officers, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, 
the National Association of Secondary School Principals, the National 
Council of Teachers of Mathematics, the International Reading 
Association, the National Science Teachers Association, and the 
National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
  I believe it is important to acknowledge that we have made some 
progress in improving teacher quality. As summarized in the Secretary 
of Education's Fifth Annual Report on Teacher Quality, the percentage 
of teachers who lack a full teaching certificate has declined, from 3.3 
to 2.5 percent of all classroom teachers. Progress has also been 
reported in aligning States' K-12 student content standards with 
teacher certification standards; and the number of new teachers passing 
required State assessment exams remains high at 95 percent. The minimum 
examination scores required to pass these exams, however, are generally 
lower than the national median scores for these assessments. Such low 
criteria are in conflict with the NCLB definition of a highly qualified 
teacher as someone with demonstrated competence in content-area subject 
matter. Current teacher standards fail to demonstrate, much less 
ensure, this competency.
  Researchers have demonstrated the importance of teacher competency 
for student outcomes, arguing that classroom practices and other 
aspects of teaching affect student achievement as much as, if not more 
than, student characteristics. A recent Education Week report revealed 
that teachers who score higher vs. lower on state licensing exams tend 
to have students who themselves achieve higher scores, particularly in 
mathematics, even when other factors linked to high achievement are 
taken into account. Other studies demonstrate that the more content-
specific college coursework a math or science teacher pursues prior to 
teaching, the higher that teacher's students will score in math or 
science. Further, a study appearing in Science showed that higher 
student outcomes are also associated with more positive classroom 
experiences, and that these classroom experiences can be measured by 
standardized observations of the instructional and social support 
teachers provide. Together, these and other studies illustrate that 
teachers' knowledge and their observable skills in the classroom are 
significant influences on student achievement.
  Although solid grounding in content knowledge is necessary for 21st 
century learners, it alone is not sufficient. Students today need to 
develop creativity, critical thinking skills, and problem solving 
abilities to compete in our global economy. This means that teachers 
must teach higher-order thinking skills in addition to content 
information, and create opportunities to learn. Research has shown that 
students of teachers who can convey higher-order thinking skills and 
subject knowledge actually outperform students whose teachers teach 
only subject knowledge.
  As you know, Mr. President, students in the 21st century represent 
diversity. For example, the U.S. Department of Education reports that 
the rate of English-language learners has increased by 169 percent in 
the last 20 years, in contrast to an increase of only 12 percent in the 
overall student population. Nationwide, 10 percent of all students are 
English-language learners. In my state of New Mexico, the rate is 22 
percent, second only to California, where over 25 percent of students 
are English-language learners. According to the National Academies 
Report, How People Learn, teachers need to develop an expertise 
grounded on the theories of learning, including theories that concern 
how cultural beliefs and personal characteristics of learners influence 
their learning process. This teaching knowledge promotes learning for 
all children. In fact, students whose teachers receive professional 
development in teaching diverse students outperform students of 
teachers who lack this training.
  These are just a few examples of the research linking student 
outcomes to teacher characteristics. Linking these characteristics to 
rigorous teaching performance standards is an opportunity to provide 
world class education to our students in the 21st century. It is time 
to improve our teaching standards.
  Towards this goal, the Enhancing Teaching Standards and License 
Portability Act has four main objectives.
  First, to improve teacher quality by supporting the development of 
rigorous kindergarten through grade 12 teaching standards that 
incorporate 21st century teaching and learning skills, and to

[[Page S15915]]

promote alignment of these standards with performance-based teacher 
assessments;
  Second, to create incentives for States to adopt, pilot, and 
implement such rigorous kindergarten through grade 12 teaching 
standards and performance-based teacher assessments through a 
competitive grants process;
  Third, to promote efforts for States to align these teaching 
standards and performance-based teacher assessments to State licensing 
requirements; and
  Finally, to create incentives for States to develop policies that 
would facilitate license reciprocity and portability.
  Although this bill would not mandate that model teaching standards be 
adopted by the states, the trends demonstrate that widespread adoption 
is likely. For instance, after INTASC developed model teaching 
standards in 1992, 38 States adopted the standards in developing their 
own statewide standards. Over 20 States are reviewing the NCTM 
Curriculum Focal Points to develop mathematics curriculum standards. 
Over 22 States currently rely on the same standardized teaching 
credentialing test, and another 10 adopt a second widely available 
test. The availability of model 21st century teaching standards could 
have a profound influence on K-12 education nationwide, and this bill 
would provide incentives for States to adopt and test these standards.
  An added benefit of available model teaching standards concerns 
reciprocal teacher certification across States, which could address 
teacher shortages and curriculum cohesion across states. Nationally, 
about 20 percent of teachers seek their initial license in a state 
other than where they completed their teacher training. This bill would 
improve the capacity of States to collaboratively address teacher 
shortages through increased teacher certification reciprocity, by 
promoting alignment of the teaching standards with State licensing 
systems.
  Finally, the availability of widely used model standards would 
support a platform for horizontal coherence of teaching and curriculum 
standards. A State's voluntary use of updated rigorous standards would 
promote core similarities that offer additional benefits for mobile 
students who suffer setbacks when faced with inconsistent curriculum.
  Student mobility, defined as the percentage of students who transfer 
in or out of a school during a given school year, occurs in both inner-
city and suburban school districts. Rates in inner city schools range 
from 45 to as high as 80 percent. In suburban schools, mobility rates 
may be as high as 10 to 40 percent. Although overall mobility indices 
in the U.S. are not rising, the percentage of moves that occur across 
state lines has increased from approximately 16 to 19 percent since 
2000. When children change schools, they often must adapt to a 
different curriculum; and lack of curriculum cohesion is believed to 
account for several negative consequences. Children who experience 
several school changes are more likely to receive below-grade level 
reading and math achievement scores than their peers who have never 
changed schools; they are also more prone to grade retention, and have 
an increased high school dropout rate.
  I believe this legislation can go a long way in improving our 
Nation's educational achievement rates by improving teacher quality and 
licensing portability. I also believe that this legislation is critical 
to strengthening our global competitiveness because quality teaching is 
a route to helping students meet high standards. I hope that this 
legislation will be included in the reauthorization of the Elementary 
and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, and I urge my 
colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and 
a letter of support be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                S. 2496

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Enhancing Teaching Standards 
     and License Portability Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. TEACHING STANDARDS AND LICENSE PORTABILITY.

       Part C of title II of the Elementary and Secondary 
     Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6671 et seq.) is amended by 
     adding at the end the following:

        ``Subpart 6--Teaching Standards and License Portability

     ``SEC. 2371. PURPOSES.

       ``The purposes of this subpart are the following:
       ``(1) To support the development of rigorous kindergarten 
     through grade 12 teaching standards that incorporate 21st 
     century learning skills.
       ``(2) To create incentives for States to adopt, pilot, and 
     implement such rigorous kindergarten through grade 12 
     teaching standards.
       ``(3) To create incentives for States to align the States' 
     teacher licensing systems to such rigorous kindergarten 
     through grade 12 teaching standards.
       ``(4) To create incentives for States to develop policies 
     to facilitate teacher license portability across States in 
     order to improve the capacity of States to collaboratively 
     address teacher shortages.

     ``SEC. 2372. DEFINITIONS.

       ``In this subpart:
       ``(1) Core teaching standards.--The term `core teaching 
     standards' means standards that all beginning teachers should 
     know and be able to teach in order to practice responsibly, 
     regardless of the subject matter or grade level being taught.
       ``(2) Eligible entity.--The term `eligible entity' means an 
     organization representing administrators of State educational 
     agencies in partnership with 1 or more independent 
     professional organizations with expertise in the following 
     areas:
       ``(A) Teacher preparation and licensure.
       ``(B) Assessment of teacher knowledge, skills, and 
     competencies.
       ``(3) 21st century learning skills.--The term `21st century 
     learning skills' means the skills, knowledge, and 
     competencies that students should master to succeed in 
     postsecondary education and the workforce of the 21st 
     century, including creativity and innovation skills, critical 
     thinking and problem-solving skills, communication and 
     collaboration skills, information and technology literacy, 
     civic and health literacy, adaptability, social and cross-
     cultural skills, and leadership skills.

     ``SEC. 2373. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED.

       ``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary is authorized to award 
     a competitive grant to an eligible entity to enable such 
     entity to carry out the following:
       ``(1) The development or updating of core teaching 
     standards and content-specific kindergarten through grade 12 
     teaching standards that are rigorous and incorporate 21st 
     century learning skills and recent research and expert 
     knowledge on teaching practices.
       ``(2) The development of teacher assessments linked to the 
     kindergarten through grade 12 teaching standards that can be 
     used for licensing, are valid and reliable, and are 
     performance-based.
       ``(3) The awarding of subgrants as described in subsection 
     (b)(2) to State educational agencies.
       ``(4) The provision of technical assistance to States in 
     the adoption, pilot testing, and implementation of 
     kindergarten through grade 12 teaching standards and teacher 
     assessments as described in paragraph (2).
       ``(5) The provision of technical assistance to States to 
     facilitate teacher license portability across States through 
     changes in relevant State policies or the creation of new 
     policies for such purpose.
       ``(b) Uses of Funds.--
       ``(1) Direct activities.--
       ``(A) First and second years.--An eligible entity that 
     receives a grant under subsection (a) shall use 100 percent 
     of the funds made available through the grant for the first 
     and second fiscal years--
       ``(i) to develop or update the core teaching standards and 
     content-specific kindergarten through grade 12 teaching 
     standards; and
       ``(ii) to develop and pilot test teacher performance 
     assessments that can be used to supplement or supplant 
     current State licensing exams.
       ``(B) Third year and beyond.--An eligible entity that 
     receives a grant under subsection (a) shall use not more than 
     40 percent of the funds made available through the grant for 
     the third fiscal year, not more than 30 percent of the funds 
     made available through the grant for the fourth fiscal year, 
     and not more than 20 percent of the funds made available 
     through the grant for the fifth fiscal year--
       ``(i) to continue pilot testing and validating the teacher 
     performance assessments;
       ``(ii) to disseminate the kindergarten through grade 12 
     teaching standards, assessments, and any other materials that 
     States may need to properly evaluate and adopt such 
     standards, assessments, and materials;
       ``(iii) to provide technical assistance to States in--

       ``(I) adopting the kindergarten through grade 12 teaching 
     standards;
       ``(II) pilot testing the teacher assessments; and
       ``(III) reliably and accurately administering and 
     interpreting the teacher assessments; and

       ``(iv) to fund research activities that further the 
     development of kindergarten through grade 12 teaching 
     standards and assessments.

[[Page S15916]]

       ``(2) Subgrants.--An eligible entity that receives a grant 
     under subsection (a) shall use not less than 60 percent of 
     the funds made available through the grant for the third 
     fiscal year, not less than 70 percent of the funds made 
     available through the grant for the fourth fiscal year, and 
     not less than 80 percent of the funds made available through 
     the grant for the fifth fiscal year to award subgrants to 
     State educational agencies to pay the Federal share of the 
     costs of carrying out the following activities in the States:
       ``(A) To adopt the core teaching standards and content-
     specific kindergarten through grade 12 teaching standards 
     developed or updated by the eligible entity.
       ``(B) To align the States' teacher licensing systems to 
     such standards, which may include the pilot testing and use 
     of teacher assessments developed by the eligible entity under 
     paragraph (1)(A)(ii).
       ``(C) To change relevant policies or introduce new policies 
     to facilitate teacher license portability across the States.

     ``SEC. 2374. APPLICATIONS.

       ``(a) Grant Application.--
       ``(1) In general.--An eligible entity that desires a grant 
     under this subpart shall submit to the Secretary an 
     application at such time, in such manner, and accompanied by 
     such information as the Secretary may require.
       ``(2) Contents.--In an application submitted under 
     paragraph (1), an eligible entity shall include, at a 
     minimum, a description of the capability of the entity to 
     carry out section 2373(b).
       ``(b) Subgrant Application.--
       ``(1) In general.--A State educational agency that desires 
     a subgrant under this subpart shall submit an application to 
     the eligible entity at such time, in such manner, and 
     accompanied by such information as the eligible entity may 
     require.
       ``(2) Contents.--In an application submitted under 
     paragraph (1), a State educational agency shall include, at a 
     minimum, a description of how the agency plans to carry out 
     the activities described in subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) 
     of section 2373(b)(2).

     ``SEC. 2375. FEDERAL SHARE.

       ``(a) Federal Share.--For State educational agencies 
     receiving a subgrant under section 2371(b)(2), the Federal 
     share of the cost of carrying out the activities described in 
     subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of section 2371(b)(2) shall 
     be 50 percent.
       ``(b) Payment of Non-Federal Share.--The non-Federal share 
     may be paid in cash or in kind (fairly evaluated).

     ``SEC. 2376. REPORTS TO CONGRESS.

       ``Not later than 2 years after the date funds are first 
     made available to carry out this subpart, and again 2 years 
     thereafter, the Comptroller General of the United States 
     shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a 
     report regarding activities assisted under this subpart.

     ``SEC. 2377. SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.

       ``Funds made available to carry out this subpart shall be 
     used to supplement, and not supplant, other Federal, State, 
     and local funds available to carry out the [purposes 
     described in section 2371].

     ``SEC. 2378. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       ``There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this 
     subpart--
       ``(1) $4,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008 and 2009; 
     and
       ``(2) $10,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 
     2012.''.
                                  ____

                                                 October 12, 2007.
     Hon. Jeff Bingaman,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear Senator Bingaman: The undersigned organizations would 
     like to thank you for introducing the Enhancing Teaching 
     Standards and License Portability Act of 2007 and express our 
     support for this critical bill. Our education system can only 
     be successful if every child receives instruction from high-
     quality teachers with the most up-to-date skills and 
     knowledge. The education community has been working 
     diligently to improve teaching in this country, and this act 
     will continue to move these efforts forward. We believe 
     firmly in the goals of this bill:
       Supporting development of rigorous kindergarten through 
     grade 12 teaching standards that incorporate 21st century 
     learning skills.
       Creating incentives for states to: adopt, pilot, and, 
     implement rigorous kindergarten through grade 12 teaching 
     standards; align teacher licensing systems to the rigorous 
     kindergarten through grade 12 teaching standards; and, 
     develop policies to facilitate teacher license portability 
     across states in order to improve the capacity of states to 
     collaboratively address teacher shortages.
       We support rigorous and relevant teaching standards that 
     provide high expectations for what our teachers should know 
     and be able to do. These standards and the aligned licensing 
     systems will further assist teacher preparation programs in 
     how to most effectively prepare teachers for today's 
     classrooms and ensure that our students are taught only by 
     high-quality teachers. Also, as we work to address teacher 
     shortages and as our society grows increasingly mobile, there 
     is great need for teacher license portability across states. 
     States have been working on teacher license portability 
     measures, and this bill will further build on these 
     initiatives. Overall, this act will help elevate the teaching 
     profession in this country so every child has access to a 
     world-class education.
       Thank you for your leadership on this important issue, and 
     we look forward to continuing to work with you on improving 
     teaching in America.
           Sincerely,
       American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education.
       Council of Chief State School Officers.
       International Reading Association.
       National Association of Secondary School Principals.
       National Commission on Teaching and America's Future.
       National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
       National Science Teachers Association.
                                 ______