Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

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S. 2174. A bill to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for the preparation of career and technical education teachers; to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

Mr. KAINE. Mr. President, in today's increasingly competitive global economy, America's success will depend on the talent of its workforce. In cultivating the workforce necessary to succeed, we need to look at ways to expand opportunities for students, and refocus our Nation's education strategy to meet the demands of the industry in the 21st century. Career and technical education, CTE, programs play a vital role in increasing student engagement, continuing our nation's economic competitiveness, and building the skills of our country's workforce.

We are beginning to see a renaissance of student interest in career and technical education, but school districts across the Nation are facing critical shortages in high-quality CTE teachers. While the Higher Education and Opportunity Act of 2008 provides grants for teacher residency partnership programs to colleges and universities who work with high-needs school districts to train prospective teachers, no CTE-focused partnerships exist.

That is why I am introducing with my colleagues, Senator BALDWIN, Senator PORTMAN and Senator CAPITO the Creating Quality Technical Educators Act, which would create a CTE teacher-training grant partnership to give aspiring CTE teachers the experience necessary to mirror their success in the business world with that in the classroom. This legislation would foster teacher training partnerships between high-needs secondary schools and post-secondary institutions to create a 1-year residency initiative for teachers and includes teacher mentorship for a minimum of 2 years. When CTE teachers have work experience in a related industry before entering the classroom, students not only benefit from their hands-on knowledge, but also look to them as career models.

The Creating Quality Technical Educators Act would amend the Higher Education and Opportunity Act to give aspiring CTE teachers real-world experience and develop credible skills to apply in the classroom. This bipartisan bill takes a proactive approach to recruiting and training more high-quality CTE teachers. In addition to mid-career professionals in related technical fields, CTE teacher residencies would target teacher candidates who are recent college graduates, veterans, and currently licensed teachers with a need for technical skills training who seek to become transition into CTE fields.

As co-chair of the Senate CTE Caucus, I am proud to introduce this commonsense, bipartisan legislation to recruit and train talented teachers to meet the rising need for CTE. The Creating Quality Technical Educators Act takes an important step to ensure students in communities of all sizes have access to high-quality CTE teachers and career-training programs.

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