Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - August 02, 2007)

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I introduce the School Improvement through Teacher Quality Act of 2007, to foster the development of a highly skilled and effective teacher workforce capable of improving student achievement in this country.

We are slated to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act this Congress for the first time since 2001. The key to this reauthorization will be ensuring that states, districts, and schools are given the resources, tools, and support to improve student learning, including targeted, high-quality efforts to improve a school when it is identified as in need of improvement under the law.

Improving teacher quality is the single most effective step we can take to increase student achievement and turnaround failing schools. Studies have found that 40 to 90 percent of the difference in student test scores can be attributed to teacher quality. Unfortunately, new teachers, not just those in hard-to-staff schools, face such challenging working conditions that nearly half leave the profession within their first 5 years, one-third leave within their first 3 years, and 14 percent leave by the end of their first year.

However, research has shown that offering new teachers comprehensive, multi-year mentoring and guidance cuts attrition rates in half, and helps these teachers become high-quality professionals who improve student achievement. At the same time, we know that experienced teachers also need effective, sustained professional development to maintain and improve their teaching skills.

For these reasons, I am introducing the School Improvement through Teacher Quality Act of 2007, cosponsored by Senators Murray, Obama, and Brown. This legislation amends Title II of the No Child Left Behind Act to create a new $500 million formula-based program for school districts to provide targeted assistance so teachers in low-performing, high-poverty schools get comprehensive, high-quality multi-year guidance and mentoring for new teachers and systematic, sustained professional development for experienced teachers.

First, this legislation would direct funding to districts with failing schools to help implement a high-quality induction program for teachers throughout at least their first two years of full-time teaching. This intensive support for beginning teachers would incorporate proven strategies such as: rigorous mentor selection; ongoing mentoring with school-protected release time; research-based professional development for mentors and school leaders; and research-based teaching practices, formative assessments, and teacher portfolios. Research has demonstrated that such mentoring for beginning teachers at institutions like the New Teacher Center at University of California, Santa Cruz provides a return on investment, $1.66 for every $1
spent; increases the new teacher retention rate, to 88 percent after 6 years in some California districts; and strengthens beginning teacher effectiveness to such an extent that their students demonstrate learning gains similar to those students of their more veteran counterparts.

Second, the School Improvement through Teacher Quality Act of 2007 would offer funding for struggling schools to provide their veteran teachers with ongoing professional development and training, including helping such schools develop and implement rigorous curricula aligned to State standards and student needs; design and evaluate assessments; implement strategies to improve student achievement and teacher effectiveness; train teachers, principals, and administrators in effective coaching strategies, analyzing school and student data, and strategies for teaching students with disabilities and English Language Learners; and utilize teacher leaders, coaches, or content experts to support learning and model effective collaboration skills.

This assistance would be tied to a modified definition of professional development based on successful nationwide models such as the National Staff Development Council, with an increased focus on collaboration among teachers, including engaging established teams of teachers to plan and develop instruction across grade level and content area and to evaluate and analyze data on student achievement and learning goals. This professional development would occur multiple times per week during the regular work day, and be supported by school principals through school-based coaches, mentors, or lead teachers who allocate time, resources, and structured facilitation to the learning teams or cohorts.

Lastly, this legislation requires that an external evaluation be conducted of the mentoring and professional development programs authorized and supported under this act. Outcomes would be based on measures such as teacher retention, student learning gains, teacher instructional practice, and parent, family, and community involvement.

We must act on this bill and continue to push for increased Federal investment in improving schools through enhanced teacher quality and professional development. The stakes are too high, not just in terms of meeting the current highly qualified requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act, but to take the next step and ensure that each and every classroom in America is taught by an effective teacher. Teachers are the key to student success and student success will in turn keep our country competitive in today's global economy.

I urge my colleagues to cosponsor this legislation and work for its inclusion in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, today I am introducing the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007, which will provide new support for environmental education in our Nation's classrooms. Given the major environmental challenges we face today, teaching our young people about their natural world should be a priority, and this legislation is an important first step.

For more than three decades, environmental education has been a growing part of effective instruction in America's schools. Responding to the need to improve student achievement and prepare students for the 21st century economy, many schools throughout the Nation now offer some form of environmental education. Mr. President, 30 million students and 1.2 million teachers annually are involved in these programs.

Yet, environmental education is facing a significant challenge. Many schools are being forced to scale back or eliminate environmental programs. Fewer and fewer students are able to take part in related classroom instruction and field investigations, however effective or popular. State and local administrators, teachers, and environmental educators point to two factors behind this recent and disturbing shift: the unintended consequences of the No Child Left Behind Act and a lack of funding for these critical programs.

The legislation that I am introducing today would address these two causes. It would provide funding to States to train their teachers in the field of environmental education, and it would provide support for outdoor environmental education programs for children and a model environmental education curriculum. The bill would also create incentives, through new funding, for states to develop environmental literacy plans to make sure students have a solid understanding of our planet and its precious natural resources. Finally, the legislation would reestablish the Office of Environmental Education within the U.S. Department of Education to oversee critical environmental education activities. This legislation has broad support among national and state environmental groups and educational groups.

The American public recognizes that the environment is already one of the dominant issues of the 21st century. In 2003, a National Science Foundation panel noted that ``in the coming decades, the public will more frequently be called upon to understand complex environmental issues, assess risk, evaluate proposed environmental plans and understand how individual decisions affect the environment at local and global scales. Creating a scientifically informed citizenry requires a concerted, systemic approach to environmental education ...'' In the private sector, business leaders also increasingly believe that an environmentally literate workforce is critical to their long-term success. They recognize that better, more efficient environmental practices improve the bottom line and help position their companies for the future.

Climate change, conservation of precious natural resources, maintaining clean air and water, and other environmental challenges are pressing and complex issues that influence human health, economic development and national security. Finding widespread agreement about the specific steps we need to take to solve these problems is difficult. Environmental education will help ensure that our Nation's children have the knowledge and skills necessary to address these critical issues. In short, the environment should be an important part of the curriculum in our schools.

I know my constituents in Rhode Island, as well as the residents of other States, want their children to be environmentally literate and have a connection with the natural world. I am proud to sponsor this important legislation. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact the No Child Left Inside Act of 2007. I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill and a letter of support be printed in the Record.

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