Teacher Equity: Effective Teachers For All Children

Floor Speech

Ms. HIRONO. Mr. Speaker, the Education and Labor Committee is holding a hearing later this morning on teacher equity and ensuring that all children have access to effective teachers.

The most important resource in every classroom is a caring, qualified, and competent teacher; yet highly effective teachers tend to be more concentrated in affluent communities. Children of the highest poverty and highest minority schools across the country are often taught by less experienced, less qualified teachers. These children are being shortchanged. Closing this ``teacher quality gap'' is a critical step in closing the achievement gap for these students.

We can do more here in Congress to support the important work teachers do and to help teachers access the professional development and support they need. We can do more to ensure that effective teachers are placed, and encouraged to stay, in the classrooms where they are most needed. By building on the work of this Congress, for example, we required States to provide assurance that they will take steps to address disparities in teacher equity as a condition of receiving Recovery Act funds.

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