Improving Teacher Quality

Every community should have a talented and dedicated teacher in every classroom. We have an enormous opportunity for ensuring teacher quality well into the 21^st century, if we recruit promising people into teaching and give them the highest quality preparation and training.

President Clinton's Call to Action for American Education in the 21^st Century

For decades, the public and private sectors have explored methods to improve teacher quality. Thinks tanks, commissions, and agencies across the country have probed the problem, from the seminal 1983 report A Nation at Risk, to the 1991 Department of Labor SCANS report, the Hunt Commission Report of 1996 to today’s CEO Forum and the Web-based Education Commission, and many more. All recognize the critical importance of the teacher in today’s society and call for improvements in teacher training. The need is especially critical today since the classroom has changed so radically in recent years.

Harold O. Levy, chancellor of New York City public schools, is particularly blunt about the problem and the urgency. He wrote in a New York Times (9-9-2000) opinion column, "The quality of teachers has been declining for decades, and no one wants to talk about it." He lists many of the problems, particularly lack of adequate pay and respect, and concludes with a warning, "This may be our last opportunity to avoid locking in mediocrity for a generation."

In the last eight years, the Clinton-Gore Administration has not only been talking about the problem, but also begun doing something about it. A consensus is now emerging that the issue is one not only for state and local governments, but also for the federal government.

Contemporary classrooms and social conditions confront teachers with a range of complex challenges. These include meeting the needs of students who have difficulty adapting to the school environment and may be at risk of violent behavior. New education goals and tougher standards, more rigorous assessments, greater interest in parental involvement, and expanded use of technology increase the knowledge and skills that teaching demands. These challenges are great, and neither teacher training programs nor state licensing requirements are effective in helping teachers to work in this environment.

The Clinton-Gore Administration has recognized that, as a society, we need to make dramatic changes in the ways we recruit, prepare, license, and provide ongoing support for teachers. It has been nearly thirty years since the Federal government last made a major investment in teacher recruitment and preparation. The three Teacher Quality Enhancement Grant Programs created in 1998 in Title II of the Higher Education Act, the teacher accountability system also enacted in Title II, and the new Preparing Tomorrow’s Teachers to Use Technology program all give us another historic chance to improve the quality of teaching in America’s classrooms.

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