A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

Talented Teachers in Every Classroom

This nation faces several challenges in sustaining and upgrading the quality of our teachers. Two million teachers will be needed over the next ten years to replace retirees and accommodate rapidly growing student enrollment. This presents an enormous opportunity for ensuring teacher quality well into the 21st century, if we recruit promising people into teaching and give them the highest quality preparation and training.

As we demand higher levels of knowledge and skills from our students, we must honor and support our teachers in the classroom today, equipping and expecting them to help our students master the basics and be prepared for college, employment, and good citizenship. Without quality teachers and teaching, our most serious efforts to raise standards and improve schools will not succeed.

Everyone has a role to play in helping our teachers become the best in the world. Parents, schools, community leaders, universities, state leaders--and most important, current and future teachers themselves--can take many steps to address this challenge.

• Identify and reward our most talented master teachers. For many years, many educators, led by North Carolina Governor Jim Hunt and the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, have worked hard to establish nationally accepted credentials for excellence in teaching. More than 500 of these master teachers have been certified since 1995. Under the President's budget, 100,000 more teachers over the next 10 years will be able to seek certification from the National Board as highly accomplished master teachers--enabling at least one teacher in every school to get certification from this board. States, school districts, and the private sector can also establish rewards for master teachers and other excellent teachers they identify in such ways as through teacher-of-the-year competitions. School districts can call on these master teachers to become mentors for other teachers.

• Do more to challenge talented young people and mid-career professionals in other areas to become teachers and help them make the transition into a teaching career. Communities can start middle and high school academies for students interested in becoming teachers, and states can establish centers for teacher recruitment that bring promising students into teaching. States can make it financially easier for young people to teach in high-need areas through fellowships and loan forgiveness programs. School districts can make sure that beginning teachers get support and mentoring from experienced teachers. The Clinton Administration proposes to change the tax law so that more students can use community or public service to repay their student loans without owing tax. It will continue working to make college and teacher preparation more affordable for young people who go into teaching.

• Reinvent teacher preparation for beginning teachers and improve professional development for more experienced teachers so they get the training they need to help students master the basics and reach high standards in the core academic areas. Colleges, universities and school districts must provide current and future teachers ongoing, sustained opportunities to learn how to be more effective and upgrade their skills. The Clinton Administration has supported their efforts by increasing funding that may be used for sustained professional development, stronger teacher standards, and performance evaluation for teachers. The Eisenhower Professional Development program, Goals 2000, and the National Science Foundation's Teacher Enhancement Program also provide substantial support for high-quality professional development.

• Expand efforts to help teachers become technology literate and to use technology to improve training available to teachers. The President's technology initiatives will play a major role in helping teachers to become technology literate. For example, the President's Technology Challenge Grant program supports private-public sector partnerships to develop models for using technology in education, such as providing "electronic field trips" for new teachers to learn from expert teachers and mentors around the country. Moreover, the Technology Literacy Challenge Fund will leverage public funds to target school districts and schools committed to helping teachers integrate technology into the classroom. Finally, the 21st Century Teachers initiative will recruit thousands of technology literate teachers to upgrade their knowledge and help at least five of their colleagues learn how to use technology in the classroom.

• Set high standards to enter teaching and find ways to help--or quickly and fairly remove--teachers who don't measure up. School districts and teachers can help start and participate in peer assistance programs where they help identify, and then provide intensive assistance to, burnt-out or low-performing teachers. School districts can develop fair and faster processes for holding teachers accountable and assisting or removing teachers who are not making the grade. Educators and communities should not look the other way if a teacher is burned out or not performing up to standard. The Clinton Administration will share promising strategies for recruiting talented young people and others into teaching, rewarding good teachers, and quickly and fairly improving or removing teachers who don't make the grade. The Administration also will provide guidance to schools, districts, and states on how existing federal funds can be used to address these challenges.

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