More Resources Secretary's Remarks Teacher Initiative Fact Sheet on Teacher Initiative Teachers Ask the Secretary

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today announced additional efforts aimed at supporting the teachers of more than one million students over the next year, including a teacher training corps and a technology partnership for teachers in urban areas who focus on math and science. The additional efforts are part of the Department's successful Teacher-to-Teacher initiative, a comprehensive program that offers professional development, research-based classroom strategies, and other support to teachers.

"The success of No Child Left Behind is due in large part to the inspiration and determination of our nation's teachers," said U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. "The Teacher-to-Teacher initiative is all about giving teachers the tools they need to do their best to improve student learning and close the achievement gap."

The new Teacher-to-Teacher Training Corps will include teachers and practitioners who will provide on-site technical assistance to individual school districts. For example, the corps could offer an in-service program for a school district's high school math teachers. Members of the Teacher-to-Teacher Training Corps will participate in the Department's summer workshops. All 50 states and the District of Columbia accept the Department's Teacher-to-Teacher summer workshops and online professional development courses for credit. Expanded to 32 courses, the free digital workshops are available to teachers around the world.

Secretary Spellings also announced a partnership between the Department and TechNet, a group of technology companies, to create workshops for teachers in urban areas that focus on math, science, and technology.

Other recently announced support for teachers includes Teachers Ask the Secretary—a new, easy-to-use Web page that gives teachers the opportunity to directly ask the secretary questions and learn information about a wide range of subjects, including teacher quality, professional development, state academic standards and more.

The Teacher-to-Teacher Initiative includes workshops for teachers, teacher and principal roundtables, regular e-mail updates and free online professional development. More than 4,500 teachers have participated in workshops and roundtable discussions.

Also as part of the initiative, teachers across all grade levels and disciplines are being honored as the American Stars of Teaching at events nationwide this fall. One teacher is being recognized from every state and the District of Columbia. A committee of former teachers at the U.S. Department of Education selected the American Stars from among 2,000 nominations based on their success in improving academic performance for all their students.

President Bush and Congress have provided an unprecedented $16.1 billion in federal funding since 2001 to support the teaching profession. In addition, the House of Representatives recently approved $100 million in funding for President Bush's Teacher Incentive Fund to reward K-12 educators who make outstanding progress in raising student achievement or narrowing the achievement gap. The Teacher Incentive Fund is also a proposed provision of a Higher Education Act reauthorization bill, which would also make permanent student loan forgiveness available for such teachers.

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