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

I want to begin by thanking Chancellor Zimpher and the staff at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee for their contributions. Chancellor Zimpher's attendance at the president's Summit in September and her continued participation in this conference show great leadership.

Most of all, I want to thank all of the educators and community leaders here with us for being part of this big turnout. We have teams from 47 states, and that's a great sign that the movement for better teaching is sweeping the nation.

I'm glad the new millennium was mentioned a moment ago because it reminded me of a fascinating story that appeared in the trade publication, Education Week, a few weeks ago.

The story said that in 1959, the National Education Association asked the nation's governors to predict what education would be like in the year 2000. Their predictions were locked away in a time capsule in the NEA's headquarters here in Washington, and then opened about a month ago.

Some of the governors' predictions were quite interesting. One predicted that by 2000, "transportation by anti-gravity machine...will permit students to participate in interplanetary travel." I think that many teachers today would confirm that some students do, indeed, appear to be in outer space, and need to be returned to Earth.

Other governors made more profound comments. The ageless Cecil Underwood, who was elected governor of West Virginia in 1956 and then again in 1996, predicted that schools would be characterized "by greater diversity, higher quality, and better teachers." Now, that's amazing! Gov. Underwood's crystal ball predicted today's highly diversified student body, the movement to raise standards, and even this conference on teacher quality!

As a matter of fact, if there was one theme that ran through most of the governors' comments, it was that quality teaching is the key to better education in the future. They said it in 1959, and it is even more true today.

In the Information Age, our nation's hopes rest in the hands of our teachers. The values our teachers impart to our children are at least as important to the future of our country as the values of our Wall Street portfolios. And the prosperity of America must depend on more than high-priced stocks, it must depend on high standards in our schools--high academic standards, and high standards of character, discipline, and citizenship.

That is why I believe that this conference can be one of the most important events in American education this decade. Because right here, right now, you can become the leaders of a movement that can change the face of teaching in the 21st century.

I am really struck by the historic nature of this conference. Something like this has never happened before--leaders from higher education, K-12 schools, the business world, and community groups working together in teams to improve teaching quality. What an extraordinary group of educators and citizens you are. Give yourselves a big round of applause!

My friends, America is blessed with many teachers who are experts in their fields, have strong pedagogical skills, and care deeply about children. They are the products of America's schools of education--many attended the colleges and universities represented here today. The nation is indebted to you, our higher education leaders and faculty, for these great teachers.

And let me say this to the K-12 representatives here today: Your schools have given many teachers the chance to do some of the best and most creative teaching in the world. Our business leaders, our astronauts, our Nobel Prize-winning scientists, our Silicon Valley techno-wizards, our world-renowned artists and musicians--they didn't just fall out of the sky. The great majority of them received their education from our nation's public schools and our public school teachers. So thank you for your invaluable contributions to America and to the world.

Now the challenge is to make sure that there is a talented, dedicated teacher in every classroom. We are falling short of that goal, and that is the problem that we are here to address.

One of our greatest challenges is the changing nature of teaching itself. We are asking our teachers to help all children to reach new, challenging standards of learning. This includes children with disabilities, children with emotional troubles, children who come to school hungry, children whose native language is not English, and children whose parents are uninvolved and want the schools to do the job of parenting for them.

Teaching to high standards is difficult under the best of circumstances--much less under these difficult circumstances. This is one of the reasons why in a recent survey only 36 percent of teachers said they were "very well prepared" to teach the challenging new standards in our K-12 schools.

Let me give you just one example of the problems teachers now face in the "real world." Trish mentioned Terry Dozier, my senior advisor on teaching, a moment ago. Terry's husband, Mark, teaches high school in the Richmond, Virginia, area. His students come from Bosnia, Russia, Yugoslavia, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Yet he has had no training in how to teach students with limited English proficiency. The class also includes low-performing students, students with disabilities, and some who have "checked out" of education.

Yet Mark is expected to teach these students World History and get them ready to pass Virginia's very rigorous "Standards of Learning" exams.

There is nothing wrong with asking teachers to teach to higher standards, and we must. But I believe that it is wrong--and counter-productive--to ask teachers to do it without the right tools. Unless we provide teachers with the right preparation, induction, mentoring, support, professional development, and pay, the movement to raise standards--which so many of us fought for and which has finally become a reality--may stumble. And that would be a tragedy. That is why we must push hard on teaching quality, and why I want to challenge you to prepare imaginative, effective action plans that will move us forward.

Another major challenge is the number of students in our nation's classrooms. If I could boil down the biggest challenge to K-12 education in one sentence, it would be this: We've got a record number of children to teach, and a shortage of qualified teachers.

Many school districts are reporting the worst shortages of qualified teachers in memory, particularly in math, science, special education, and bilingual education. It's gotten so bad that some schools have been forced to put any warm body in front of a classroom. It has been estimated that 250,000 teachers are working without proper preparation in course content, or without any kind of training in how to teach. Even well-prepared teachers are being forced to teach "out of field."

Your action plans can produce good ideas for recruiting new teachers from diverse backgrounds, whether they are fresh out of college or mid-career professionals making the switch to teaching. Your ideas can serve as models for others, and you'll find the U. S. Department of Education eager to share your ideas with other educators around the nation.

When it comes to higher education, I will say the same thing to you that I said to the college and university presidents at our first conference: We need to end the second-class citizenship of many of our schools of education. They can no longer be university backwaters, as some have been allowed to become. They must have the support of the entire university. Colleges of arts and sciences and colleges of education can no longer remain isolated from each other. Education majors must gain competence in subject matter, as well as learn how to teach effectively. They must learn to combine theory and practice, gain valuable clinical experience, and be better prepared for the classrooms they will encounter on the job. This, of course, requires the collaboration of all levels of education, and that is why I am delighted that your teams reflect this cooperative effort.

Higher education leaders and faculty should also be kept well versed in the emerging, tougher standards for K-12 students, and all the new realities of education today. I mentioned the challenge of diversity a moment ago when I discussed Mark Dozier's classroom in Richmond, Virginia. Another challenge is making teaching relevant to children's lives.

A member of my staff recently spoke to the mother of a 6th-grader who said her son is a very good reader and loves "Mad Magazine"--a publication that probably graced most of our reading lists at one time. But when it comes to math, the young man had a hard time understanding the relevance of a concept like "volume" to his life. So the teacher brought in a fish tank and soon he and the other students learned that if they didn't put the right volume of water into the tank, the fish could die.

The bottom line is, higher education people need to visit the schools regularly to see the changes and challenges in K-12 education today. They might be shocked by what they see, or pleasantly surprised. I know one man who said, "I went to a school expecting to see asbestos and metal detectors. Instead, I saw the 5th-grade orchestra playing Beethoven." So keeping in touch is a good idea. To encourage this, I think tenure and promotion policies ought to reward higher education faculty who participate in local schools.

I firmly believe that we can meet all these challenges if we work together. President Clinton and I know that we have a responsibility to help. That's why we have made new federal investments to strengthen the ties between schools of education, departments of arts and sciences, and K-12 education. These links will help produce teachers with strong content knowledge and teaching skills, immerse prospective teachers in extensive clinical experiences, and reduce teacher shortages in high-poverty schools. We have also invested in helping student teachers to learn to use technology in the classroom. Tomorrow, I will meet with CEOs who have prepared a chart that schools of education can use to evaluate how well they're preparing teachers to integrate technology into classroom instruction. I hope you will all get a copy and use it.

You should also know that the American people also support your work. In the 1990s, education became the number one issue in our nation. It was a time when we finally got serious about education, and we saw real progress.

Just two days ago, a new research report was issued entitled, "Do You Know the Good News about American Education?" It reported that SAT and ACT scores are up. Math and science achievement is up. More students are taking Advanced Placement exams. More high school students are taking challenging courses. There are fewer dropouts. More students are going on to higher education, and more are completing 4-year college degrees.

All this reminds me of the words of the late Elliot Richardson, the great public servant who passed away recently. He once said, "I do not believe I am naive, but I am proud to say I am not cynical." I think that cynicism which is blind to the progress that we have made has become one of the great barriers to education improvement in our country. By coming here today, you defeat the forces of cynicism and send a powerful message that we can solve our problems and that we are going to solve our problems.

Henry Adams wrote in 1907, "A teacher affects eternity." Today, I am asking you to affect eternity by making dramatic changes in teaching in America. I know that it will not be easy. I know that it will take some courage. But you don't get the chance to affect eternity every day. You have the chance right here, right now. I know that you will seize it. Thank you very much.