George Miller: “this year the Congress has an historic opportunity to improve the quality of our Nation's education. Teachers are the…”

“this year the Congress has an historic opportunity to improve the quality of our Nation's education. Teachers are the foundation of our entire educational system, but right now we have a serious problem with the way we prepare and deploy teachers. One in four high school teachers does not even have a college minor in the subject they teach. In high poverty schools, the figure is one in two. Last week it was reported that U.S. students performed poorly in math and science compared to students in other countries. It is no coincidence that many of these students' teachers have no math or science background. The Committee on Education and the Workforce is about to mark up legislation to upgrade teacher preparation and to attract talented individuals to the profession of teaching. I will offer my own legislation, H.R. 2228, which would provide for the forgiveness of student loans to qualified entry-level teachers, increase professional development of new teachers, strengthen the standards for federally-supported teacher programs, and require schools to inform parents about the qualifications of their child's teacher. I support reducing classroom size by hiring more teachers, but when it comes to teachers, more is not enough. I urge my colleagues to support H.R. 2228.”