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

Remarks Prepared for
Richard W. Riley
U.S. Secretary of Education

National Forum: Attracting and
Preparing Teachers for the 21st Century

April 17, 1997

Thank you Terry for your gracious introduction and for giving me another opportunity to show off my pictures. I take great delight in my grandchildren, and I always learn something from each and every one of them.

I want to welcome all of you to this national forum -- those of you who are attending here in Washington -- and all of you who are listening in at over 120 down links sites all across America. We have over fifty of the best teachers in America attending this forum as well as college and university Presidents and Deans from 24 states.

We also have over 1,000 teachers, college educators and students joining us from every part of the country. We are joined by teachers and students at Cal State --Sacramento, teachers at Mission View Elementary in Tucson, Arizona, and I am told that there is a very large gathering at Ohio State University.

We are down linked to Indiana University in Bloomington, we have listeners at the University of South Florida, and we are connected to educators attending the national mathematics conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

I?m please that all of you are joining us -- for this really is a national dialogue of great importance to the future of our country. How we teach our children defines in many ways the future of America in this new Information Age.

This is also an exciting time of challenge because we are confronted by many new dynamics. Our nation?s classrooms have never been more crowded. From Los Angeles to Atlanta to Miami, Florida -- the portable classroom is a common sight in school yards.

The entire context of American education is changing. We need teachers skilled in using computers as a powerful teaching tool, and many more teachers well-versed in teaching English as a second language. Our teachers need to teach to a higher level of achievement, and be prepared to teach all of America?s children -- the gifted and the talented, our many new immigrants, the college bound achiever, and the disabled child who is learning so much more because he or she is now included.

Yet, we struggle to put the old industrial model of education behind us. The jewel of American education is our system of higher education yet too often our colleges of education are treated like forgotten step-children. And for too long public education in America and higher education have gone their separate ways, each dedicated to its own vision of excellence and learning.

I believe that this 19th-century model is outdated. We need a new model appropriate for the 21st century, an ongoing dialogue at every level of education to raise expectations and achieve high standards. This is one of the chief purposes of this national forum -- to break down the disconnections -- to get good people at every level of education talking to one another.

We must also recognize that too often in the past when we have been confronted with the demand for many teachers we have traded quality for quantity and paid the price by accepting mediocrity in our schools. I also believe that we must a make a concerted effort to attract Americans from all walks of life to this demanding profession.

To my way of thinking one of the best ways to make teaching attractive is to make it a real profession with high quality preparation programs that are rigorous and relevant to today?s classrooms. And we need to do a better job at promoting teaching as a way of life to young people who are now growing up. Let?s remember, young people are starting to make choices as early as 9th grade.

As Terry noted in her remarks now is the time to get it right -- to step back and rethink how we attract, prepare, and support America?s teachers. We have little hope of raising standards and giving our young people the skills they need unless we have better prepared teachers in the classroom. Teachers who are well trained and prepared for the realities of today?s classroom.

This is why I want to share with you the results of a questionnaire we asked the teachers of the year who are with us tonight to fill out. The Council for Basic Education took charge of this project for us and the results are quite instructive.

We asked our state teachers of the year to answer eleven questions on teacher preparation with a special focus on the new teachers they have mentored or are mentoring now. Here is what they told us.

The first thing they told us is that the new teachers they are mentoring know the content of their subjects. They also told us that these first years teachers have good mechanics -- they know how to give tests, they are well prepared when it comes to planning daily lessons, to direct classroom activities and monitoring student progress. This is all very positive.

But the teachers also voiced some common concerns. They were overwhelming in their view that new teachers are unprepared to manage classroom discipline. The teachers also expressed very strong concerns that new teachers are not prepared to use technology and they have some difficulty engaging parents in the learning process.

The teacher also seem to suggest that new teachers are not being prepared enough to teach young people from many different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds. The same view hold true when it comes to teaching young people with physical and learning disabilities.

The teachers also noted that new teachers really are not given adequate time for student teaching -- and all too often new teachers are on their own during the first two years of teaching. We haven?t created a process that give future teachers a true sense of the American classroom here in 1997 -- and then we leave them to fend for themselves.

A few more concluding thoughts. Our little poll told us that new teachers are not as sure as they should be when it comes to connecting their teaching practices to content standards or in using performance based assessment.

At the same time, the majority of the teachers tell us that university faculty value their assessment of the student teachers they are mentoring. Yet, they also suggest a disconnect as well -- there is a real need for more practicing teachers to be teaching in university programs.

Now this is a very small poll but it is a poll of some very smart Americans. And I suspect that much of what these teachers are telling us rings true with many of you in the audience. These teachers have given us something to think about.

Teaching is a demanding profession, and it will be even more demanding in the future. This is why I want to encourage every teacher in America to think about following in the footsteps of Sharon Draper -- our new national teacher of the year --who chose to become board certified.

President Clinton and I strongly support the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards and its goal of certifying over 100,000 master teachers in the next decade. I challenge every school in the nation to have at least one board-certified teacher on your faculty.

And I want to thank all of you who are doing the hard work of thinking through what we must do prepare our teachers for the 21st century. My wife Tunky and I were visiting the zoo one day when we saw a teenager with a Dilbert T-shirt that read: "Change is good -- you go first."

Well, some of you are going first -- you?re breaking new ground -- and that?s hard work -- a heavy load. But we need to get on with it -- to be willing to rethink what we are doing when it is appropriate -- to get into the classroom more -- and let go of old habits and ways of thinking in light of changing circumstances.

This is my charge to all of you -- use this dialogue not as an end, but as a beginning -- become serious and committed advocates for change. Do the hard work of upgrading teacher preparation and certification in your state.

The American people are tuned into education. The sparks are all around us. And we have a President in the White House -- in Bill Clinton -- who cares deeply about education. If ever there was a time to come together to improve teaching it is now.

America is on the move, and every school, college and university can be a bastion of hope, creativity and learning. For education is much more than getting a degree or learning a new skill. There is joy to learning, and the freedom of the intellect that brings with it new discovery and new thinking.

I end now with a quote from an old friend of mine from South Carolina, the writer Pat Conroy. This quote is from his novel the Prince of Tides.

And in this passage the main character of the book Tom, a teacher, is asked why he chose to "sell himself short" when he was so talented and could have done anything in his life.

Tom?s reply goes like this, "There?s no word in the language that I revere more than ?teacher.? None. My heart sings," he says, "when a kid refers to as his teacher and it always has. I?ve honored myself and the entire family of man by becoming a teacher."

I believe that there are a great many Americans listening tonight who feel the same. I thank you for your commitment to the teaching profession.

Thank you.

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