Teacher Training Enhancement Act

TEACHER TRAINING ENHANCEMENT ACT -- (House of Representatives - June 02, 2004)

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Mr. BURNS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding the time. I thank the gentleman for bringing this legislation to the floor.

I sat here and I listened to the rhetoric from the other side, and they do not seem to get it. They do not seem to get that education is important to America. They do not seem to get the fact that, as we improve education and teacher training, we can improve America. They do not seem to get the fact that it is important that the future of our Nation depends on education.

I want to speak specifically to a portion of this legislation that we worked out with our colleagues from the other side; and that is the demand for more ethnically and culturally diverse, highly qualified teachers. It is critical, especially as the significant growth in the numbers of minority students in K through 12 is present across our Nation.

Opportunities that increase the numbers of minority teachers and enhance their training will support the broader strategies to enhance instructional opportunities for and can help to eliminate the achievement gaps of minority students.

According to part C of H.R. 4411, it authorizes the creation of centers of excellence at high-quality, minority-serving institutions.

During the discussion of H.R. 2211, the Ready to Teach Act, the bill that we are discussing from last year, I offered an amendment that was cosponsored by the gentleman from New York (Mr. Owens) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hinojosa) that authorizes grants for teacher preparation at centers of excellence that are based on language that was submitted by the committee or to the committee by the United Negro College Fund and the Hispanic Education
Coalition.

I am pleased that the bill before the House today, H.R. 4409, the Teacher Enhancement Training Act, also contains this important new program.

I believe that these centers of excellence will provide minority-serving institutions that have demonstrated a record of
preparing highly qualified teachers with a leadership role in recruiting and preparing those teachers and increase the
opportunities for Americans of all educational, of all ethnic and of all geographic backgrounds to become highly
qualified teachers.

In general, the purpose of these centers are to increase teacher recruitment at minority-serving institutions and make
institutional improvements to teacher preparation programs at these schools.

Mr. Speaker, I have two HBCUs in the 12th district. Paine College in Augusta and Savannah State University in
Savannah will both benefit from this legislation. They provide grants. Grants are competitively awarded to high-quality
teacher preparation programs at HBCUs, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving
Institutions, Tribally-Controlled Colleges and Universities, Alaska Native-Serving Institutions and the Native
Hawaiian-Serving Institutions.

This is a good bill. It provides a positive reinforcement for the future for teachers and teacher training and for
minorities across our Nation. These grants can be used for numerous opportunities at these institutions to enhance and
create opportunities for minorities in the teaching environment: reforms within teacher preparation programs; high-
quality preservice clinical experiences; initiatives that promote the retention of highly qualified teachers and principals; and scholarships to help teachers pay for tuition, room, board and other experiences.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, to support minority-serving institutions and vote yes for H.R. 4409, the Teacher Training Enhancement Act.

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