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e e ladies and gentlemen a very good morning to you welcome to your nation's capital to the committee on education and the workforce and specifically the subcommittee on early learning uh Early Childhood Elementary and secondary education the committee will come to
order I noted that a quorum is present without objection the chair is authorized to call a recess at any time okay we've all been there we've all been there driving our car when the warning light comes on some
light oh my gosh how bad is it is it going to uh is it really bad or not is it a is it a a warning light that we can decipher or uh not it will come on at the worst possible time it's going to be raining you're going to be in the middle of
nowhere uh and then you know that it's time either to get it fixed or or to go forward I had a friend in college who drove a uh an older model car and his uh warning light was flashing and so he said said I can fix it and he took a
roll of black duct tape and just taped it over his dashboard uh not recommended his car collapsed uh soon thereafter uh and so uh take care of your car take care of uh whatever is you have the responsibility to take care of America
has a responsibility to take care of our education system it's key that we have leaders that we grow leaders for tomorrow and right now if if uh if we were looking at our education system the
warning light would be on and I say that because the numbers are indeed uh alarming uh here's some numbers uh 86% of public schools uh reported difficulties in hiring teachers uh for
the 2023 24 school year between 2020 and 20 22 16% of teachers says they've said I've had it I'm done I'm going somewhere else uh teachers often feel disheartened 20% say they are satisfied
with the jobs meaning 80% are not saying that six 16% would recommend the profession to others with that said it's apparent that uh these aren't just statistics they're a flashing red light on the dashboard of our education system
part of the solution perhaps could be affordable accessible Pathways into the classroom traditional teacher preparations program can take up to four 5 years to complete and come with a sticker price sometimes upwards of tens
of thousands of dollars the cost are simply too high for many for many prospective teachers with evaluating how much it costs what's the return on the investment it doesn't take a math Wiz to find out that uh you have to have a love of teaching you are not doing it just
for the money so the the cost cons and people running for the exits before they even enter the pipeline that's why today uh we're going to discuss alternative certification programs they've been gaining national attention today let's get to the bottom
of it uh many say that they're efficient cost-effective ways to get talented individuals that's what we want talented individuals into the classroom between 2018 and 2021 enrollment in these different types of programs has increased by 20% the programs many times
offer a fast path to certifications for individuals who have expertise in their fields and I think passion for kids and learning and uh jumping into the arena it's not about getting teachers in the
classroom it's about keeping them there the reality is that way too many teachers lead the profession because they don't feel supported and valued we need to rethink the way we structure the teaching profession uh we're going to hear from Innovative programs like Arizona State uh next education
Workforce they're doing just that by reimagining the traditional model for one teacher one classroom new approaches can provide teachers and students room to flourish for example third graders in Asus team Based Teaching schools
experience an extra 1.4 months of reading growth each year and what about math that's what you're asking me uh Aaron tell us about math their Algebra 1 students pass at rates four to S percentage points higher than their peers in traditional classrooms teacher
turnover and satisfaction also has greatly improved these results show that uh we can't treat teachers like revolving doors and still expect schools to thrive we just want our kids to do well uh why aren't they
teaching them and uh we've got to give teachers everything every tool we can to succeed other colleges as appal asan state have developed similar models yes it's another ASU uh Appalachian State uh
uh presses harder to expand these ideas they say it's time to think boldly in Spotlight changes that will not only bring more people into teaching profession but ensure that they also want to stay that with that members uh I've got great news we once again this
subcommittee is known to putting together Allstar panels and we've done that today so in just a moment members we're going to turn to you our guest and uh listen listen to the uh Cutting Edge what's happening in the field of how we can do it but first let me yield to the
ranking member for her opening statement ranking member uh thank you very much Mr chairman and thank you to the witnesses for being here today we look forward to the conversation I'm optimistic that we can have a meaningful and bipartisan conversation about the importance of growing and supporting a diverse and
dynamic educator Workforce that meets the complex needs of our country students and provides them all of them with the opportunity for for worldclass Education Miss Pat Dorian was my high school English teacher and changed my life as well as the lives of many other
students I went to school with she instilled in me a love of language and poetry but more importantly a love of learning I expect that many of you in the room today have similar stories and remember a teacher or two who changed your lives teachers educate Mentor
Inspire nurture and guide students they are Role Models Community Builders and imp parters of knowledge in critical thinking unfortunately the path to becoming a teacher presents many obstacles it typically requires years of expensive schooling testing and
certification the skyrocketing price of higher education which I hope is something we can work on in this committee acts as a significant barrier to many who hope to become Educators certification can be expensive and complicated to obtain with mountains of paperwork that deter prospective
Educators sometimes even before they begin their careers and in many places teachers are notoriously underpaid when adjusted for inflation teacher salaries have been stagnant since 1990 while the cost of living Rises and the cost of a four-year degree has nearly doubled
since that time also students do better when they see themselves reflected in their teachers according to North Carolina State College of Education associate professor Dr agalite agalite sorry uh as we will hear in testimony today students of color
experience a variety of benefits when their placed in a classroom with a teacher who shares their racial or ethnic background and Mr almei will be discussing that yet despite 50% of students identifying as persons of color educators of color make up just 19% of
teachers in this country research also shows that a diverse teacher Workforce benefits all student achievement regardless of race Congress must do more to support prospective black and brown Educators to better represent children of all demographics in our schools when examining these challenges it might seem
attempting to bolster the teacher Workforce by depr professionalizing the job whether that be by removing or reducing educational or certification requirements but that approach would only harm students who benefit from a well prepared teacher to guide them through their education so instead of
lowering the standards we should be streamlining the process of becoming a teacher and recruiting more students to be Educators through apprenticeship and mentoring programs for new teachers through student loan forgiveness and through a competitive compensation I'm not one to complain about a problem
without offering Solutions the Biden Harris Administration has encouraged using effective and Innovative teacher prep preparation programs including strategies that focus on recruiting and retaining diverse candidates Congress can build on this initiative by providing resources to help support
successful Innovative teacher preparation models across the country the build back better act provided more than aund million for Grants to fund grow your own programs that supported High needs schools and subject areas as well as improving diversity within the
teacher Workforce to address the teacher shortage in this country we also must support Title One schools and expand loan forgiveness like the Public service loan forgiveness program to support those who dream of becoming teachers the college affordability act which Advanced
through this Committee in 2020 outlined several ways to give aspiring teachers a hand as they pursue their education the college affordability act would improve programs that recruit perspective teachers especially to address shortage areas like stem and special education it
would also improve and expand that Public service loan forgiveness program to provide that all teachers loan payments count toward their eligibility for loan repayment and keep in mind that these um Public service loan forgiveness uh borrowers do pay uh according to income during their time of teaching
it's the balance at the end that's forgiven we should strengthen title to professional development programs and initiatives that support recruiting and retaining diverse educators the teacher diversity and retention act introduced by several members of this committee would also bolster teacher recruitment
programs by establishing Grant programs for Education students at HBCU and other minority serving institutions as well as providing dual certification and special education and Behavioral Management so teachers can meet the needs of every student there are also wonderful
mentoring and coaching programs that support Educators and improve retention and finally Mr chairman I encourage us all uh to encourage people to go into the teaching profession by recognizing the importance of our system of public
education and not bashing it I think bashing public education discourages people from wanting to go work there of course we can work together on improvements to the system but let's lift up uh Educators who choose to teach and I look forward to hearing from all of our Witnesses and a productive discussion today and I yield back the
balance of my time thank you very much ranking member pursuant to committee rule 8C all committee members who wish to insert written materials in to the record may do so by submitting them to the committee clerk electronically in Microsoft Word format by 5:00 p.m. after 14 days from the date of this hearing
which is October 9th 2024 and without objection the hearing record will remain open for 14 days after this date to allow such statements and other extraneous material referenced in the hearing to be submitted for the official hearing record and now it's time to
introduce our distinguished Allstar panel of witnesses our first witness is Dr Carol basil who is Dean of the Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University located in Tempe
Arizona her work is centered on redesigning the education Workforce and changing practices in teaching and Leadership preparation she is currently working with education organizations nationally and internationally to design systems and enable organizational change
in these areas prior to joining ASU Dr Basil was Dean and professor of the College of Education at the University of Missouri in St Louis welcome Dr Basil our second witness is Dr Melba Spooner
who is Dean of the Reich College of Education at appalachin State University in Boon North Carolina she began her higher education career at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte where she was a faculty member and served in various roles in the
College of Education including assistant Dean Dr Spooner earned her education doctorate in curriculum and teaching from the University of North Carolina in Greensboro and her master's and bachelor's degrees in early childhood education from the University
of North Carolina at Charlotte welcome Dr Spooner our third witness will be introduced by our ranking member you're recognized uh thank you Mr chairman we welcome Mr Sharie almei the founder and CEO of the center for black educator development an organization dedicated to
transforming the teaching profession and ensuring that black educators are supported and celebrated prior to establishing the center Mr Ali served at the US Department of Education as principal Ambassador fellow under the Obama Administration and previously had served as the principal of Mastery
Charter Shoemaker in Philadelphia Pennsylvania in 2014 Mr almei founded the fellowship black male Educators for social justice and it's an initiative aimed at recruiting retaining and and developing black male teachers Mr almei holds a ba
in criminal justice from Indiana University at Pennsylvania and a master's in elementary education and an administrative certification from chain a University Welcome Mr El mecky welcome uh Mr uh El mecky and our Final witness is Dr Greg Mendes who is principal of
Skyline High School in Messa public schools located in Messa Arizona in this role He is building uh a strategic School staff model where Educators work on teams to deliver rigorous teaching and learning experiences uh Dr Mendes
has over 18 years of of experience in education and holds a doctorate of Education and Leadership and Innovation from ASU Arizona State University in addition to a master's degree in education uh from ASU and another master's degree in athletic
Administration from Concordia University Irvine uh welcome Dr principal Greg we're glad to have you here thank everybody for being there members I told you it was an All-Star panel and I'm looking forward to their testimony under committee rules I would ask that uh our Witnesses I've talked to most of you
it's five minutes uh because we like to talk we limit everybody to five minutes uh and so we have your written testimony and if you want to submit more we'll take it but your talk today your oral uh presentation will be limited to 5 minutes and uh I don't have to tell you
this but I'm supposed to tell you this that that we expect everybody you have a responsibility to provide accurate information to the subcommittee that we can make better choices with your with your accurate information uh Dr brail you won the toss so so you will be going
first it's my pleasure to recognize you for five minutes welcome to the committee thank you choman fox let me first thank you for making the trip to Arizona and taking the time to learn about our work chairman Bean ranking member of banamichi and esteemed members
of the subcommittee allow me to start with two assertions the first one may seem obvious and the second one may seem at first contrarian but bear with me first people are different they look different they have different tastes and they learn in different ways and second
the problem we are accustomed to calling teacher shortage is not really or not only a teacher shortage we do not have a shortage of credential teachers we have a shortage of credential teachers who want to do the job and the reason for this is connected to the fact that
people are different the default model of schooling one teacher one classroom treats all Learners as identical it mistakes the statistics of an average learner for a real human being and in assuming that all Learners have the same educational needs it assumes that all teachers need the same set of skills so
our teacher preparation programs have been designed essentially to mass-produce identical Educators and this tells us a lot about why so many credential Educators would rather do something else than teach one the one teacher one classroom model asks all teachers to be all things to all people
at all times that's a tough ask of an experienced teacher let alone a recent graduate of a teacher prep program second most of the time the job looks the same on day 3000 as it does on day one and there are few Pathways for advancement that offer professional
growth and three there are too few paths to specialization in areas that would effectively address learner variants teacher shortage is a Down effect of a Workforce design problem it's bigger than pipeline building a potential solution to that problem is an education
Workforce comprised of professionals with varying sets of skills different areas of content knowledge and multiple modes of pedagogical expertise and we need them to work in coordinated teams at Arizona State University we have a Strategic Staffing initiative we call
the next education Workforce through this initiative we partner with schools and school systems and aspire to one provide students with deeper and personalized learning by building teams of Educators with distributed expertise and Empower
Educators by developing better ways to enter the profession specialize and advance in 2024 25 school year we anticipate working with more than 150 schools across 40 school systems and in 15 states to implement these team-based
models this work will impact upwards of 25,000 students and a th000 Educators and more than 300 teams this work has broad implications for Teacher preparation teacher preparation programs and schools need to work together to accomplish three things that are not
currently doing well enough one make work count the work teacher candidates perform in schools is work work should be compensated many teacher candidates work other jobs to support themselves and in many cases their families as they complete coursework and their
professional experiences this is a major cause of stress and burnout right now there are residencies alter na ative certification Pathways and apprenticeship models that allow teacher candidates to be paid while they work towards certification these are a start but in every case we need to get the
professional experience right the second is to get the professional experience right in addressing the problem of paying teacher candidates programs often create another problem by asking teacher candidates to perform the roles of experienced teachers but they're not experienced teachers and it's not reasonable to
expect to retain people that are hired to perform tasks they are not prepared to do so for their sake and for the sake of the students they serve teacher candidates should be given clearly defined responsibilities that allow them to learn in stages gain competencies and grow professionally so put them on teams
work with schools to create professional experiences that teacher candidates can perform successfully and that serve identified learning needs in schools our field working with government at all levels has no shortage of solutions to parts of the problem and while each of those Solutions will
measurably advance progress in addressing some part of the problem they are not systemic Solutions asu's model offers a systemic solution we can make teacher preparation programs affordable through scholarships but that doesn't mean we can retain Educators in the
field we can Implement residencies and paid apprenticeships and other ways of making work count but that doesn't address the isolation and the lack of professional advancement Pathways inherent in one teacher one classroom models we can also make it easier to become a teacher but that doesn't give
guarantee the teacher retention or good learning outcomes so if we have an Ask of our government it's this support local Innovations and Workforce design and teacher preparation that make the profession both more accessible and more attractive reward school systems that manage their human capital in ways that
lead to demonstrable Improvement in learning outcomes catalyze Partnerships between state agencies and teacher preparation programs and school systems the challengeing teacher preparation is not merely labor shortage but a Workforce design challenge thank you
well done thank you uh uh Dr Basil you gave us six second back so thank you uh very much uh up next uh is Dr Melba Spooner welcome to the committee and you are recognized for five minutes thank you chairman Bean ranking member banamichi Dr Fox esteemed
committee members good morning and thank you it's an honor and a pleasure to be here with you today I would like to also extend a very special appreciation to Dr Fox who we are so proud that you represent App State and we appreciate all the support you have provided to Educators schools
and classrooms not only in North Carolina but Across the Nation I began my career in education as a teacher assistant and had opportunities to serve as a classroom teacher and assistant principal in the Charlotte meinberg School District before transitioning to a career in higher education I appreciate the opportunity to share some
insights into the enduring Legacy of how we are preparing Educators at appstate that said we are also constantly growing and changing how we do this important work of recruiting retaining and supporting Educators and schools across the country we utilize research-based content and curriculum to prepare
candidates for the classroom for example in recent years the examination of the teaching of reading has become more important in response to the needs of the children families and teachers in North Carolina and Beyond we have engaged in an extensive curriculum redesign process our prospective
teachers are immersed in a curriculum aligned with the science of reading and before they graduate candidates are required to be proficient in literacy instruction to ensure their full preparation they're also required to complete extensive coursework and supervise clinical experiences in schools and in classrooms to
successfully recruit prepare graduate and support exemplary teaching professionals we invest time in building Partnerships with school districts across the state this allows us to provide a wide variety of experiences for candidates in schools with students who are representative of North Carolina's population a key component of
our educator prep program is an emphasis on classroom management prospective teachers are involved in classroom instruction and clinical experiences that allow them to observe learn and practice a variety of techniques they graduate with the necessary expertise in
planning instruction and utilizing classroom management skills tailor to the developmental and behavioral needs of the students in their classrooms graduates do not just leave the university with a diploma they leave ready for the workforce with the necessary skills to take on one of the
hardest and most rewarding careers that exist today additionally all prospective teachers are required to engage in a series of professional development activities before completing their programs of study this requirement enhances their classroom learning and clinical experiences while ensuring they
understand the value and commitment to lifelong learning and continuous professional development the pre-graduation requirements and post-graduation support provide that we that are provided have real significance Nationwide I'm proud to share that for the eth consecutive year appstate has
led the nation in the number of alumni who hold the national board for professional Teaching Standards credential currently 2,321 alumni have earned this outstanding credential in our rural area of Northwestern North Carolina there is just as there is Nationwide a Workforce
deficit in high needs areas such as special education and stem education many schools and direct districts in the region face limitations and challenges as they work to meet the needs of their students appstate provides critical assistance not only by graduating highly prepared and proficient teachers but
also by partnering with p12 school districts and community colleges to develop initiatives and alternative Pathways to fill Workforce gaps making teacher preparation programs more flexible accessible and affordable is key to recruiting and retaining great teachers we're constantly addressing the
needs of the market adapting and refining Recruitment and Retention efforts and ensuring we offer the flexibility students need to graduate on time and with some of the lowest College debt in the nation we highly regard our responsibility to develop programs that address Educators ongoing educational
needs furthermore we work to address the market demand for serving adult Learners those who begin their education careers at community colleges as well as those who enter the profession through an alternative pathway I'm immensely proud to be part of at State's continuing Legacy of preparing extraordinary teachers of course none of our
accomplishments would be possible without the support from the North Carolina general assembly and the UNCC Board of Governors and I'm grateful to our state legislators and the taxpayers of North Carolina who help to ensure that the UNC system Remains the economic engine of our Workforce and Exemplar for the nation thank you for holding the
hearing with us today and for your commitment to supporting current teachers and educators of tomorrow I appreciate the discussion and look forward to your questions Dr Spooner you did great thank you so much and uh I appreciate the uh the Insight uh Mr El mecky thank you so much you were
recognized welcome to the committee thank you so much chairman Bean ranking member Hayes and esteemed members of the committee on education and the workforce thank you for the opportunity to address you on the critical need to increase educator diversity to better serve all students my name is Sharie almei I'm the
founder and C founder and CEO of the center for black educator development dedicated to rebuilding the national black teacher pipeline as an educator and a principal I realized that many students rarely encounter teachers who look like them this disparity is a national crisis research consistently
shows that all students benefit from a diverse teaching Workforce teachers of color bring unique perspectives that enrich learning environments serve as Role Models reduce stereotypes and Foster crosscultural understanding for students of color
having teachers who share their backgrounds leads to improved student performance higher graduation rates and increase college enrollment studies show that black students who have one black teacher by third grade are 133% more likely to enroll in college and if they
have two that spikes up to 32% for white students exposure to diverse Educators prepares them for a Multicultural Society and enhances problem solving and critical thinking skills and despite black students making up about 15% of the student population
black teachers comprise only about 7% of the teaching Workforce this Gap reflects systemic barriers that prevent black individuals from entering and remaining in the profession students with disabilities from marginalized communities face compounded challenges
diverse educators are more likely to implement inclusive practices and advocate for all students fulfilling the promises of the individuals with disabilities Education Act idea and unfortunately there's a significant shortage of special education teachers
exacerbating disparities for students with disabilities several barriers hinder the Recruitment and Retention of diverse Educators the covid-19 covid-19 pandemic has intensified teacher shortages enrollment and teacher preparation programs have dropped significantly disproportionately
affecting educators of color and high need areas like special ed the high cost of teacher preparation programs and unpaid student teaching disproportionately impacts candidates from low-income communities lack of mentorship professional development and Leadership Pathways leads to higher
attrition rates amongst educators of color at the center for black educator development we introduce teaching as a viable and esteemed career path early through High schoolies pre-apprenticeship programs and the we need black teachers campaign
we develop mentorship programs offer professional development and ensure educated prep programs equip teachers to support students with disabilities effectively we advocate for scholarships stiens and access to loan forgiveness programs to alleviate Financial burdens and importantly we push for paid
training opportunities understanding that unpaid periods can be prohibitive for individuals from low income in come backgrounds allow me to sh share the story of Amir Williams a 2024 graduate who participated in our programs both in high school and in college upon
graduation he was hired to teach at his alma mater as one of only two black men in his teacher prep program our support provided him with the Community Network and skills necessary for him to be successful his journey and many others
exemplifies how supportive rigorous Pathways can lead to successful outcomes without lowering ing Professional Standards we also host the annual black men in education convening the largest gathering of black male Educators in the country bringing together over a thousand Educators for professional
development workshops discussions and networking I extend an invitation for each of you to attend our upcoming event in November educator diversity is essential for educational equity and Excellence by bringing diverse voices into our classrooms we enrich a learning
environment for all students especially those from marginalized communities and students with disabilities I urge this committee to support Federal programs like the Augustus F Hawkins centers of excellence that directly address educated diversity invest in Innovative
rigorous alternative Pathways that offer accessible and paid routs into teachings and systems that improve the working conditions once they get into the schools and support organizations like and coalitions like the 1 million teachers of color and national board for
professional Teaching Standards enhance idea implement M ation by preparing Educators to meet the needs of students with disabilities and addressing shortages in special education teachers and address Financial barriers by providing financial support during training periods loan forgiveness and
scholarships together we can build an education system that reflects our country's Rich diversity and upholds the promise of equal opportunity for every child thank you for your time and dedication to this critical issue I look forward to your questions nailed it
thank you so much uh Mr El mecki thank you very much our Final witness is uh Dr Greg Mendes welcome to the committee and you are recognized for five minutes good morning thank you um Dr Fox chairman Bean ranking member banamichi and members of
the committee thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today as a high school principal I have witnessed firsthand what the traditional methods of teacher prep programs are struggling to meet the evolving needs of not only our students but the demands of Educators as well the current model of
teaching where one teacher Works individually with a group of Learners in a classroom or a small box inside of a larger box that we call School promotes unrealistic expectations by assuming individual teachers working in isolation can meet the needs of all students
unfortunately the teacher prep programs not only promote this but exacerbate it by selling the idea that one person can do the job of many and meet the needs of all students today I will discuss my story about building team-based models in schools and their benefits as well as
some concerns associated with the current traditional teacher prep programs that limit our ability to hire a Workforce to meet the needs of our students restructuring our learning environments is necessary to not only meet the demands of students but the
working conditions in which our teachers work as well developing team based models was our entry point this model emphasizes working in teams a specialization in skills and pedagogy and Pathways for community members to uh to contribute to the learning
environment when we began to think about team-based teaching in our school a few tenants were established number one a team will have multiple adults with distributive expertise and number two they will share a roster of students during our first iteration of building teams we noticed our teachers
collaborating more solving problems working synergistically at deeper levels to improve the outcomes for not only students but their own working conditions we saw an increase in job satisfaction Innovation and perhaps most important on the job professional development as we as we partnered with
Arizona State University and their initiative called the next education Workforce we were able to have a thought partner in what the design of our teacher Workforce could be to that end we began to play student teachers on teams at our school in short our student teachers who were on teams grew as
professionals and were more prepared to meet the demands of a 21st century student body than teachers who were not on teams this is a good start however there is a lot of work to be done as I interview teachers year in and year out it is evident that teacher prep programs
are still producing teachers that are suited for a one teacher one classroom Model A few areas that stand out to me there's a focus on scripted one siiz fits all lessons and there's a focus on specific grade level and content area
only these constraints present problems when trying to hire Educators especially in a team based model instead of being able to hire a specialized teacher in Project based learning differentiated assessment Competency Based learning and placing them on a team I'm confined to
hiring simply a 9 through 12 math grade math teacher because of this approach teachers who are trained in the traditional prep programs are expected to be all things to all kids this simply isn't possible teachers are often ill-prepared and graduate from a program
with a strong passion for Content knowledge but not a Continuum of teaching skills where we can improve programs number one Focus certifications on skills and pedagogy rather than rigid grade level bands in content areas only
specialization in critical areas such as literacy numeracy assessment design real world application relevancy and design thinking prepare student teachers to work collaboratively reflecting the realities of the job today by
experiencing teaching and teams during their preparation aspiring teachers can learn to leverage the strength and expertise of their colleagues enhancing their own learning and create more opportunities for working adults in our community to obtain specializations and contribute to the learning experience without undergoing an exhaustive
preparation program these are all transferable across grade levels and content areas broadening the impact and expanding the pool of Educators by moving towards specialization and creating Pathways for community members to contribute then conditions to build a more robust and
effective teacher Workforce can begin when school reform or redesign is on the table School leaders often create and establish lofty goals however author James Clearwood State you don't rise to the level of your goals you fall to the
level of your systems as such a more intentional focus should be placed on improving our teacher prep programs if you want to improve our outcomes for our students and teachers in closing I ask that you consider the potential of team-based teaching models in school and support the efforts to transform
teacher prep programs for the benefit of our Educators our students and the future of our educational system thank you Dr Mendes thank you very much all our panelists you did great and under the uh committee rule nine we will now uh give you some questions to further
explore uh the discussion of the teacher shortage is there a problem in America we'll talk about that under the five minute rule I now recognize myself for five minutes toss up is the warning light on do we have to do something different anybody want to jump in is
that true we got to change uh Dr Basil 100% 100% so the warning lies on we've got to do something different uh because it's not working right right now uh principal Greg you're on the front line there you're having a hard time hiring teachers and keeping them there yes
every day I think uh being able to find qualify teachers who want to do the job um is very challenging uh however when we do get them when do we get them into our model we do believe uh we are retaining that a higher rate they are enjoying the profession but getting their foot in the door has been a definite challenge very good now both
you and uh Dr brail both have talked about teams what what does that mean if I am a student what will that mean do that mean there's two teachers coming in or multiple teachers coming in what will I notice the difference at as a student
anybody Dr Basil so we Define teams as at least two teachers sharing a roster of students right so double roster I talk about it like this in the in what happens right now is you take a group of students you
say here's your 25 kids you're 25 kids you're 25 or maybe 30 or maybe 60 depending on where you live and we hope right that every one of those teachers is the same that every kid is going to get the same kind of experience and they are not because one of those teachers might be a brand new teacher one of them
might be an emergency teacher one might be somebody who came in who was an engineer coming back somebody might have 15 years of experience what we're saying in teams is how do all those people then those four people because which one do you want for your kid you want all of them so how do you look at kids that
same group of kids look at the variance of those kids the needs of those kids and now build teams of adults around those kids that address the needs teams of adults that have expertise that address the needs so if I'm in the classroom uh it could be Miss Jones one day it could be Mr Rogers the next day
they are interchangeable as heads of the typically you're you're in a classroom and you have all four teachers right there're four yeah there's four and they're coming in when you're not teach you're part of a team and you're not teaching uh what are you doing you're always teaching you're you're always teaching just grouping you're you have a
small group you have a different small group you're always you're always teaching or you're planning but you're always you're you're always working your high school utilizes this method Dr Mendes is it working is that working having multiple teachers for each class yes I think the first impact that
happens is by wrapping uh like at our school a couple our teams are five teachers and a special education teacher so six total around 50 kids 180 kids at uh maximum sharing that roster the first thing that happens is the students are known um one of our goals in our district is to know every kid by name
serve them by strength and need and graduate them ready for college career and community so with that with having a team a students getting known is is number one uh meeting their needs is number two but those teachers are collaborating they're co-creating and co-designing lessons and learning
experience for students at times there are multiple teachers in the room at times there's not it still is high school you know algebra St be taught is algebra um world history is world history government's government however the impact is that teachers collectively can share their expertise to design
Better Learning experiences to honestly meet the needs of all kids and when we say all kids we do mean all kids 10 four no 104 it's working it's good I would imagine I I when I'm part of a team I think the uh everybody does better and I uh I I see that and that's I know a
complaint of teachers I'm not supported there's I'm I'm about myself and when I have somebody so no I this is something that we all need to explore the team approach uh Dr Spooner we have been told or at least uh it's hard for uh folks
that uh are not that are experts in their field but are not coming through the educational path they want to teach like if uh if uh you know Bill Gates wanted to teach computers or Elon Musk wanted to teach science that they wouldn't they just couldn't come in the
classroom and there's the barriers are so high to people that have expertise and want to give back is that true and what can we do to welcome Elon Musk and Bill Gates to the teaching Arena I would say that that is true in in many instances uh we do have
opportunities and we're working through some possibilities and again um strategically we need to think about what is it for the children in the classrooms that they need to know when we begin looking at experts in disciplines for example um we have built
um certificate programs where individuals can come into the profession such as Bill Gates or someone who may have a mathematics major too hard right now would you say it's too hard is that an area we need to look at to make it easier or it is an area yes it is an area that we all need to look at to make
sure that we're doing um the word streamlining was used to make sure that we're streamlining working with individual to meet the needs of the or or to meet their experienced needs and what that looks like in the classroom and develop more streamlined program so that a person comes into the profession
not doing a four-year but doing maybe a a a noted no no no I you you made your point thank you uh very much thank you all uh for uh questions let's go to the ranking member now uh from the great state of Connecticut uh miss a you were recognized for five
minutes thank you you and thank you to our Witnesses for being here today um I would first like to note that I am a teacher and teaching is a profession not an arena not something that people just show up and start to do the job it takes a tremendous amount of training of skill
of practice of pedagogy in order to do it and I've read all of your testimony and I've heard you today and I I agree with you all about the need to fully fund idea about teacher shortages about paying in some of these programs but
there was something that I did not hear that I'd like to focus my attention on today as I said I'm a teacher I went through traditional teacher preparation programs my undergraduate my undergraduate degree was in history and secondary education in my state a
master's degree is required so I went on to get a master's degree in curriculum instruction um and then went on to get an advanced degree in education which is required in Connecticut to be a department head an administrator a
principal so I had 9 years of teacher preparation training at teacher preparation colleges and one of the things that was lacking from all of that training and I bring this up today because this is a hearing on equipping uh properly
equipping America's Educators and that was trauma informed instructional practices I could have never been prepared in all of that 9 years of training for the death of peers of my students having to be a grief counselor for school shootings I was in the
classroom um on when Sandy Hook occurred just 8 miles down the road from us I was in the classroom on 911 um students coming in with families that are struggling with addiction divorce moving all of those traumatic experiences
Gravely impacted students ability to learn trauma has a significant impact on the ability of students to learn and behave in the classroom and interact socially it can also lead to lower academic performances more school absences and increased dropout rate too
often I saw my colleagues referring students for discipline as opposed to getting to the root cause of the trauma and the environments that they were growing in that were prohibiting them from thriving trauma informed education can help schools identify address and manage
traumatic stress it can also include exam in the impacts of factors such as racism poverty and Community violence uh Mr almei thank you so much for being here my question is for you what measures can be taken to provide professional development for teachers so
that they can better support students who have faced traumatic experiences and additionally what are some of the barriers we see to providing those things it has been my experience that many people enter the profession bright-eyed and optimistic and are worn out after a
few short years not because of the academic rigor but because of all of the other things that they have no control over absolutely and thank you for uh raising this very important Point um my 26 years as a teacher and a principal were all in three tital one schools and
uh the ability to provide support both to the teachers as well as the students included social workers and counselors and ongoing professional development um while we were in the classroom I was also in the school during 9/11 but it would also push that
beforehand we need people who are aware of that in the educator prep programming many of them have not been in that space for a pretty long time and are ill equipped at times to prepare teachers and other staff to enter schools that
need this additional support one of the ways that we look at this at the center for black educator development is we have high school students engaging in that already because it's a pre-apprenticeship they're teaching first second and third graders who may uh you know experience many of the
things that you already have spoken about and receiving the coaching the mentoring and the professional development as early as 9th grade to think about what does this mean and how does it mean they've also become stronger advocates for themselves about what they need as current students but
they are cleare eyed and focused as they matriculate through not only high school but then choosing college and continuing to work with us as college students so this kind of professional development training and support uh bolsters the education and and children have to be
well in order to learn at high rates I appreciate that and I appreciate you talking about the full spectrum and not just one class or one training but ongoing efforts I introduced the supporting trauma informed instructional Practices Act which authorizes grants designed to help schools improve how
they address the complex needs of students coping with devastated a devastating adverse childhood experiences such as parental addiction abuse or witnessing violence the bill will develop or improve prevention screening referral treatment and support
services to students while providing professional development to teachers School leaders specialized instruction support personnel and mental health professionals these are the types of things that have to be included in any teacher preparation program that is attempting to prepare student teachers
for what they will um experience in the classroom my time has expired with that I yield back thank you uh very much let's go to the great state of Utah where Mr Burgess Owens is recognized for 5 minutes thank you thank you so much um first of all I
I want to say how much appreciate what you guys are doing Innovation is a powerful concept it's something that's needed so well in this particular industry uh I I've I've been reminded um that it was Horus man who was the father of public education who passed away 20
years before um Alexander Bell said the words hello Watson uh that hello Watson is now because of innovation risk um and the free market has now turned into our smartphone uh unfortunately the public education is is still doing what Harris
M did man did in the old days so this is so important that we realized um this is a national security issue and what you guys are doing you're leading out in terms of how a country will come back and be competitive again and one of the areas we need to be uh very very competitive so thank you so much for
that um uh Dr bezel your test teson we recommend that state and local government reward school systems whose Innovation uh leads to demonstr demonstratable Improvement in learning outcomes what do you think rewards what do you think rewards to the school
system should consist of so I think there are two things here one is is we're we're thinking about Innovation first of all every part of government needs to give schools permission to be Innovative they can't hold them back they need to let them do the kinds of things the kind of
structural systemic changes we're talking about here and two is and they need to support them with financially to make sure that these things can happen that change can happen that Innovation can happen this is not without without some financial support okay uh one of
the things that I meant to mention also in every industry the free market rewards success and it also gets rid of failure we need to bring this to this industry how how can we and I'd like to give to
suggestions here how can we or is there some system in which we can start we warning those who truly are good at their their occupation that they can literally make enough money that income is not their issue like every other industry we have out there there's no cap at the same time find ways that
those who are not doing the job find something else to do so uh any suggestions Uh u u Dr um Basel with that it's a good question I don't know that I have a good answer at this time does anybody can anybody add address that because I know this this is something
that's so unique and different with this industry that we have not addressed yet but when talk about Innovation this is the time to really break out of the old school way of thinking how can we bring the best in the world the best in our country to this industry uh if they love
teaching but they just can't afford to do it so any any suggestions out there of how to State local government collaboration I would I hesitate to suggest that uh teachers and educators are going to make
as much as people make in a free market however I would say that salary is a is a tremendous issue it should not cost money you should not go into debt to lead a classroom you should not go into debt to lead a school this is absolutely critical the other part I would say that
we're talking about teachers but one of the most important levers to ensure that teachers are effective is highly effective principles there are only a 100,000 Public School principles in this country they could all fit in Penn State's football stadium and if we can't get
that right both with the salary the training the ongoing coaching and mentoring it's going to be a lot harder to support the three and a half million and the teachers and the 50 million students so I would say salaries loan forgiveness paid student teaching all of these things as well as just better
designed working environments that takes investment it costs money to create to teachers should not be isolated they should be coached mentored when I first became a teacher I was on my way to law school I decided to become a teacher because someone pointed the impact that that could make I had an instructional
coach and I had an in-house Mentor I those are two Investments that allowed me to be flourished okay I let me say this my dad was a college professor for 40 years my mom was a teacher I know the the the excitement The Passion of those who have this in this profession we need
to start thinking differently I do believe there has to be a way like every other industry in our country that free Mark could be brought into this we have to figure out a way to break out of this mindset we have too many good people leaving the profession to do something where they can afford to have a life we have people that would literally come
out of different organization different different um corporations if they could afford to stay within this POS uh this this industry and and do the very best for our kids so again it's a different way of thinking but we have a chance now we're talking Innovation let's kind of put everything on the plate let's let's
think differently than we have for the last 150 years it's time to leave the Horus man era and come to where we're now looking looking at smartphone Concepts and ideas and breaking the system that has not been working for us for long so long with that I want to Y back thank you thank you so much guys
thank you uh very much let's go to the great state of California representative Kylie you are recognized for five minutes uh thank you Mr chair uh for holding this hearing very uh to support our teachers and I say that not just cuz I was a high school teacher my mom uh was a special ed teacher uh but because
uh any educator or parent or student for that matter can tell you that the most important thing when it comes to driving educational success is having a Highly Effective Teacher uh in the classroom and uh right now uh the system is not working uh the way it should or at least
it's not getting enough uh folks into the classroom and keeping them there uh 86% of public schools have said they struggled to hire teachers uh for this school year and 16% of teach teachers left their school uh between the 2021 and 21 uh 22 school year and in fact
enrollment in teacher education uh teacher preparation programs is just 70% of what it was uh a decade ago and you know it's understandable why in some sense uh often uh preparing to be a teacher going through uh a certification
program uh requires years uh of expensive uh schooling uh and then once you do ultimately get in the classroom teachers often don't get paid uh what they should so we definitely need to have alternate Pathways into the classroom as as several of the Witnesses
are are are making possible uh but then the other uh side of it is is retention I mean I think that uh for all the uh years of prep that is often necessary to become a teacher then once you're in the classroom all too often teachers are just left to fend for themselves there's
not the level of professional development that is needed and I think it is underappreciated what a challenging task uh being a a teacher is what a demanding form of leadership it is where you're placed in front of 30 some uh young people who may have a lot
of things on their mind on any given day other than uh what you want to uh to teach them and so just the classroom management aspect of it and then actually being able to impart knowledge when you have people at varying different levels of proficiency uh it can also be isolating since you're
spending hours and hours uh a day without the collaboration uh of other adults and then even once the school day is over you know teachers can spend hours grading papers uh giving detailed feedback and again not necessarily getting uh the compensation they deserve
uh and then in addition to all of that uh we're living in a rapidly changing world where the purposes of Education where the uh nature of the economy the demands of our Workforce uh are are changing quite rapidly and so all of that serves to really put the challenges
that we face or make the challenges that we Face uh quite urgent and so I'm encouraged to see some of the ideas at this hearing uh one of the thing I'll mention is that there are also opportunities uh you know just the last couple days uh open AI released its new
Advanced uh uh voice uh assistant which you know anybody now on their phone uh can effectively have a uh a personal uh tutor with Limitless knowledge that is specifically tailored uh to your level of proficiency uh these tools at Con Academy is also incorporating it into
its uh offerings can they can also be used for things like grading for a lot of the things that make teaching challenging scaffolding uh they can be of assistance now none of that is to say uh and to deny that the teacher student relationship is is absolutely fundamental so I think that the question
for uh the folks here uh maybe for the principal as well as for our Witnesses who run uh teacher prep programs if you want to weigh in as well is how should we think about these tools when it comes to Preparing the next generation of teachers
thank you so much I'm sorry great gosh okay thank you so much for your question uh you're absolutely On Target in terms of the everchanging um landscape of which we find ourselves and that's part of the need that we are looking at in terms of we run a kindergarten through
fifth grade laboratory School uh which means we have children um in that building every day all the time so immersing our candidates number one into that schooling into other schools so that they practice and they see the work
but it starts with teacher preparation in terms of uh our curriculum redesign our our constantly looking at how we look at that and the the technologies that we use and utilizing those Technologies to develop and help design the work that we do but also to support
that not take it from from the work of the teacher because as you indicated the teacher student Rao or relationship is so critical thank you I just support to your point um working in a team having that expertise spread out across a team of teachers somebody who is well versed in AI or the
technology you're speaking of to improve the outcomes for students um is very important and we can get to a lot more kids um much more quickly if that spread out across teams and somebody has that expertise within that group or within that school to affect the outcome of
kids let me just also add around the technology piece because I think it's absolutely right on we need technology and we need it in the right ways so we need technology just to power learning we need technology to actually power teams of teachers so they can work together we need technology then that
can also Power Systems and change systems most uh Data Systems HR systems are built around one teacher one classroom models those systems also need to change and I believe that AI can have a big uh uh part to play in all of that so it is it is broader than what is just
happening in classrooms it is the entire system and how AI can support the entire system in so many different ways to help us do what we do so much better thanks very much AEL back thank you very much and thank you uh let's go to the chair of the education and Workforce committee
from the great state of North Carolina it's Dr Virginia Fox you are recognized for 5 minutes thank you Mr chairman Dean Spooner thank you for your testimony about the work you're doing at the state and local level in North Carolina to equip great teachers I've
long believed the most important work in schools happens at the state and local level you touched on this briefly in your testimony could you talk a little bit more and keeping in mind i' I've got two other questions to ask um could you
talk more about how you learn from local communities about their teacher Workforce needs absolutely thank you we have a very strong and this is something that's deep in the DNA of our University and also our program uh partnership
meaning that means you meet collaboratively you meet face to face you go into the community with the superintendent with the partners um that's a an advantage that I have at appalachin to be able to sit with them on at a minimum a quarterly basis um we
also have begun to pull in more of the Community College Partners presidents of community colleges um to work um so it's an intentional purposeful work that we do to collaborate to learn from them so they can learn from us we build it together
thank you very much Dr Basil um I enjoyed my visit very much to Arizona State and um am really excited about what you're doing as well as appalachin um state in terms of the teacher
preparation programs you've developed a number of connections with neighboring schools there's a focus there also on working at the local level how do you build trust trust with these districts and convince them to move away from the
one teacher one classroom model so change moves at the Speed Of Trust we say that all the time we also encourage people to start small right so we're not walking in and we're not telling them what to do and saying here's how you change your entire school
at one time we say look start with one team find a really good leader find a really good team of teachers that are really interested in this who understand what we're trying to do and you start there what happens after that is really pretty amazing because what we've seen
in schools they start with one team and by the end of the year everybody's in teams because people look in and say I want to work that way as well it's helping us to retain teachers it's helping right now the all of the data that we're getting back teachers are more satisfied we're seeing better retention numbers we're seeing some
early early early student return on student data that is positive um so all the indicators are positive and that is helping us to build that level of trust thank you Dr Mendes um as I mentioned to
you before we know that the the key to a successful school is a good principal who hires good teachers and parental involvement please tell us more about how you manage the relationships with your teachers when you started to move
away from the one teacher one classroom model how did you Ensure teachers would buy into the changes thank you um to kind of echo Dr Basil there we started with a small team uh first and foremost we spent a lot of time uh reading discussing looking at
research around the power of proximity the power of collaboration uh with teachers and once we found a group to start working together they become the the marketing firm uh for the change that's happening on the campus and those teachers begin to speak about their working conditions how they know their students more how their students are
more engaged and so with that we were able to expand our teams um Beyond where we were and we're we're up to teamed uh 9th 10th and 11th grade uh this school year we're still working on 12th grade because each kid has their own path of graduation um but that's where we started and I think there is power when
teachers start to work together uh and collaborate and you know I don't have anything else to say outside of uh when teachers work together teachers are they teachers are amazing people and it's an amazing profession and when you allow them the agency to work together and really hone in on their skills and their
passions for Education uh the you know the possibilities are endless thank you you know it it's not a mystery to me it seems that we've had difficulty in the last few years recruiting people to go into teaching
I've often mentioned it we put an adult in a room with 30 kids locked the door and say you're in there all day long all by yourself handling these um students and uh again shouldn't be a
mystery I don't know very many people who want to go into that kind of an environment and so what you all are doing and you've all mentioned collaboration you've all mentioned teams and if you look around in in the um
private sector you see the word teams you see the words associate you see the word collaboration constantly and I think it's very exciting that we're seeing this new approach to Preparing People to teach by doing the
things you're doing really focusing on the real world what's it going to be like to do classroom management in addition to um exposing the students to the subject matter so I'm very excited about what we're hearing today from the
teacher preparation from Dr Mendes um in terms of what's going on and I think that we we learning a lot and that the world's learning a lot about what we need to be doing to have effective teachers so thank you all very much and thank you Mr chairman for your
Indulgence uh thank you uh Dr Fox let's go back to the great state of California where representative uh D saler is standing by and he is recognized for five minutes thank you Mr chairman um thank you for giving me an opportunity it's been my privilege in
the three decades or more that I've been elected office starting with city council to become friends and part of the disability Community spent a lot of time with special needs special education um teachers young people in
California there was a time when I was in the state legislature where Governor Brown and we developed a formula to help it was called a local control formula um billions of dollars reallocated to give school districts more discretion rather
than have the state overly manage very different communities in a large State and I had a superintendent I had great respect for in a a mediumsized district tell me I could take all this extra money and put it into my my special
needs community and it still wouldn't be enough so my question uh Mr El Miki is the GAO just did a report that it's gotten worse to try to attract people to go into teaching in general and retain people particularly for this community
that's grown with challenges around um developmentally challenged students and population autism and other things that it's GAO says 15% of the student population in the United States is in this category but we can't get young
people that go into teaching in general but particularly into this community and then we get these wonderful people that we all have had the Good Fortune to be able to work with who want to go in this field and they burn out um the retention is is more challenging than actually
getting people to go in the field so given that that it's been difficult all along that idea was a wonderful idea by Congress many years ago I've had administrators complained to how much time they spent doing the paperwork in Ida um but would like more discretion
just to solve the problem along with the oversight that is completely reasonable for Congress to ask for and our role in this community could you you just maybe Enlighten us with the GAO report of the challenges that you see that have only
seem to be getting worse for this particular community and the needs for this community for both attracting good teachers but retaining them and what we need to do to accomplish that goal to attract many of these wonderful young people to go into the field and then retain them and give the support they
need so these kids can be successful and we change the curve yes thank you for for that question very important um component of of this uh ecosystem and I I would Echo what some of my colleagues mentioned the the pre-work is really the
preparation uh we encourage our printeres to become dual certified whatever their content is but then also adding special ed as a dual certification some are extremely interested but say they can't afford the additional classes so the one thing is
on the front end to help and actually incentivize more and more Stu teachers to become dual certified we know that the student population is becoming more and more diverse that includes students of special needs to be able to serve
them well as well as doing other work not only requires them to be prepared but also to have the support within schools again as my colleagues have emphasized having that one classroom and one teacher trying to not only think about the 30 students that were
mentioned but also 30 diverse needs within that classroom is extremely challenging for one person to do no matter how gifted they are and so on the front end preparing them but then also making sure that the support continues throughout because the support for a
teacher is also support for the student we believe in student centered approaches that are teacher supportive having AIDS and assistance and and other colleagues supporting that work having policies that support students with special needs as well and making sure
that they are not being marginalized making sure that they are reaching their optimal levels of achievement all of these things require investment on the front end but then continuous too often the training the professional development that our teachers receive is a One-Shot
deal the the current superintendent of Public Instruction California Tony Thurman is a friend from the same Community I represent known him for a long time his predecessor was one of my best friends when we talk about this in a big state like California with a lot
of diversity um the bureaucracy of trying to get that just what you described and then the own sort of um administrators perceptions given the shortfall and funding is a real challenge so even though we as you just
described it deploying those best practices is another big challenge in in big areas any response to that I would say that there are places I'm sure that are doing well and that those the strategies that are doing well have to
be magnified and exemplified and used as exemplars and then the incentives to replicate that um can continue because I I think too often there are bright spots but those bright spots are often disconnected from the discourse around
the country about happening particularly in States like California that are so large so diverse uh I would just also say just bringing in people from the community they're often not invited into the profession MH well I appreciate that Mr chairman thanks for indulging me I
yeld back very good thank you so much uh if you're just joining us uh this is the uh subcommittee on Early Childhood Elementary and secondary education we're talking about the teacher shortage that
uh America is facing it uh it's in every state the teacher retention uh challenge is in every state uh we are expecting our ranking member in just a few minutes and as we wait on her uh
coming uh she is here uh breaking news uh yeah she is here so uh ranking member uh right on time so ranking member welcome back you are recognized in question thank you very much Mr chairman and thank you to the witnesses I haven't
figured out how to be more than one place at a time and I was talking about the very important issue of child care so thank you again chair being in for ating me I'm really encouraged by some of the Innovative policies and programs that exist to recruit and retain
Educators and one of those promising approaches is the grow your own program in which young people from local high schools are recruited to become Educators in their communities it's especially valuable in high need and underserved districts in Oregon the
educator advancement Council has developed local and Regional Partnerships with districts and universities and they provide grants for these growing your own programs and in the most recent cycle 29 districts and universities receive grants and we're able to support career Pathways into
education so Mr almei what role do grow your own programs play in reducing barriers to entering the teaching profession and how can these programs most effectively prepare aspiring excuse me teachers for the realities of the classroom yes absolutely I think grow
your own is one of the the inspiring Innovations uh that can occur and um and we need to make sure that you know uh grow your own also has a standard because unfortunately it's beginning to mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people um you know we
celebrate the work that National Center for grow your own is doing and helping with States and and districts uh work on uh figuring out how to build long-term pipelines for future teachers um removing Financial barriers providing
pay training and ongoing support I think for high schools that is our the bulk of our work um when I think about the 17 uh black men Educators who were uh highly effective uh we were doing well relatively good-look and none of us have
been invited into the profession until after we had graduated from college and are there can I just can I just ask if there's some key policy changes that could expand um this and other Innovative models to make them successful absolutely one is
further investing in Career and Technical education uh for high school students we have voke Ed for every other career US Labor uh US Labor department has started looking at teaching as a Workforce um that is critical and we
have to continue to do that to ignore to have we need the welders we need the Carpenters we need all the other things but we also need teachers absolutely who will eventually do that so to invite them into the profession early on give them Career Technical credit and as well as dual enrollment credit partnering
with IH to be able to have dual enrollment credit as well as CTE so one of the biggest conversations about those two issues in this committee over the years absolutely those C investment I appreciate that and I also want to bring it before my time expires the issue of educator compensation you know we want
the best and the brightest to become Educators but research shows that compensation has had a pretty dramatic effect on whether individuals choose to become teachers as well as how long they remain in the profession unfortunately many teachers earn much less than similarly educated
professionals and many uh some even need to rely on public assistance programs to make ends meet so according to the learning Pol policy Institute in uh 2023 in Oregon the average annual teaching St salary was about $40,000 and when compared to similarly educated
Professionals in the State teachers earn significantly less and that's unacceptable so um Dr Mendes I understand that in Arizona there's a significant pay gap between teachers and other similarly educated professionals so how does low compensation for teachers affect your ability to recruit
and retrain um and uh retain high quality teachers and then Mr almei if you could add how increased compensation might help improve teacher Recruitment and Retention including for teachers of color thank you for that I think first and foremost for us I know in our community and we want to make sure that
we create an environment the teachers want to be in first and foremost if that doesn't exist uh we're not going to attract anybody to come in and and teach for us anyways now uh in terms of compensation you know I I leave that to the the people above my pay grade in my district and and in our state and I I
think the people in those communities um have the right to to be represented and and um consid what's best for their community and their local context um but for me as far as teachers coming into the profession you know I did it as well I was you know a special education teacher and um I got into the profession
I I knew what the salary scale was when I signed up and I remember getting in because I wanted to help children I wanted to help uh a community out and so um knowing that I think it's really about the environment that we create for teachers and we've noticed that with a better environment um teachers are sticking around and over the long haul a
lot of them do pretty well I I I don't doubt I know educators are passionate and oftentimes that they they understand and and they are in the profession because they love teaching because they want to make a difference in students lives but then when you look at things like if they have their own kids look at
the cost of child care look at the costs that and and if they have student loan payments it just not going to pencil out and for a job that is this important I think we really do need to to focus on on compensation and and and Mr almei that clock has run out but could you
just say would increase compensation help recruit diverse teachers it would in it would support that tremendously it's so important that we actually added that into our programming so students who take our CTE course and then decide to become teachers we provide a $40,000
investment in them that is us just a small nonprofit $40,000 $20,000 while they're uh matriculating through college to help reduce costs but then when they get to their fifth year teaching we give them a $20,000 retention stien just to
be able to augment the low starting salary that many of them um will have understood I yell back Mr chairman uh thank you uh don't go too far ranking member because we are about to begin closing statements and uh I yield to you for a closing statement or thought and
and thank you very much Mr chairman once again thank you to the witnesses for being here and discussing this really important topic I know we want students of all ages from the youngest um big supporter of investments in early childhood education so when students get to kindergarten and
Beyond they're prepared we want all students from the youngest to those nearing graduation to get a high quality well-rounded education that prepares them for whatever path they take in life and many of them for many of them that path might be a passion for teaching but we need to make sure that they have a
good smooth path to get there that isn't going to burden them with significant debt or concerns so to accomplish that we have to uh we must recruit and retain uh and support Educators and as we've discussed today this country has struggled with teacher Recruitment and
Retention for many years uh and of course the covid-19 pandemic uh didn't help any in fact it created new and unforeseen problems in our education system uh exacerbated existing challenges it uh Educators have been speaking about for decades I remember uh
talking with Educators during that time and how incredibly frustrated and concerned and worried they were for their students the health of their students their health of their students families and not knowing what to do and wanting to do their best but it was incredibly challenging navigating that
those tough years I I hope we can continue uh discussing innovative ways to improve teacher uh Recruitment and preparation so Educators have the skill skills and the support they need and students get the quality education they deserve um thank you again for being
here and I yeld back the balance of my time uh thank you very much ranking member so America we have driven the uh education vehicle into the shop and uh We've held our breath what is the mechanic going to say is it a total rebuild is uh you know what's the
Outlook how much is it going to going to cost and so the mechanics of Education are before us America uh the good news is they have not recommended that we need a rebuild uh just a tuneup with a heavy dose of
innovation and if you want a second opinion we've got a second a third and a fourth opinion that I've all said uh America your education system needs Innovation and it sounds like Dr brail you've said early numbers are in uh and
it's making a difference and teacher burnout you're we didn't even I lost uh track of my time too I wanted to talk about day 3000 versus day one it's in your written testimony uh burnout is a big deal and uh you feel like you're alone making it you know you're not
making a difference and you're just uh tired so what y'all have recommended is something that America needs to take a look at the federal government doesn't control education it's local it's States and so if you're watching America ASU CH
your choice ASU Arizona State or Appalachian State has innovative ways that they're making a difference the team approach uh Dr Mendes principal Greg as I call him uh you can attest that it's making a difference teachers
feel empowered as well as uh know that they're supported and so it's something to explore something to explore and I encourage school systems Across America uh let's let's let's take a look maybe this is our answer of uh of handling the
challenges coming before here are two great things to me and I'm a Salesman one is it doesn't pit uh winners and losers against each other this a team approach everybody wins uh students win but teachers win and we're all on the
same team of uh of making uh big changes for our education system so everybody's a win and the other thing is I know I know it's always better to have more money than uh than less money but that wasn't the theme you you didn't all say
we need massive amounts of new money this is existing money but just using Innovation so that's something that's very exciting so America's education systems if you're listening maybe this is something you need to explore without the massive price tag that many times uh
that people come uh before us panelist I had pretty high expectations for you I said that y'all were going to be all stars in education reform and you uh delivered and uh in fact you exceeded expectations so I am delighted for each of you to come many people don't know
it's your own dime and it's your own time to be here and so thank you for coming forward hopefully we've sparked the interest of America to call you and uh to learn more you've given us great information that's part of our record and people can Google that to learn more
as well so with that I'm looking around am I able to uh are we ready to to uh H this on that is that okay to do so uh thank you so much for everybody tuning in in here we got a great crowd here to do thank everybody for coming and without objection there being no further
business the subcommittee stands and this hearing is now adjourned e for