Date: 2003-07-09
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker. I offer this amendment. along. with the chairman of the committee. the gentleman from Ohio . This is to provide loan forgiveness for those teachers who specialize in teaching reading. Just last week we saw the scores on the National Assessment of Education Progress that were released by the Department of Education. and the scores obviously show that- we have a long way to go. While the scores of fourthgraders were up slightly. the scores of eighthgraders were stagnant. and the scores for high school students were actually down. This is not acceptable. but I think it does demonstrate that in some areas we are making progress. I think we also understand that one of the basic tenets of the Leave No Child Behind was that good. qualified teachers in areas of specialties were an absolute cornerstone to the success of this legislation. All of the data suggests to us that where a child is exposed in succeeding years to wellqualified teachers. those children do much better than the children who receive teachers who may or may not be qualified to teach the subject matters. This legislation to provide loan forgiveness goes a long way in helping us to provide the incentives not only to attract individuals to teaching. but also to make sure that we have a chance to retain those teachers for a period of 5 years. As many Members have said. after 5 years. if the school districts are doing the other things they should be doing in terms of supporting these teachers and providing other efforts at retention. and providing professional development. making sure that teachers are not isolated throughout the school year. that they have a chance to talk with their peers and learn the skills of teaching and learn what they are doing right and what they are doing wrong. then those individuals will tend to stay. It is not just about money. but. clearly. these teachers also have to make a rational decision about their futures and their careers. This effort to give loan forgiveness to teachers who specialize In math and science and reading. to provide over $17.000 of loan forgiveness over 5 years. I believe. can be very helpful to the retention of those teachers and to the attraction of those individuals to the teaching profession. I believe this amendment is consistent with the idea that we are trying to do these in the areas of high need. where extra specialization is necessary. and to make sure that we start to develop a corps of individuals who are properly qualified to teaching. Obviously. reading. whether you are going to be studying math or science or social studies. or whatever else you are going to be doing throughout your educational career. the ability to read is going to determine how successful you navigate your education as an elementary school student. as a high school student. and later. perhaps. as a college student. The ability to read is also identified by employers as a concern as to whether or not employees are flexible enough to learn additional skills as they move through a career and as jobs change so that they are able to adapt. So this investment in these reading specialists. I think. goes a long way toward improving this legislation. and I believe will be very helpful to school districts who are trying to focus on the requirements and the incentives in the Leave No Child Behind on trying to improve reading at the earliest grade levels. One of the objectives of everybody on the committee is to improve the ability of young people to read so that they can learn to read. and then. as Secretary Reilly used to say. read to learn. We want to accomplish that. It is also clearly the goal of the President in this bill with the sections that he pushed very hard for on reading and reading readiness in this legislation. And so I would urge my colleagues to Support this amendment. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.