Bill Helps Schoolchildren by Improving Teacher Effectiveness
Austin, Texas – Texans for Excellence in the Classroom today announced rapidly widening support for principles embodied in a new substitute bill based on the Governor’s Business Council’s recommendations to improve teacher effectiveness.
The proposal is supported by several statewide and national organizations, the vast majority of teachers, Texas leadership, and the Senate and House Education Committee chairpersons. Senator Florence Shapiro, chairman of the Senate Committee on Education, is expected to introduce Committee Substitute Senate Bill 1643, based on the Governor’s Business Council recommendations, at a hearing before the Senate Committee on Education this afternoon.
“Texans and teachers know - and can feel confident that these elected officials agree – we need to do more to improve education by giving teachers the tools they need to be effective,” said Sandy Kress, who led the research team that developed the “Excellence in the Classroom” recommendations. “Texas drop out rates are much too high and our student performance remains far below our expectations. If we fail to act now to improve education, we are at risk of becoming the first generation to pass on less opportunity to our children than we had. We just cannot allow that to happen,” he said.
The “Excellence in the Classroom” principles included in the legislation focus on giving teachers the tools they need to be effective in the classroom. Recent research showed that if a student had an effective teacher, as opposed to an average teacher for only five years in a row, the increased learning would be sufficient to entirely close the gap between low- and middle-income students during that amount of time.
The “Excellence in the Classroom” recommendations have received widespread support from a range of organizations including:
Americans for Prosperity
Associated General Contractors of Texas
Greater Houston Partnership
Hispanic Alliance for Progress
National Federation of Independent Business
Texas Association of Builders
Texas Association of Business
Texas Bankers Association
Texas Motor Transportation Association
Texas Oil & Gas Association
Texas Institute for Education Reform
Teachers’ support for the major tenets of the “Excellence in the Classroom” recommendations is overwhelming, according to a recent statewide survey. Fully 75% of teachers support additional performance-based pay for highly effective teachers and those who teach in hard-to-staff schools
“Senator Shapiro’s bill is a positive first step toward implementation of our recommendations, which will empower our teachers to achieve excellence in the classroom,” said Charles McMahen, president of Texans for Excellence in the Classroom. “When 82% of Texas graduates are not fully prepared for college or a high paying job, it’s clear we need to act now to give teachers the tools they need to deliver the education our students deserve.”
“If we do not embrace the changes included in this legislation, the 4.5 million students in Texas public schools will be denied the opportunity to achieve the ‘American Dream.’ We do not have the luxury of failing to enact change in our education system.”
Texans for Excellence in the Classroom offered policy recommendations aimed to boost teacher effectiveness by dramatically improving the evaluation of teacher performance; supporting and retaining teachers through improved professional development; rewarding effective teachers; removing persistently ineffective teachers; improving principal leadership; and improving and holding accountable educator preparation programs.
“We hope to work with the Senator and other legislators to strengthen CSSB 1643 to require annual appraisals for teachers, to create greater rigor in holding educator preparation programs accountable, and to provide greater certainty in rewarding effective teachers and responding to persistently ineffective teachers,” said Kress.
