How Federal Policy Can Better Support Teachers and School Leaders

The House Committee on Education & Labor subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Higher Education and Workforce Investment held a hearing  July 17 focused on how federal policy can better support teachers and school leaders.

The hearing explored ways to make the teaching profession more attractive, more diverse and less short term in high-needs areas. Additionally, it focused on how to improve principal pathways and pipelines, mentorships, and ongoing job training for teachers and school leaders.

Most of the witnesses agreed that educator salary plays a big role in workforce turnover, especially due to the cost of obtaining the education required to enter the field. They also agreed on the need for longer mentorships, closely tailored ongoing professional development and attractive incentives to stay in high-needs areas.

The only area where there is a clear difference of opinion on policy is whether Title II of the Higher Education Act is effective: Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), who chaired most of the hearing, along with all panel Democrats agree that Title II is essential to providing targeted support for school leaders, but agree that it has room for improvement.

However, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) and many of the Republicans on the committee stated that Title II was ineffective, yields obscure results, only serves a few areas and is a waste of federal money. All of the witnesses agreed that federal funding plays an essential role and Title II is in fact important, but Louisiana State Superintendent John White argued that it needed to be tailored to more systemic and statewide efforts rather than local areas. Overall, the hearing was meant to help members of the committee approach negotiations on how to improve Title II as part of their overall HEA rewrite.

The hearing witnesses included:

  • Michael Brosnan, teacher and Early Leadership Institute coach, Bridgeport Public Schools, Milford, Connecticut 
  • Tricia McManus, assistant superintendent for leadership, professional development and school transformation, Hillsborough County Public Schools, Tampa, Florida 
  • John White, state superintendent of education, state of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 
  • Dr. Andrew Daire, dean, School of Education, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia

Delegate Gregorio Sablan (D-Northern Mariana Islands) opened the hearing by reiterating the government’s role in ensuring that students have quality instruction from teachers. He noted the dismal rates of teacher turnover, which are 50% higher for educators in a Title I school and 70% higher for math and science teachers in those schools. Explaining the reason for the turnover, Sablan said “teachers are pushed out of their profession because they are not well prepared, because school systems do not support teachers as they should, and because teachers are underpaid,” and called on the government to do better by our nation’s teachers.

Higher Education Subcommittee Chair Davis  echoed these concerns in her opening statements but focused her remarks on the role of school leaders. She noted that “studies show that effective school leadership is one of the most consistent factors behind teachers’ decisions to stay or leave a school, or the profession entirely.” Davis explained that despite these studies, school leader preparation still receives little attention compared with educator preparation.

In order to address this, she mentioned the provisions in full Committee Chair Bobby Scott’s (D-Virginia) Aim Higher Act that would expand key teacher preparation grants to include proven school leader preparation programs that provide participants with graduate-level coursework as well as ongoing supports while on the job. Additionally, she mentioned the need for lowering the cost barriers to entering the education profession, increasing wages, and ensuring diversity in the field in order to make the education profession more attractive and long term.

Ranking member of the early childhood subcommittee Rick Allen (R-Ga.), the son of two educators, explained that there are a lot more problems in education than when he was in school, hinting that it’s the result of federal overreach. He explained that educators and leaders need the tools to succeed, but that the current system is failing to provide an adequate number of teachers to meet the needs of today’s modern classrooms, especially in high-needs schools and areas.

Allen was clear: “get the federal government out of the classroom and let teachers teach.” Ranking member of the higher ed subcommittee Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) focused his remarks on the ineffectiveness of Title II of HEA. He said that while it seeks to educate the educators, funds are limited to a number of programs with limited and useless reporting, which is why Republicans called for its elimination in HEA reauthorization. He concluded that if Title II is kept in the HEA reauthorization, it must be improved.