Tim Kaine on Teacher Shortages, and This Web Site on Students

From U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), and since I've just invited a prospective client to check out my writing skills here, I'm adding a bit of writing and research below!

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At the start of every school year we see the same headlines about exploding class sizes and districts facing teacher and principal shortages. These shortages plague the whole country, and are often worst in our rural communities, but it's a problem we can solve. When teachers and principals have the tools they need to succeed, they are more likely to stay in their roles and equip students with the necessary skills to thrive in today's economy.

This week, I introduced the Preparing and Retaining Education Professionals (PREP) Act to address the teacher and principal shortages that we are seeing in communities across Virginia and all over the country.

The legislation would expand the definition of "high need" districts to allow schools in these areas to access additional support resources, encourage school districts to create partnerships with local community colleges and universities in order to create a pipeline of recruitment of teachers back to those districts, as well as increase access to teacher and school leader residency and training programs so communities can recruit teachers locally. The bill also expands the support for teacher preparation programs at Minority Serving Institutions including Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Hispanic Serving Institutions and Tribal Colleges to support a diverse and well-prepared educator workforce.

Read more about the bill here >> (link opens a press release, below)

This is about addressing a gap in our education system and ensuring students across the country get a quality education, no matter where they live.

Sincerely,

"

Here's the linked document:

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WASHINGTON, D.C.—Today, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, introduced thePreparing and Retaining Education Professionals (PREP) Act to address teacher and principal shortages, especially in rural communities. This legislation will help ensure that there are enough teachers and principals with the right skills and tools to educate students and prepare them for the future.

“At the start of every school year we see the same headlines about exploding class sizes and districts facing unfillable openings. Teacher shortages plague the whole country, and are worst in our rural communities, but it’s a problem we can solve. When teachers and principals have the tools they need to succeed, they are more likely to stay in their roles. This bill will help us tackle this issue in Virginia and across the country,” Kaine said.  “It is also critical for our teaching workforce to grow more reflective of the diverse population of students it serves.”

The legislation would expand the definition of “high need” districts under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) to include those experiencing teacher shortages in rural communities and in areas such as special education, English language, science, technology, engineering, math, and CTE, to allow for access to additional support and improvement. It would also encourage school districts to create partnerships, including Grow Your Own programs, with local community colleges and universities to ensure their programs are educating future teachers in areas where there is a shortage of educators. It would increase access to teacher and school leader residency programs and preparation training. And it requires states to identify areas of teacher or school leader shortages by subject across public schools and use that data to target their efforts. Additionally, since the majority of students in our nation’s public schools are students of color and the teaching workforce is only comprised of 20 percent teachers of color, the PREP Act increases support for teacher preparation programs at Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) or Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to support a diverse and well-prepared educator workforce.

Here are the school divisions with the highest percentage and highest number of unfilled teacher positions in public schools across the Commonwealth, according to the Virginia Department of Education as of 2016-2017:

Top Divisions with Highest % Unfilled Teacher Positions	Shortage (%)	Number of Unfilled Positions
Middlesex County Public Schools	20.3%	20
Petersburg City Public Schools	13.9%	47
Danville City Public Schools	10.1%	47
Bland County Public Schools	8.6%	6
Greensville County Public Schools	6.7%	13
Caroline County Public Schools	5.4%	13
Martinsville City Public Schools	4.9%	9
Appomattox County Public Schools	4.5%	8
Bath County Public Schools	4.4%	3
Dinwiddie County Public Schools	4.4%	15

Top Divisions with Highest # of Unfilled Teacher Positions	Number of Unfilled Positions	Shortage (%)
Fairfax County Public Schools	218	1.4%
Prince William County Public Schools	61	1.0%
Richmond City Public Schools	53	3.2%
Norfolk City Public Schools	53	2.2%
Petersburg City Public Schools	47	13.9%
Danville City Public Schools	47	10.1%
Suffolk City Public Schools	44	4.0%
Loudoun County Public Schools	34	0.6%
Chesapeake City Public Schools	24	0.9%
Portsmouth City Public Schools	23	2.2%

“The PREP Act is thoughtful legislation that supports the current progress states are making to address educator shortages and transform the way teachers are prepared to ensure all educators are ready on day one to meet the needs of all students in the classroom. This proposed legislation gives states the support they need to administer effective programs, while at the same time holding them accountable for results. We look forward to continuing to work with Senator Kaine and all Members of Congress on efforts to reauthorize the Higher Education Act in a way that supports necessary improvements in how we can better prepare teachers and leaders to meet the needs of all children,” Carissa Moffat Miller, Executive Director, Council of Chief State School Officers said.

"The best federal education policy proposals reflect the experiences of states, and the PREP Act includes best practices and smart reforms we are implementing in Virginia to address teacher shortages and ensure that every child is taught by a qualified and well-prepared teacher," Virginia Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane said.

Last year, then Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe had to implement an emergency regulation, ordering the Virginia Board of Education to instruct state public colleges and universities to start offering undergraduate students the opportunity to major in education because of a vast teacher shortage across the Commonwealth. Teacher shortages are a nationwide problem. In 2016, a Learning Policy Institute study found that teacher education enrollment dropped 35 percent between 2009 and 2014. While this can be due to a lot of factors, low teacher pay and under supported advanced training play a role. Teacher shortages are even greater in areas such as special education and fields such as science, mathematics, world languages, and career technical education (CTE)—fields that are vital for U.S. economic success. Further, research shows that better prepared teachers stay longer in the profession and are more effective in improving student achievement and that a racially representative mix of teachers and school leaders can have a strong positive effect on closing the achievement gap for minority students.

The PREP Act is supported by the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), the National Writing Project, CAST, National Council of Teachers of English, the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL), the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), the Committee for Children, and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP).

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If you follow the link in the Senator's e-mail, you'll find a link to the full text of his bill.

Meanwhile, I promised a little more writing and research...

A correspondent closer to Martinsville notes that Niche.com has just rated Pittsylvania County 38th of 131 public school districts in Virginia--an A minus grade. Martinsville rates somewhat lower, and Scott County rates right around the middle of the list with a C grade overall, although Gate City High School still earns an A on athletic programs. I should hope.

What does this mean to Gate City or to Martinsville? Not much. Niche's rating factors are just a tiny bit different from the ones that keep our schools facing off for state trophies for this, that, and the other. Niche takes into account, among other things, students' rating of cafeteria food (compared to local farm produce, it is almost as bad as it seems to the kids), and the number of students who go directly to four-year colleges or universities, and the "diversity" of the student body. Gate City rates below Martinsville, and both schools rate far behind schools in the Swamp corner of Virginia, partly because most of us are legally White.

Then of course there's the usual funding and spending stuff...and in this context the word "stuff" really needs its traditional partner "nonsense."

If only those Anderson kids who were at school with, before, and after me had stayed around, lived longer, and had children, our Niche rating might reflect the kind of school Gate City really is and always was. It says a lot about Niche that one family (admittedly a large, influential family) could have a high incidence of a disease gene, die out, and thereby pull the whole school down on Niche...

Er. Um. Not every Gate City student goes directly to a four-year college, but they might have considered the percentage of "preppies" who go directly to a big name college if they go directly to a four-year college at all. (My own roundabout route to Berea doesn't even need to count.) Similarly, most of us don't play either football or basketball, but those who do...and not all of us are musical, but the number of music students who go "professional"...and so on, for any endeavor you care to name. What we're known for, and (not just coincidentally) what Martinsville is known for, is doing more with what we have than the rest of the state do.

No links to Niche here, because they haven't earned one. Instead...Local readers, every year or so, despite this web site's policy of not mentioning kids' names, there is a local high school student who catches all of our eyes by being outrageously good at lots of different things. Since they're no longer kids, I'll mention, just once, John Reed, Lucindy Lawson, Morgan and Jordan Gose, and Tihlee Anderson. I will not mention the one of you who will stand out even in Gate City, this year, because that one will still be a kid...but one of you will, because that's the tradition. Others of you won't stand out quite as much, but you'll still get into whichever big name universities you may want, no trouble, and you'll have no academic trouble there, either, because that's the tradition.

Show Niche, kids.

We don't need Niche's quirky ratings standards.

We rule.

Even, though not by much, over Martinsville.