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Washington DC – Tenth District Congressman Donald M. Payne, a senior member on the House Education and Labor Committee, introduced the Substitute Teacher Improvement Act, H.R. 3345, which would allow local school districts to increase training for substitute teachers, principals, permanent classroom teachers, and managers of substitute teachers.
Congressman Payne commented, “As much as one full year of a child’s elementary and secondary education is taught by substitute teachers. Yet, less than one in four school districts provide even minimal training for them. We must act to improve the effectiveness of substitute teaching because it impacts all children.”
Despite the impact substitute teaching has on student achievement as well as school performance, current law does not provide districts with the ability to make available adequate training for substitute teachers. Formal training of substitute teachers has been shown to lower school district liability, reduce the number of student and faculty complaints, increase retention rates of substitute teachers, and - most importantly - it has been shown to improve the quality of education.
The cost of improving substitute teaching overall and increasing the effectiveness of substitute teachers themselves is fairly minimal. Unfortunately, school districts currently lack the much-needed resources to accomplish this task. There is a unique opportunity to address the issue of substitute teaching and ensure that every child, whether being taught by their permanent classroom teacher or a substitute, receives the highest quality education possible.
More specifically, the legislation will:
• Authorize a new demonstration program for the purpose of training substitute teachers, substitute managers, and permanent teachers;
• Rigorously evaluate the effect of the training on student achievement and school performance;
• Create opportunities for schools to use a portion of federal funds to train substitute teachers and provide them ongoing professional development; and,
• Allow schools to use federal professional development funds for the training of permanent teachers and substitute managers in the effective integration of substitute teachers in the education of P-12 students.
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