United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor

Mr. Chairman, Mr. McKeon, and Members of the Committee, thank you for providing me with the opportunity to testify before you this morning on the reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, in particular about the teacher quality provisions.

This Committee has shown great leadership not only in confronting the achievement gap in our public schools, but also in recognizing that improving the quality of teaching at high-poverty and high-minority schools is the most effective gap-closing strategy. While the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) addressed teacher quality issues more directly and thoroughly than in any previous authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, it is has not yielded all the needed and hoped-for change. There is still much to do. And there are some very clear “lessons learned” from the last five years that point toward more effective policies.