Dr. Tom Shields, Graduate Education Program Chair, offers remarks to U.S. House committee

Dr. Tom Shields, chair of the Graduate Education program in the School of Professional and Continuing Studies, presented remarks in September 2015 to a panel on future school teachers and leaders for the U.S. House of Representives Education and Workforce Committee.

The Panel on the Future of School Leaders and Teachers was convened on September 29, 2015, in the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC. The panel was organized by the legislative staff of the House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee.

Opening remarks were given by Congressman Bobby Scott of Virginia and Congresswoman Susan Davies of California, while panelists included the following:

• Jennifer Mulhern, Vice President, Client Work, The New Teacher Project
• Tom Shields, Chair, Graduate Education, University of Richmond
• Kris Beck, Lead STEM Teacher, Manierre Elementary Schools, Chicago Public Schools
• Colleen Labbe, Elementary School Teacher, Lee Academy Pilot School, Boston Public Schools
• Michael Towne, District Instructional Coach, Val Verde Unified School District

Following are Shields’ remarks as presented.

Good afternoon. I want to thank Congressman Bobby Scott and his staff for this invitation and opportunity to talk about the future preparation of K-12 teachers and school leaders. I want to note Congressman Scott’s leadership in the House Education and Workforce Committee, particularly in the areas of equity.

The K-12 teacher and school leadership workforce has been buffeted by incredible winds of changes over the past 15 years. In my graduate educational leadership classes at the University of Richmond, I discuss how to lead during times of change. In these class sessions every student eagerly participates because they realize how much change is impacting their professional lives as teachers and future school leaders.

My comments will highlight some key changes that are impacting the K-12 education workforce and then outline what I think is necessary in terms of addressing these challenges in creating the next generation of teachers and school leaders. I will conclude with some thoughts on the importance of teachers and school leaders in our global society.

The challenges that are faced by K-12 education are many:

1. Increasing diversity, particularly students and families who are qualified as English as Second Language learners. The Census estimates the U.S. population will be majority-minority by 2040. This change will occur more quickly in the 18 years of age and younger group. For example, in Virginia, many of our local school divisions have majority-minority student populations. Interestingly, the data is showing that it will be the suburbs where these changes in diversity will be most pronounced.
2. Increases in poverty and income disparity. The statistics are striking: One in five children are part of families that are below the federal poverty threshold. In the city of Richmond, nearly 39% of children under the age of 18 live in poverty. However, it is the suburbs where this is change is happening most rapidly – since 2000, poverty in Henrico County, a suburb of Richmond, has grown by 70%.
3. Changing role of technology and social media. The technological and computing revolution, particularly the arrival of social media and SMART phones, means that educators must fully embrace students as digital natives.  This also means that our schools are preparing students for careers and related technology that we can scarcely imagine in 2015.
4. Increased focus on accountability and standards. Since the implementation of No Child Left Behind in 2002, teachers and school leaders have been held more accountable to data from standardized testing. Accountability and standards are here to stay, but the nature of assessments and their impact on instruction and teacher evaluation is posing challenges for recruiting and attracting talent to the teaching workforce.
5. Understanding of the needs of students with disabilities.  We continue to improve our ability to identify and understand how disabilities impact student learning. This thinking will continue to evolve and advance as science and research develop new ways of identifying how learning and disabilities are inextricably linked.

There are many other changes that I can list, such as the:

1. Changing norms around sexual identity.
2. Declining resources for funding in K-12 education.
3. Changing view and support of organizations that support teachers.  
4. Importance of STEAM and how best to implement these subjects in our K-12 curriculum.
5. Maintaining discipline and engagement of parents. 

The fact is, K-12 education has been buffeted by the winds of change that are more akin to a developing tropical storm than a soft summer breeze. To respond to these winds of change and challenges, we will need policies at the state and federal levels that focus future preparation of teacher and school leaders in the following areas:

1. Creating opportunities for increased diversity among the ranks of those who enter the K-12 teacher and the school leader workforce. As our country experiences racial and ethnic population changes, we need people of color to enter the workforce so that students of color can see themselves in their teacher and school leader.
2. Training for teachers and school leaders to promote an understanding and respect of equity and access in the classroom and in the school building. I attended the National Coalition for School Diversity conference this past weekend in D.C., one common refrain was the need for future teachers and school leaders to understand why diversity is integral to K-12 education and how will it impact the learning of each child.
3. Understanding the role of poverty and chronic stress in creating adverse childhood experiences. Researchers are able to show how poverty and chronic trauma can shape and alter the cognitive development of a child, particularly during the early learning years. We need to equip teachers and school leaders with the skills to address the physiological and behavioral changes caused by poverty and chronic stress.
4. Viewing K-12 educator and leader preparation as training in human capital. A colleague used to say that teaching was a “breath-to-breath” experience because of the human interaction between a teacher and child. We need to provide support for teacher and school-leader preparation that understands the power of that human interaction and humanization process that occurs between a teacher and student.
5. Promoting technology and data use in the K-12 classroom and building as a means, not an end. Teachers and school leaders must realize that technology and data collection should not be used solely as the focal point for all instruction, but as another tool to assist in building strong pedagogy and school leadership.
6. Understanding how to employ inclusive practices that offer differentiated instruction based on the needs of each student. Teachers and school leaders will need to understand how best to offer students a learning environment that is individualized and tailored to their specific learning styles.
7. Promoting creativity and problem solving that crosses disciplines and breaks down barriers of traditional subject matter. In this knowledge and information economy, students must learn to be creative problem solvers and to understand that failure is sometimes the key to future success.
8. Providing more financial support for people who want to become a teacher and school leader and to financially assist those who want to stay in these professions. We need to start providing more financial assistance to attract the best candidates and then offering salaries that keep them in the profession. In addition, the extrinsic value of financial support is helpful, but it is not everything. Intrinsic support, which could be built around time, promotion, and development, should be is sometimes more valuable and desirable by people who enter these professions.
9. Building opportunities for future and current educators to share and discuss best practices with each other. Teachers in the U.S. spend more time in front of a classroom teaching, than in most other industrialized nations. However, reflection and discussion about the power of their work is critical to ensuring high quality instruction as well as student and teacher learning.
10. Future K-12 teachers and school leaders need to have a strong value system and an understanding of the ethos of care that is involved in teaching and leading. Education has always attracted individuals who possess strong guiding principles, but now more than ever our preparation and professional development programs need to stress the importance of ethics and the moral purpose of working with a child.
11. Finally, we need to stress that good teaching and school leadership requires networks of human support. We should provide coaching opportunities for teachers and school leaders that utilize models of credit and not deficit skill building. Coaching and some forms of mentoring that employ a credit model of reflection and interaction are valuable in asset building for the new teacher and school leader, particularly in the areas of self-confidence and understanding.

I want to conclude with a thought about the importance of K-12 education in our global society. Right now, countries that we compete against are viewing their education systems as a means of producing the most qualified team to compete in the global economy. They are viewing their systems as training and developing the next bright minds in the fierce competition that exists in the global marketplace. We need to view this as a race — a race of humanization to compete in the human economy of today and tomorrow.

As a society, we have to realize that our K-12 educators are a “common good” and that we need to encourage and train the best and the brightest to enter into the profession. If we don’t, the winds of change that are at tropical storm level will surely increase to hurricane strength.

Thank you.