Investments in teacher training and quality Pre-Kindergarten
programs produce better child outcomes and environments more
conducive to early learning. In Oregon, there has been a
decline in the overall number of center-based early
childhood workers with degrees (43% in 1985 to 30% in 2004).
The call for more education and training has been embraced
with good intentions at the federal and state levels—yet the
resulting mandates have not been backed with adequate
funding.
Given that effective teachers have a demonstrable impact on
educational outcomes in public schools and early childhood
programs, what can we do to increase the caliber of teachers
in K-12 and preschool classrooms, and what can we do to help
and encourage teachers to perform as effectively as
possible?
States and
federal government leaders have exhibited sustained
underinvestment in higher education—while Congress turns up
the heat on accountability. Increases in college
applications will come largely from members of
underrepresented groups—whose high school curricula will not
have prepared them to persist and succeed in college.
National policy platforms include goals of affordable
college tuition and simplification of the federal student
aid processes. Our conversation leaders prepared the
following reading
materials.
