October 16, 2008

As thousands of teachers and their students began working together this fall in classrooms across the state of Minnesota, Governor Pawlenty toured the state discussing his 3E's initiative on energy, education, and the economy. We applaud the Governor's acknowledgement that there is much work to do regarding the state's economy as well as its energy policy. We are also encouraged to hear that education will be part of this important conversation, and we note that these three E's are not unrelated.  As any school administrator can attest, school funding has not kept pace with the demands on school budgets. When schools must continually appeal to their local communities for funding, students suffer. While Governor Pawlenty wants to reform the state tax code to create a friendlier climate for business, we suggest he needs to make the education landscape friendlier as well.  As heating costs soar and unfunded mandates to measure student performance increase, districts across the state are considering four-day weeks and other cost reduction measures so they can provide basic services to students and communities. 

In his 2008 State of the State address in February, Governor Pawlenty praised the hard work, dedication, and character of Minnesotans as a major factor in putting us near the top in the nation in most quality of life measures. With regard to education, his address complimented our education system:

"We're number one in ACT scores, the percentage of adults with a high school diploma, and number two in the country in eighth grade math scores." 

In the same address, Governor Pawlenty criticized the quality of teachers attracted to the profession.  The Governor suggested that the profession no longer attracts "top-tier" candidates.

By any measure, hardworking, dedicated, teachers of character are underpaid for their important work with Minnesota children. To suggest that they are unprepared and of lesser quality than in the past is simply false and not based on data. Furthermore, such comments are not consistent with comments made recently regarding the quality of teachers in Minnesota. In a recent press release (Sept. 23, 2008) unveiling his proposed education reform initiatives, he is quoted as saying, "Minnesota is blessed with some of the best teachers in the country and we appreciate our teachers.  With these proposals, we will lead the nation in improving teacher effectiveness."

It is not a coincidence that Minnesota has some of the best-prepared teachers in the country. Every approved teacher education program in Minnesota must follow state-established standards, demonstrate that it prepares highly qualified teachers, and have in place admission and program gateways that monitor candidate performance. In addition to demonstrating competency with regard to a myriad of state standards, every licensed teacher coming into the profession must pass standardized exams related to their subject matter and to the skills of effective instruction. Last year, the average admission GPA (grade point of candidates entering teacher education programs) at MACTE institutions was 3.3 at the undergraduate level and 3.4 at the graduate level (Measures of Teacher Quality in Minnesota, 2007).

There is much in Governor Pawlenty's education proposals with which we agree. We stand ready to work with the Governor on attracting more teachers into math and science; we will continue our work with the Minnesota Board of Teaching to include assessment outcomes in the teacher education program approval process; we look forward to the Governor's support of our ongoing efforts to partner with schools and districts to provide relevant, research-based professional development to Minnesota teachers; we encourage continued funding of the math academies established in regions around the state last summer; and we applaud the Governor's interest in providing intensive support for struggling 8^th graders. In addition, we extend our continued and active support for new teacher induction systems that provide targeted professional development to teachers new to the profession. We would welcome the Governor's support for this initiative. Additionally, we all need to work together to attract more teachers of color into the profession.  We encourage the Governor to support initiatives to attract and retain highly qualified teachers of color for Minnesota's school children. 

Yet, despite our agreement on several key issues, we must underscore our concern that P-12 school funding in Minnesota must be increased. New initiatives cannot succeed when the basic funding for schools continues to fall short. 

Minnesota Association of Colleges for Teacher Education Executive Committee
Maureen Prenn, North Mankato

John Clementson, LeSueur

Elaine Ackerman, St. Cloud
Jane Gilles, Lino Lakes
Bruce Munson, Duluth
Jo Olsen, Duluth
Scott Page, Mankato