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Business-Higher Education Forum Warns Against Teacher Layoffs and Their Impact on Student Achievement
Contact: Pamela Lessard 202-367-1284, Alex Sittig 202-367-2393
Washington, DC (April 22, 2010) — In light of the April 20 New York Times article regarding massive, nationwide teacher layoffs, and U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan’s declaration that such actions will create an “education catastrophe,” the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) issued the following statement attributable to BHEF Executive Director Brian K. Fitzgerald:
“BHEF and its members are deeply concerned about the harmful effects teacher layoffs will have on student achievement. The potential loss of 100,000 to 300,000 teachers due to nation-wide layoffs will have a devastating effect on our ability to recruit and retain a high-quality teaching workforce, which is key to ensuring that our nation’s students will be able to compete in an increasingly competitive global workplace and key to driving U.S. economic growth.
Over the past several years, BHEF and its members have advocated for and advanced a set of innovative policies and programs designed to improve teacher recruitment, retention and renewal, particularly in the areas of mathematics and science. These crucial areas are highlighted in An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention and Renewal of America’s Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce.
Many successful teacher training programs, such as UTeach, CalTeach, and Math for America, are beginning to revolutionize the teaching of math and science in many schools and are showing demonstrable impact on boosting student proficiency. Yet, these layoffs are disproportionately impacting newer teachers, including graduates of these and other innovative programs, robbing schools of a large portion of their most effective teachers. Worse, these layoffs signal to prospective teachers that teaching is not a profession to aspire to, and will gut these innovative programs, essentially jeopardizing our ability to recruit and retain highly effective teachers, and therefore negatively impact students, for years to come.”
About the Business-Higher Education Forum
BHEF brings together an extraordinary coalition of corporate, academic, and foundation chief executives to provide leadership, influence public policy, and inspire other leaders to act. To learn more about the issue above, see BHEF’s report, “An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention and Renewal of America’s Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce on BHEF’s Web site at www.bhef.com/news/AnAmericanImperative.pdf.
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