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BHEF Response To American Federation of Teachers Reform Plan

Contact: Pamela Lessard 202-367-1284, Alex Sittig 202-367-2393

In response to the January 12 speech, “A New Path Forward: Four Approaches To Quality Teaching And Better Schools,” by American Federation of Teachers (AFT) President Randi Weingarten, Business-Higher Education Forum Executive Director Brian K. Fitzgerald issued the following statement:

“We fully support of AFT’s comprehensive reform plan to ensure that the nation’s schools are staffed with nothing less than the best teachers. In today’s knowledge economy, a strong development and evaluation system is crucial to improving teaching. While BHEF’s members are especially concerned with creating a robust, world-class science and mathematics teaching workforce, we believe that all teachers must be held accountable for student progress. We look forward to working with the AFT and other organizations on a collaborative effort to advance this plan.

BHEF’s report, “An American Imperative: Transforming the Recruitment, Retention, and Renewal of Our Nation’s Mathematics and Science Teaching Workforce,” recommends that states track teacher effectiveness against multiple measures of student performance, and similarly, that teacher license renewal programs also be revamped to focus on measures of teacher effectiveness.”

About the Business-Higher Education Forum

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) is an organization of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and foundation leaders working to advance solutions to the nation’s education challenges in order to enhance U.S. competitiveness. BHEF brings together an extraordinary coalition of corporate, academic, and foundation members to influence public policy and to inspire other corporate, academic, and foundation leaders to act. Online at www.bhef.com.