Advertorial in Education Week, February 23, 2005

Christa McAuliffe’s immortal motto, “I touch the future, I teach,” continues to resonate nearly 20 years after the Challenger tragedy took the life of this exemplary educator and NASA’s first teacher in space. Today, more than ever, America must ensure that tomorrow’s teachers embrace McAuliffe’s outlook and possess the commitment and talent to be as good as or better than today’s teachers.

The No Child Left Behind Act calls for a highly qualified teacher in every classroom — an important goal if we are to realize the promise within every child. But we cannot reach this goal without concerted effort by government at every level, by colleges and universities, and by professional associations all working not only to bring into schools the brightest of new teachers but to keep our best teachers from leaving. Those are two halves of an important equation: retention and recruitment.

The sad fact is that half of all teachers who enter the field leave within the first five years, according to the National Commission on Teaching and the Future report, No Dream Denied. The report also states that the teacher shortage is largely a problem of too little retention. To solve that problem, we will need to provide effective professional development, particularly for beginning teachers; reward teachers for a job well done; create satisfactory working and learning environments in all schools; and ensure that bureaucracy does not get in the way of good teaching.

At the same time, the other half of the equation is recruiting the brightest and best to careers in education. Today’s students need to know that an education career will be rewarding. Teaching does not have to be, as NCTF puts it, “a revolving door occupation.” Students must be exposed to effective teaching throughout their schooling and have early opportunities to explore education careers.

Phi Delta Kappa International, as a professional association dedicated to service, research, and leadership, is working hard on both halves of this equation. On the retention side, PDK is providing solid professional development opportunities, such as an annual international conference; customized, in-district “We Deliver” workshops; summer training institutes in Bloomington, Indiana; and Web-based question-and-answer exchanges between beginning and veteran teachers in The Teacher Connection, an e-newsletter at www.pdkintl.org/tconnect/tchome.htm — to name but a few.

On the recruitment side, for middle and high school students PDK promotes Future Educators of America (FEA) clubs. FEA is the only national precollegiate program for prospective teachers, and the message of this program is clear: Teaching is a promising career choice. The annual FEA conference (held earlier this month in Chicago) each year draws some 900 young people and club sponsors to three days of informational and interactive sessions, recognizing in particular that America’s schools need teachers from diverse backgrounds who will be sensitive to the diversity in our classrooms.

Professional associations must play an important part, along with colleges and universities and all levels of government, in solving the problem of recruiting and retaining the best teachers for America’s future. Phi Delta Kappa International is working hard to answer this challenge. We believe in the importance of Christa McAuliffe’s motto: “I touch the future, I teach.”

For information about PDK membership, professional development, and FEA, please visit our website at www.pdkintl.org. The Phi Delta Kappa International 2005 Conference and Exhibit will be held in New Orleans, November 10-13. More information online.

Phi Delta Kappa
International
408 North Union Street
P.O. Box 789
Bloomington, IN 47402-0789

www.pdkintl.org
Information@pdkintl.org
Phone 812/339-1156
Tollfree 800/766-1156
Fax 812/339-0018

Support for this message provided by the Phi Delta Kappa Educational Foundation