The Spellings Report: Teachers' Questions Wanted!

Secretary of Education Magaret Spellings is inviting teachers to ask her questions, some of which she promises will be answered on the Department of Education's website:

"As President Bush likes to say, teaching is a calling. Teachers deserve our thanks for answering the call. And now they will be able to call on us for answers.

"Today I am proud to announce Teachers Ask the Secretary, a new feature of the U.S. Department of Education's web site. It's available at www.ed.gov (select "Teachers") or go directly to http://www.ed.gov/teachers/how/reform/teachersask.

"This easy-to-use page will help teachers learn answers on a wide range of subjects: teacher quality, professional development, state academic standards and more. We will share best practices and success stories under the No Child Left Behind Act. And we will listen to your concerns.

"The page will be regularly and frequently updated so we can get to as many new topics as possible. I cannot promise written answers to every question. But every question will be read.

"This is just the latest in a series of interactive resources for teachers, including our popular eLearning online courses, searchable online database and electronic Teacher Updates.

"The No Child Left Behind Act is a partnership. And a true partnership relies on communication. Teachers Ask the Secretary gives us one more tool to stay in touch."

Of course, we couldn't resist submitting a couple of questions to Secretary Spellings ourselves:

According to Fox News, California will soon experience a shortage of some 100,000 teachers. Since NCLB directs that fully-credentialed teachers shall be serving in our children's classrooms, will the market-forces of supply and demand be allowed to help determine teacher salaries?

Or will California be permitted to issue "emergency" credentials to thousands of teachers with little or no formal training in pedagogy?

Thanks

Do you think that we will get an answer to either question from the Secretary? --------------------View the latest edition of The Carnival Of Education as well as entry instructions for next week's edition right here.

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