University of Kentucky 2004 FEA Summer Camp

President Bush's "No Child Left Behind" initiative draw attention to the need for four-year colleges/universities to attract, keep, and train more qualified teachers. While student enrollments are rising rapidly, more than a million veteran teachers are nearing retirement. In addition, current U.S. Census figures demonstrate that we live in a multi-cultural, multilingual nation. However, the American teaching workforce does not reflect that diversity. Over 40% of the nation's school children are African-American, Asian, Pacific Islander, Hispanic, or Native American. Nonetheless, only about 13% of its teachers are people of color and/or low economic status. It is predicted that, in the next decade, America will need to hire more than 2 million teachers to meet rising enrollment demands and replace an aging teaching workforce. This teacher recruitment problem is more critical in urban and rural schools and for high-need subject areas such as special education, math, and science. Kentucky's designated teacher shortage areas for example also include art, foreign language, science, and social studies. Therefore, it is imperative that colleges and universities recruit and train qualified teachers. Kentucky future teachers must value and support public education, respect teaching as a career choice, and commit themselves to teach. An increase in the number of qualified teachers from all backgrounds will impact the children of diverse backgrounds, the general student population, and educational policies at the district, state, and national levels. There is no more important mission than the recruitment, training, and retention of young people into the teaching profession.