Teacher Improvement Critical

A Senate Committee hears that school district's must do a better job retaining top quality teachers, but first they have to figure out which teachers meet that definition.  Teacher Project Director Timothy Daily recruits teachers for school district's, right now he's doing work for the Houston School District.  He says many times teacher vacancies are filled by the first warm body with a certificate which is the wrong way to do it.  "If you want to improve student achievement we need not just warm bodies but demonstrably more effective teachers.  Teacher's whose students are learning and growing."  He says district's must focus more on recognizing quality teachers in order to improve education.  This after a new study shows 40 percent of teachers are moonlighting to make ends meet and 47 percent are considering leaving the profession.  Most of those teachers surveyed are veterans of the classroom.