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TESTIMONY BY BLANDINA CARDENAS BEFORE THE September 9, 2003 Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: My name is Blandina Cardenas. For three years I have served as Dean of the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Texas at San Antonio. I appreciate the opportunity to present my views on Title VII of the Higher Education Act. UTSA is the fastest growing and, on many measures, most successful university in Texas. In the last four years our enrollment has grown from 18,830 to our current enrollment of 24, 869 students. Our freshman to sophomore retention rate has increased from 58% in 2000 to 77 percent in 2003. Last year we graduated 683 teachers, up from 370 in 1999. Most importantly our pass rate on the state teacher-licensing exam has gone from 85 percent in 1999 to 97 percent in 2002. In the face of an explosion in the demand for higher education in Texas, UTSA may well reach an enrollment of 30,000 within three years. To cope with this demand we anticipate filling 250 new faculty positions in the next four years. Fifty of those new positions will be in the COEHD. As Dean of the College of Education and Human Development, I have the responsibility to ensure that we are clearly focused on the needs in our k-12 schools. Superintendents consistently advise us that their most pressing need is for teachers in math, science, bilingual, ESL and dual language education and special education. The need for highly qualified teachers in these specializations is confirmed in state and national data. It is pervasive and growing. It will not get better until there is a significant investment in producing the highly qualified education faculty to train teachers in these fields. In the three years that I have been responsible for hiring faculty for our college, I have come to the conclusion that the shortages in specialized teachers for the nation’s schools track directly to the shortage of qualified faculty in these fields. The pipeline for producing highly qualified classroom teachers in math, science, bilingual education and special education will remain grossly inadequate for as long as the pipeline for producing faculty in these fields remains unattended. UTSA has a nationally recognized program in bilingual, ESL and dual language education. We offer both the bachelors and masters’ degree in bilingual education and a doctorate in Culture, Language and Literacy. In spite of our strong reputation and in spite of the attraction of San Antonio, two positions in bilingual education have remained unfilled through two hiring cycles. Our experience in special education is better. In the last two years we have hired two new assistant professors in special education, but the candidate pools for these hires have been exceedingly small. Lamentably there is not a single special education faculty member at UTSA who has expertise in meeting the special education needs of limited English proficient students. The latter can be traced to the fact that there may be as few as four individuals in the ranks of the nation’s doctoral faculty who have any expertise on the intersect of bilingual education and special education. We need bilingual education and special education faculty because all teachers need preparation in these fields. At UTSA we have redesigned our programs so that all teacher candidates are required to take at least two courses in ESL/bilingual education, one course in special education and inclusion. We have also doubled our math and science requirements for students in our K-8 teacher preparation program. All teachers need at least minimal preparation in bilingual education, ESL and dual language instruction and special education because we are a mobile nation. Teachers move form state to state and the LEP population is growing everywhere. No longer a regional phenomenon, the LEP population in this country has nearly doubled in the last decade. Increasing at eight times the rate of the total student enrollment, LEP students currently comprise 9.6 percent of the total public student population. The preparation of highly qualified teachers to meet the needs of these students is a national imperative. Throughout the nation, school districts are taking extraordinary measures to recruit teachers with the language and cultural skills to serve these students. School districts in Georgia, Ohio and North Carolina regularly recruit newly prepared teachers in the higher producing southwestern states where the demand for highly qualified bilingual teachers is just as great. Other school districts are recruiting teachers in foreign countries on the assumption that these teachers are prepared to teach in ESL, bilingual and dual language programs simply because they speak the children’s language. But ESL, bilingual and dual language instruction is tough work requiring specialized knowledge and skill. Imported teachers especially will require training from qualified faculty. A similar national challenge exists in the field of special education. One third of special education faculty openings remain unfilled every year. After several years of unsuccessful searches many colleges shift the faculty line to another field of specialization and the shortage of special education teachers is exacerbated. If every special education faculty slot were filled, about 3000 more special education teachers could be trained annually and every teacher candidate could receive the high quality training they need to serve special needs students mainstreamed in their classrooms. Providing financial support to doctoral students in these fields is essential. The best teacher preparation faculty are those who have had practical experience in the nation’s schools. Teachers, many burdened by undergraduate student loans, do not enjoy a level of income that allows them to leave their jobs for three years and assume the financial burden of doctoral studies. Dr. George Blanco of the University of Texas at Austin indicates that the number of bilingual education doctoral students has dropped to 1-3 per year since the elimination of the Title VII doctoral fellowship program. With the doctoral fellowship program, UT Austin was producing 10-12 doctorates per year. Our own doctoral program in Culture, Language and Literature has not attracted the number of master bilingual education teachers that we envisioned and that we need. We have our eye on those outstanding ESL, Bilingual and Dual Language teachers who ought to be in doctoral programs and joining the nation’s faculty ranks. Most of them however, are among the first in their family to graduate high school and earn an undergraduate degree. They are still paying off student loans and have strong reasons for not giving up what to them is a well-paying teaching job to work three years on a doctorate. Fellowships will make the difference. Without them, we will make little progress in meeting the NCLB challenge of ensuring that our most vulnerable students have access to an appropriately trained highly qualified teacher. I urge this Committee to pass provisions that will address the national need for faculty in the specialized fields of special education and ESL, bilingual education and dual language programs to serve LEP students. I would advocate strongly for special efforts to support doctoral students who pursue study in special education for LEP students. A small investment now will lay a foundation that can build capacity in every state in the nation. Thank you for this opportunity to address this urgent issue. |