Pauls to advise states on ‘No Child Left Behind’

The head of an ESU-based teacher education advocacy group will help state governments around the country learn more about the ‘No Child Left Behind’ law.

Leo Pauls, executive director of The Renaissance Group, has been named to the U.S. Department of Education’s Teacher Assistance Corps.

The Corps is a team of teachers, principals, superintendents, state administrators, professors, researchers and other national experts who will travel to states to learn of their successes and challenges in improving teacher quality.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding about ‘No Child Left Behind,’” explains Pauls. “States believe you have to do this thing or that thing, when in reality it’s not even in the law. Some states are getting frustrated, and understandably so because this is high stakes.”

At the end of each meeting, the Corps hopes to build solid partnerships between state and federal government, understand the status of each state in meeting NCLB’s ‘highly qualified teacher’ goals, share innovative ideas from other states, and demonstrate the federal government’s commitment to the teaching profession.

Under the NCLB law, highly qualified teachers must hold at least a bachelor’s degree, have full state certification and have demonstrated competency in their subject areas. States which develop alternative certification methods must demonstrate that teachers have the content knowledge to be successful in the classroom.

Formerly head of both the Jones Institute for Educational Excellence and The Renaissance Group, Pauls retired from the Jones Institute last year to focus on national teacher education issues. Pauls continues to assist in implementing the professional development plan of the Reading First grant, which the Kansas Department of Education awarded to ESU and the University of Kansas to improve school literacy programs.

As executive director of The Renaissance Group, Pauls helps forge connections between the top leaders at 35 university teacher education programs in 20 states across the country.

“Renaissance Group members are preparing 1 in 10 teachers in this country, and we continue to add member institutions each year,” said Pauls.

Members range from small private colleges to large state universities, like the University of Central Florida which serves 42,000 students. Schools are only invited if they can demonstrate strong commitments to teacher preparation by their presidents, provosts and deans of education.

“The Renaissance Group is better positioned than any other group in the country to contribute real leadership in teacher education reform,” said Pauls.

Last Updated July 2, 2007>