Governor Janet Napolitano signs the executive order establishing the Governor's Committee for Teacher Quality and Support as NAU President John Haeger looks on. The governor named Haeger chair of the committee. Photo courtesy of the Office of the Governor.

Governor names Haeger to head Committee for Teacher Quality and Support

Governor Janet Napolitano has appointed Northern Arizona University President John D. Haeger to lead a newly established Governor's Committee for Teacher Quality and Support to attract, train and retain teachers at Arizona schools.

"We know that high-quality teachers have more impact on student achievement than just about anything else," said Napolitano. "Providing teachers with the tools and support to be the best they can be will go a long way toward making Arizona a place where schools are the greatest in the nation."

In her announcement on May 4, the governor noted Haeger's 25 years as a classroom teacher and his experience teaching and serving in three universities that are dominant teacher preparation institutions in their states: Central Michigan University, Towson University (Maryland) and NAU.

"Our greatest challenge as a state, both educationally and economically, is to graduate more students from high school and ensure more students attend and graduate from college," said Haeger.

"This challenge can only be met by having the best teacher corps in the nation. We need to recruit the best students into teaching and do everything possible to retain these teachers through our efforts in professional development, better salaries and more support from the local and state community.

"I cannot think of a more important charge as a president, because at every level, every drop of research tells you that educational attainment starts and ends with the teacher," he said.

Ruben Gonzales, a Phoenix businessman and member of the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, will serve as vice chair of the committee. The 13-member committee to be appointed by the governor will include volunteers from business and education.

Governor Napolitano has charged the committee to:

• develop a teacher training delivery system to address the lack of uniform access to quality induction, mentoring and ongoing professional development that includes embedded training and teacher collaboration
• identify opportunities and obstacles in teacher preparation programs to recruit highly motivated students who are focused on success and provide them world-class training
• identify pay gaps and systems concerns that lead to pay disparities across counties and districts for the same performance and experience
  identify possible governance issues and solutions related to teacher quality and support
• facilitate a survey of Arizona's certified teacher and identify working condition impediments

The committee will begin meeting May 23 and will provide a preliminary report and recommendations to the governor by Dec. 1, 2005. It will follow up with a report each subsequent September.