A New “Master Teacher Corps”?

A New “Master Teacher Corps”?

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

President Obama has proposed spending $1 billion to fund a “Master Teacher Corps” initiative, which would reward top-performing educators with $20,000 annually. In a statement, Obama said the master-teacher program would shine a light on the best STEM educators, and allow them to “mentor and model” for their less-experienced colleagues. The program would start with 50 teachers and eventually expand to 10,000 teachers over four years. The funds to pay for it — projected at $1 billion for the 2013 fiscal year — would require congressional approval.

Not everyone’s on board with the proposal, which is aimed at boosting student achievement in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. As an aide to Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee, told the Associated Press, the federal government already has more than 80 teacher quality programs. Kline spokeswoman Alexandra Sollberger questioned the wisdom of pouring more money into another program that might not add anything new — or effective — to the existing options.