Kaine Introduces Supporting Teaching and Learning through Better Data Act

On Wednesday, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), a member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, introduced the Supporting Teaching and Learning through Better Data Act. Current data collection mechanisms result in unreliable or inaccurate information, making it difficult for policymakers and school districts to develop effective solutions for addressing educator shortages. This bill aims to strengthen accurate collection of data regarding those shortages. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), co-sponsor of the bill, stated, “If we want to grow the economy and the middle class, we need an educated
workforce. This bill would help confront teacher shortages and find innovative ways of building resilient pipelines of teachers across the country.” Specific provisions of the act would require National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) to investigate the current status of data collection, provide recommendations for improvement, identify gaps, and create a grant program “to provide grants to state education agencies to improve educator workforce data collection and better identify inequities. Understanding these gaps will be critical to inform strategies to recruit qualified teachers to underserved communities.”

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