U.S. Congressmen David Price and G.K. Butterfield introduced companion bills July 31 that they say will reward and retain teachers.
Price's bill, Keep Teachers Teaching Act, names the Kenan Fellows Program as a model program for motivating exceptional educators to stay in the classroom. WRAL spotlighted the Kenan Fellows Program in a piece on the introduction of the bill.
The news story profiles 2013-14 Kenan Fellow Erin Lawrence who teaches at Wake Forest-Rolesville Middle School in Wake County. Ms. Lawrence is currently at Biogen Idec working with researchers to develop classroom curriculum supporting students’ knowledge and understanding of bio-pharmaceutical research, development and manufacturing processes.
“Everything I teach my students about chemistry they do at Biogen Idec,” Ms. Lawrence said in the interview. “Students need to understand why they are (learning) this. If they don’t have that connection, if it’s not relevant to them, they are not going to care and they won’t be able to succeed.”