Education Minnesota supports Bush Foundation efforts to attract new teachers
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Education Minnesota President
Tom Dooher meets with Bush
Foundation President Peter
Hutchinson at a news conference
May 10. |
The
Bush Foundation has begun airing new television commercials aimed at attracting high school and college students into the teaching profession. Education Minnesota President Tom Dooher joined Bush Foundation President Peter Hutchinson at a news conference on Tuesday to announce the effort.
“This country, and this state, became what they are today because of our dedication to excellence in education,” Dooher said. “And you don’t have excellence in education without great teachers. Teachers make a difference. We believe that anything that elevates the role and purpose of teaching, is needed now more than ever,” he said.
The Bush Foundation news release estimates that half of the teachers in Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota will retire in the next ten years. "This advertising campaign and these programs are really aimed at teachers who are going to enter the workforce in two or three years," Hutchinson said.
The ads will air in all three states and are part of the Foundation’s $40 million effort to strengthen the teaching profession in the Upper Midwest. The Foundation is working with 14 colleges of education to recruit and train new teachers.
“It’s so important for us to work together, to have people throughout the community who want to see teachers succeed and who will support them,” Dooher said. “We must do everything possible to make teaching attractive to the best and brightest among us. This campaign will help do that and we’re happy to support it,” he said.
The ads show people in a variety of professions and credits a teacher with helping them get there. The ads then ask the audience “are you ready to make your mark. Are you ready to be a teacher?” The ads will air in programs that are highly watched by high school and college age viewers, such as “Glee” and “Saturday Night Live.”
May 11, 2011