THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks
a lot. Welcome to the White House and the beautiful Rose Garden. I
want to thank you for coming today to help us mark progress,
significant progress, toward making sure our public schools meet our
objective, which is, every single child in America gets a high-quality
education.
Last year, I had the honor of signing into law some historic
reforms. The No Child Left Behind Act sets a clear objective for
American education. Every child in every school must be performing at
grade level in the basic subjects that are key to all learning, reading
and math. The ambitious goal is the most fundamental duty of every
single school, and it must, and it will be fulfilled.
In order to ensure this goal is met, the No Child Left Behind Act
requires every state in our country to submit an accountability plan
that leads to measurable gains in student performance. As of today,
all of the states, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, have
now submitted those plans. And that's why we're meeting.
The era of low expectations and low standards is ending; a time of
great hopes and proven results is arriving. And together, we are
keeping a pledge: Every child in America will learn, and no child will
be left behind. (Applause.)
I want to thank our Secretary of Education for his service to our
country. I first got to know him as a superintendent in Texas. He was
the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, and I
figured if he could handle that -- (laughter) -- he could handle
whatever Washington threw his way. But he's doing a great job, and so
is his staff. I want to thank the Chief State School Officers who are
with us today. Thank you for your setting high standards. Thank you
for your care and concern for our nation's children.
I want to thank the members of Congress who are here today. I see
quite a few senators and House members. I particularly want to pay my
respects to the two chairmen that made the bill happen, Chairman Judd
Gregg, Chairman John Boehner -- Judd of the Senate, John of the
House. I want to thank you for your leadership. When we had our
negotiations on the bill and discussions on the bill, I can't remember
which one of the two said, are you going to follow through? I said,
yes, we'll follow through. We're following through, just the way you
wanted us to. And I thank you for being here. (Applause.)
Of course, I see Chairman Regula, Specter, Hatch, Alexander,
Murkowski -- I'd better stop. But anyway, thank you all for being
here. (Applause.)
For too many years, education reform seemed like a losing battle.
Fads came and fads went while students were passed from grade to grade,
no matter what they did or did not learn. And as a result, national
tests showed that fewer than one in three 4th-graders were reading
well, and that only four in 10 high school seniors were skilled at
reading. Because we were just simply shuffling kids through the
system, we began to pay a serious price.
But, fortunately, we recognized the problem and we acted. I say,
we -- it's not only Republicans, but Democrats. All of us came
together to focus on a significant problem for our country. We are now
directly challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. Under the
No Child Left Behind Act, every student in this country will be held to
high standards, and every school will be held accountable for results.
Teachers will get the training they need to help their students
achieve. Parents will get the information and choices they need to
make sure their children are learning. And together we will bring the
promise of quality education to every child in America.
Part of the answer is funding, and we are meeting our obligations
here in Washington, D.C. The federal government is investing more
money in elementary and secondary education than at any other time in
American history. The budget for next year boosts education funding to
$53.1 billion and an increase of nearly $11 billion since I took
office. And it wasn't all that long ago that I took office. Funding
for Title 1, a program that helps our most disadvantaged students, has
increased 33 percent, to $11.6 billion. And since I took office, we've
tripled the amount we're spending on effective reading programs, to
more than $1 billion.
At the federal level, we are putting money into the system. It is
also important for our fellow citizens to understand that there is
money available for states to put in accountability systems, for states
to train teachers in the methods that work, and for states to provide
extra help to students who need it.
But it's also important to recognize that pouring money into
systems that do not teach and refuse to change will not help our
children. We help children by measuring the educational progress of
every single child, and by insisting on change when progress is not
made. We're spending more money on schools, but the change is we're
now asking for results. And those results must be proven, and those
results must be measured every single year.
Success comes when we've got strong leadership in our schools --
leaders who seek the truth, leaders who are willing to confront
reality, and leadership who believes in the worth of every single
child. And we have such a leader with us today. Linda Reksten is with
us today. Linda is the principal of Disney Elementary School in
Burbank, California. It's a Title One school, where half the students
are not fluent in English, and nearly two-thirds come from low-income
families.
Four years ago, her students scored at the 40th and 44th
percentiles for reading comprehension and math on the state tests. And
her school wound up on a list of under-performing schools. At first,
Linda said she and her teachers felt powerless, felt overwhelmed. But
they overcame their discouragement and got to work.
And here's what Disney School did. They began a rigorous testing
program to measure the progress of every child several times a year.
Teachers who had initially been skeptical of the tests -- and I'm
sure the state leaders here have heard of that skepticism before --
learned how to use test results to tailor their lessons plans, and to
make sure every child excelled. Morale when up. Discipline problems
went down. And last year, Disney students scored at the 58 percentile
in reading comprehension, and the 71st percentile in math. And that is
tremendous progress.
And let me tell you what Linda said. She said, "It is this
constant assessment that tells us what to do next. Once we have the
test data and we know where the gaps are, we go after the gaps. We
know where every child is." Linda is right. She has shown what works
in education. She is the model of education reform. I'm proud you're
here. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for your heart.
(Applause.)
The core of the No Child Left Behind legislation is that every
child must be tested on the basics, starting early, because testing
shows what children are learning and where they need help. We also
need to train the teachers in scientifically proven methods of teaching
the basics so that their students can make progress. And if the basics
are not being taught, and our children not meeting standards, schools
must be held to account. There must be a consequence. The status quo
if a school is mediocre is not acceptable.
We're making good progress in terms of the implementation of our
accountability systems. In the past five months we have approved the
accountability plans of 33 states, plus the District of Columbia and
Puerto Rico. And today we mark an historic milestone of
accountability -- this morning, Secretary Paige has approved the
plans of 17 more states, bringing us to a total of 100 percent of the
accountability plans in place. (Applause.)
I want to thank the Secretary again, and his staff, and education
chiefs for helping this nation make great progress when it comes to
education reform. Keep in mind that in January of 2001, only 11 states
were in compliance with a 1994 education law. Every state, plus Puerto
Rico and the District, are now complying with the No Child Left Behind
Act after one year.
Educators are embracing a new level of accountability, which is
creating a new culture for our nation's schools, a culture of
achievement, a culture of results over process. In this new culture,
accountability plans are driving reform. They contain timelines and
projections to show how the states will bring all students up to grade
level in reading and math by the year 2014. All students will be
tested, tests designed by the states, not the federal government.
Schools are required to disaggregate the testing data, separating
the results by race and background to make sure all groups of children
are learning. All schools must release report cards with these results
to the parents and to the public, so we know which schools are
succeeding and which schools are not.
Though the plans have these common elements, each plan is unique,
because each state and its communities are unique. Local people are
getting the tools they need to find out if children are learning and if
their schools are working. Local people are charting the path to
excellence, and that is important because local people know what is
best for their own children and their own schools.
The development of these plans involved a lot of hard work.
Governors stepped up to the line, along with their education chiefs. I
also want to thank the principals and teachers and parents on the
frontlines who are working so hard to improve our public schools.
Instead of throwing up your hands in despair, you decided to challenge
the status quo and to help each child. On behalf of the nation, I want
to thank all who are involved in America's public schools, all who
demand excellence, for your service to our country.
And now we look forward to the next phase of school reform. The
law requires every state to release a list of its schools in need of
improvement before the start of the school year. The schools on those
lists are immediately eligible for state assistance that can help them
improve. The school remains on the list for two years. Parents will
have the option of moving their children to other public schools in the
same district. If a school stays on the list for three years, a parent
will be given a choice of tutoring programs with proven track records,
programs in which they can enroll their children at no cost.
The No Child Left Behind Act gives parents and students
alternatives when schools do not measure up. Some of those schools
will undoubtedly have to make difficult choices. That's okay.
Remember what's at stake. When a student passes from grade to grade
without knowing how to read and write, add and subtract, the damage can
last a lifetime. We must not tolerate a system that just gives up on a
child early. We must not tolerate tired excuses. We must challenge
persistent failure. And that is precisely what this nation is going to
do. (Applause.) We are insisting on high standards and high
achievement for every school in every corner of America because we have
a fundamental belief that every child can learn in this country.
It's an exciting time for American education, it really is. We're
facing challenges, but we have the blueprint for success. The No Child
Left Behind Act charts the way for a better tomorrow. We've also got a
greater advantage than the law. We have got the will and the character
of the American people. Parents and teachers and principals and
education chiefs are making good on our promise to leave no child
behind. We will continue to stand with them as they help the next
generation realize the greatness of our country.
And we do live in a great country, a country of great values, a
country of hope, a country that believes in the best for every single
citizen who lives in our land.
May God bless your work and may God continue to bless the United
States of America. (Applause.)