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Thank you very much for that introduction, and thank you also for the invitation to join you here at the National Press Club.

I'm grateful for the opportunity once again to talk about a topic that's dear to my heart, and to the President's as well, and that's—of course—Education.

I brought some friends from Singapore along with me. Most of you know that Singapore students hold the distinction of the highest math scores in the world. And later this afternoon, we are signing an agreement to work together, because there is much we can learn from each other about improving student achievement.

One of the areas they're most interested in is our new education reforms.

As you know, President Bush has called upon this nation to improve its education system.

He feels, as most Americans feel, that ours is a great nation. But he knows also, that it cannot sustain is greatness unless we drastically improve our public education system.

On his 4th day in office, he put a proposal before Congress designed to change the culture of American public education. He asked the Congress to undertake a vigorous bipartisan debate of his proposal.

The No Child Left Behind education reform proposal, was designed to change the public education system from one which educates some of the children very well, to a system that educates all of its children well.

When I stood before you this time last year, we were at an educational crossroads.

Both the House and Senate had responded to the President's call, and joined in bipartisan support of his proposal for improving American education.

We knew however, that final passage of the bill hinged on whether the conference committee could reconcile the difference between the two bills and achieve common ground.

At the time, there were no signs on the horizon indicating when that process would even get underway. And we had plenty of reason for concern if the measure failed. Although there were many schools in America doing a great job, national report cards showed a growing achievement gap between those who are hopeful and those who are hopeless. These reports showed:

• 2 out of 3 fourth graders couldn't read proficiently
• 7 out of 10 inner-city and rural fourth graders couldn't read at the most basic level
• And America's 12th graders ranked among the lowest in math and science achievement among their counterparts around the world.

Those are not just cold statistics. They represent the human toll of an education system that has failed too many children.

As I stood here before you last year, my message was one of urgency. Urgency for the sake of the children who are falling through the cracks. And urgency also, for a great nation at risk of losing ground.

Then, exactly a week later, on September 11th, the unthinkable happened.

America was attacked. And a sadder, but stronger nation united to face the grim task of mourning for the dead, healing the wounds, and rooting out terrorism where it lives.

In the months that followed, our President led the way with a steely resolve to protect America and bring those responsible to justice.

Yet throughout, he never once lost focus on those things that matter most right here at home: creating jobs; expanding opportunities to save and invest and own a piece of the American dream; and especially, educating every single child.

Even while building an international coalition to fight terror, the President was building a bipartisan congressional coalition to improve our schools.

The result was the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001—a remarkable consensus by both parties in both houses of Congress that now is the time for fundamental change—now is the time to break with the past and educate all of our children—no matter the color of their skin or the accent of their speech.

The No Child left Behind Act gave us the framework to reform American education. The framework was built upon the great principles of accountability and results; local control and flexibility; increased choices for parents; quality teachers in every classroom; and teaching methods based upon solid research.

And President Bush made sure we got enough resources to get the job done. He provided historic levels of funding. We have the largest education budget for disadvantaged children in U.S. history. And we have nearly $1 billion in funding for the President's Reading First initiatives. These are remarkable levels of funding to ensure that every child in America's schools learns the one skill on which all others depend: Reading.

Our new education reforms make the best use of every tax dollar spent on education by funding programs that follow good research, and by insisting on accountability and results. In that way, taxpayers know what they're getting for their money, and parents know if their children are learning.

We have high expectations for every child—and we don't mean just the Top 10 kids in the class. I was in Little Rock, Arkansas, last week as the President kicked-off the first State Scholars program.

The goal of this initiative is to challenge young minds by providing more rigorous coursework, not just for the honor students, but for all students.

We want every child to learn, because we know they can learn. That includes the 6.4 million children enrolled in special education.

The President saw to it that Special Ed got the largest funding increase ever requested by a President—$1 billion more to serve children with disabilities.

The new education reforms expand parents' opportunities for choice. If children are not learning, and schools do not improve, then moms and dads have new options.

They can choose one-on-one tutoring, or after-school help, or they can enroll their children in a better public school.

Many local parents in Cleveland chose vouchers. And the U.S. Supreme Court gave them—and families nationwide—a great victory by upholding their right to make that choice.

It bears emphasizing, that what we're offering parents is choice—an option, not an obligation. What they do with it is up to them and them alone. Parents of children in low-performing schools, for example, may choose to transfer. Or they may choose to stay put, and work to make the school better.

It's their decision. What's important is that they have the freedom to choose.

Our new education reforms require a whole new focus. And programs like the Blue Ribbon schools award will now reflect the goals of No Child Left Behind by rewarding progress, not process.

As you would expect with a new initiative as complex as No Child Left Behind, there are still a lot of flaps to nail down.

As we work to implement these reforms—and you in the press work to cover our efforts—I believe it is critical that we keep the mission in perspective.

Our education system is working for some kids, but it is NOT working for too many kids. And our job is to make a good system better. And this, we can do.

With our new education reforms, we have the tools. We have the money. And we have the educational expertise.

All we have to do is knuckle down to the task like Cheryl Dunham, a first grade teacher in Michigan who wrote the President to say,

"I believe as you do that every child can learn. And I am doing all that I know how to do to make that happen."

There are many Cheryls out there, quietly doing their part to implement these reforms. And I am grateful to each and every one of them.

We all know the devil is in the details. And we are diligently working on those details.

The heavy lifting began back in January when we met with all the state school chiefs at Mt. Vernon. Since then, we have provided guidelines and assistance. We've addressed hundreds of phone calls and faxes and requests for information. And we have provided timely advice on our web site.

I've covered 26 states and 38 cities to meet with local parents, teachers, community leaders and educators—people who really have to make the new law work. And we've moved on the regulations with all due haste.

Now I don't normally like to criticize the work of others, but I have read recent press reports saying some are suggesting the department has been slow on the uptake.

I respectfully disagree. In the short time since January 8, the department's production of regulations, guidance, and dear-colleague letters, has been voluminous.

The last time the education bill was reauthorized in 1994, it was not nearly as complex as No Child Left Behind. I know many of you have read the new law, right?

It's like cracking open War and Peace.

But despite this, we have moved quickly at every stage of the process.

Granted, if I'd had my druthers, states would have had everything they needed the moment the President put pen to paper on January 8th.

But that would have required federal workers, sitting in cubicles here in Washington, writing regulations in a vacuum.

I wanted what the President wanted: regulations that are based upon input from the practitioners working in the trenches—teachers and principals and state school chiefs—so the regulations we put out reflect the real world.

I believe we have balanced the need for early guidance with the President's desire—and my desire—for comprehensive and meaningful input.

We have a new, complex law. We have a new school year. It is early yet. State and local educators are working their fingers to the bone trying to do what is right for their kids.

I think we owe them the courtesy of treating them like the professionals they are by giving them the chance to get all their ducks in a row before we start giving them the bare-bulb treatment.

Nobody said this would be simple. I know.

I used to run one of the nation's largest school systems, so I know change is not easy—especially on a scale as large as this.

We're plowing historic new ground here. And I am confident we will succeed. It's already happening around the country.

Take Indiana. They now put their schools' performance out for all to see. They put it on their web site and in newspapers statewide. So I know this can be done.

Alabama hit the ground running with its Reading First funding. In just two months this summer, they trained 2,300 teachers in solid, research-based reading instruction. So I know this can be done.

Saint Paul Public Schools jumped at the opportunity to empower parents with greater choice. They placed nearly all who applied for transfers in the schools of their choice. So I know this can be done.

Colorado Springs identified the schools where students need more help, and they are providing the parents with lists of supplemental service providers. So I know this can be done.

Someone else who knows this can be done is Joyce Bales, the Superintendent of public schools in Pueblo, Colorado.

To Dr. Bales—low-income does not mean low expectations. She believes that every child can learn.

So all the things the President and I talk about—she did. She got a research-based reading program. She got the parents involved. She set high standards and high expectations and insisted on results.

And now people in Pueblo know what history has long shown: When you raise the bar, people rise to the challenge. Student achievement in Pueblo soared.

A recent study by the Council of Great City Schools identified four large urban school districts that are actually closing the achievement gap.

Their study, Foundations for Success, produced new evidence that even under the most difficult circumstances, children can learn if you get it right.

And the best way to get it right is to make sure that the teacher at the front of the classroom knows the subject matter.

Most of us can remember a favorite teacher. I had two favorite teachers: my parents.

Their example inspired me to become a teacher as well. And it was in the classroom that I discovered the truth in the words of World War II General Omar Bradley when he said "teachers are the real soldiers of democracy. Others can defend it, but only teachers can make it work."

Few people have the influence over our lives that teachers do. That is why the President and I are committed to making sure that there is a quality teacher in every classroom by 2006. That commitment is backed by the greatest federal investment ever in quality teaching—$3 billion to recruit, prepare and keep good teachers.

Not long ago, the Department released its first study on teacher quality. And showed that we have to do a better job of preparing teachers. We have many great teachers, but not nearly enough.

In some states, certification requirements lack adequate rigor.

More emphasis needs to be placed on alternative routes to certification. Teacher professional development needs greater focus on rich content.

And far too many teachers are not trained in the subject they're teaching. Chief among them are math and science teachers.

Today in America, more than half of the middle school math teachers and nearly half of the science teachers did not major or minor in the field they're teaching.

That may help explain why one in three 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students scored at the lowest level on the math portion of the NAEP test.

It may also help explain why student achievement in science is even worse.

The President's budget calls for more funding to increase the ranks of talented math and science teachers.

Our new education reforms ask a lot of America's teachers—and we owe them something in return. We owe them our respect. We owe them our support. And we owe them the training and the tools to succeed. And that means we need to do a few things.

We need to strengthen academic standards for teachers. Some months back, at Mrs. Bush's White House conference on teacher preparation, Sandra Feldman, the President of the American Federation of Teachers, said:

"Good teachers... need to know—deeply—the subject they teach... You can't teach what you don't know well." How true!

At a time when we desperately need strong teachers in our classrooms, we should be doing all we can to attract and keep the best and the brightest candidates.

A good place to start is by drawing from non-traditional sources like Teach For America, Transition to Teaching and Troops to Teachers.

We must also improve the way we prepare new teachers in our colleges and universities. I was a Dean of a college of education for ten years, and I know the special problems these schools face and the responsibilities they bear.

But I am also mindful that the original idea behind colleges of education was to create rigorous professional training for teachers—just like medical schools, and law schools.

Yet here we are—a century later—with research showing many teachers fresh out of college lack what they need to meet the challenges of the classroom. More than one in five will give up and leave the profession within their first three years.

Despite this, many schools of education have continued, business-as-usual—focusing heavily on how to be a teacher—when the evidence cries out for a deeper understanding of the subject they'll be teaching, how to monitor student progress, and how to help students who are falling behind.

I believed as a superintendent, and I believe now, that we must do whatever it takes to fill our classrooms with quality teachers.

New York City has already started. There was a time when they had a teacher shortage, and too many of the ones they had were teaching out of field.

All that has changed.

New York has been aggressive about training and recruiting good teachers. And now it's well on its way to implementing one of the most important parts of our new education reforms.

But all the good intentions and all the reforms in the world won't mean a thing if we don't have safe classrooms for students to learn and teachers to teach.

That is why the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 reauthorized the Safe and Drug-Free schools program—to help ensure greater security and vigilance in our schools.

Safety is job 1. And that job got even harder after September 11th.

I stood at Ground Zero right after the attack. And it was clear that this grave new world we're living in calls for new approaches in how we go about protecting our schools and the children in them.

We are committed to learning all that we can so we can communicate that to our schools. Because teachers and principals are the ultimate first-responders.

As news of the tragedies unfolded live on TV, millions of moms and dads looked up from their work and their first thought was their children.

And who was there to protect them? Thousands of teachers and principals nationwide.

They sheltered our children from evil when they needed it most.

They went the extra mile to ease their fears.

And while the world as we knew it literally came crashing down, teachers and principals carried on in the truest spirit of those called to this noble profession.

One of those principals was Pat Hymel. Pat works at an elementary school not far from here. When the planes hit the World Trade Center, she called her husband who worked at the Pentagon and said, "How thick are those walls?"

And when a teacher rushed into her office to say a plane had crashed nearby, she had that funny feeling, something told her that the love of her life, the father of her children, the man she still loved to dance with in the kitchen—was gone. Just like that.

But despite that feeling, she put her own fears aside, because the kids were still in the school, and they come first.

Hours later, after all the students had been safely delivered into the arms of their parents, Pat learned that her instincts had been correct. Her husband, Lt. Col. Robert Hymel, died when Flight 77 hit the Pentagon.

I know I speak for the President when I say that our teachers and principals are the quiet heroes of 9-11.

And their hazard-duty hasn't ended. To this day, many children still have fears. Many have questions. And America's teachers and principals are there for them. Every day. And we owe each and every one a huge debt of gratitude.

We can start by thanking one hero today—Principal Pat Hymel from Hoffman-Boston Elementary School in Arlington.

Everything I've talked about so far involves K through 12 education. But high-quality education doesn't stop there—it also applies to postsecondary education and training. And the President's latest budget calls for the largest student aid funding increase in the history of these programs—$55 billion in new grants, loans, and work-study funds that will help more than 8 million students.

Our public institutions of higher education have to improve their completion-and-retention rates of students once they enroll—so students can learn the skills they need to get the jobs they want. We want to do our part as well, and so we have partnered with the Department of Labor to help more Americans get the skills they need to succeed.

We are very mindful that a child's success in school depends on the critical first five years of its life. And we've had good prompting in this area from a former teacher who remains passionate about this subject: Mrs. Bush.

Drawing on themes developed in the First Lady's Summit on Early Childhood Cognitive Development, the President outlined the new frontier for education reform. His initiative called Good Start, Grow Smart prepares children in Head Start and other early-childhood programs with language, literacy and numeracy skills.

I have sat with the inspirational math teacher, Jaime Escalante. And we saw Hispanic moms and dads cry as they talked about their hopes for a better life for their children. So I know this can be done.

I have stood alongside one of the legends of the civil rights movement, Dorothy Height, as she rallied the black community to fight for this cause. So I know it can be done.

And the same high standards we expect of our schools, we expect of ourselves, as well. The Department has made great strides in making this agency more efficient and responsive to better serve our customers: the students, the educators, and the taxpayers.

As we approach the first anniversary of 9-11 our thoughts turn to the ideals upon which this country was founded. I hope all of you will mark your calendars for 2 o'clock Eastern Daylight Time on Tuesday, September 17th—and join the President and me and school children coast to coast in the Pledge Across America.

One of my guests today is Vincent Lopez—a second-grader from one of my favorite schools—Amidon Elementary School. Vincent participated with his school in the Pledge Across America last year. Vincent, will you please stand?

The words of the Pledge of Allegiance hold even more meaning this year as we reflect on our blessings as Americans.

I want to close with a poem that a 7th grader from North Carolina wrote and sent to President Bush.

The author's name is Molly Peacock. And the title of the poem is Freedom.

As we begin this new school year, we do so knowing that while we've come far in our mission since a year ago, many challenges lie ahead. But we face these challenges with a renewed sense of purpose and hope.

As Molly's words remind us—now more than ever—the freedom we defend is our children's right to freedom. Freedom to grow... freedom to learn... and freedom to achieve their dreams.

Thank you.

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