For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
February 20, 2001
Remarks by the President to Parents and Teachers
Moline Elementary School St. Louis, Missouri
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2:11 P.M. CST
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Sarah, thanks for those kind words. And, Chris, thank
you very much. Now, what you forgot to say is what I can
say, and that is, I believe and know that a school succeeds when there
is a dynamic principal in charge of the school. And that's
the case here at Moline. I also know it's important to have
a Superintendent of Schools who
is willing to push the bounds of excellence, and that's what you have
in your Superintendent of Schools.
We're so honored that you would welcome us
here. Laura and I are glad
to be traveling to the great state of Missouri. I want to
thank your senior Senator Kitt Bond. I want to thank
Congressman Clay. I want to thank Congressman Akin for your
hospitality. And, Governor, I'm so pleased
you're here as well.
We put out an invitation to all the governors
to join us next Sunday night at the White House for dinner, and the
Governor has agreed to come and eat some ribs, I think it
is. (Laughter.) Maybe not ribs, but -- but I
appreciate so very much you taking time to be here today.
Boys and girls, thank you all as well for your
hospitality. We had a chance to listen to some 3rd-graders
read. They sound like 6th graders to us.
Let me talk a little policy, if you don't
mind. There's a time for politics in our society and that
ended a while ago. Now is the time for good public
policy. And it starts with the universal goal of every child
being educated in America. That sounds like anybody would
say that. But to me, it's an achievable goal.
There are some certain principles to which we
need to adhere in order to meet that goal. First, setting
the highest of high standards; understanding that all children can
learn; not accepting excuses when certain children don't learn; not
adhering to a system that shuffles children through because it's so
much easier to quit as opposed to focus on
a child-by-child basis. Good education starts with high
standards, whether it be set by the President, the governor, or the
superintendent, or
the principal or the teacher in the classroom.
Secondly, I strongly believe in what we call
local control of schools. I believe it's critically
important for those of us in the federal government to align authority
and responsibility where it belongs, and that
is at the local level. There's the old statement, one size
fits all doesn't work when it comes to educating
children. I fully subscribe to that.
You've got different issues, Governor, in the
state of Missouri, than we had in the state of Texas. We
have the same goals, the same objectives,
the same heart, but you have a different set of
problems. And, therefore, it's incumbent upon us in the
White House to work with members of the Congress to pass federal money
back with as much flexibility as possible, to trust local people to set
the course for excellence for all the children
in the different school districts around the country.
Thirdly, accountability is critically
important for -- to meet the goal that no child will be left
behind. It is incredibly important to measure, because
without measuring, how do you know if a child is learning to read and
write and add and subtract? How do you know? It
seems like it's a fundamentally fair question for those of us in public
life to ask. We're spending money, we'd like to know in return whether
or not children are learning.
Now, I don't believe the federal government
ought to design a test, Governor. I think you can design
your own. You've certainly done so -- at
least in this school district, they've designed their own
accountability system. It's an accountability system that's
so impressive because it's not just a measurement on an annual basis,
it's a frequent measurement to determine whether or not a specific
child is learning. And if that child isn't, there's
immediate help. When there's a problem diagnosed, help
comes. That's what's so important about having
accountability. It's the cornerstone for reform.
I'm going to ask Congress to pass legislation
that says that any school district which receives federal money must
design a test on an annual basis so that we know. It's the
framework for addressing problems early, before it's too
late. It says that consequences matter, but more
importantly, if we set up the systems right, by disaggregating results,
by treating each child as a person, not part of some overall group, we
begin to have an education system that says each child matters, and
we're going to track each child as he or she goes through the
system. It's a critically important part of education
reform.
I believe we can do a better job of teaching
children to read. One of
the reasons we chose this school is not only because of the strong
appetite for diagnosing children early, and the willingness to cure
problems before they become acute, but this is a school that focuses on
a reading curriculum that works. I hope it's
said that the Bush administration is willing to ask the question, what
works, and then helps districts implement programs that do
work. Phonics works. It's an important part of a
good reading -- balanced
reading curriculum. The reason I know is because I have
asked the question to folks at the National Institute of
Health. They're not Republicans, they're not Democrats,
they're not -- they are scientists, who
have spent a lot of time figuring out how to make sure all children
have the capacity to learn.
And while there needs to be balanced reading
curriculum, it is critically important for us to make sure the
curriculum employed around the
country is a curriculum that will actually achieve the results that we
want, and that is children reading by the 3rd grade.
So I'm sending up to Congress a proposal
called Reading First. It is a $5 billion program over five
years. It will triple the amount of reading
money available for local districts to access. It says that
inherent in any good program is the need for districts to develop a K
through 2 diagnostic tool; that is a simple tool that will enable K
through 2 teachers to determine who needs help early.
There will be money involved in the reading
program to help retrain teachers on how to teach a curriculum that
works. One of the things that we must recognize in our
society, Governor, is that sometimes our teacher colleges do not -- are
not able to match the hearts of teachers and give them the skills
necessary to be effective teachers. There needs to be a lot
of retraining, unfortunately.
And while, and until, the teacher colleges get
it right in terms of teaching curriculum that works, it seems like to
me a useful role for government is to provide funds for teacher
retraining. I'm not saying all teacher colleges
fail. You would probably argue with me here that Missouri
teacher colleges don't fail. But sometimes you find
teachers in classrooms who have got all heart, but lack the skills
necessary to understand the science of reading. It is
incumbent upon us to match the heart and skills together.
We need to make sure that our Head Start
programs not only fulfill the
social functions and the health functions that they do today, but that
Head Start programs become, first and foremost, a reading program to
give the little guys the skills necessary to be able to come to these
elementary
schools prepared and ready to take advantage of the programs that
these fine elementary schools like this one have got -- and offer to
children.
And finally, in order to make sure that a
reading program works, there
needs to be a strong emphasis on curriculum to help districts decide
what curriculum to choose, what curriculum will work.
I am absolutely convinced that we can do a
better job of teaching all children to read, because I start with the
thought that all children can learn to read. I refuse to
accept systems, and refuse not to challenge systems, that give up on
children early.
I came from a state where there was a lot of
children whose parents did not speak English as their first
language. It was much easier to say, gosh, these little kids
are too difficult to educate, let's just move them
through. Those days are unacceptable. That frame
of mind is not right for
America, and we can do a better job. It starts with putting
trust where it belongs.
Madam Superintendent, I promise you, I know
where the great educational entrepreneurship of America lay, and it lay
right here, in districts such as this one, and schools such as this
one. It's trust in local people -- it starts with trusting
local people to make the right decisions. It's a system that
is -- in its framework, encourages reform when reform is needed, and
rewards excellence when excellence is found.
And so I'm here, frankly, to call upon the
citizens of this important state to help pass legislation that will not
only focus on teaching every child to read, but legislation that will
have at its cornerstone, at its very core, a reform agenda based upon
accountability, based upon measuring each child, based upon making sure
that no child is left behind.
America is a great land. It will be
a greater land when every child is educated. The strength of
our country is the public school system. That strength will be even
stronger -- even stronger -- when we insist that
every child be measured, every problem corrected, and every child
challenged to be the best he or she can be.
That can happen, and it is going to
happen. It's an honor to be here. God bless you
for what you do, and thank you for your hospitality.
(Applause.) Thank you all.
END 2:22 P.M. CST
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