For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 8, 2002
President Joins "No Child Left Behind Tour Across America"
 President Bush Speaks to Elementary Students in Milwaukee
President Visits Rufus King High School in Milwaukee
President Visits Logan High School in Lacrosse
Today's Presidential Action
President Bush continued his call for increased accountability,
improved teacher quality, more parental involvement and a focus on
reading in our nation's public schools.
The President also highlighted specific parts of the No Child
Left Behind Act that will make a difference in every public school in
America beginning in the 2002-2003 school year. For example, in
Wisconsin alone, nearly 70,000 students in 116 schools that have
failed to meet state education standards for two years in a row
will have the option to transfer to a better public school beginning
this fall as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act.
Background on Today's Presidential Action
President Bush visited three outstanding public schools in
Wisconsin, where he joined the Department of Education's 25-city No
Child Left Behind Tour Across America. The Tour highlights the next
important step in education reform - translating the No Child Left
Behind Act into to results in the classroom. The President highlighted
a number of key provisions of the new law, including:
- Strengthening Accountability - Under the No Child Left Behind
Act, states will be responsible for setting strong academic standards
for what every child should know and learn in reading, math, and
science at the elementary, middle and high school levels.
Beginning in
the 2002-03 school year, schools will have to measure student progress
and better target resources by administering tests in each of three
'grade spans' -- grades 3-5, grades 6-9, and grades 10-12 in all
schools. Beginning in the 2005-06 school year, tests must be
administered every year in grades 3 through 8 in math and reading. The
President's FY 03 budget requests $387 million to help states develop
and implement accountability systems.
- Improving Teacher Quality - The No Child Left Behind Act
requires that there must be a 'highly qualified' teacher in every
classroom by the end of the 2005-2006 school year.
Using the new
provisions in the No Child Left Behind Act in conjunction with
President Bush's budget request, the federal government will invest
more than $4 billion in 2002 alone to improve teacher quality and
strengthen teacher recruitment throughout America.
- Increasing Parental Involvement - Because of the No Child Left
Behind Act, every parent in America will have access to information on
how well their child's school is performing. And, the No Child Left
Behind Act gives low-income parents with children in persistently
failing schools the ability to transfer their child to a better public
school or use federal Title I dollars for supplemental services to
improve their child's education.
Students in schools that have been
identified as failing to meet the standards of their state for two
years in a row will have the option to transfer to a better performing
public school in their district beginning in the 2002-2003 school
year. School districts will be required to provide transportation to
the students, and priority will be given to low-income students.
For
schools that have failed to meet state standards for three years in a
row, children from disadvantaged backgrounds will be eligible to obtain
"supplemental services," including tutoring, remedial education, extra
classes, summer school, after-school programs, and other supplemental
academic services to help boost their achievement.
- Strengthening Reading Programs - The new Reading First State
Grant program will make 6-year grants to States, which will make
competitive subgrants to local communities.
Local recipients will
administer screening and diagnostic assessments to determine which
students in grades K-3 are at risk of reading failure, and provide
professional development for K-3 teachers in the essential components
of reading instruction.
The new Early Reading First program will make
competitive 6-year awards to districts to support early language,
literacy, and pre-reading development of preschool-age children,
particularly those from low-income families. The President's FY 03
budget requests $1 billion for Reading First and $75 million for Early
Reading First.
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