President Promotes Reading First Program in Florida
Remarks by the President on Education
Read-Patillo Elementary School
New Smyrna Beach, Florida
3:27 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming today. I'm -- okay, read
more than you watch TV. (Laughter.)
I want to thank everybody for being here. I've spent a lot of my
time talking about how to make sure America is a secure and safe
country. It's on my mind because so long as we embrace freedom, there
are, unfortunately, some people that want to hurt us. As long as we
continue to hold dear to our heart the notion that free people should
be able to worship the Almighty God any way they see fit, free people
should be able to speak their mind, free people ought to be --
(applause) -- or free people should be able to have a free press. All
those aspects of freedom which we hold dear and will never relinquish
are the reasons why we have to worry about the safety of the American
people.
And since we're never going to relent when it comes to our freedom,
and since we have a responsibility to defend that which we hold dear
for not only ourselves but for our children, we'll be dealing with this
for a while. But make no mistake about it, we will prevail.
And as we worry about our safety, though, it's very important for
us to always remember that we've got to work to make America a better
place, not only a safer place and a stronger place, but a better
place. And the perfect place to make America a better place is in our
classrooms all across the country. And so today, I'm here to talk
about the importance of making sure that every single child in America
gets a quality education.
To remind our country that reading is the key to all learning, that
we believe that every child can learn to read, not just a few, not just
those who might be in the -- kind of the super districts, but every
single child. Children whose parents may not speak English as a first
language can learn to read. People who may come from the toughest of
all circumstances, they can read. Everybody can read.
It is the great passion of many in our country, starting right here
at Read-Patillo. And that's why I'm here at this school. I'm here to
praise the determination of its principal and the teachers and the
parents to make sure not one child who goes to this school is left
behind, that every child can learn. (Applause.)
The passion and vision I just described is shared by your
Governor. I know. I know him well. (Laughter.) I know his heart, I
know his strength of conviction, I know his vision. And it's clear.
It's a clear vision to a better day. So I'm honored to be with Jeb.
I appreciate John Mica, the congressman, for coming today. I just
had a very interesting meeting with some of your community leaders and
people involved with reading and how to make it work. One such person
was Bill Hall, who is the superintendent of the Volusia County schools,
and I want to thank Bill. (Applause.)
I know enough about schools to know that when they clap for the
superintendent, that's a good sign. (Laughter.) I also know from my
days as governor and as a parent that a school is really only as good
as the principal. If you have a great principal, you'll have the
beginnings of a great school. Obviously, it takes more than a single
soul to make sure that excellence is available for every child. But a
great school starts with a principal who is dedicated, with clear
vision, who sets high expectations, and, of course, that principal is
Marilyn Travis, right here at this school. (Applause.)
Judy Anderson is the head of the Volusia County school board. She
was here -- they had a -- they call it a roundtable; it was actually
square. (Laughter.) A square roundtable discussion.
But I thank Judy for coming. I told her, I thought being on the
school board was one of the -- if not the, one of the toughest jobs in
America. I know the rest of the school board members are here as
well. I want to thank you for understanding that your job is to set
high standards, make sure you're wise with the taxpayers' money, and
then hire the best and unleash them to achieve excellence for every
child. So thank you very much, Judy and the school board, for coming.
I do want to thank the square table participants -- (laughter) --
Joe Torgeson, who is a professor of education at Florida State. I wish
he could talk to you about the fact that reading is not an art but a
science, that we're learning what works, and it's the application of
what works that's incredibly important to make sure that every single
child learns to read.
Then we had professors that were teaching teachers to teach, and we
had teachers that were teaching teachers to teach, and we had
kindergarten teachers that were teaching kids to read and it was a very
exciting meeting for me and Jeb, so I want to thank you all for
coming.
I know we've got some elected officials here. I see the Speaker of
the House, Speaker Feeney is here. I appreciate you being here,
Speaker. I know other members of the legislature, both Republican and
Democrat, are here. I appreciate Jim Vandergrifft, the Mayor of New
Smyrna Beach -- (applause). That's a good sign, too, Mr. Mayor.
Members of your city council are here, and thank you all for coming.
The challenges, obviously, vary from district to district and each
school different has got different problems. Different problems in
Texas than you have in Florida. When you get in our states, or a state
like Florida, the problems vary from district to district. But there
are some effective schools that adhere to the same principles, and I
want to share some of those with you right quick.
First, there is a culture of excellence. A successful school has a
culture of excellence. The way I like to phrase it is a successful
school is full of people who are willing to challenge the soft bigotry
of low expectations; that people understand that if you set low
standards, we're going to get lousy results; that if you believe that
there are certain children who can't learn, then certain children won't
learn.
And so an excellent school like this one where we are has got the
highest of high standards, that people throughout the whole school
believe that excellence is possible, because they believe every child
can learn.
A good school has got a good principal, as I just mentioned. The
principal is the person that sets the tone, sets the pace, clarifies
the vision. A good school is a school that's got teachers who are not
only committed to the noble profession of teaching -- and it is a noble
profession -- but also committed with the knowledge that every child
can learn.
Teachers who work hard and recognize that if there is needed
instruction, they're more than willing to learn the latest, that
they're not satisfied with the status quo, that they're constantly
working hard to make sure that the vision of every child learning is
achieved.
Obviously, a good school is a school where parents understand that
good education begins at home, where parents have got a deep
appreciation of the opportunity and are supportive of the schools. If
they find failure, of course, they're willing to blow the whistle on
failure, but they're also to work to achieve excellence. They're
positive influences, not only at the home, but also at the school.
I wasn't kidding when I said our kids ought to be reading more than
they watch TV. To me, that's a parental responsibility, to encourage
their children to practice, to encourage their children to read.
There's nothing wrong with watching a TV show occasionally. But
practicing reading is incredibly important to become a skilled
student. So listen to your mothers. (Laughter.) Governor Bush has
listened to his. (Applause.)
A good school has a curriculum that emphasizes the basics and is
based upon sound science. In other words, a good school is a school
that has adopted a curriculum which works. There's a lot of talk about
curriculum, the reading curriculum. We've had a great debate about
which curriculum to use when it comes to reading programs, and you know
it as well as I do. There's a big, deep, ideological divide.
One of the things I tried to do as the Governor of Texas -- I know
your Governor has called upon those who have actually studied it, who
know that the fact that reading is a science, that have been able to
work with districts to develop a curriculum that is proven. It doesn't
sound good or feel good; it works. And that's the crucial thing to
make sure that every child learns to read.
A good school is willing to determine whether or not each child is,
in fact, learning to read by measuring. A good school is one that
says, I want to know whether or not standards are being met.
See, if you believe every child can learn to read, then it's
logical to ask the question, you know, are the children succeeding.
It's logical and you want to know that. You want to know that to
determine whether or not your dreams are being met. You want to know
that to determine whether or not the curriculum is working. You want
to know that to determine which children need additional help.
One of the key components to successful schools is the willingness
of people to use an accountability system to reinforce the positive and
to address failure before it becomes acute, and that's essential. By
all of these standards, this school we're standing in is a highly
effective, successful school. (Applause.) It is a school which
innovates, it uses computer programs to stimulate the students'
imagination. It teaches phonics and grammar, the basics. It starts
with the basics. It gives students incentives.
There's an incentive program in this school. The more you read,
the more points you earn. The more difficult the reading assignment,
the more points you earn there as well. It recognizes and rewards
personal achievement, based upon actual books read. It helps develop
writing schools. It's caught my imagination. I told the Governor, I
wish they had done this in Sam Houston Elementary School in Midland,
Texas. They've got an innovative program called Baseball Writing. It
encourages kids to learn how to write by using baseball as the go-by.
And there's a base-by-base approach to writing essays and papers all
aimed at making sure by the fifth grade the student is becoming a more
sophisticated writing -- writer.
It's an incredibly important part. Writing and reading go hand in
hand. Writing is sometimes a lost art, and this school focuses on
writing by using an innovative way to encourage young writers to get to
be better writers.
They use tests here to determine what students are in danger of
falling behind. No child should be left behind. And they use a test
to make sure.
And the important thing is, and other school districts can use this
model, and other schools around the country should use this model --
they use the accountability system as a way to determine who needs
extra help after school. And that's incredibly important. It's
intensive focus so that every child continues to move forward.
They encourage students to take their books home. They give
parents tips on how to be teachers themselves. The instruction follows
the child into the home. Some parents need a little help on how to be
a better parent when it comes to what's taking place in the school.
And so the results are clear.
The Read-Patillo Elementary School is proving that scientifically
based reading instruction works and gets results. (Applause.)
You know, there's kind of an attitude in some places that certain
kids just can't get there, the so-called economically disadvantaged
just can't achieve.
This school flies right in the face of that stereotype. The kids
here are what they call economically disadvantaged, more than half
are. And yet, when you look at the third grade and the fourth grade
and the fifth graders, they all score above district in state
averages. (Applause.)
This school increased its rating from a C in 1998 on the Florida
testing to an A. And that's important for parents to know. And that's
an important fact for teachers to know, and your principal to know.
It's a fact -- important fact for the school board members to know.
It's important fact for the community to know. It must make you feel
proud to know you've got a school which has defied the so-called odds,
and now you're A. It's important to know you've got an A in your
midst.
It's also important to know whether your school is not an A. It
gives you a chance to ask the question, wait a minute. There's one
school in Volusia County I know is an A, how come ours isn't an A?
It's important to be in a position where you're able to say, it matters
how we rank, because no child should be left behind.
There's obviously -- I'm a big advocate of local control of
schools. I love the idea of a principal feeling confident in the
structure to be able to try different things. I really like the idea
of a superintendent -- of giving them power to create change and
innovation at the school level. I think that's really important. I
think your -- this charter district, for example, is a really
interesting innovation that was started at the state level. Freedom
was granted. So I'm a big believer in local control of schools.
But I want you to know that there is a role for the federal
government. The federal government has a responsibility as well as the
state government to move forward with educational excellence. The No
Child Left Behind Act was a combination, it's interesting, change of
attitude in Washington, and that is, we substantially increased money
available for states, particularly Title I children, as well as this
new reading program, which I'm going to describe.
The federal government is providing $50 billion now. It's an
increase of more than 18 percent between '01 and today. (Applause.)
The Florida schools, for example, received $2 billion from the federal
government. We've increased -- we've asked for $175 million increase
for next year for the Florida schools alone.
But the reason -- the change is, and it's one thing to focus on
education funding, and that's important, but the change is, for the
first time, we've asked, in return for money, why don't you show us
whether or not you're succeeding. For the first time we said, here's
an increase in funding now, and it's up to you to spend it, and we'll
try to give you more flexibility. We want the governors to have more
flexibility, we want the school districts to have more flexibility.
But in return we expect you to set high standards and produce
measurable positive results. In return for the increase of funding, we
expect more return on the money. After all, it's your money to begin
with.
And so part of that -- part of that insistence is a -- kind of the
kernel of the form is an accountability system. We expect each state
to design accountability system to measure. And you've done that in
Florida. And you've done a really good job of that. And frankly --
I'm used to the testing debate. I've heard, you test too much, they
say. You're teaching the test. If you a teach to read, you're
teaching a child a skill, not teaching the test. And the child will
then be able to pass the test.
You should allow no excuse, and nobody should allow an excuse, in
my judgment, across America, to undermine accountability. It does the
children a disservice to undermine the accountability system, otherwise
you just shuffle kids through. And that's unacceptable in America.
There must be an accountability that has consequences, otherwise
we're going to have the old system where we just say, well, maybe
they'll learn to read, and then we find out when they get out of high
school, they can't read, and we realize we have failed in our
obligations.
No, accountability is a crucial part of educational excellence and
educational reform. And it's very important that all states take
seriously what we insist upon; and that is, in return for money, we
expect you to do what's right, by each single child that lives in your
state. We're committed to investing in scientific approaches on
reading, because we understand -- all of us should understand that if a
child can't read, it doesn't matter.
My friend, Phyllis Hunter, from Houston, Texas, she said when I was
there, she said, Governor, you've got to understand, your reading
initiative is basically saying that you understand reading is the new
civil right. If you want every child to realize the American Dream,
and experience the greatness of this country, then we've got to teach
every child to read, and it starts with reading.
And that's why one of the cornerstones of the -- of this bill we
passed, in Washington, D.C. -- by the way, a bill supported by both
Republicans and Democrats. I told them earlier, I said, we're finally
beginning to get some things right in Washington, where teaching every
child to read is a heck of a lot more important than promoting any
political parties. (Applause.)
And so we've got this focus on reading, because we understand that
when each child learns to read, this is going to be a much more hopeful
society. One of the things we've done is we've granted -- started
granting money to states. Florida was one of the first states to
qualify for the Reading First Grant, $46 million, because you've got --
(applause) -- you've got a Governor who understands and a legislature
who understands, you've got principals and teachers who understand.
The money is being used to train teachers. Teacher training is
absolutely essential to making sure that a reading -- national reading
initiative works. Teachers need the skills necessary to implement what
their heart tells them to do. Their heart says, we want to teach every
child to read. They need, if need be -- now, many teachers don't need
to be retrained -- but the idea of teaching teachers on a curriculum
which works is an incredibly important part of having a successful
program.
There's nothing more frustrating, it seems like to me, to have a
teacher anxious -- so anxious to go into a classroom and impart
knowledge, but yet not have the latest -- the latest science on
reading, the latest skills necessary. And so, one of the key
components of a Reading First initiative in any state is going to be to
take the money and apply it to teacher training. And it's going to
work. You mark my words.
With this national focus, with accountability standards in place,
with the understanding of how to teach children how to read, a much
better understanding today than we've really ever had before, and the
desire at all levels of government to make sure the most important
person involved in teaching a child -- the teacher -- has the skills
necessary, we're going to achieve an objective that a lot of people
didn't think we could achieve. Our kids are going to learn to read.
We're going to be the best readers in the world. And when our kids
learn to read, you watch what happens. There are going to be great
scientists coming out of our schools, great mathematicians. All
things, all excellence in education starts with making sure every
single child, no matter where he or she lives, can read. And that's
what's going to happen in the United States of America. (Applause.)
I mentioned that one of the things we'll stay focused on, and
should, is making sure America is a better place. And there's ways
government can help. But one of the ways to make sure America is a --
constantly a better place, is to encourage, empower the true strength
of the country, which are our citizens. The strength of America are
the citizens of America, the hearts and souls of our fellow
countrymen.
The reason I bring that up is we've got an extraordinary person
that met me at the airport today, Fannie Cleland. (Applause.) She
tried to convince me she was 91 years old. (Laughter.) I didn't
believe it.
See, Fannie understands what I know, that we can change America one
heart, one person at a time; and that while one person can't do
everything to help people in need or to put a light where there's
darkness, one person can do something. One person can help be -- to
change one child's life. In her case, she's changed many children's
lives, because she is a tutor, a mentor. She knows that one way to
fight some of the evil done to America is to do some good, to love a
neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself, to have the
willingness to put your arm around a child and say, hey, I want to help
you, I want to help you learn to read.
My call to America, and Americans, is, use the example of this fine
lady, that if you care deeply about the future of your country, support
your schools, support your teachers. But also, when you find somebody
who hurts, somebody who is in need, somebody who needs food or shelter,
or just somebody who needs love, be that person who is willing to give
that love.
There's nothing this country can't achieve. We're going to achieve
peace, and have a peaceful world. We can also make sure the great hope
of America shines brightly in every corner of this country.
Listen, thanks for giving me a chance to come by. May God bless
you all.