Secretary Spellings Delivers Remarks at Manhattan Institute Education Conference

Today in New York City, U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings spoke at the Manhattan Institute Education Reform Conference to discuss the need to reauthorize No Child Left Behind (NCLB) this year. Following are her prepared remarks:

Thanks to all these participants for being part of an important conversation about literacy and reading science. Few education issues will have as great an impact on the civic and economic future of our country.

We continue to hear critics of NCLB saying that our focus on reading and math distracts from learning in other subjects. Bologna! How will students succeed in history or science without mastering reading and math?

We all know that reading and math are requisite gateways to learning other subjects, and we are seeing more and more evidence of that.

The new NAEP data show that young students are making gains in both history and civics. The report on U.S. History shows increased scores across the board and a narrowing achievement gap in the 4th grade. Similarly, in the report on civics, 4th grade students showed improved scores and a narrowing gap between white and Hispanic students.

These reports confirm what common sense tells us: students with stronger reading skills will be better able to read and comprehend history and other subjects.

As you know, I’ve been working with President Bush on education issues like these for a long time. Much has changed since our days in Texas, but when it comes to education, we continue to be guided by the same core principles.

The Manhattan Institute was one of the first stops then-Governor Bush made to elaborate on those principles for the rest of the country in 1999. Since then, the national conversation on education has evolved, and it often seems that the debate gets bogged down in popular myths.

So, I want to take a step back and call to mind a few of the core beliefs that still drive us.

One, there is such a thing as scientific research when it comes to education policy, and we must use it to inform our practices, policies, and investments.

The Federal government is only about a 9% investor in K-12 education, but experience shows that it’s an important 9%. We need research to focus our policies and resources where they will get the best results.

For example, one of your panelists today, my friend Reid Lyon, has done great work to transform scientific insights into practical tools in reading. The Reading First program grew out of twenty years of research and now helps two million elementary school students make real gains in fluency and comprehension.

Where research shows what works, we should do it. Just like in other fields like medicine.

Second, parents know what’s best for their children, especially now that they are armed with data and information. I’m speaking as the Secretary of Education and also as the mom of two school-age daughters.

Because we believe in the wisdom of parents and families, we have done more than any previous Administration to support a robust expansion of school choice options.

Thanks to the first-ever federally funded Opportunity Scholarship program, more than 1,800 Washington DC students from economically disadvantaged families have been given the chance to attend 58 private schools.

We have also supported the charter movement with significant resources for school start-ups and facilities. Charters are helping break apart the myth that some children can’t learn, and they act as laboratories for best practices. The alternative public schools created by this Institute’s Center for Educational Innovation are some great examples too.

Three, we need standards, and folks at the State and local level should set them. I am not—repeat, not—trying to establish Federal standards and neither is NCLB. But we are insisting upon local standards, for which schools must be accountable. And meaningful accountability must include deadlines and consequences, along with flexibility to achieve goals.

Thanks to No Child Left Behind, the NAEP has become more accurate and informative because every state now participates. It is the only national assessment that tells us what our students know and can do in various subjects. Now that local policy makers and parents have access to this data, they can see how their state is stacking up and demand better where their state is falling short.

Four, teachers make the single biggest difference in getting results for kids, so we must do everything we can to get excellent teachers in our schools. We need qualified teachers to deliver a rigorous curriculum that challenges students. NCLB sets a floor for achievement, not a ceiling.

The old solution to education challenges was to spend money and cross our fingers. Now, we can find out what actually works because we are measuring. It’s become a favorite refrain of mine, “What gets measured, gets done.” I’m even thinking about getting a tattoo.

The basic premise behind No Child Left Behind is that we expect results for Federal investments. Once some children were pushed to the margins, but this legislation set an historic goal to have every child reading and doing math on grade level by 2014.

I have yet to meet a parent who doesn’t want their child reading and doing math on grade level now, much less by 2014. And I’m sure the parents in this room agree.

We are already seeing progress in the early grades where we have focused our efforts. Consider the fact that according to the NAEP our younger readers have made more progress in five years than in the previous 28 years combined. We had a flat-line, and then, lo and behold, it started to tick up about five years ago.

Of course, our work is not done. High school students have yet to see the gains that our young students have shown, and we must focus on the problem of turning around underperforming schools that have failed to make adequate yearly progress for several years in a row.

But we are in a better place to tackle these challenges because of NCLB. Now, all 50 states have accountability plans, and we have learned some lessons that will help guide us.

For example, our reauthorization proposals will increase options to turn around chronically underperforming schools. Here we’re talking about the 2,000 public schools out of over 95,000 that have not been making AYP for five years or more. For the students in these schools, the situation is urgent, and more robust options must be available.

We propose to give superintendents and local officials more authority to make decisions about how their districts are run and who they’re hiring. This includes changing the rules and incentives to get the best teachers in these needy schools, regardless of limitations created by collective bargaining agreements. In addition, our proposals would allow local officials to reinvent struggling schools like these as public charters, regardless of arbitrary state caps.

For students caught in these schools, we want to create more choices, from enhanced free tutoring to the option of attending another public or private school through Promise Scholarships.

As part of NCLB reauthorization, we are also focusing on strengthening our high schools. We must change the fact that half of our Hispanic and African American students drop out of high school and only 9% of low-income students go on to earn college degrees by age 24.

Here in New York City, there are more than ninety high schools where graduation is a 50/50 shot.

Our high schools often fail to supply our students with the knowledge they need to be good citizens and equip them with the tools they need to succeed in college and in an ever more dynamic workforce.

That’s why we propose to emphasize science, math, and technology, expand access to AP courses, and train more good teachers to teach them.

We will also do more to link high school courses with college expectations and employer needs. And we propose to build on the progress of our nation’s governors in calling for more accurate graduation rates.

As we continue the fight to empower parents, promote choice, and turn around failing schools, we need to stay focused on our goal of getting all students on grade level by 2014.

Recently, some conservative members of Congress have suggested overhauling No Child Left Behind, and I appreciate these good faith efforts to emphasize issues like increasing flexibility and local control. But we cannot fix education without accountability and without the imperative of 2014. Flexibility without accountability is funding failure.

We cannot afford to go back to throwing money at problems and letting children slip through the cracks.

If you’re committed to turning around our chronically underperforming schools, we must renew NCLB this year.

If you’re committed to fixing our high schools—reforming the drop out factories that threaten the civic and economic future of our country—then we must renew NCLB this year.

And if you’re committed to preserving the momentum for choice, local control, and flexibility, then we must renew NCLB this year.

We have a moral responsibility to give every student the opportunity to achieve. Only a good education can build the skills, habits of mind, and knowledge for children to grow into productive citizens. This idea goes back to our founding, and is part of what has always made America a place of innovation, durable democracy, and big dreams.

Thank you and I’m happy to answer your questions.