U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Discusses No Child Left Behind with Oregon State Board of Education, Visits Auburn Elementary School and Hosts Roundtable With Hispanic Leaders

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today met with the Oregon State Board of Education and Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction Susan Castillo in Salem, Ore. to discuss No Child Left Behind and the gains made by students in Oregon and across the country. Secretary Spellings and Superintendent Castillo also visited Auburn Elementary School, where they toured classrooms and addressed an all-school assembly. In the afternoon, Secretary Spellings and Superintendent Castillo hosted a roundtable discussion with local Hispanic leaders at the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber in Portland, Ore.

“Six years after No Child Left Behind changed the education game in this nation, we can be proud of where it has brought us,” said Secretary Spellings. “Oregon is an innovator and leader in developing assessments that help teachers get immediate results and tailor instruction. Now all 50 states and the District of Columbia have assessment systems, report disaggregated data and target federal resources to serve their neediest students. It’s time to build on the momentum that No Child Left Behind helped to generate.”

During her visit to Auburn Elementary School, Secretary Spellings commended students and teachers for their achievement gains. Like many schools across the country, Auburn Elementary is an excellent example of a school making strong progress under No Child Left Behind. Some 75 percent of Auburn’s students are now proficient in math, up from 65 percent in 2003, and 81 percent of students are proficient in reading, up from 65 percent in 2003. Eighty percent of schools in the Auburn School District made Adequate Yearly Progress last year-up from 60 percent in 2005.

In the afternoon, Secretary Spellings and Superintendent Castillo met with leaders of Portland’s growing Hispanic community during a roundtable at the Hispanic Metropolitan Chamber in Portland, Ore. Secretary Spellings and more than a dozen Hispanic representatives from Portland’s education, government and business communities discussed No Child Left Behind and how to help close the achievement gap, increase access to higher education and improve workforce preparation for Hispanics.

The 2007 Nation’s Report Card from the National Assessment of Educational Progress shows that Hispanic students posted all-time highs in a number of categories. Hispanic fourth- and eighth-graders achieved their highest mathematics and reading scores in the history of the test.

To view Mapping Oregon’s Educational Progress 2008, please visit http://www.ed.gov/nclb/accountability/results/progress/or.html.