    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 8, 2003]
    [Pages 1107-1111]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Kirkpatrick Elementary School in Nashville, Tennessee
    September 8, 2003

        Thank you all very much. I am honored to be at a school which
    refuses to leave any child behind. A good school begins with a good
    principal, somebody who is willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low
    expectations. And that's what Kim Fowler has
    done, and we're honored to be here. And I want to thank you for putting
    up with this huge entourage that travels with me. [Laughter]
        We're here because, as you may remember, the Federal Government
    passed an innovative law recently, and a lot of people are wondering
    what that law means. And we have used this school as an example of what
    is possible for parents and for educators to make sure that not a single
    child gets left behind.
        Before I begin to talk about the school, I do want to say that I am
    most appreciative that the superintendent of schools from Nashville
    public schools is with us today. He's an innovator. He believes in
    setting high expectations for every child. It's not my first time I have
    been in Pedro Garcia's presence.
        I love the motto of the school district here: Whatever It Takes--
    whatever it takes to succeed. And Pedro, thank you for setting a good
    example. We appreciate what you're doing, and we appreciate what the
    Nashville schools are doing to take advantage of the No Child Left
    Behind Act.
        When I was looking for somebody to be the head of the Department of
    Education, I wanted somebody who had been on the frontlines of
    education, perhaps a superintendent of schools. And I knew a man in
    Houston, when I was the Governor of Texas, who was setting high
    standards and using innovation when innovation was needed to make sure
    the children of Houston, Texas, learned. And that man is with us today,
    who is now the head of the Department of Education, the Secretary of

    [[Page 1108]]

    Education, Rod Paige. And thank you for
    coming.
        He's not the only person in this
    audience who has been the Secretary of Education. Senator Lamar
    Alexander was the Secretary of Education and
    did a fine job. I'm so honored you're here, Senator. Thank you for
    coming.
        And I'm honored also to have traveled down with Senator Bill
    Frist, the majority leader of the United States
    Senate. He's doing a fabulous job for the country. As well, we've got
    Congressman Zach Wamp and Congressman Lincoln
    Davis and Congresswoman Marsha
    Blackburn with us from the mighty Tennessee
    delegation. We're honored you all are here, and thank you for coming.
        The mayor of Nashville, Tennessee, Bill Purcell, is here. And Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming. I'm
    honored you would take time out to greet us. It means a lot that you're
    here, and we appreciate you coming as well.
        Finally, when I landed at the airport, I had the honor of meeting
    Brenda Wilson. The people of this good
    elementary school know who Brenda is; people around the city may not.
    She's a soldier in the army of compassion. She's a person who volunteers
    to make sure the children can learn. She represents the thousands of
    people in this city and in this State who say, ``If I've got a problem
    with a public school, I'm going to be involved with it. Instead of
    hoping that some distant government insists upon excellence, I, Brenda
    Wilson, will dedicate myself by donating time to make sure children get
    the very best.''
        She volunteered from 1995 to 2002 in this
    school. She did such a good job that you've named her the coordinator of
    volunteer services. That means if a child is going hungry, somebody will
    help find the food. If a child needs clothing, somebody will help find
    the clothes. If a child needs extra tutorial help beyond that which I'm
    going to describe, Brenda's job is to find people to volunteer, and she
    herself volunteers.
        You know, there's a lot of talk in our--across our country about how
    strong America is. And we're strong, and I intend to keep us that way.
    But the true strength is not our military strength or our military
    muscle. The true strength is the heart and soul of the American people,
    people who are willing to say, ``How can I help somebody? What can I do
    to make my community a better place?'' Brenda, thank you for being one
    of those soldiers in the army of compassion. I appreciate you being
    here. Thank you, Brenda.
        So there's been a lot of talk about the No Child Left Behind Act.
    Let me describe the principles inherent in the act, what we're doing to
    make sure no child gets left behind, and why I'm here at this elementary
    school.
        First, as I mentioned, this society of ours must challenge the soft
    bigotry of low expectations. I believe, Kim
    believes, I know the teachers at this good school believe that every
    child can learn. We believe in the potential of every single child and,
    therefore, must insist that every child learns. See, if you don't
    believe certain children can't learn, then the tendency is just to
    shuffle them through the system. If you don't believe every child has
    worth, then the system tends just to give up on the child and move them
    through. And then at the end of high school, people can't read, and
    we've created a social problem.
        So the No Child Left Behind Act says that we're going to challenge
    the soft bigotry of low expectations. And I want to thank Kim for doing
    that, and I want to thank the teachers in this school and across this
    city who are willing to challenge the soft bigotry of low expectations.
    Teaching is a noble profession; it's an honorable profession. And we
    want to thank our teachers, not only at this school but across this city
    and this State for agreeing to teach.
        So, in other words, the bill basically says, ``We believe in high
    expectations, and we believe it so strongly, we want to measure to see
    if those expectations are being met.''

    [[Page 1109]]

    It's one thing to say, ``I believe in high expectations,'' but unless
    you measure, you don't know whether expectations are being achieved.
        And so, for the first time, the Federal Government has said, ``In
    return for Federal dollars, we're going to measure''--not we, the
    Federal Government, but the State and local authorities will measure. In
    return for the Federal Government writing checks to States and to
    children, we want to know.
        The person who doesn't believe certain children can learn just
    don't--doesn't care about the measurement system. If you do care about
    each child, then you want to know whether or not expectations are being
    met.
        There's a lot of talk--listen, I cut my teeth in accountability in
    the State of Texas. I've heard every excuse in the book why not to
    measure. ``Oh, you're teaching to test,'' you'll hear. Well, if you're
    teaching a child to read, that child will pass the test. ``We're testing
    too much.'' My attitude is, is that in order to know, in order to
    diagnose a problem, you have to measure it in the first place. You
    cannot solve a problem until you measure in the first place.
        And so the Congress did the right thing in insisting that we hold
    people accountable for results, and now we measure. And for the schools
    that are doing great, there ought to be nothing but praise. And for the
    schools that need help in meeting high expectations, there needs to be
    extra resources. And that's what this bill did. The budget for next year
    boosts funding for elementary and secondary education to $53.1 billion.
    That's a 26-percent increase since I took office. In other words, we
    understand that resources need to flow to help solve the problem.
        Of that money, a lot of it goes to Title I--Title I money to help
    certain children. That's to the tune of $12.3 billion. That's a 41-
    percent increase for Title I students. And that's where the money goes,
    to help the Title I students in this school on special needs.
        Now, the other thing we've done, which I'm proud of, is to fund
    effective reading programs. If you can't read, you're not going to do
    math. And if you can't read, you can't be a scientist. If you can't
    read, you can't understand history. If you can't read, you're going
    nowhere, if the truth be known. And so we've spent money for reading
    programs, money that will fund curriculum that actually works. There's a
    science with reading; it's not an art. They know what it takes to teach
    a child how to read. I appreciate the fact that the Nashville school
    system and this school uses reading programs that will teach a child how
    to read, not that sound good or feel good but actually achieve the
    results necessary so no child is left behind.
        And so, the resources were there for--not only to make sure that
    teacher training is available and methodologies that work. I know we've
    had a lot of teacher training programs all around the country. It's
    beginning to make a significant effect. We started with the early grades
    first. We've got money in place to fund the measurement systems, to make
    sure the measurement systems get up and running and operate well. And
    we've got money in place to help students that need extra work.
        And that's why we're here, because there is a triggering event in
    the bill, and it says that if schools are not meeting expectations, then
    parents should be given different options. If students--if the school is
    not achieving that which is expected and there's a chance a child will
    be left behind, then one remedy is to give parents the choice to choose
    another public school or perhaps to send their--a child to a tutorial
    sessions like we just saw today.
        We have come from a really interesting little laboratory of
    excellence that Kim set up where three different
    providers were tutoring children. It gave me a chance to see that this
    school and this school district has not only reached out to parents but

    [[Page 1110]]

    has reached out to educational providers that say, ``We want to enlist
    your services to make sure no child is left behind.'' We measure. We
    determine which children need help. Parents are then given the option to
    decide what kind of tutors is needed to meet that child's needs.
        The school district and the school don't fear extra help. They
    welcome extra help. They have used the measuring system not to punish
    anybody but determine what else is needed to make sure the child gets
    extra help. We not only saw the children learning and practicing to
    read; we met their parents. They could provide the testimony a lot more
    eloquently than me. But when you hear a parent--a mom say to me, ``My
    child was at a second-grade level; the measurement system saw that she
    needed help. Thankfully, the Federal Government passed a law which
    provides extra time on tasks for my child, and now she's reading at the
    fifth-grade level, and she's in the fourth grade,'' that's a good sign.
    It means this particular child will not be left behind. It means the
    system is working. We measure to determine who needs help, and we
    provide the help.
        And so, one of the problems we face--obviously, not here, but one of
    the problems we face is whether or not other school districts are
    properly advertising that which is available for students that need
    help. We've come to Nashville because the superintendent of schools has
    decided to make it widely known that extra services for children are
    available; made it widely known that summer school, after-school
    programs, Saturday programs, tutorials provided by the school district
    and/or private enterprise, are all available for parents whose children
    qualify.
        You see, if you measure and then don't provide extra help, the
    measurement system is empty. If you measure, determine who needs help,
    and then provide the extra help, we have done our duty as adults to
    provide the skills necessary for children to succeed in life. And that's
    what this school is doing. The tutorials have got to make sure that the
    programs have got proven track records, that they relate to directly
    what is needed to meet the curriculum needs of a school.
        One other thing that's interesting that we have discovered is that
    research shows that after-school tutoring programs can do a lot for
    student achievement. That makes sense. If you focus on a child, focus
    energies on an individual child and stay on it and stay on task and if
    you believe every child can learn, then we will succeed.
        And so, what I want people to understand around the country is that
    leaders, education leaders and Governors must advertise to the parents
    that which is now available under the No Child Left Behind Act, just
    like they're doing here in Nashville, Tennessee.
        Kim was telling me they sent out flyers to
    parents in her--the parents of the children who go to her school.
    They're aggressive in the outreach to make sure parents know that which
    is available. And that's what other States must now do; other States
    must seize the moment. Other States must not fear measurement but use
    the measuring tool as a way to determine who needs help. And the
    resources are there to provide that help. Other States must challenge
    the soft bigotry of low expectations. Other States must do their duty to
    their children.
        Kim Fowler is--has got the right attitude.
    She is not intimidated by measurement. She's not afraid to be held to
    account. She looks at the tests as a way to help people. She knows that
    you don't teach self-esteem--there's not a course that says the self-
    esteem--you teach a child to read, and he or she earns self-esteem. And
    that's the right attitude.
        I'm so thankful that we've got people like Kim all across America who have got the right attitude. And
    I'm so thankful that we've got teachers like the teachers here that work
    with Kim, to make sure that no child is left behind.

    [[Page 1111]]

        Lakeisha Begley is a fourth-grader here.
    She was way below grade level. The system kicked in. Barbara, her mama, said that, one, she was appreciative of the
    fact that she had a choice. See, she was notified--said, ``Your
    daughter's not doing well''--and then was given an option, a range of
    options. The school and the district trust the parents to make the right
    choice. It's not one of these paternalistic things that, ``This is
    what's going to happen.'' They say, ``We've got a problem with your
    child. We're going to give you some options from which to choose.'' So
    she signed up for a private tutor.
        Barbara said she's already seen the
    difference. The child is excited. The child
    can't wait to read. ``From day one, Lakeisha learned better study
    skills,'' she said. She was thrilled about doing it and thrilled about
    learning. The program motivated her to learn more. And that's what we're
    here to talk about, how to make sure we can put programs in place that
    motivate our children who need help to learn more.
        I'm excited to be here. I'm excited to be here because I believe
    that this country can solve any problem that we face. We face a problem,
    to make sure every child can read. The statistics are loud and clear,
    too many of our fourth-graders cannot read at grade level. The Federal
    Government decided to do its part by not only providing the resources
    but by insisting upon results.
        We are challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. We believe
    every child can learn. And I'm convinced when these programs are fully
    implemented, children will learn, and America will be better off.
        Thank you for having me here today. May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:40 p.m. in the auditorium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Kim Fowler, principal, Kirkpatrick Elementary
    School; Pedro E. Garcia, director of schools, Metropolitan Nashville
    Davidson County Board of Public Education; and Kirkpatrick student
    Lakeisha Begley, and her grandmother, Barbara Stegall. The Office of the
    Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these
    remarks.