    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2004, Book I)]
    [May 12, 2004]
    [Pages 854-860]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks in a Discussion on Education at the National Institutes of
    Health in Bethesda, Maryland
    May 12, 2004

        The President. Thanks, Reid. Thank you all
    for coming. What he forgot to tell you is, I've known Reid for a long
    time. See, when I was the Governor of Texas, I was worried that we
    weren't using a curriculum, a reading curriculum that would work. So I
    said to Margaret Spellings, who is my
    Domestic Policy Adviser here in Washington, I said, ``Who's the best in
    the country about figuring out how to teach children how to read?'' And
    they said, ``Reid Lyon.'' I said, ``Okay, get him up here,'' or ``Get
    him down here,'' in this case. He was here

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    in Washington. He came down, and we've had a great relationship ever
    since.
        Today we're going to talk about reading and that reading is more of
    a science than people think. And the reason we're here at the National
    Institutes of Health is because this facility uses Federal taxpayers'
    money to research, to figure out how to solve problems. We've got a
    problem in America, and the problem is, not every child can read at
    grade level. So we're here to discuss a strategy to insist that every
    child does read at grade level. To me, it's a national--we have an
    obligation nationally to make sure of this.
        I'll never forget the reading czarina of Houston Independent School
    District--and by the way, Secretary of Education Rod Paige was the superintendent of the Houston Independent
    School District at the time. He had hired this lady to help teach every child to read. She said, ``Governor, I
    want to tell you, reading is the new civil right.'' That's what I think.
    I think if you cannot read in the 21st century, you don't have a chance
    to succeed. And we believe every child can read.
        Mr. Secretary, thanks for coming. Rod
    Paige is a fellow who was on the frontlines of education there as the
    superintendent in Harris County District. And I asked him to come up and
    be the Secretary of Education, Reid, because he understands the correct
    attitude about making sure public schools work. It's really embodied in
    the No Child Left Behind Act.
        Let me go through real quick what that act says. It says, first of
    all, we believe every child can learn. In other words, we need to raise
    the bar and raise the standards. It's what I call challenging the soft
    bigotry of low expectations. It means basically that when you walk into
    a classroom full of the so-called hard to educate, you don't quit.
    That's what it means.
        Secondly, it says that in return for increased Federal spending--
    which we've increased Federal spending quite a bit here in Washington,
    DC--that we expect results. In other words, the cornerstone of making
    sure every child can learn to read is you've got to measure to determine
    where they are. And if not, if you're finding children can't read at
    early ages, correct it early, before it's too late. And we're going to
    talk about that here.
        Thirdly, it says that there must be consequences for schools that
    won't teach and won't change. In other words, something has to happen
    other than just posting scores to get parental involvement. What we now
    have got is a system where, after a period of time, if the schools won't
    teach a child to read, Federal money follows the child so the child can
    get tutoring, for example, or the child can go to a different public
    school.
        Finally, the cornerstone of good education policy is local control
    of schools. We're going to hear from some folks from Alabama and Arizona
    who are great teachers, who understand it is really important for there
    to be the ability for people to make decisions, to align authority and
    response at the local level.
        Governor Ehrlich is with us. I'm
    sure he's glad to hear that the Federal Government isn't going to run
    the schools in the State of Maryland. He's plenty capable of doing it,
    along with the people he's picked to run the schools and be responsible
    for public policy, like the Lieutenant Governor, Mike Steele, and Nancy Grasmick,
    who's the head of the education department in Maryland. I want to thank
    you all for coming, Governor. I appreciate you taking your time for
    being here.
        I also want to thank Elias Zerhouni,
    who's in charge of NIH. Elias, I'm proud of the job you're doing. You've
    got a tough job, and I picked a good man to do it, and I really
    appreciate you being here. I'm glad Claude Allen is here as well. He's the Deputy Secretary of Health and
    Human Services. You're doing a fine job too, Claude. I'm proud you guys
    are here. Thanks for coming.

    [[Page 856]]

        I'm going to turn this over to Reid here in a second. But if the
    goal is to have children reading at grade level by the third grade,
    which is a goal we have set--and by the way, some people have been
    criticizing the No Child Left Behind Act because they say the standards
    are too high. I don't think that's too high a standard, to expect a
    child to read at third grade when they're in the third grade. As a
    matter of fact, you know, I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask
    school districts to at least accomplish that. But to do it, we've got to
    advance a--help advance a strategy. I think it is a proper role for the
    Federal Government to help school districts implement reading strategies
    that work.
        And Reid Lyon has been very much involved
    in figuring out what works. And you'll hear him talk about phonemic
    awareness and phonics and fluency. I'm going to let him describe what
    all those words mean. But really what they mean is there's a way to
    figure out whether or not the curriculum being used at the local level
    can be effective, that's what he's saying.
        And so we put forth a Reading First Initiative across the country.
    And part of it, obviously, requires Federal commitment, Federal dollars.
    We've got $1.8 billion now we're spending on Reading First programs. We
    intend to spend 5 billion over a 5-year period of time.
        So far, we're making good progress. In 2002, all 50 States are
    participating in the grantmaking process. In other words, they've
    developed curriculums screened by people like Reid who say, ``Gosh, this
    will work.'' In other words, we don't want to spend money unless people
    are using curriculum that works. There's no need to throw good money
    into programs that won't work. We've tried that before.
        And so the grant programs seem like they're going well. The
    screening process is going well. There are 1,000 districts that now get
    Reading First grants. There are 3,600 schools getting Reading First
    grants. There's been 73,000 teachers trained in the curriculum that
    works. Part of making sure that a Reading First program works, part of
    making sure that children can read at the grade level by the third grade
    is to make sure you've got teachers who can teach by the third grade--
    teachers who can teach curriculum to make sure children can read by the
    third grade. One-point-two million students are being affected.
        By the way, Ralph Regula is with us today
    as well. I just saw Ralph sneak in here. Mr. Chairman, thanks for
    coming. He's a strong advocate of the Reading First program. He's a
    United States Congressman from the State of Ohio. The fact you're here,
    Mr. Chairman, says a lot about your interest. You're probably wondering
    when I'm going to stop talking. You know how we are when we get a mike.
        As well I just want you to know--and we've discussed some of this
    today--we've got a early Reading First program, which really starts in
    the pre-K period as well as--and you're going to hear an interesting
    program called Striving Readers Initiative. This basically says that if
    you don't hold people to account early in the system, it is likely
    people are going to get shuffled through the schools without being able
    to read, see. And we're beginning to find out that's the truth, and
    we're finding people in junior high and high school who can't read. We
    need intensive intervention programs. At the very minimum, when a kid
    gets out of high school, they ought to be able to read, see. And you'll
    hear an interesting program developed by this good man to my left here,
    about how to be successful.
        What we're talking about is making sure we meet an obligation in our
    country to give people the chance to succeed in this great country, and
    I'm telling you we can do it. I have seen incredible progress. We test
    for a reason, because we want to know, and the reading scores are
    beginning to go up. And I believe it has a lot to do with the research
    that Reid Lyon has done here at the NIH
    facilities here. I believe that when you can figure out the key to

    [[Page 857]]

    reading and convince people to use the proper strategy, every child can
    learn to read. I refuse to accept anything less than that. I refuse to
    lower the bar for kids. And so therefore, my job as your President is to
    continue to challenge and push and insist on high standards. And we're
    making progress.
        Reid, I'm really proud of the work you do.
    He's about to tell us--what do you do--[laughter]--and how do you do it?

    [At this point, G. Reid Lyon, Chief, Child Development and Behavior
    Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, made
    brief remarks.]

        The President. You know, people are going to say, ``Well, that
    sounds good. How do you know it works?'' And as you know, I'm a how-do-
    you-know-it-works kind of guy. Reid mentioned
    there is a debate. Governors are very familiar with the reading
    curriculum debate, and there are some very strong opinions about what
    might work, what might not work. I'm the kind of fellow that says, ``You
    ought to be able to figure it out pretty clearly.''
        Why are you so certain that your attitude is the right attitude?

    [Dr. Lyon made further remarks.]

        The President. Good. Well, I--anyway. This is based upon science, is
    what I'm telling you, see. And if you've got something that works, then
    it makes sense to spread the news. So that's what we're talking about
    here: How do we make sure the research that has been done here in
    Washington is shared around the country?
        We've got another expert here in reading, the professor and director
    of the Center of Research of Learning at the University of Kansas--Don
    Deshler is with us. I first learned of Don
    when Laura, who is very much involved with
    reading--she was a school librarian. She loves to read. She believes
    every child can read. She believes every child must read, and she also
    understands that there is some need for some serious intervention
    programs in certain schools. So she met Don in Florida, and she came
    back and she said,``You're not going to believe this guy. He's got a
    fabulous program.'' I said, ``Okay, we'll put him on the stage and see
    if he can explain it.'' [Laughter]
        Tell us what you do.

    [Donald D. Deshler, professor and director of the Center for Research on
    Learning, University of Kansas, made brief remarks.]

        The President. I was going to say, so what do you have to do to get
    the Michigan school to--did you design a curriculum? Did you have
    teacher training? What was it?

    [Dr. Deshler made further remarks.]

        The President. Yes, thanks. Gosh, glad you came. [Laughter] Glad
    Laura told me about you. [Laughter] I love your
    attitude. What he's talking about, this
    initiative, the Intervention Initiative, to make sure junior high
    students and high school students at least have the capacity to read, is
    something I've sent up to Congress, Mr. Chairman. We need to get it funded. He's got a program that
    works. The role of the Federal Government is to fund the capacity for
    districts to take the program, implement it, and make it happen.
        I agree with you that because of the reforms that are now in place,
    high schools are going to start seeing a more literate population. The
    problem is, we've got a gap, and we've got to make sure that we do
    everything we can to intervene and help those kids. If you can't read,
    it doesn't matter. That's just as simple as that. I mean, I know that
    doesn't sound very nuanced or sophisticated, but it's true. It's the
    absolute truth.
        And we're here talking about making sure everybody can.
    Governor, I want you to pay attention
    to this program because I bet you there's some schools in the State of
    Maryland that could use a little intervention, particularly at the
    junior high and high

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    school level. This works. And this good man here has taken a scientific approach to developing a
    curriculum, which is relatively easy to implement, I would guess. I
    mean, it doesn't----
        Dr. Deshler. Well, I--good teaching, I
    believe, is a challenge, and it requires hard work. But if we follow
    known principles of instruction, the payoff is enormous.
        The President. Yes. The--I'm glad you brought up Michigan, because
    Faith Stevens is with us. She is the Reading
    First coordinator for the whole State, right? That's a big job. I'm
    really glad you're here. How's it going? Are you implementing the
    Reading First Initiative?

    [Faith Stevens, Reading First coordinator, Michigan Department of
    Education, Lansing, MI, made brief remarks.]

        The President. Great job. Thank you. You know, one of the
    interesting comments I've heard, and I'm confident others who are
    involved with public policy when it comes to education have heard, they
    say, you know, ``All you're doing is teaching the test. Don't test,
    because all you're doing is teaching the test.'' Listen, if you teach a
    child how to read, they will pass a reading test.
        I've heard every excuse in the book why not to measure. But if you
    can't measure, how do you know? And you heard the great deal of
    satisfaction from that teacher as a result of
    correctly utilizing an accountability system to make sure that she was
    doing the right thing, that she was able to impart her love. And the joy
    as a result of teaching a child to read was evident in her statement. As
    a matter of fact, tell her, ``Thanks for teaching.'' Tell her, ``Thanks
    for being also agile enough of mind to be willing to change, if change
    is needed.'' We can't be risk-adverse when it comes to making sure every
    child learns to read.
        Speaking about teachers, we've got Janice Kantor with us. She came all the way from Phoenix, Arizona,
    for which we are grateful. Welcome. She is a Reading First literacy
    coach. It's kind of an interesting title, isn't it? When I went to Sam
    Houston Elementary School in Midland, I don't remember any literacy
    coaches. [Laughter] I remember a football coach. [Laughter] But I think
    it's a really interesting evolution that we've got literacy coaches,
    which should say to people that reading is more important than
    athletics. They're both important, but we better make sure they read.
        So what does a literacy coach do?

    [Janice Kantor, Reading First literacy coach, Westwind Primary School,
    Phoenix, AZ, made brief remarks.]

        The President. Fabulous. Thanks for coming. Pretty strong spirit,
    isn't it? I really appreciate that. Thank you for being here. You know,
    I think one of the things we have to address is why teacher colleges
    aren't teaching reading teachers how to teach in the first place, so you
    don't need to retrain.
        Maybe that's another project for you, Reid.
    [Laughter] Maybe it's my project. But thank you for retraining teachers.
    Listen, teachers are a really loving people, and they care deeply about
    their profession and their desire to pass on knowledge, and sometimes
    they just don't have the skills to be able to do so. It's got to be
    frustrating. It wasn't frustrating if you didn't measure, because you
    didn't know. But then when you start using the accountability system
    that all of a sudden points out that, oops, maybe I ought to get a--find
    a new skill so I can do my job.
        We've got Cynthia Henderson with us
    from Montgomery, Alabama. I'm really glad you're here. Cynthia is a
    kindergarten teacher. And she went through the Reading First training
    program, and why don't you tell us what that was like. As I understand,
    it was slightly intimidating to begin with. Is that an accurate
    assessment?

    [Cynthia Henderson, kindergarten teacher, Floyd Elementary School,
    Montgomery, AL, made brief remarks.]

    [[Page 859]]

        The President. Yes, benchmark means--explain to--benchmark means
    they met expectations.
        Ms. Henderson. They met every
    expectation for the entire year.
        The President. And so what she's
    saying is she just kind of sent these little fellows and little ladies
    off to a glorious future because they've got the foundations for
    reading.
        Ms. Henderson. And you know, because I
    work at a school that, where most of the children that are enrolled
    there are either on poverty level or below poverty level, it means so
    much to me because some of them are going to be the first ones in their
    families to even attend college.
        The President. There you go.
        Ms. Henderson. It is so exciting that
    they're so excited about reading. And I think it's all about changing a
    school, that changes a community, that changes a whole city, that
    changes a State, that changes a whole nation of readers.
        The President. There you go. I agree. One of the things that's very
    important in the measurement system is to do what I call ``disaggregate
    the data.'' Some districts didn't like measuring specific groups of
    people because you could pass the standards if you put every--lumped
    everybody together. But that didn't tell the whole truth about who was
    learning and who wasn't learning.
        And so as part of the new accountability system, the No Child Left
    Behind Act, we break out based upon race. It's really essential we do
    that. It's really important. If you don't do that, you're likely to
    leave people behind. And that's not right. There's a learning--there's
    an achievement gap in America that will be closed. It must be closed,
    and will be closed. It won't be closed unless you're honest about the
    achievement gap, unless you're able to see clearly who needs help and
    who doesn't need help.
        What you've heard here, teachers and coaches and implementers who
    understand that the accountability system must be used as a tool to make
    sure that the curriculum being used, the techniques being used, the
    strategy being used, works. That's what you're hearing.
        If you heard--they said, ``We look at the test results per child.''
    Inside the classroom, that's good, but schools and districts need to
    look at the test results per child as well and not try to gloss over the
    reality in certain school districts by lumping everybody together. This
    act is called the No Child Left Behind Act because we want to make sure
    no child is left behind, not it's okay that some get left behind. That's
    not the spirit of the law.
        I hope you've enjoyed this as much as I have. This is a--again, we
    came here because the discussions we were having were based upon sound
    science, not guesswork. And like you, sir, I am incredibly optimistic
    that we're getting it right here in America. We're getting it right
    because smart people have help. Policymakers understand what works.
    We're getting it right because people are continuing to devise
    strategies to help children who need continued help. We're getting it
    right because we're providing resources to make sure teachers get
    retrained with curriculum that works. We're getting it right because
    we've got fabulous teachers in the classroom--coaches and teachers, I
    might want you to know--whose spirit can lift the room here at the NIH
    with just a few words.
        And listen, we will meet the goal here. We have an obligation to
    meet the goal to make sure every child can read at grade level, starting
    by the third grade. And there's no doubt in my mind this country will do
    it. We're on track, and I want to appreciate those who put us on track
    and who keep us on track for being here today.
        God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:27 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    Phyllis C. Hunter,

    [[Page 860]]

    former manager, Reading Department, Houston Independent School District;
    and Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr., and Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele of
    Maryland.