    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [October 18, 2006]
    [Pages 1864-1871]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Waldo C. Falkener Elementary School in Greensboro, North
    Carolina
    October 18, 2006

        Thank you very much, Madam Secretary.
    I've known Margaret, as she said, a long time, and I'm very proud of the
    job she's doing. She knows what she's talking about when it comes to the
    schools in America, and she and I are going to work to make sure that
    every child gets an excellent education.
        I want to thank the good folks here at Falkener for inviting the
    President to come.

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    As you can tell, it's not an easy thing--[laughter]--to host the
    President. It's like, the entourage is pretty big, a lot of security.
    And so for the school folks here, thank you very much for accommodating
    us. I've come because I appreciate the example you set.
        One of the things I like to do is to herald excellence. So the first
    thing I want to say is, congratulations to the principal and the teachers and the parents for working hard to make
    this a fantastically interesting place for our children to go to school.
        I want to thank--you know, they say to me, ``What do you want from
    the schools?'' I don't know if you recognize this, but we just had six
    Nobel Prize winners recently announced--America had six Nobel--all of
    whom went to public schools in America. And my hope as I travel through
    the halls of these schools--like this one--I'm meeting Nobel Prize
    winners of the future. It's a noble aspiration for all of us to aim for.
    And so I want to thank you for letting me come.
        I'm going to talk about No Child Left Behind. I think you're about
    to find out I am a passionate advocate of this important law, because I
    know it can save children's lives and I know it can help us meet a
    national objective, and that is, every child getting a good education in
    every school throughout the country.
        I bring greetings from Laura. Most people
    say, ``I wish Laura had come and the old boy stayed home.'' [Laughter]
    She's actually in El Paso, Texas, today--I think she's in El Paso,
    Texas, today--I'm confident--I think that's what she told me--where a
    new school out there is opening up the Laura Bush Library. And well
    deserved, I want you to know, because she has a great passion for making
    sure that every child can read. So I bring, as best I can, her passion
    here to this important school.
        I'm proud to be here with Senator Richard Burr from the great State of North Carolina. Thank you for
    working on us--with--on educational excellence. I appreciate Virginia
    Foxx, the Congresswoman, who joined us as
    well. Amy Holcombe is the principal.
        You might remember, I was a Governor of a State. And I used to say,
    education is to a State what national defense is to the Federal
    Government. And so I took my role as Governor and being involved in
    public school--just like Guy Hunt did--we
    overlapped as Governors, and we prioritized public education. And so I
    spent a lot of time with schools in Texas, and I learned one thing, that
    these little centers of excellence always depended upon having an
    aggressive principal, a principal who is willing to set high standards
    and not allow for mediocrity to set in. So, Amy, I want to thank you for your leadership and thank you for
    your hospitality.
        I met Josette Hamrick, who is the
    teacher of the year. I congratulate you, Josette, for setting a good
    example. I think Josette is here somewhere--there she is. Thanks for
    being here. I also have recently gone to Mary Helen Parson's third grade school--third grade class. And Tom
    ``Ned''--Tom Niedziela--he is a--both of whom
    are dedicated teachers. And so I want to say something about teaching.
    It is a noble profession. It is a necessary profession for this country.
    And for those of you who are teachers, I congratulate you and thank you
    for serving our country.
        I oftentimes say to people that are asking me about--do you have any
    recommendations for what I should be doing, and my answer is, teach. And
    to parents I say, remember, you're the child's first teacher. As a
    matter of fact, schools succeed when a parent understands that teaching
    begins at home, and it makes the job of the classroom teacher so much
    easier. But I want to thank the teachers who are here, and thank you for
    setting a good example.
        I want to thank the school board members who are here. I told the
    head of the school board and the other man on
    the school board, I said, ``It's a pretty tough

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    job to be on the school board.'' [Laughter] One fellow said, ``Do you
    want to switch jobs?'' I said, ``You know, I don't think so.''
    [Laughter] But thank you all for serving. Local control of schools is
    important in order to achieve educational excellence, and I'm going to
    talk a little about that in a minute.
        I also landed today and met a lady named Michelle Gilmore. Michelle is--there you are. Thanks for coming.
    Michelle and her husband, Tiran, are here.
    Michelle volunteers as a mentor. If you are concerned about the future
    of North Carolina or concerned about the future of our country and you
    want to make a difference, become a mentor. It's amazing what happens
    when an adult takes time out of her life, in this case, to say to a
    child, ``I care about you, and I want to help.'' The true strength of
    the United States of America lies in the hearts and souls of our
    citizens. And the amazing thing about our country is that there are
    millions of acts of kindness that take place on a daily basis, and it
    hasn't required one government law.
        And the reason I mention Michelle and
    the reason I welcomed her to Air Force One is because I want to, one,
    thank you as an individual, and remind people that you can serve America
    by loving a neighbor just like you'd like to be loved yourself. And I
    appreciate you being here, Michelle. Thanks for coming.
        I like the fact that this--we're at a school named for a civil
    rights pioneer. I happen to believe reading is a modern-day civil right,
    that if you cannot read, you cannot realize the great promise of the
    United States of America. That's what I believe. And so I've come to
    this school because I believe schools should set high standards and
    insist upon results, like teaching a child to read. I don't think it's
    too much to ask in schools around the United States of America. I know
    what happens when a child can't read at grade level. I know the
    despondency that can be caused if a child is just simply shuffled
    through a school.
        Falkener is a magnet school. In other words, it's a school that--I
    equate that with educational entrepreneurship. It means people are
    willing to try things differently. This school is one that,
    interestingly enough, has got a international baccalaureate program
    inherent in its curriculum. And that's important because international
    baccalaureate programs are programs that set high standards for children
    in later years. So in other words, it's kind of a pre-international
    baccalaureate experience, all aimed at making sure that a child who goes
    from here has a chance to even have a greater skill level than
    anticipated. So it's interesting to be in a school that's a magnet
    school, that has got a pre-international baccalaureate program.
        We support magnet schools at the Federal level. First, let me just
    tell you my theory. Most education needs to be funded at the State and
    local level. I believe that is the proper role between the Federal
    Government and the State government. And yet there are incentive
    programs that come out of Washington; Title I money, for example, is an
    incentive program. We also have put money in our budget for magnet
    schools. As a matter of fact, the budget next year I've asked for has
    got about $100 million for magnet schools. I think magnet schools are
    interesting concepts to--that the local folks ought to decide to use.
    And so there's a little incentive from the Federal Government to
    encourage you.
        I'm a--also understand, and I hope you do--I know those of you
    involved with public schools understand that we're now living in a
    global economy. North Carolina understands that about as much as any
    State. What happens abroad affects the lives of our students in the near
    future. If a child in China gets a good engineering degree and a child
    in America doesn't, it means China is likely to be more competitive in
    the 21st century. In other words, we've got to get education right not
    only

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    because it's a national responsibility but because we're in a global
    world. Whether we like it or not, there is competition for jobs of the
    future that are going to--that will take place. And therefore, it's
    important that we make sure that our children get a solid foundation
    early in order--so that our country can be competitive, as well as our
    children.
        Now, let me talk about No Child Left Behind, because I'm really here
    to make clear to people in Congress, not only who are here but around
    the country, that the reauthorization of this important bill is going to
    be a top priority of mine. And it's not only just the reauthorization,
    it's the strengthening of the bill, and not the weakening of the bill.
        There's been a lot of talk about No Child Left Behind Act. First,
    you've got to understand, it was a bipartisan effort. I readily concede
    that's a rare occurrence in Washington, DC, but nevertheless,
    Republicans and Democrats came together to get this important piece of
    legislation passed.
        It said, ``We'll spend more money at the Federal level, but in
    return, we expect results.'' It seems like a simple concept, but
    nevertheless, it was not inherent in the education programs out of the
    Federal Government. We just never really asked; we just assumed
    everything was fine. As a matter of fact, in many schools around the
    country, that's the way it was. If people said it was fine, it was fine.
        You know, I remember, one time, going to a school in Houston, Texas,
    and I said to the teacher, ``How's everything? Thanks for teaching.''
    She said, ``My kids can't read.'' I think it was ninth or tenth grade.
    It was a shock to the Governor. It should be a shock to everybody when
    you hear a teacher say, my kids can't read by the time they get to high
    school. Something was wrong.
        The point was made to me--and this is when Margaret and I started working on this concept of
    measurement--that if you don't measure, you don't know. And the only way
    to prevent kids from just getting shuffled through schools--until the
    point where the high school teacher says they can't read--is to measure
    early. And so part of the No Child Left Behind Act says, ``We expect
    results, and you measure.''
        I believe in local control of schools. I do not believe the Federal
    Government should be telling the people in North Carolina how to run
    their schools. I think that would be a mistake if that were the case. I
    don't think the Federal Government ought to design the test; the people
    of North Carolina should design the accountability tests. I do think the
    Federal Government ought to ask, ``Can a child read?''
        Look, I understand kids--I understand the debate; you know,
    ``They're teaching the test.'' No, you're teaching a child to read so
    they can pass a comprehensive test. And if they can't pass a
    comprehensive test, something is fundamentally wrong. You know, ``All we
    do is test.'' No, what you do is you teach so that the accountability
    system--when you do test, a child is proficient. You know, if you don't
    test, you don't know. And if you don't know, you can't correct. Active
    schools, schools that are meeting excellence are those that find
    problems early and solve the problems early, before it's too late.
    That's why I'm at this school. This school sets high standards.
        And by the way, if you set low standards, guess what happens in
    schools? You get bad results. If you walk into a classroom full of the
    hard to educate and not have high standards, the hard to educate remains
    hard to educate. So the law says: Set high standards; use curriculum
    that works; you can determine what works by measuring whether or not
    students are meeting certain standards; and correct problems early,
    before it's too late. That's what No Child Left Behind is all about.
        And it's working. It's working. You know, the first year this school
    was tested under No Child Left Behind, it didn't meet standards; like,
    it just wasn't good enough. This

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    school decided to do something about it. See, they recognized they had a
    problem, and so they used Federal funding to pay for new laboratories,
    teacher collaboration, research on what was going right and what was
    going wrong. There's a new focus on results; there was frequent testing;
    they set up a Saturday Academy for children with low test scores that
    needed extra help. And the results have been impressive. Four years ago,
    about 46 percent of third graders at this school were reading at grade
    level. That's okay if you're a parent of one of the 46 percent. It's not
    okay if you're a parent of one of the 54 percent. And the
    principal and the teachers understood there was
    a problem, and they took steps to change the status quo. And today, 76
    percent are reading at grade level.
        That's what No Child Left Behind does. It can't do the teaching; it
    can't be the leader; but it can help people who care deeply about the
    lives of a child--the life of a child to succeed, to recognize problems,
    address the problem, correct the problem, and teach a child to read. And
    that's what's--that's why I'm at Falkener. This is a school that has
    gone from mediocre to excellent, because they've used the tools of the
    No Child Left Behind Act.
        In the fifth grade, about 68 percent of the students were reading at
    grade level 4 years ago; today, 88 percent of the students are reading
    at grade level. I cannot thank you enough for taking advantage of a law
    that really was living up to its name--no child being left behind.
    Here's what your principal said: She said,
    ``Falkener has greatly benefited from this legislation. Our test scores
    tell our story of success.''
        I met Tom Ned--you call him ``Ned,''
    right?--Niedziela. He focused on reading comprehension and vocabulary,
    and his class made the largest reading gains in the fourth grade. One
    girl whose first language is Spanish--see, if the child's first language
    is Spanish, that child generally is what we call hard to educate. And
    sometimes that label becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy. Inner-city kids
    tend to be labeled hard to educate, so all that mattered in the past
    was, if you're 10, you're supposed to be here, and if you're 11, you're
    supposed to be there. It's unacceptable for this country, by the way.
    That type of attitude is unacceptable.
        This child started the year reading at the second grade level.
    Thanks to Mr. Ned, she now reads at the sixth
    grade level. I met her. There's nothing more than helping a child's
    self-esteem than to--teaching a child to read, just giving that child
    the basic skills necessary to succeed in a hopeful society.
        Here's what Mr. Ned said: He said, ``I told them, if you want to be
    good at something, you've got to practice. If you want to play football,
    you have to go to football practice. If you want to be good at reading,
    you have to practice reading.'' And he said, ``I've never had a class
    work so hard.'' I want to thank Mr. Ned; I want to thank the students.
    There's nothing more heartwarming than to know that standards are being
    met.
        We see the results in No Child Left Behind across the State of North
    Carolina. I don't know if you know this or not, but your State has been
    an innovative State. Your State has been one that has not shied away
    from accountability. In other words, you didn't use excuses about
    testing. You said, ``Look, we want to test because we want to know.''
    Your State was the first in the Nation to establish an accountability
    system and one of the first to have the testing plans approved under No
    Child Left Behind. In other words, your State led. And I congratulate
    the State leaders and those involved with education for being bold on
    behalf of the children of your State.
        Your test scores are encouraging. The percentage of fourth graders
    with basic math skills rose 10 points between 2000 and 2005. The
    percentage of eighth graders with basic math skills rose about six
    points between 2000 and 2005. African American

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    fourth and eighth graders in North Carolina achieved some of the highest
    math scores in the Nation. How do we know? Because we measure.
        It's got to make you feel good to hear African American kids are
    scoring some of the highest tests in the Nation. Can you imagine if the
    President came and said, ``By the way, your kids are scoring the lowest
    scores in the Nation''? I suspect you'd want to be doing something about
    that. At least I would hope you would.
        There are good results of No Child Left Behind across the Nation. In
    other words, we're measuring--each State measures, and you're able to
    norm to determine how States do relative to each other. In reading, 9-
    year-olds have made the largest gains in the past 5 years than at any
    point in the previous 28 years. That's good. In math, 9-year-olds and
    13-year-olds earned the highest scores in the history of the test.
        We have an achievement gap in America that is--that I don't like and
    you shouldn't like. It's the difference between reading of African
    American students and Latino students and White students. The gap is
    closing, and that's incredibly important for the United States of
    America, to see that achievement gap close. How do we know? Because
    we're measuring.
        Inherent in No Child Left Behind are some interesting reforms.
    First, if we find a child falling behind early, there is extra Federal
    money to help that child. Think about that. For the first time, the
    Federal Government has said, ``Not only do we want you to measure, but
    when we find a child falling behind, there is extra money to be used in
    either the private or public sector.''
        See, measuring encourages parental involvement. If you measure and a
    parent finds out that his or her child is not succeeding, most parents
    are going to say, ``Do something about it.'' And what the Federal
    Government has said, ``Here's some extra money to help you, to get
    tutoring, to get you back up to grade level.''
        If a school continues to fail--in other words, a school doesn't make
    progress--I believe parents ought to be liberated from that school
    district if they so choose and go to another public school. In other
    words, there has to be a consequence at some point in time for a school
    that won't--is not teaching and won't change, if you expect there to be
    concrete results.
        This school started off with low scores, set high standards, and has
    achieved the objective. I suspect not many parents, even if they could,
    would want to leave, because you're meeting--you're doing the job. There
    are schools around the country that are not doing the job, and that is
    unacceptable to society. It ought to be unacceptable to school boards
    and parents and teachers.
        In DC, we started something interesting. We said that if the school
    fails, continue to--if there's persistent failure, that a child ought to
    be able to go to not only a public school but a private school. We
    provide what are called opportunity scholarships. We work with the
    mayor to enhance--it's an interesting
    opportunity--said, if you fail, and the school won't change, then the DC
    came up with a scholarship that said this scholarship could be redeemed
    at a public school or a Catholic school, for example.
        There is a debate going on about whether we ought to reauthorize the
    No Child Left Behind Act. I think you can get a sense for where I'm
    coming from. Not only do I think we ought to reauthorize it, I think we
    ought to strengthen it. I think it would be a huge mistake for the
    United States Congress not to reauthorize this important piece of
    legislation. And the reason I say that is that it's working. In other
    words, there's just more than words there; we have achieved concrete
    results.
        I'm not suggesting the law shouldn't be improved; it should be
    improved. For example, we ought to make sure that scores are tested
    early, particularly for big districts, so that people understand what
    the results are. Oftentimes in--I don't know how many big
    districts, Margaret--but I've

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    heard complaints from school districts where the test scores get posted
    for the parents after the school year begins, which is like--it doesn't
    work. So the bureaucracy, frankly, has got to be a little more facile in
    getting the results out, and Margaret understands that.
        I think we ought to continue doing what we call the Teacher
    Incentive Fund. This is a further reform. It allows States and school
    districts to reward teachers who demonstrate results for their students.
    If this school board decides they want to provide incentives for
    teachers based upon results, the Federal Government will provide money
    to help you do that. I like the idea. You may not like it, and that's
    fine. You got elected a school board member; I didn't. But nevertheless,
    I do believe we ought to make sure that school boards and school
    districts have the option.
        I also think there ought to be incentives for teachers who make the
    decision to teach in some of the needier school districts, tougher
    schools--to provide an incentive. We have got a program I'm going to
    work with Congress on to encourage math and science professionals to
    come into classrooms. And the reason why is, in order for us to be
    competitive in the future, our students have got to be proficient in
    math and the sciences, and we have to have more emphasis on math and
    science. And there's no better way to encourage a child to take math and
    science than to have a professional come in the class. We call them
    adjunct professors.
        Margaret and I, one time, went over
    to a school in Maryland, and there were some people from NASA there, two
    science guys from
    NASA that could talk the language of science. And their message was,
    it's cool to be a scientist. Some pretty cool guys that were there, but
    they were saying to eighth grade kids, ``Science is interesting for
    you.'' Sometimes it takes somebody in the field to be able to lend
    practical knowledge to convince children to continue to focus on science
    and math and engineering.
        I talked to you about how to make sure parents get better
    information. I do believe we ought to fund a national opportunity
    scholarship program to make sure parents have choices--particularly poor
    parents have choices beyond just public school choice.
        I'm worried about high school, and I think the new law ought to
    focus a lot on high school. Four out of every--one out of every four
    ninth graders in America does not graduate from high school on time.
    That's a problem. If we live in a global world that's highly
    competitive, our kids have got to get out of high school, and they got
    to head to community college or college, if we're going to be
    competitive. And so we need to bring the same standards to our high
    schools that we have brought thus far to elementary and junior high
    schools.
        We need to test. If it's okay to test in the third grade, it ought
    to be okay to test in high school to determine whether or not curricula
    works, whether or not teaching methodology is working, and whether or
    not our children are learning.
        Again, I told you about the international baccalaureate program. It
    feeds into another way for us to enhance the competitiveness of this
    country, and that is to encourage AP programs--Advanced Placement
    programs--throughout classrooms all across America. One of the
    bottlenecks is--a bottleneck is the number of teachers that are capable
    of teaching AP. I think it's a good use of your taxpayers' money to
    train teachers in Advanced Placement; 70,000 teachers--is our initial
    goal to train in Advanced Placement, so that teachers have the skills
    necessary to teach AP. But it works.
        It's amazing what happens when you set high standards and give
    people the tools necessary to effect those standards. And so these are
    ideas and ways to strengthen No Child Left Behind. We'll continue to
    listen to good ideas. We, of course, will listen to Members of Congress
    from both parties.

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        This is a State that had a good idea. They were deeply concerned
    about how to make sure that the accountability system would measure
    progress without--in an accurate way. And so Margaret worked with the State leaders, worked with the
    Senator to provide flexibility for the
    accountability system, without undermining the whole concept of
    measurement. And so in other words, we'll be rational and reasonable,
    but what we will not do is allow schools to lower standards. And what we
    will not do is allow people to get rid of accountability systems,
    because I believe the accountability system is the first step in making
    sure no child is left behind.
        I understand what it means for public schools to guess whether or
    not a child can read and write and add and subtract, and I understand
    fully the consequences of a system that guesses. I also understand the
    consequences of a system which measures, and a system which measures and
    corrects problems is a system which will help meet the great promise of
    this country.
        I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come and talk about
    something I feel strong about, deeply passionate about. I'm looking
    forward to getting these elections behind us and start working on the
    reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, for the good of every
    child in the United States of America. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 2:07 p.m. In his remarks, he referred to
    former Gov. James B. Hunt, Jr., of North Carolina; Alan W. Duncan,
    chairman, Guilford County Schools Board of Education; and Mayor Anthony
    A. Williams of Washington, DC. The Office of the Press Secretary also
    released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.