    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [June 25, 2007]
    [Pages 800-805]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the 2007 Presidential Scholars
    June 25, 2007

        Thank you all. Please be seated. Welcome to the White House. It's a
    neat occasion to be able to welcome the 2007 Presidential Scholars.
    We're glad you're here. I congratulate you on the fine honor, and, of
    course, we wish you all the very best.
        The Presidential Scholars program started in 1964. I was a senior in
    high school; I didn't make it. [Laughter] I know all of you worked hard
    to reach this day. Your families are proud of your effort, and we
    welcome your family members here. Your teachers are proud of your
    effort, and we welcome your teachers. And our entire Nation is proud to
    call you Presidential Scholar.
        I'm sorry Laura is not here. She would have
    loved to have welcomed you. She is off to Africa. And she's there to
    make sure that the people on that continent understand that ours is a
    Nation with a good heart. After all, we're leading the fight against
    HIV/AIDS and malaria on that continent. And so she is spreading the good
    will of the American taxpayer by representing our country. In my
    judgment,

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    there's no finer representative than Laura Bush.
        Madam Secretary, thank you for
    joining us. We're proud you're here--the Secretary of Education,
    Margaret Spellings. I thank the Members of Congress who have joined us:
    Senator Lieberman, Congressman Buck
    McKeon, Congressman Dale
    Kildee, and Congressman Mike Castle. I'm honored you took time, and so are the
    Presidential Scholars; they're proud you're here.
        I want to thank the members of the Presidential Scholars commission
    for picking such a fine group of people, and the Presidential Scholars
    probably want to thank you as well for--[laughter]. This is a program
    that honors high school seniors for exceptional academic and artistic
    achievements. Past winners have gone on to win the Pulitzer Prize,
    succeed at the highest levels of business, work here at the White House.
        This afternoon we honor a new class of promising young men and
    women. Your fellow scholars have pursued groundbreaking research,
    written scholarly papers, and performed at Carnegie Hall. Many of you
    have also reached out to those in need and have given your time for
    causes greater than any individual need, and, for that, we thank you.
        Caterina Yuan shared her passion for
    service with her classmates at Palo Alto High School in California.
    She's run food drives, raised thousands of dollars for humanitarian
    efforts in Africa, and helped organize a schoolwide day of service.
    She's a scholar, but she's also a humanitarian.
        Erin Jaeger, from Keene, New Hampshire,
    helped bring hope and comfort to those living in poverty and hardship.
    She made three trips to El Salvador to build houses and visit
    orphanages.
        Charlie Bridge from Belmont,
    Massachusetts, has given back to his community through teaching. He's
    tutored disadvantaged middle school students, and he plans to continue
    this important work this summer.
        One person not here today is Max Weaver. He's busy preparing for an engagement at the Air Force
    Academy in Colorado Springs. In a few days, he's going to begin an
    intensive basic training regime that cadets like to call ``the Beast.''
    We wish him luck, and we thank him and all the other brave men and women
    who have volunteered to serve in the United States Armed Forces.
        The reason I bring these examples up is that no matter what you do
    later in life, I can encourage you to use your talents to help other
    people. The true strength of America is the fact that we've got people
    of good heart and good soul reaching out to people in need. And I thank
    you for being leaders and setting a good example.
        As we celebrate your accomplishments, we also need to honor those
    who helped you reach this day. You know, I always say that the first
    teacher of a child is a mom or a dad. For the moms and dads here,
    congratulations on doing your job. And I thank the teachers who are here
    as well. There's no more noble a profession than being a teacher. And I
    suspect the reason we're honoring Presidential Scholars--or these
    Presidential Scholars--is because you and their parents set high
    standards; set a high bar of expectations.
        You know, part of the problem we've had in our school system is, for
    too often and too long that bar wasn't set high enough; that we had too
    many students who were victims of low expectations. I used to call it
    ``the soft bigotry of low expectations.'' Schools just shuffled kids
    from grade to grade, as if the child couldn't learn to read and write
    and add and subtract. We never measured; we never had any idea how the
    child was doing until it was too late. And that was unsatisfactory for
    the United States of America; it's unsatisfactory for the President;
    it's unsatisfactory for the future.
        And that's why when we came to Washington, we worked with Democrats
    and Republicans to pass what's called the No

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    Child Left Behind Act. The philosophy behind the law is straightforward.
    It says the Federal Government should expect results in return for the
    money it spends. That's not too much to ask, I don't think. If you
    believe a child can learn to read, then you ought to expect a child to
    read; that's what you ought to expect. And the only way to determine
    that is to measure.
        And I'm sure some of your classmates would say you don't like to
    take a test. Well, I didn't either. [Laughter] But that's too bad
    because the only way to determine whether a child is reading at grade
    level is to have accountability in our school systems. And that's the
    basic strategy of No Child Left Behind. It says, here's some money. We
    expect you to teach. We want to measure to determine if you are
    teaching. We look forward to patting you on the back, but if you're not
    teaching a child the basics, then we expect you to change, before it is
    too late.
        Measuring results helps teachers spot problems. In other words, you
    can't solve a problem until you diagnose it. It gives teachers tools and
    schools tools, the key tool necessary to determine whether or not a
    curriculum needs to change or whether or not a child needs to get
    special attention.
        Measuring results gives parents key information about how their
    child's school is doing. You know, it's amazing how many parents will
    say, ``The school my child goes to is doing just fine.'' That's what
    everybody hopes, and that's what everybody assumes, until scores get
    posted. It's amazing what happens when you hold people to account. It
    certainly gets a parent's attention when they find out that their
    child's school isn't doing as good as the neighborhood's school is, for
    example, or school next door.
        No Child Left Behind is working; in other words, we're making good
    progress. During the most recent 5-year period on record, 9-year-olds
    made more progress in reading than in the previous 28 years combined.
    You can't say that unless you measure. You can't stand up in front of
    the taxpayers and say, your money is being well spent because we're
    measuring--we know; we're measuring. Before, it was just--you were just
    guessing. Now, thanks to No Child Left Behind, there is accountability
    that's important to be able to report progress to the American people.
        Speaking about progress, the nonpartisan Center on Education Policy
    found that many States have seen reading and math test scores increase
    since we've passed No Child Left Behind. The study found that minority
    and low-income students are making some of the biggest gains. And that's
    positive and important news for the American people.
        We had an achievement gap in our country, and it's not right to have
    an achievement gap in America. And this achievement gap is becoming
    closed, thanks to hard work by teachers, but also thanks to the fact
    that we're measuring and correcting problems early, before they're too
    late.
        The No Child Left Behind Act is working, and Congress needs to
    reauthorize this good piece of legislation. Reauthorizing No Child is
    one of the top priorities of my administration, and I know it's a top
    priorities of Members of Congress. Buck McKeon is going to be handling the reauthorization on the
    Republican side in the House of Representatives, and he is determined to
    work with people in both sides of the aisle, Dale, to help to get this job done. We made a historic
    commitment, and I believe we have a moral obligation to keep it.
        Our ability to compete in the 21st century depends upon educating
    children just like the ones standing behind me. Whether we like it or
    not, we're in a global world. And if the world needs engineers and/or
    scientists, and those scientists are being educated in China and India
    and not being educated in the United States, the jobs of the 21st
    century are likely to go there. And so we better make sure that we have
    a strategy aimed at making sure that we have high expectations and good
    results for every

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    child in the United States, if we expect to remain competitive.
        Presidential Scholars, you leave your high school with confidence in
    your ability, and you've got a great foundation for success. We want to
    make sure that same confidence is instilled in every single child that's
    getting out of high school. And so what can we do? First, we can make
    sure No Child Left Behind gets reauthorized. You cannot compete in a
    global world unless you're certain that we're achieving certain
    standards. We want every child reading at grade level by the third
    grade. And the only way you know whether that's the case is, you
    measure.
        And by the way, inherent in No Child Left Behind is a novel idea
    that said, if a child needs extra help, there's going to be money
    available to help that child. That's how you make sure that you use the
    accountability system to achieve results, achieve expectations.
        But we need to do more. Our high schools need to have
    accountability. We want to make sure that same rigor that we've applied
    in the elementary and middle schools are applied to our high schools. If
    we want to be competitive, the high school diploma has to mean
    something. We want to make sure that we expand Advance Placement. I bet
    most kids here took AP courses, and AP is a great way to raise standards
    and raise expectations. And we've got to help teachers learn how to
    teach AP courses as part of our strategy.
        We want to make sure that we have a rigorous course of study
    available for all our kids. We want to make sure we strengthen math and
    science. And that's why I proposed a program to encourage 30,000 math
    and science professionals to become part-time teachers. I remember we
    went to a school in Maryland, Margaret,
    and there was two guys there that were making science look cool. I can't do
    that. Most parents aren't able to do that. [Laughter] But it's amazing
    what a scientist can do.
        And why do we need that? Why do we need 30,000 math and science
    professionals to go into classrooms to stimulate interest? Because we
    can't be a competitive nation without more scientists and more
    mathematicians. Because in order for us to make sure the best jobs here
    are in America requires us having mathematicians and scientists and
    engineers and physicists. And the best way to stimulate that interest is
    from people who actually know what they're talking about.
        We want to make sure that we work with Congress to have extra
    funding for underperforming schools. I told you if you measure, we got
    extra money for the children; we also got extra money for under-
    performing schools. And those schools need flexibility. In other words,
    we've got to have--trust local folks to make the right decisions for
    local schools. So Margaret is going to
    work with the school districts and with the Congress to make sure
    they've got flexibility to use the resources where they're most needed,
    to tailor reforms to the specific needs of individual schools.
        In other words, people say: ``Well, you can't be for No Child Left
    Behind; it's the Federal Government telling you what to do.'' Quite the
    opposite. The Federal Government has said, ``We believe in local control
    of schools; you reform them; you fix them.'' We're just going to insist
    that you measure, in return for the billions we spend on your behalf.
        Now I proposed an interesting idea that I hope Congress passes, and
    that is creating a teacher incentive fund of nearly $200 million for the
    next year as the beginning--as a downpayment to encourage teachers to
    teach in districts where they need a little extra help; reward teachers
    who will go into these school districts that need high expectations. We
    need people to walk in and say, the status quo is unacceptable; people
    who are going to show that educational entrepreneurship necessary to
    make sure every single child gets a good education.

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    And I hope Congress works on that with us.
        When schools fail to make progress, No Child Left Behind needs to
    give parents different options. In other words, you cannot tolerate a
    system where a child is stuck in a school which will not teach and will
    not change. There has to be a consequence. We've got remedies in the
    bill that say, we're going to help schools affect their programs, but,
    ultimately, a parent must be given the ability to transfer their child
    out to another public school or free tutoring for their children. In
    other words, there has to be a consequence in order to make sure that
    there's effectiveness when it comes to reform--schools that need to be
    reformed. I strongly believe that parents are the frontlines of the
    decisionmaking and should be empowered--empowered through information
    and empowered through different options available through the public
    school system.
        We did something else interesting, and I look forward to working
    with Congress on this--and I must confess, it's slightly controversial--
    and that is, is that we promoted the first federally funded opportunity
    scholarship program here in Washington, DC. It basically said to low-
    income parents that, here's some money to help you send your child to a
    private school or a parochial school--your choice. In other words, it
    said, if you're tired of being in a system that simply hasn't met
    expectations, that there ought to be something different, and that I
    believe that--I think it's the role of government to help low-income
    parents have different options.
        The program is working. It's over-subscribed. I mean, there are
    thousands of families that have been helped through this Washington, DC,
    program, which ought to say to policymakers, there's a huge demand for
    something better. People are sick of mediocrity in the status quo.
    Obviously, it hasn't happened with these kids, for which we're grateful.
    But there's still too many schools that just aren't meeting
    expectations. And so I look forward to working to see if we can't expand
    this kind of program.
        The reason I've asked to speak to you is because I want people to
    understand how important this No Child Left Behind Act is to America and
    its future. And we will talk about ways to make the law better. I know
    some Members and Senators have got concerns about the law, and we're
    more than willing to talk about flexibility. But there is no compromise
    when it comes to setting high standards and measurement. You cannot
    compromise away the principle of saying, we expect good results, and
    we're going to measure to determine whether or not we've achieved those
    results. And when you've achieved the results that we, a society,
    expect, we'll give you the big embrace. But if not, for the sake of the
    country, for the sake of kids who deserve better, we expect you to
    change. That's what we're going to say, loud and clear and often. And
    it's working; the program is working.
        I want to thank Margaret for working
    hard with Members of Congress. She's engaged, as you know--she's
    probably wearing you out, Buck--
    [laughter]--and Dale. But that's good. She's
    up there working. Laura is all involved too.
    She's met with a lot of Members of Congress, and she'll stay involved,
    as will I. This is a very important piece of legislation. We want every
    child in America to be a Presidential Scholar. We want every child in
    this country to realize the great potential of America by starting them
    off with a good, sound education that lets them realize their dreams.
        Ours is a fabulous country. We've got kids standing up here who not
    only are scholars but have volunteered to help a neighbor in need. We've
    got people who're volunteering to help protect this country. And the
    thing we've got to do as policymakers is to make sure that we continue
    to advance America by giving people the tools necessary to realize the
    great promise of America.

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        Thanks for coming. God bless you all, and God bless our country.

    Note: The President spoke at 3:13 p.m. in the East Room at the White
    House.