    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [January 8, 2009]
    [Pages 1522-1528]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on the No Child Left Behind Act in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    January 8, 2009

        The President. Thank you for the warm welcome. And Laura and I are thrilled to be here at Kearny School. We have
    come because this is one of the really fine schools in the city of
    Philadelphia. We bring greetings from the Nation's Capital, but more
    importantly, we bring appreciation for those who are working so hard to
    make sure that every child can learn.
        You know, 7 years ago today, I had the honor of signing a bill that
    forever changed America's school systems. It was called the No Child
    Left Behind Act. I firmly believe that thanks to this law, more students
    are learning, an achievement gap is closing. And on this anniversary, I
    have come to talk about why we need to keep the law strong. If you find
    a piece of legislation that is working, it is important to make sure the
    underpinnings of that law remain strong.
        I do want to thank Laura for joining me. She
    has been an awesome wife and a great First Lady. Our journey together in
    Washington has been fantastic, and I thank her very much for her love.
        I am proud to be here with Arlene Ackerman. Thank you for your introduction, Arlene, and thank you
    for being--[applause]. Arlene is a reform-minded leader. And by that, I
    mean you have a superintendent here who is willing to challenge the
    status quo if the status quo is unacceptable. Sometimes that's hard in
    public life. You see the status quo, and people are saying, ``Oh, let's
    just leave it the way it is, it's too hard to change.'' And you have a
    superintendent here that says, ``If we're finding failure, we're going
    to change.'' And

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    I want to thank you for taking on this important assignment.
        I'm proud to be here with my buddy. I
    guess it's okay to call the Secretary of Education your buddy; that
    means friend. And she has been our friend for a long time. She is a
    great Secretary of Education. And, Margaret, I want to thank you for
    being here.
        I want to thank the senior Senator--I
    guess it's okay to call you senior--Arlen Specter. He is a good friend,
    and he cares a lot about the State of Pennsylvania and the education
    systems in the State. So thank you for coming, my friend.
        Jerry Zahorchak is with us, the
    Pennsylvania Department of Education Secretary. Jerry, thank you for
    being here, and thank you for serving.
        I want to thank all the State and local officials; particularly, the
    State representative from this district has kindly come by to say hello
    and participate in a roundtable we just had.
        Roy Romer, former Governor of Colorado, and
    an education reformer, has just spoken, and I want to thank Roy. He
    happens to be the chairman of Strong American Schools. It's got a nice
    ring to it, doesn't it? Strong American Schools. That means schools that
    actually teach people how to read, write, and add and subtract. At least
    that's my definition of strong American schools.
        I want to thank very much the Reverend Al Sharpton. Now, some of you are probably about to fall out of
    your chair--[laughter]--when you know that Al and I have found common
    ground. And by the way, it's on an important issue. See, he cares just
    as much as I care about making sure every child learns to read, write,
    and add and subtract. And I want to thank you for your leadership on
    this issue, and I appreciate you being here.
        I want to thank the teachers who work here. I particularly want to
    thank Principal Spagnola for her leadership.
    And the thing about educators, first of all, every good school has got a
    principal who is a good principal. That's generally the key ingredient
    to success, somebody who can set high standards and motivate. And this
    principal can do just that.
        And for the teachers, thank you for taking on a noble profession.
    Laura and I are proud to report that one of our
    daughters is a teacher, and it makes us feel just
    incredibly great to know that we've raised a child who is willing to
    take on an important task of teaching a child to be able to have the
    skills necessary to succeed in life.
        There are a lot of reformers here, and I welcome the reformers.
    These are people from society who say, ``I want to help the school
    system succeed.'' When I got off Air Force One today, I met Adam
    Bruckner. I mentioned to some kids, ``Have you
    ever heard of Adam Bruckner?'' And they said, ``You're talking about Mr.
    Adam.'' I said, ``That's who I'm talking about.'' He is volunteer; he's
    a mentor. He happens to be a professional soccer coach, which means he
    knows how to play soccer, and he is willing to lend his skills and, more
    importantly, his heart, to teach a child the beauty of being a sports
    person and the lessons of life that come from good competition.
        And so I want to thank you very much, Adam, for being here and representing all the folks who
    volunteer at this program.
        At the end of the Presidency, you get to do a lot of lasts. I don't
    know if you saw on TV, but I pardoned my last Thanksgiving turkey.
    [Laughter] This is my last policy speech. As President of the United
    States, this is the last policy address I will give. What makes it
    interesting is that it's the same subject of my first policy address as
    President of the United States, which is education and education reform.
        I hope you can tell that education is dear to my heart. I care a lot
    about whether or not our children can learn to read, write, and add and
    subtract. When I was a Governor of Texas, I didn't like it one bit when

    [[Page 1524]]

    I'd go to schools in my State and realize that children were not
    learning so they could realize their God-given potential. I didn't like
    it because I knew the future of our society depended upon a good, sound
    education.
        I was sharing this story with people that Laura and I just met with, and at the time I went to a high
    school in my State, one of our big city high schools. And I said, ``Man,
    thanks for teaching.'' I met this teacher. I think his name is
    Brown, if I'm not mistaken----
        Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. Nelson Brown.
        The President. ----Nelson Brown--and he
    taught geography and history, if I'm not mistaken. I said, ``How is it
    going, Mr. Brown?'' He said, ``It's going lousy.'' I said, ``Why?'' He
    said, ``Because my kids cannot read, and they're in high school.'' You
    see, the system was just satisfied with just shuffling kids through: If
    you're 14, you're supposed to be here; if you're 16, you're supposed to
    be there. Rarely was the question asked: Can you read? Or can you write?
    Or can you add and can you subtract?
        And so we decided to do something about it. We said such a system is
    unacceptable to the future of our State. And that's the spirit we
    brought to Washington, DC. It's unacceptable to our country that
    vulnerable children slip through the cracks. And by the way, guess who
    generally those children are? They happen to be inner-city kids, or
    children whose parents don't speak English as a first language. They're
    the easiest children to forget about.
        We saw a culture of low expectations. You know what happens when you
    have low expectations? You get lousy results. And when you get lousy
    results, you have people who say, ``There's no future for me in this
    country.''
        And so we decided to do something about it. We accepted the
    responsibility of the office to which I had been elected. It starts with
    this concept: Every child can learn. We believe that it is important to
    have a high quality education if you're--one is going to succeed in the
    21st century. It's no longer acceptable to be cranking people out of the
    school system and saying, ``Okay, just go--you know, you can make a
    living just through manual labor alone.'' That's going to happen for
    some, but it's not the future of America, if we want to be a competitive
    nation as we head into the 21st century.
        We believe that every child has dignity and worth. But it wasn't
    just me who believed that. Fortunately, when we got to Washington, a lot
    of other people believed it, Democrats and Republicans. I know there's a
    lot of talk about how Washington is divided, and it has been at times,
    at times. And it can get awfully ugly in Washington. But nevertheless,
    if you look at the history over the past 8 years, there have been
    moments where we have come together. And the No Child Left Behind Act is
    one such moment.
        It gives me a chance now to thank Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts, Senator Gregg
    of New Hampshire, Congressman Miller of
    California, Congressman Boehner of Ohio,
    Republicans and Democrats who worked together to get this piece of
    legislation passed. I believe that in signing that bill we enacted the
    most sweeping education reforms in a long, long time.
        The philosophy behind the law is pretty straightforward: Local
    schools remain under local control. In exchange for Federal dollars,
    however, we expect results. We're spending money on schools, and
    shouldn't we determine whether or not the money we're spending is
    yielding the results society expects?
        So States set standards. One reason this school makes sense is
    because you have a principal who sets high standards, keeps that bar
    high. And we hold schools accountable for meeting the standards. There--
    we set an historic goal that--and that is to--every child should learn
    to read and do math at grade level by 2014.

    [[Page 1525]]

        The key to measuring is to test. And by the way, I've heard every
    excuse in the book why we should not test: ``Oh, there's too many tests;
    you teach the test; testing is intrusive; testing is not the role of
    government.'' How can you possibly determine whether a child can read at
    grade level if you don't test? And for those who claim we're teaching
    the test, uh-uh. We're teaching a child to read so he or she can pass
    the test.
        Testing is important to solve problems. You can't solve them unless
    you diagnose the problem in the first place. Testing is important to
    make sure children don't slip too far behind. The facts are, if you get
    too far behind in reading, for example, it's nearly impossible to catch
    up. That's why it's important to test early.
        Measuring results allows us to focus resources on children who need
    extra help. And measuring gives parents something to compare other
    schools with. You oftentimes hear, ``Oh, gosh, I wish parents were more
    involved.'' Well, one way to get parental involvement is to post
    results. Nothing will get a parent's attention more than if he or she
    sees that the school her child goes to isn't performing as well as the
    school around the corner.
        Measurement is essential to success. When schools fall short of
    standards year after year, something has to happen. In other words,
    there has to be a consequence in order for there to be effective
    reforms. And one such thing that can happen is parents can enroll their
    children in another school. It's--to me, measurement is the gateway to
    true reform, and measurement is the best way to ensure parental
    involvement.
        By the way, school choice was only open to rich people up until No
    Child Left Behind. It's hard for a lot of parents to be able to afford
    to go to any other kind of school but their neighborhood school. And
    now, under this system, if your public school is failing, you'll have
    the option of transferring to another public school or charter school.
    And it's--I view that as liberation; I view that as empowerment.
        There's been a lot of debates about the requirements of No Child
    Left Behind. No question, a piece of legislation like this encourages
    debate, and that's fine. That's part of the democratic process. But
    there is no debate about the results: the first time all 50 States and
    the District of Columbia have accountability plans in place. The data is
    being disaggregated. That means that we--instead of just lumping all
    children together and say, ``Oh, isn't everything beautiful,'' we
    actually break each child out to determine whether or not he or she is
    getting the kind of education parents and society expects. And that's an
    important reform.
        Instead of looking the other way when students are falling behind,
    policymakers at all levels are now beginning to be focused on how to
    close the achievement gap. Achievement gap is--it means this: White
    students are reading here, and African American students are reading
    here, and Latino students are reading down here. And that is
    unacceptable for the United States of America.
        In the classroom, students are learning from highly qualified
    teachers. In other words, that's part of the reforms of encouraged--the
    focus on highly qualified teachers. Schools have adopted research-proven
    strategies for reading instruction. There's a lot of debate, if you
    follow the public education debates closely, that there's a lot of
    debate about what's the best kind of reading program as to how to best
    teach a child to read. Well, when you measure, it helps you determine
    which system works the best. The principal was describing to us, we're
    always adjusting and looking to make sure our education is--fits each
    individual child. In other words, she's constantly analyzing her
    instruction strategies, and a measurement system allows you to do so.
        There's a new Teacher Incentive Fund in place, as a result of No
    Child Left Behind reforms, and a city like Philadelphia

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    are rewarding educators for taking jobs in this city's toughest
    classrooms, and those who are achieving results. In other words, there's
    an incentive to make sure good teachers get in the classrooms all
    throughout the city. And by the way, this is happening all across our
    country.
        You know, I mentioned disclosure. More and more districts are
    producing annual report cards, and that's really important. And I did
    mention to you what they call supplemental services. Under the No Child
    Left Behind Act, when you find a disadvantaged child falling behind
    where he or she should be, there's extra money for tutoring. And across
    the country there's now about a half a million students benefiting from
    the tutoring that comes from No Child Left Behind. It makes sense,
    doesn't it? It says we're going to measure, and if we determine you need
    extra help, here's some money to help you so that you don't fall behind,
    so that you catch up.
        The number of charter schools, by the way, has more than doubled
    over the past 7 years. Charter schools provide good outlets. And I met
    the head of the--president of the charter
    school association here in Philadelphia. He said 10 years ago there were
    four, and today there are--yes, a lot. [Laughter] When you get over 60,
    it's hard to hear. [Laughter]
        The most important result of the No Child Left Behind is this: Fewer
    students are falling behind; more students are achieving high standards.
    We have what's called the Nation's Report Card. For those who wonder
    whether or not we should strengthen No Child Left Behind, I want you to
    hear this: fourth graders earned the highest reading and math scores in
    the history of the test. Minority and disadvantaged students made some
    of the largest gains, with African Americans and Hispanics posting
    alltime highs in several categories.
        No Child Left Behind is working for all kinds of students in all
    kinds of schools in every part of the country. That is a fact. There's
    still a long way to go, however. Secretary Spellings has worked hard to
    give schools tools and flexibility. She issued new regulations that will
    reward schools for progress students make from year to year. She helps
    to provide programs that provide a clear graduation rate. And one of the
    problems we've had, of course, is getting enough information out in a
    timely fashion to empower parents to be able to make wise decisions
    about the future of their children. And she has worked steadily to make
    sure that information gets to parents in a timely fashion.
        Obviously, there's--a piece of legislation like this takes
    compromise. But there is no compromise to the basic premise of No Child
    Left Behind, and that is we need to measure on a clear set of goals. We
    need a few goals that have got maximum impact, and we need to know
    whether or not those goals are being met. People say, ``Can you possibly
    meet the goal you set?'' And the answer is, absolutely can we meet the
    goals that we've set. And not only is it absolutely--confident we can
    meet it, I know it is necessary that we do meet those goals.
        Laura and I have been privileged to travel to
    schools over the past 8 years such as this, and you'd be amazed at what
    we get to see. We get to see hard-working, decent citizens who dedicate
    their lives to making sure no child is left behind. And we have seen
    innovators who are willing to try different approaches to achieve the
    same result. So we went to Harlem to see a school district there. They
    attend school for 10 hours a day. So the educators, taking advantage of
    local control, said, ``What does it require to make sure that we meet
    high standards?'' In this case, the educators said, ``Well, we need to
    have school 10 hours a day.'' The teachers give parents their cell phone
    numbers, so that they can be called anytime. And as the teachers told
    us, they do get called anytime--[laughter]--to help solve problems. I
    was just thankful that there weren't cell phones when I was going to
    elementary school. [Laughter]

    [[Page 1527]]

        I have seen the resolve for reform and the belief in high standards
    in Chicago, where reading and math scores are soaring, and where every
    child still has time to study a foreign language and the fine arts. The
    school in Chicago we went to, like other schools across the city, have
    benefited from the vision and leadership of a person named Arne
    Duncan, and he is going to be the next Secretary
    of Education. And we are fortunate he has agreed to take on this
    position. And we wish him all the very best.
        Laura and I will never forget the resolve
    that we saw in New Orleans after Katrina, and the determination by
    principals and teachers to get their schools up and running. And they
    did. And by the way, they have placed innovation at the center of a
    rebuilding school system. They believe in high standards and
    accountability to make sure that out of the rubble of Katrina comes a
    world-class education system.
        And we've seen the resolve here at Kearny. That's why we're here.
    Every year--we met a mom, who told us her twins now come to this school.
    You know, it's interesting what happens when you post scores. Nobody
    cares more about a child's education, obviously, than the first teacher
    a child has, which is a parent. And this notion about how parents really
    don't seem to care, they care, believe me. And when there's transparency
    in the system it helps them make informed choices. And so mom was saying
    her twins come here. She also said, by the way, they weren't really
    reading up to snuff initially, and yet they got extra help. And now
    guess what? They're reading up to snuff. Kearny School works.
        They commute for miles. Some of the families commute for miles
    because they understand it's a place of excellence. This is a school
    where a lot of community and faith-based groups come to help. And that
    is really great of you to do that. And by the way, it happens in other
    schools too. And if you're interested in how you can serve America, why
    don't you volunteer in your local school? If you want to be a member of
    the army of compassion in America, help your schools. Help your schools
    help each child realize their God-given potential.
        I believe that it is going to be important for our citizens to take
    a hard look at No Child Left Behind, and listen to the facts of No Child
    Left Behind, and then say with clear voice, for the sake of our
    children's future, this good law needs to be strengthened and
    reauthorized by the United States Congress.
        There is a growing consensus across the country that now is not the
    time to water down standards or to roll back accountability. There is a
    growing consensus that includes leaders of the business communities
    across America who see an increasingly global economy and, therefore,
    believe in standards and accountability. There's a growing consensus
    amongst leaders of civil rights organizations, like La Raza, and the
    Urban League, and the Education Equality Project. These leaders refuse
    to accept what I have called the soft bigotry of low expectations.
    There's a growing consensus includes a lot of parents, and
    superintendents, and mayors, and Governors who insist that we put our
    children first.
        And so I've come to herald the success of a good piece of
    legislation. I have come to talk to our citizens about the results this
    reform has yielded. And I call upon those who can determine the fate of
    No Child Left Behind in the future to stay strong in the face of
    criticism, to not weaken the law--because in weakening the law, you
    weaken the chance for a child to succeed in America--but to strengthen
    the law for the sake of every child.
        Thank you for letting us come by for the last policy address that we
    have been honored to make. God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:19 a.m. at General Philip Kearny School.
    In his remarks, he referred to Arlene C. Ackerman,

    [[Page 1528]]

    superintendent, School District of Philadelphia; political activist Rev.
    Alfred C. Sharpton, Jr.; Eileen Spagnola, principal, General Philip
    Kearny School; Adam Bruckner, assistant coach, Major Indoor Soccer
    League's Philadelphia Kixx; and Lawrence Jones, president, Pennsylvania
    Coalition for Charter School.