[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 8 (Monday, February 26, 2001)]
[Pages 313-317]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks in a Roundtable Discussion on Education in Columbus, Ohio

February 20, 2001

[Principal Maria J. Stockard welcomed guests and introduced the 
roundtable participants.]

    The President. Thank you, Maria. Maria, thanks very much for your 
hospitality. I thank all the people that are on your staff that 
accommodated this horde of folks that travel with me. [Laughter] And I 
hope we haven't been too disruptive, but it's an honor to be here.
    First, I want to say thanks to my friend, the Governor. It's good to 
see you again, Bob. I appreciate your hard work here. I want to thank 
the congressional delegation that traveled with me: the Senator, two 
Congressmen--other than Congressman Pat Tiberi from this district. 
Deborah Pryce and Dave Hobson came down on the plane with us, and I 
appreciated our discussion, and thanks for your time, both of you. And 
thank you, Mike, as well, for being here. I want to thank my friends the 
Wexners for being here.
    One of the things we saw was a program of mentors. And it's a good 
way to lead into the strength of an accountability system and what it 
means, because a mentor is really not very effective unless there is a 
need identified. I mean, what we need to use mentors for and a host 
program for is to combine the love of our citizenry with enabling 
children to learn to read, in this case, by identifying problems.
    One of the things that I'm insisting that the Congress enact is a 
law that says that if you receive Federal money, you, the State, or the 
local jurisdiction must measure to show us whether or not children are 
learning. The heart of education reform is accountability. The heart of 
making sure every child learns and no child is left behind is 
accountability. Because how do you know if you don't measure? How can 
you possibly judge

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whether or not a child is learning to read and write and add and 
subtract unless we know?
    A system that refuses to be held accountable is a system that 
shuffles children through. And guess who gets shuffled through? In my 
State, oftentimes children whose parents didn't speak English as a first 
language, inner-city children. It's so much easier to walk into a room 
and say, ``Oh, these kids aren't supposed to learn. Let's just move them 
through. It'll be okay. Somewhere along the line something positive may 
happen.'' That's unacceptable to me, and I think it's beginning to be 
unacceptable to America. I know it's unacceptable to Rosa.
    I got to know Rosa last summer when I was in your school district, 
and she knows what I know, that good education starts with high 
standards and the unfailing belief that every child can learn, 
regardless of their background or their circumstances; secondly, that 
local control of schools is paramount to change and excellence. It's 
important to empower the superintendents, like Rosa. She knows what I 
know, a great principal of a school is going to make an enormous 
difference as to whether or not children learn. One of the reasons we 
picked this school is because of Maria's guidance and leadership.
    But also, the cornerstone of reform and the need to make sure we 
meet the national goal of no child being left behind, is to test. I'm 
unalterably opposed to a national test. Any kind of national test would 
undermine local curriculum and local control of schools. But I do 
believe it makes sense and is right to ask the question: If you receive 
Federal money, what are the results for the money spent? I know that 
some say, ``Well, testing is punishment.'' No, testing is a diagnostic 
tool, necessary to correct problems early, before it's too late.
    Later on, I'll be in St. Louis, Missouri, today, and I'm going to 
talk about a reading initiative that will start at the Head Start 
Program. But in order to make sure any reading initiative or any math 
initiative that takes place is effective, we must measure. And we must 
make sure that children, by the way, all start at the same spot, at the 
same starting point, in order for the accountability systems to make 
sense.
    I think it's fundamentally--well, I know it's fundamentally 
important to ask the question, ``What works?'' Particularly, ``Will, the 
host program work?'' How do you know if you don't measure?
    When we ask the question, ``What works?''--Rosa asks that question 
all the time here in the Columbus School District. And the feedback she 
gets from accountability system will help determine not theory but the 
practicality of good curriculum and teacher training programs and giving 
students the necessary language skills to be able to succeed in our 
society.
    So I'm here to talk about accountability as the cornerstone for the 
kinds of reforms that will empower local folks to make necessary 
decisions. One of the key components of any accountability system is 
there must be a consequence. If there is success, there must be a 
consequence. Often times, the best success, as these local educators 
will tell you, is to have a parent walk up--like our good parent here, 
Brenda--and say, ``Thanks for what you're doing. You saved my son,'' or 
``You saved my daughter.'' That's the best feedback. But I also believe 
there needs to be bonus plans, and my budget will include some notion 
for bonuses for districts that succeed.
    However, if we find failure, there must be a consequence. And I 
believe that districts ought to be given--those who received Federal 
money ought to be given a reasonable period of time to correct problems. 
And there needs to be some intermediate help to help districts correct 
problems.
    But at some point in time there has to be a final moment. At some 
point in time we've got to say, ``Failure is unacceptable.'' We believe 
every child can learn, and since every child isn't learning, something 
else must happen. And I believe the best program is that which empowers 
local districts, empowers us to make different choices if the children 
are mired in mediocrity and failure.
    I'm excited about the progress I've seen being made on our public 
school reform in Washington, DC. It starts with the understanding that 
Washington is not the fount of all knowledge. As a matter of fact, we're 
going to pass power back out of Washington to empower people at the 
local level. But

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it's important for us to have that national goal of every child being 
educated and the best public school system ever possible on the face of 
the Earth. And that's a goal both Republicans and Democrats, and those 
who don't care about any political party, can agree on.
    And we're making progress, and I look forward to working with 
Members on both sides of the aisle to put the most important cornerstone 
of reform in place, and that's accountability.
    Someone who is not afraid of being held accountable because she's 
got an unbelievably positive record and a positive spirit and a great 
attitude is the superintendent of schools right here in Columbus, Ohio, 
Dr. Rosa Smith.

[Superintendent Rosa Smith welcomed the President and Mrs. Bush and 
briefly described the Columbus schools accountability system, noting 
that students were assessed every 9 weeks.]

    President Bush. Thank you, Rosa. As I mentioned, I had the honor of 
meeting Rosa last summer, and to show you how powerful she is, she said, 
``You need to appoint Dr. Rod Paige to become Secretary of Education.'' 
[Laughter] Well, 6 months later, I did. [Laughter]

[Ms. Stockard introduced veteran reading teacher Maisie Glover, who gave 
her perspective on the effectiveness of assessment as a resourceful tool 
to help students succeed.]

    President Bush. I think that's important for people to hear. The 
assessment system is never meant to punish; it is meant to provide a 
useful tool to both teacher and specialists and principals and 
superintendents to determine what works.
    There's a lot of discussion about parental involvement in schools. 
There is nothing that will make a parent more involved than to know 
whether or not his or her child is learning. One of the things that in 
my State I did when I was the Governor was encourage there to be open 
transparency when it came to performance. So everybody knew--so 
everybody was aware of whether or not their school--a lot of parents 
think their school is doing just fine, until the results are posted.
    And we've got a parent here that I can't wait for you all to hear 
from. [Laughter] I got an earful behind the scenes--[laughter]--a 
positive earful. [Laughter] Tell us your story, Brenda.

[Brenda Seffrin stated that parents must be held accountable also, and 
she described how her learning-disabled child had progressed after she 
enrolled him in Ms. Stockard's school.]

    The President. You were going to tell me something? [Laughter] Don't 
panic----
    Ms. Seffrin. Why are you putting me on the spot? [Laughter]
    The President. Join the club. [Laughter]
    Ms. Stockard. She indicated that she had several questions written--
--
    Ms. Seffrin. Well, I just was wondering if you could recommend any 
programs for our school to help encourage children--and this is for you, 
too--to write books, as well as read books. If there was anything that 
we could do.
    The President. My recommendation is you tell Maria that. [Laughter]
    Ms. Seffrin. Okay. [Laughter]
    The President. The truth of the matter is, the best way to achieve 
objectives is to empower people at the local level to make those 
decisions. That's why a good principal, like Maria, will encourage 
parental involvement, so she gets feedback from what parents would like 
to see their children doing.
    Part of the problem is Washington. People look at Washington and 
say, ``Well, we've got all the answers up there.'' And the truth of the 
matter is, we don't, particularly when it comes to education. We may be 
able to provide some funding, so long as that funding is not so 
prescriptive that it hamstrings the ability for people to make decisions 
necessary--because I can assure you the schools in Columbus, Ohio, are 
really different from Laredo, Texas. The children are--they're to be 
loved, but we've got different challenges in different parts of the 
country. And that is why flexibility is important. And that's why 
specific programs that you'd like to see incorporated in the schools 
ought to be taken to the principal and not to some distant land called 
Washington, DC.

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[Ms. Stockard introduced Gov. Bob Taft of Ohio, who said the report of 
the State's Commission on Student Success, concerning how Ohio could 
achieve the best possible system of high standards, assessment, and 
accountability, aligned with the President's proposals and had support 
from Ohio legislators.]

    The President. I appreciate that, Governor. Thanks, I--the Governor 
recognized legislators who will decide the fate of the program. I need 
to do the same thing. [Laughter] One of the things chief executives in 
government know: We get to propose; we just don't get to write the law. 
We occasionally get to veto law, but we don't get to write it.
    There's a lot of pressure on Members from a couple of fronts. One is 
the no-testing crowd, based upon there's no role for government. I 
strongly disagree, and I hope you agree with me, because we need to be 
results-oriented people. All we're asking is, is it working? What are 
the results?
    There's another segment of our society, the no-testing crowd saying, 
``All they do is teach the test.'' Well, just ask Brenda what it's like 
to see her son get taught how to read, who then was able to pass the 
literacy test.
    There's a group of folks that'll say, ``You can't test because it's 
racist.'' What's racist is not testing. What's racist, it seems like to 
me, is giving up on kids, just move them through and hope we get it 
right--and hope we get it right. One of the most profound statements I 
heard was from a lady in Houston who was the reading czarina from the 
Houston Independent School District, who worked for Rod, named Phyllis 
Hunter. She said, ``Reading is the new civil right.'' That's a pretty 
powerful statement when you think about it.
    The fate of the program that I've submitted depends upon Members of 
the United States Congress, and you've elected a good one from the 
Columbus area named Tiberi--sitting right up here. Are you with me, Pat? 
[Laughter] Not to put any pressure on you. [Laughter] Just teasing.
    Representative Patrick J. Tiberi. What do you think, Deborah? Sorry. 
[Laughter] Do I have the stage? [Laughter]
    The President. Yes, you do. You've got the vote, and you've got the 
stage.

[Representative Tiberi complimented the President for his passion on the 
issue of education reform and stressed that all sectors should 
participate, not just the Federal Government.]

    The President. That means yes. [Laughter] Smart man, holding out to 
negotiate. [Laughter] Thanks for traveling with us, Pat.
    Representative Tiberi. Thank you.
    The President. I am passionate on the subject. I can't think of a 
more noble goal than to make sure every child is educated. And it's 
going to happen. You see, the systems in the past have viewed kind of 
mass migrations of students through, and one of the things that an 
accountability-oriented system will do is, we start judging each child 
on his or her individual merit.
    One of the keys to success--and I think we're going to get this out 
of Congress, by the way, and I hope the members of the legislature 
support the Governor on this--is to do what they call disaggregating 
results. When you measure, you must measure on a child-by-child basis. 
Think about what the reform means, that when we start viewing--saying 
each child matters and we're going to track each child based upon his or 
her progress, it starts to provide the catalyst for ultimate change, 
which is a system that slowly, surely evolves away from the mass 
migration of students through schools to tailoring programs to meet an 
individual's needs.
    The mentoring program that The Limited has put in place is the 
beginnings of a system that is able to focus on a child on a one-to-one 
basis. Rosa says that they assess each child's progress on a 9-week 
basis. That says we're first asking the question, what about this 
particular child? In the past, accountability systems that really 
weren't holding people accountable would just lump people into an 
overall group.
    And so I want to applaud the members of the Ohio Legislature for 
being willing to think about how to encourage reform within the system.
    There's a lot of debate about school choice, and there should be. 
That's fine. But the cornerstone for reform is accountability, 
ultimately, giving parents, if need be, depending on whether the State 
likes it or not, the opportunity to make a different choice.

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That's up to the State. As far as I'm concerned, if a district receives 
Federal money, and that school won't teach and won't change, then at 
some point in time that money should not go to continue to fuel failure.
    And one option is charters, and one option is school choice, but 
another option is private tutoring or private schools. But that's--and 
the Congress is going to wrestle with that issue. But the whole reason 
I'm here today is to remind people that the true agent for reform is 
accountability and be willing to measure on a child-by-child basis, and 
then correct on a child-by-child basis, where correction is needed. And 
you watch what happens in America.
    The spirit of reform, and as Pat said, the willingness for people to 
discuss this issue in an open way is going to really reinvigorate the 
public schools. And to say to our teachers, loud and clear, ``We love 
you for teaching,'' and to say to our principals, ``Thanks for being the 
catalysts, the educational entrepreneurs we need,'' to herald the great 
superintendents around the country that are making a major difference, 
that's what this is all about.
    And this is something our country must achieve and will achieve. And 
it's not going to come out of the Federal Government. We're just a small 
part of it. But one thing the President can do is to continue talking 
about this issue until we get it right. And that's exactly what I'm 
going to do.

[Ms. Stockard then described how her students colored simple bar graphs 
to chart their own progress toward specific goals throughout the school 
year. Mrs. Bush discussed the impact and value of teachers to the 
Nation, and said she hopes to attract young people to the profession.]

    The President. Brenda, have you got anything else you want to say, 
now that you're warmed up? [Laughter]
    Ms. Seffrin. No, but thank you for being here. It really meant a 
lot.
    The President. Well, thanks. We're delighted.
    Well, what do you think, Gov?
    Governor Taft. I think you've got Congressman Tiberi's vote. 
[Laughter] Senator DeWine is looking very supportive back there.
    The President. He is supportive.
    Governor Taft. And Congresswoman Pryce as well. I think that she 
looks supportive. I think you're making some headway. And I just want to 
say this, we really appreciate the fact that you have come to Ohio to 
highlight your education program.
    The President. It's a great State.
    Governor Taft. Really, your first domestic trip outside of 
Washington. We're honored.
    The President. Well, thanks. It's a great State, and it seems like 
every time I come to Columbus, I'm coming to another school. That's a 
great testimony to the school district. And for those in Columbus who 
don't realize this, actually I've got some roots here. My grandfather 
was raised in Columbus, Ohio. Yes, Prescott S. Bush. So we're proud of 
the city and really appreciate the hospitality always shown when we come 
here.
    Thanks very much for having us. Appreciate it.

Note: The roundtable began at 10:42 a.m. in Room 19/20 at Sullivant 
Elementary School. In his remarks, the President referred to 
Representatives Deborah Pryce and David L. Hobson; Senator Mike DeWine; 
and Les Wexner, State chairman, Business Leadership Council for 
OhioReads.