[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 24 (Monday, June 16, 2003)]
[Pages 740-743]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act

June 10, 2003

    Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks a lot. Welcome to 
the White House and the beautiful Rose Garden. I want to thank you for 
coming today to help us mark progress, significant progress, toward 
making sure our public schools meet our objective, which is every single 
child in America gets a high-quality education.
    Last year, I had the honor of signing into law some historic 
reforms. The No Child Left Behind Act sets a clear objective for 
American education. Every child in every school must be performing at 
grade level in the basic subjects that are key to all learning, reading 
and math. The ambitious goal is the most fundamental duty of every 
single school, and it must and it will be fulfilled.
    In order to ensure this goal is met, the No Child Left Behind Act 
requires every State in our country to submit an accountability plan 
that leads to measurable gains in student performance. As of today, all 
of the States, plus Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia, have now 
submitted those plans. And that's why we're meeting.
    The era of low expectations and low standards is ending; a time of 
great hopes and proven results is arriving. And together, we are keeping 
a pledge: Every child in America will learn, and no child will be left 
behind.
    I want to thank our Secretary of Education for his service to our 
country. I first got to know him as a superintendent in Texas. He was 
the superintendent of the Houston Independent School District, and I 
figured if he could handle that--[laughter]--he could handle whatever 
Washington threw his way. But he's doing a great job, and so is his 
staff. I want to thank the chief State school officers who are with us 
today. Thank you for your setting high standards. Thank you for your 
care and concern for our Nation's children.
    I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here today. I see 
quite a few Senators and House Members. I particularly want to pay my 
respects to the two chairmen that made the bill happen, Chairman Judd 
Gregg, Chairman John Boehner--Judd of the Senate, John of the House. I 
want to thank you for your leadership. When we had our negotiations on 
the bill and discussions on the bill, I can't remember which one of the 
two said, ``Are you going to follow through?'' I said, ``Yes, we'll 
follow through.''

[[Page 741]]

We're following through, just the way you wanted us to. And I thank you 
for being here.
    Of course, I see Chairmen Regula, Specter, Hatch, Alexander, 
Murkowski--I'd better stop. But anyway, thank you all for being here.
    For too many years, education reform seemed like a losing battle. 
Fads came and fads went while students were passed from grade to grade, 
no matter what they did or did not learn. And as a result, national 
tests showed that fewer than 1 in 3 fourth graders were reading well and 
that only 4 in 10 high school seniors were skilled at reading. Because 
we were just simply shuffling kids through the system, we began to pay a 
serious price.
    But fortunately, we recognized the problem, and we acted. I say 
``we''--it's not only Republicans but Democrats. All of us came together 
to focus on a significant problem for our country. We are now directly 
challenging the soft bigotry of low expectations. Under the No Child 
Left Behind Act, every student in this country will be held to high 
standards, and every school will be held accountable for results. 
Teachers will get the training they need to help their students achieve. 
Parents will get the information and choices they need to make sure 
their children are learning. And together we will bring the promise of 
quality education to every child in America.
    Part of the answer is funding, and we are meeting our obligations 
here in Washington, DC. The Federal Government is investing more money 
in elementary and secondary education than at any other time in American 
history. The budget for next year boosts education funding to $53.1 
billion and an increase of nearly $11 billion since I took office. And 
it wasn't all that long ago that I took office. Funding for Title I, a 
program that helps our most disadvantaged students, has increased 33 
percent to $11.6 billion. And since I took office, we've tripled the 
amount we're spending on effective reading programs to more than $1 
billion.
    At the Federal level, we are putting money into the system. It is 
also important for our fellow citizens to understand that there is money 
available for States to put in accountability systems, for States to 
train teachers in the methods that work, and for States to provide extra 
help to students who need it.
    But it's also important to recognize that pouring money into systems 
that do not teach and refuse to change will not help our children. We 
help children by measuring the educational progress of every single 
child and by insisting on change when progress is not made. We're 
spending more money on schools, but the change is we're now asking for 
results. And those results must be proven, and those results must be 
measured every single year.
    Success comes when we've got strong leadership in our schools, 
leaders who seek the truth, leaders who are willing to confront reality, 
and leadership who believes in the worth of every single child. And we 
have such a leader with us today. Linda Reksten is with us today. Linda 
is the principal of Disney Elementary School in Burbank, California. 
It's a Title I school where half the students are not fluent in English 
and nearly two-thirds come from low-income families.
    Four years ago, her students scored at the 40th and 44th percentiles 
for reading comprehension and math on the State tests. And her school 
wound up on a list of underperforming schools. At first, Linda said she 
and her teachers felt powerless, felt overwhelmed. But they overcame 
their discouragement and got to work.
    And here's what Disney School did. They began a rigorous testing 
program to measure the progress of every child several times a year. 
Teachers who had initially been skeptical of the tests--and I'm sure the 
State leaders here have heard of that skepticism before--learned how to 
use test results to tailor their lessons plans and to make sure every 
child excelled. Morale when up. Discipline problems went down. And last 
year, Disney students scored at the 58th percentile in reading 
comprehension and the 71st percentile in math. And that is tremendous 
progress.
    And let me tell you what Linda said. She said, ``It is this constant 
assessment that tells us what to do next. Once we have the test data and 
we know where the gaps are, we go after the gaps. We know where every 
child is.'' Linda is right. She has shown what works in education. She 
is the model of education

[[Page 742]]

reform. I'm proud you're here. Thank you for your leadership, and thank 
you for your heart.
    The core of the No Child Left Behind legislation is that every child 
must be tested on the basics, starting early, because testing shows what 
children are learning and where they need help. We also need to train 
the teachers in scientifically proven methods of teaching the basics so 
that their students can make progress. And if the basics are not being 
taught and our children are not meeting standards, schools must be held 
to account. There must be a consequence. The status quo, if a school is 
mediocre, is not acceptable.
    We're making good progress in terms of the implementation of our 
accountability systems. In the past 5 months, we have approved the 
accountability plans of 33 States, plus the District of Columbia and 
Puerto Rico. And today we mark an historic milestone of accountability: 
This morning, Secretary Paige has approved the plans of 17 more States, 
bringing us to a total of 100 percent of the accountability plans in 
place.
    I want to thank the Secretary again and his staff and education 
chiefs for helping this Nation make great progress when it comes to 
education reform. Keep in mind that in January of 2001, only 11 States 
were in compliance with a 1994 education law. Every State, plus Puerto 
Rico and the District, are now complying with the No Child Left Behind 
Act after one year.
    Educators are embracing a new level of accountability, which is 
creating a new culture for our Nation's schools, a culture of 
achievement, a culture of results over process. In this new culture, 
accountability plans are driving reform. They contain timelines and 
projections to show how the States will bring all students up to grade 
level in reading and math by the year 2014. All students will be 
tested--tests designed by the States, not the Federal Government. 
Schools are required to disaggregate the testing data, separating the 
results by race and background to make sure all groups of children are 
learning. All schools must release report cards with these results to 
the parents and to the public, so we know which schools are succeeding 
and which schools are not.
    Though the plans have these common elements, each plan is unique 
because each State and its communities are unique. Local people are 
getting the tools they need to find out if children are learning and if 
their schools are working. Local people are charting the path to 
excellence, and that is important because local people know what is best 
for their own children and their own schools.
    The development of these plans involved a lot of hard work. 
Governors stepped up to the line, along with their education chiefs. I 
also want to thank the principals and teachers and parents on the 
frontlines who are working so hard to improve our public schools. 
Instead of throwing up your hands in despair, you decided to challenge 
the status quo and to help each child. On behalf of the Nation, I want 
to thank all who are involved in America's public schools, all who 
demand excellence, for your service to our country.
    And now we look forward to the next phase of school reform. The law 
requires every State to release a list of its schools in need of 
improvement before the start of the school year. The schools on those 
lists are immediately eligible for State assistance that can help them 
improve. The school remains on the list for 2 years. Parents will have 
the option of moving their children to other public schools in the same 
district. If a school stays on the list for 3 years, a parent will be 
given a choice of tutoring programs with proven track records, programs 
in which they can enroll their children at no cost.
    The No Child Left Behind Act gives parents and students alternatives 
when schools do not measure up. Some of those schools will undoubtedly 
have to make difficult choices. That's okay. Remember what's at stake. 
When a student passes from grade to grade without knowing how to read 
and write, add and subtract, the damage can last a lifetime. We must not 
tolerate a system that just gives up on a child early. We must not 
tolerate tired excuses. We must challenge persistent failure. And that 
is precisely what this Nation is going to do. We are insisting on high 
standards and high achievement for every school in every corner of 
America because we have a fundamental belief that every child can learn 
in this country.

[[Page 743]]

    It's an exciting time for American education; it really is. We're 
facing challenges, but we have the blueprint for success. The No Child 
Left Behind Act charts the way for a better tomorrow. We've also got a 
greater advantage than the law. We have got the will and the character 
of the American people. Parents and teachers and principals and 
education chiefs are making good on our promise to leave no child left 
behind. We will continue to stand with them as they help the next 
generation realize the greatness of our country.
    And we do live in a great country, a country of great values, a 
country of hope, a country that believes in the best for every single 
citizen who lives in our land.
    May God bless your work, and may God continue to bless the United 
States of America.

Note: The President spoke at 2:10 p.m. in the Rose Garden at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Title I of the Improving America's 
Schools Act of 1994 (Public Law No. 103-382), which amended Title I of 
the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (Public Law No. 89-
10). The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of these remarks.