[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 28 (Monday, July 14, 2003)]
[Pages 884-888]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Highland Park Elementary School in Landover, Maryland

July 7, 2003

    Thank you all. Thanks for coming. Please. Windy, thank you very 
much. I'm proud of you. I'm proud of your dedication. It is a great 
country where Windy can come from a Head Start program and is now a 
leader in the movement to make sure Head Start fulfills the promise of 
the program.
    First, I want to thank the good folks here at Highland Park 
Elementary School for letting me come by and see a program which works. 
I don't know if the people in the State of Maryland know this--I know 
the Governor does--that the teachers here and the program here uses a 
strategy, what they call a Center for Improving Readiness for Children, 
Learning, and Education, C.I.R.C.L.E., which is a model program. It's a 
program that incorporates profound and simple reading lessons necessary 
to lay the foundation for future readers. And it's a program that's 
working. There is a strong emphasis on learning. There is obviously the 
continued Head Start focus on good nutrition and health care. This 
program also works well because the parents are involved.
    So, I've really come to say a couple of things. One, I want to thank 
the good folks at this learning institution for your focus and 
dedication. I also want to say that this is possible, this program is 
possible, to be spread around the country. I mean, this is what we need 
to do. That's what we're here to talk about. We're really here to talk 
about how to make sure Head Start works.
    I'll never forget the lady in Houston, Texas, who stood up at one 
time and she said, ``Reading is the new civil right.'' Her point was, is 
that if you can't read, it is hard to access the greatness of America. 
And if

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reading is the new civil right, a good place to start with civil rights 
is at the Head Start programs all across the country.
    And that's what we're here to talk about, how to make then work 
better. They're working okay. We want better than okay in America. We 
want excellence. Windy understands that, and I want to thank her for 
working with my Secretary for the Department of Health and Human 
Services, Tommy Thompson. I appreciate you coming, Tommy.
    And I appreciate my friend Rod Paige. He's the Secretary of 
Education. If you noticed, the two Secretaries are here, Health and 
Human Services and Education. The idea is to combine both focuses, both 
Departments into one when it comes to Head Start. The Head Start program 
will stay under Tommy's purview, but we want it to become an Education 
Department as well.
    I mean, after all, you've got a million kids gathered together at 
one time during the day. If you've got a million kids that may be, as 
they call them in the education world, at-risk readers, let's get it 
right early then. That's what we're saying. And that's what this 
initiative is attempting to do.
    I appreciate Bob Ehrlich, the Governor of this great State. He knows 
what he's doing when it comes to education. He's got a great wife, the 
First Lady, Kendel, with us as well. Governor Ehrlich sets high 
standards. He challenges what I call the soft bigotry of low 
expectations. He understands if you lower the bar, assign certain kids 
to failure based upon demographics, that's precisely what you'll get in 
the State of Maryland. So he said, ``We ought to raise the bar.'' He 
believes every child can learn. And so does the Lt. Gov. Michael Steele. 
They understand that high standards will yield high results. And the 
best place to start in achieving high standards is with the littlest of 
children.
    I want to thank very much Congressman John Boehner for coming today. 
The Congressman is not from Maryland; he's from Ohio. But he's an 
important figure since he's the chairman of the House Education 
Committee which is marking up legislation which will help us spread 
excellence to the Head Start programs all across the country. 
Congressman, thanks for coming. I look forward to continuing to work 
with him.
    He also is one of the authors of what we call the No Child Left 
Behind Act, which I'll talk about a little bit later. But the No Child 
Left Behind Act essentially says we expect every child to learn, and 
there is going to be high standards and strong accountability measures 
to every State in the Union. In return for increased Title I funding and 
in return for an increase in the Federal budget of elementary and 
secondary schools act money, we expect results. You see, we're not going 
to just spend money and hope something positive happens. We're going to 
spend money and see results.
    Well, if you believe in high standards and accountability, then it's 
really important to get the young kids up to the starting line at the 
same time. And that's why the Head Start reforms we're going to talk 
about are important, the reforms which John and his committee are 
carrying to the floor of the House relatively soon.
    I want to thank Nancy Grasmick, who is the State superintendent of 
schools in Maryland. I'm honored that you're here. Thank you for coming, 
and thank you for taking on a tough job. I appreciate Andre Hornsby as 
the superintendent of schools, an even tougher job. Government closest 
to the people is sometimes government that's the hardest. And I want to 
thank Guylaine Richard, who is the program director for the Head Start. 
I appreciate, Guylaine, you opening up this chance for me to come and 
see a program which works.
    I want to thank Lori Ellis, the principal. When we leave, she can 
take a deep breath and relax and say, ``Thank goodness the entourage has 
departed.'' [Laughter] I appreciate the--Tonya Riggins, who is the 
Highland Park Head Start Center coordinator. I want to thank Lisa 
Dunmore and Alice Williams, the two fine teachers we had to meet. For 
the teachers who are here, thank you for doing what you're doing. You're 
a part of a noble profession, an incredibly important profession for the 
future of this country. You know what I know, that reading is the key to 
all learning. It's where you've got to start.
    And the research--I see some of my friends from the National 
Research Council,

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National Institutions of Child Health who are here. Reid Lyon is an 
expert. He's not a political person. He's a scientist. He understands 
how the brain works, and he's spent a lot of time analyzing what works 
and what doesn't work. He caught my attention when I was the Governor of 
Texas. I would ask him a question, ``Are you sure we can teach kids, you 
know, the so-called impossible-to-teach?'' He said, ``Sure, I know it. 
I'm absolutely certain.''
    And so he started doing research to convince the people about the 
real future. And he says that--he and his fellow researchers--that 
preschoolers can learn much more than we ever thought possible about 
words and sounds.
    In other words, society limited how much a certain--how much a 
preschooler could learn. At least our imaginations weren't very open. It 
kind of felt like certain things were impossible to--certain knowledge 
was impossible to impart to our children, particularly the young.
    And so I want to thank Reid and the good folks who are focusing on 
science, who have opened up a tremendous realm of possibility now to 
achieve that which we want, a literate America. He also says there--he 
and other researchers say, and this is just as important, kids love to 
learn. They love to learn to read. Even the youngest child can learn 
that we read words and letters from left to right or that letters are 
associated with sounds; even the youngest of toddlers can figure that 
out over time.
    In one exercise, children clapped for each syllable in a word. They 
can trace letters on the page to begin to understand the movements we 
use to write. They can play word games and learn rhymes and songs that 
help them to develop their own vocabulary. That sounds like a simple 
curriculum, but it is research-based, all aimed at laying the foundation 
for children to become good readers. These are what we call the building 
blocks, and these building blocks need to be a part of Head Start 
programs all across America. That's the mission. That's the goal.
    Research also shows that if children do not develop these skills 
before they reach kindergarten, they will struggle to achieve success in 
their lives. Now, we need to listen to that kind of research in America. 
If the scientists come together and say, ``If we fail in our mission to 
give children the foundation necessary for reading, they will fall 
behind and may not be able to develop the skills necessary, so they have 
to struggle in life,'' we got a--this is an opportunity that we better 
not miss.
    We cannot let our children down. Now look, Head Start is a great 
opportunity to provide the foundation for reading. And first, I just 
want everybody to understand, Head Start does a good job of giving 
children nutrition and medical care. That has been primarily the focus, 
and the program needs to be applauded for meeting that goal. And nobody 
in this room wants Head Start to change that focus. We just want an 
additional focus to Head Start, and the Head Start focus is teaching the 
basics for reading and math. That's the new focus, along with health and 
nutrition.
    The Department of Health and Human Services did a report, and here 
is what it said: ``Even though most children in Head Start make some 
educational progress, most of them still leave the program with skills 
and knowledge levels that are far below what we expect.'' Now, in my 
line of work, if you see a problem, you address it. And I see that as a 
problem. If we're not meeting expectations, if we're not challenging the 
soft bigotry of low expectations, let's start right now in America. We 
want Head Start to set higher ambitions for the million children it 
serves.
    And so I laid out a plan. Every Head Start center must prepare 
children to succeed by teaching the basics of learning and literacy. 
That's the cornerstone of the plan. And every Head Start teacher must 
have the skills necessary to do so.
    And so we started last year when we launched the Strategic Teacher 
Education Program, STEP, to train 3,300 Head Start teachers and 
supervisors in the C.I.R.C.L.E. program, which is used right here at 
this school. In other words, it's a go-by. It is a curriculum. It's easy 
to understand. It's easy to teach. It's easy to implement. It is not a 
difficult chore for a teacher to take the basic learning from the 
C.I.R.C.L.E. program developed by the scientists and implement it

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at the Head Start program in which he or she teaches.
    Tonya Riggins, the assistant Head Start supervisor at Highland Park, 
was one of the teachers in the program. Tonya and thousands of other 
trained teachers went back to train other teachers at the program. So 
it's going to--we started with 3,300. Those 3,300 went back to their 
local communities and talked to teachers with whom they teach how to 
teach a basic curriculum. It is a--and by the way, as new teachers are 
added, they too will be given the tools necessary to teach the program.
    Now, in order to make sure that the C.I.R.C.L.E. program is--and 
other curriculums which work--are being used, is working, I believe 
there needs to be an evaluation program. And after all, if we're 
spending a lot of taxpayers' money, which we are, it makes sense to 
determine whether or not these programs are, in fact, laying the 
foundation for reading.
    Now, I fully understand a 4-year-old child is not going to take a 
standardized test. That would be absurd. That we would--we would be 
defeating the purpose of accountability before we even began if we said, 
``Okay, we'll give standardized tests to 4-year-olds.'' But we can have 
children assessed by asking simple questions. You know, words go left to 
right. Are you able to identify certain sounds? Are they developed by--
developing the key skills necessary?
    And I think what needs to happen is--and I hope Congress agrees--
that the simple evaluations at the beginning of the year and the end of 
the year will tell us whether or not progress is being made in 
developing a curriculum necessary to teach children how to read. And if 
they are, we ought to be praising the programs, and if they're not, 
something else ought to happen. We cannot miss the opportunity much 
longer in America. Otherwise, children will be left behind.
    And so Boehner is here because his committee and the Congress is 
considering legislation that would put a new emphasis on language skills 
and literacy skills in Head Start programs. In other words, we're going 
to codify into law that which we have started through the teacher 
training program.
    The legislation will require Head Start providers to teach language, 
reading, and writing skills, as well as early math skills. In other 
words, it now becomes a part--when they pass the law that says the Head 
Start mission is further defined as an educational mission. And those 
programs that are used must be proven by scientific research. The 
legislation would hold Head Starts accountable for getting the job done.
    Now look, as I mentioned before, the No Child Left Behind Act says 
every child can learn. We're going to have high standards. We're going 
to trust the local people to develop the curriculum, but in return for 
Federal money, we want you to measure to tell us whether or not children 
are learning to read and write. And that's a heavy lift for some 
communities, because there hasn't been a proper focus on the little 
children.
    And therefore, we're asking people to develop an accountability 
system without everybody being at the same starting position. And that's 
why it's so important for preschool programs to be focused on literacy, 
so that when the accountability systems kick in in Maryland or Texas or 
anybody else, we can truthfully say that every child has been given the 
tools necessary to be at the starting line at the same time, so that we 
have true accountability, true measurement. And that's why the Head 
Start program is important.
    Now, there's Governors around the State, the country that have said, 
``Look, give us the flexibility to be able to dovetail the Head Start 
program into our preschool programs so that all students--so we have a 
better control over whether or not the students are given the skills 
necessary so that when you hold us to account, we can achieve that which 
we want to achieve, which is excellence in the classroom.''
    I appreciate the desire for flexibility. I support the Governors' 
desire for flexibility so long as, one, Federal monies going to the 
States are used only for Head Start. In other words, what we really 
don't want to do is say we're going to focus on Head Start; the Head 
Start money goes for, you know, a prison complex. I know that won't 
happen with Governor Ehrlich, but there needs to be a guarantee that the 
Federal money spent on Head Start only go to Head Start.

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    Secondly, States and local governments must put money into the 
program, which would lock in the Head Start money for Head Start. So, in 
other words, the flexibility given to the State would not allow the 
States budget flexibility. It's management flexibility to be able to 
take the Head Start program, dovetail into the preschool program, then 
the kindergarten program, and then into the elementary school program.
    Governors ought to have that flexibility to--hope that Congress will 
provide that flexibility so that when the accountability systems kick 
in, fully kick in, that a Governor can truthfully say, ``Well, I've had 
the tools necessary to make sure the Head Start program fits into an 
overall comprehensive plan for literacy and math for every child in the 
State of Maryland,'' in Governor Ehrlich's case.
    This is a very important initiative I'm talking about. It is--it 
seems like to me a fantastic opportunity for the country to make sure 
that the desires of this country are met, and that is every child become 
a good reader. If reading is the new civil right and human dignity and 
freedom is what this country is all about, let's make sure every child 
learns to read.
    So I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come today. We know 
what works. We've got the pros and the experts that have laid out a 
curriculum that will help us achieve a goal. We've got a million kids 
anxious to learn, showing up on a daily basis at Head Start programs all 
across the country. We've got teachers who want to teach. We're writing 
the checks for the local governments and the local Head Start programs. 
Let's combine it all into a comprehensive strategy that will allow us 
all to say, ``We have done our duty for future generations of children 
by laying the most important foundation of all, and that is the ability 
for each child to learn to read.'' I know it can happen. There's no 
doubt in my mind.
    I want to thank those of you who are working on the frontlines of 
education. I appreciate your willingness to accept a new mission to be 
incorporated with the old mission. And I appreciate your willingness to 
work hard, to see to it that not one single child in America is left 
behind.
    May God bless your work. And may God continue to bless America. 
Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11 a.m. at the Head Start Center. In his 
remarks, he referred to Windy M. Hill, associate commissioner, Head 
Start Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, Department of 
Health and Human Services; Andre J. Hornsby, chief executive officer, 
Prince George's County Public Schools; Guylaine Richard, program 
supervisor, and Tonya Riggins, acting assistant program supervisor, Head 
Start, Prince George's County Public Schools; and G. Reid Lyon, branch 
chief, Child Development and Behavior, National Institute of Child 
Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. The Office 
of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of 
these remarks.