[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 42 (Monday, October 24, 2005)]
[Page 1559]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Secretary of Education Margaret 
Spellings

October 19, 2005

    The President. Laura and I are proud to welcome our Secretary of 
Education here to the Oval Office. Secretary Spellings has just 
delivered what's called the Nation's Report Card, which is a sample of 
over 300,000 students from--in every State, as to whether or not they've 
got the capacity to read and write and add and subtract in the fourth 
and eighth grade.
    This is an encouraging report. Thank you for coming, Madam 
Secretary, because it shows there's an achievement gap in America that 
is closing, that minority students, particularly in fourth grade math 
and fourth grade reading, are beginning to catch up with their Anglo 
counterparts. And that's positive, and that's important. It shows that a 
system that measures and focuses on every child is a system that can 
help us and achieve a goal that we really want in America, and that is 
every child learning to read and no child--and add and subtract and no 
child being left behind.
    This is an important yardstick. It's an important measuring tool. It 
will allow States to compare how they're doing with their neighboring 
States, for example. It also points up where we've got more work to do. 
We've got work to do in eighth grade reading. And that's why we've 
discussed the program, Striving Readers Program. We hope Congress funds 
that program to make sure that there's intense focus in the middle 
schools in reading and math, just like there's intense focus in the 
early grades in reading and math.
    And so, Madam Secretary, thanks for coming. Appreciate you 
delivering the report. No Child Left Behind is working.
    Secretary Spellings. Thank you, Mr. President.
    The President. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:16 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House.