NOME, ALASKA ― U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today joined Senator Ted Stevens and Senator Lisa Murkowski to highlight strides made by Alaska's schools and students under the No Child Left Behind Act during a series of school visits in rural Alaska. Noting the progress made by Alaskan students at all grades levels over the past two years, Secretary Spellings underscored the need to strengthening the law through Congressional renewal this year and continue the progress toward grade-level success for all students.

"In Alaska students are achieving results, and I am excited to continue the national dialogue on education and discuss ways to build on the progress being made and reach the goal of having all students read and do math on grade level by 2014," said Secretary Spellings. "I'm encouraged by the teachers, administrators, students and parents who have taken time to meet us on the road and engage in serious discussions about education in Alaska."

"I am proud of the students, teachers, administrators and parents across the state," said Senator Murkowski. "I look forward to showing Secretary Spellings the tremendous progress that we are making in both urban and rural communities. I hope to convince her that, with the provisions I have proposed through legislation, we can make No Child Left Behind work even better in Alaska."

Secretary Spellings began the day in Bethel with a visit to Ayaprun Elitnaurvik School with Senator Murkowski, where they observed classes that teach using Yup'ik immersion to enrich students' academic experience. Spellings and Murkowski were then joined by Senator Stevens at the Yuut Elitnaurviat School, The People's Learning Center, a regional vocational center that trains students in technical fields and core academic subjects, to tour the school and classrooms.

Spellings, Murkowski and Stevens also traveled to Shishmaref to visit science and social studies classes at Shishmaref School and attended a school assembly where the students performed a cultural Eskimo dance. They also toured the village of Shishmaref, located just 22 miles below the Arctic Circle.

The Secretary and Senators concluded their day's events in Nome, where they joined Mayor Denise Michels and school and local leadership for a dinner at Nome Beltz Junior/Senior High School to discuss Alaska's unique challenges and ways the U.S. Department of Education is working to help make No Child Left Behind more flexible and workable to help all students learn and achieve. At the dinner, Spellings commended Nome on its achievement gains since the law was enacted five-and-a-half years ago.

Secretary Spellings and President Bush have reaffirmed their commitment to meeting the challenges of rural education through increased flexibility under No Child Left Behind. The President's policy proposals for the reauthorization of the law this year include flexibility of Highly Qualified Teacher requirements for rural teachers that instruct multiple subjects, and proposals to increase the use of growth models. Alaska was recently approved for the growth model pilot program, which allows the state to track individual student achievement over time, giving schools credit for improvement from year to year. The Bush Administration has also proposed new School Improvement Grants to target funds for the nation's most challenging schools and provide technical assistance to turn around low-performing schools.

For more information on rural education and the President's proposals for the reauthorization of No Child Left Behind, visit http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/leg/nclb/factsheets/ruraled.html

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