Thank you, Gary. I am very grateful to Gary Phillips and the staff of the National Center for Education Statistics for conducting this research and preparing this report to offer all of us important information on the progress of American students across the country and in individual states and other jurisdictions.

We should also thank Russ Whitehurst. President Bush made an excellent choice in choosing Russ to direct educational research.

Before I begin, I want to welcome Ed Donley and George Nelson to the Department of Education. Ed is a well-respected citizen in our country who has served this Department and several secretaries with great distinction.

As a former astronaut, George has entrusted his life to the work of scientists many times, so he can stress the importance of good science education with extra vigor. I look forward to hearing from them.

As with most of the progress reports NCES has developed over the 32-year history of NAEP, the more you delve into the scores in this report, the more interesting they become.

At first glance, the scores look flat. Our students are not learning science any better.

On second glance, you notice that while fourth- and eighth-grade scores are flat, twelfth-grade scores have declined.

The decline is not huge, but it is statistically significant, and morally significant as well. After all, twelfth grade scores are the scores that really matter. If our graduates know less about science than their predecessors four years ago, then our hopes for a strong 21st century workforce are dimming just when we need them most.

America needs inventors, engineers, doctors, computer designers and scientists. We need botanists, veterinarians, chemists, astronomers and naturalists. But in order to pursue these careers, our children need an excellent grounding in science and right now our system is not delivering it.

Let's dig further beneath the surface and disaggregate the scores. Gary pointed out that we still have a significant achievement gap between black and Hispanic students and their classmates. Now you'll notice that the achievement gap closed slightly in twelfth grade because white students did worse.

Part of the federal role in education is to help disadvantaged students and to close the achievement gap. Obviously, this is not the way we want to close it. We need to help students of every race to perform better.

Whenever reports come out with bad news about student performance, there's a temptation among some parents to say: "That's a problem in urban schools, but here in the suburbs, our schools are just fine." "That's a problem for kids with poor parents or no parents, but my kids will be fine."

This report shows that is not true. Suburban students performed no better than urban.

In fact, it is white students with educated parents and economic advantages in public schools whose scores declined significantly at the twelfth-grade level. Every group should do better, but the ones we might be complacent about actually have declining scores. Scores show us that science poses challenges to every demographic group, not just a few. Everyone should be concerned. Eighty-two percent of our high school seniors are not performing at the proficient level in science.

Fortunately, there is also good news to be found in these scores. The good news is that schools with very diverse populations can do well in science. One set of schools in this report presents us with the following student population: 40 percent are members of a minority group, 50 percent receive free or reduced price lunch, 80 percent have parents who never went to college, and 35 percent who switch schools every year.

I am talking about Department of Defense schools, both domestic and overseas, which educate a population some would consider challenging and do it very well.

Of the states in the test, only one state scored above either type of DOD schools in eighth-grade science. They are also improving. Twice as many overseas DOD eighth graders reached the advanced level as in 1996, and their domestic peers increased their average scale score significantly during the same period.

How can DOD schools take diverse, highly mobile groups of students and do so well? The answer is startlingly simple and familiar- they set high standards, they demand accountability, and they encourage parental involvement.

This should not be a surprise. We know these are good ideas. That's why President Bush included them in his education plan, . Congress is close to delivering him a final education bill and through it we will give teachers and parents around the country the tools they need to improve student performance just as DOD schools have.

States will set clear and high standards for what a child should know and learn. Schools will be held accountable for ensuring all students meet those standards. And we will give parents more control over their children's education by giving them more information and more choices.

We will also improve teacher quality. No Child Left Behind gives states and districts more flexibility to use federal resources to improve teacher quality. And we will work to address the shortage of qualified teachers, particularly in the areas of math and science, by making it easier for qualified professionals to enter the teaching field. Our Transitions to Teaching program helps pave the way.

Every year, thousands of Americans in their twenties or thirties who majored and worked in technical fields finish a tour in the military. We need to make it easier for them to become science teachers and math teachers and history teachers.

We need this not just for our economy, but also for our national security. I urge all of you to read the recent report by the U.S. Commission on National Security in the Twenty-First Century, chaired by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman. The report says, "The U.S. need for the highest quality of human capital in science, mathematics, and engineering is not being met...[and one] reason for the growing deficit in high-quality human capital is that the American Kindergarten-12 education system is not performing as well as it should." The report also notes that, "core secondary school curricula should be heavier in science and math, and should require higher levels of proficiency for all high school students."

Instead of improving our own science education, we have been relying on the education other countries provide to their citizens. In 1999, the Immigration and Naturalization Service granted 115,000 H-1B visas to foreign workers. Last year, to meet the demands of our high-tech industry, Congress increased that visa cap to 195,000 workers. There is nothing wrong with the H-1B program, but there is something wrong when American schools cannot produce enough good workers for valuable American jobs. There's something wrong when foreign workers are getting jobs in America because we failed to teach American graduates the skills.

We know we can do better. America's strength has always depended on the energy and skill of her citizens. In only a few centuries we automated agriculture, harnessed electricity, and put a man on the moon.

Our future can be just as bright, but in order to get there we must make sure every succeeding generation understands science.

Some of us serve our country as scientists; the rest of us can serve our country by ensuring that, in science and math and reading and history, no child is left behind.

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