U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings released the following statement regarding today's report by the Manhattan Institute titled Public High School Graduation and College-Readiness Rates: 1991-2002:

"This study highlights the vital need for high school reform now. We owe our nation's youths nothing less. The report shows that two-thirds of our nation's students leave high school unprepared to even apply to a four-year college. That is a travesty. It also offers evidence that the achievement gap, which starts at a young age, continues into high school and ultimately results in high dropout rates. We must close the gap in high school graduation rates between white students and minorities.

"Recent reports have found that we have 'sold' the college dream as the ticket to success. But this study shows that we aren't providing our nation's youths with the skills to get to college. Although I am heartened by the fact that there was improvement over the past decade in the percentage of students leaving high school with the skills and qualifications necessary to attend college, we certainly can do better—and we must do better.

"The president's $1.5 billion High School Initiative provides the blueprint for states to reform our nation's upper grades so that a high school diploma once again has some meaning. I am looking forward to partnering with Congress to extend the promise of No Child Left Behind to high school so that graduates can choose either the path of higher education or the workforce, ready for the challenges of each."

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