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Madison, N.J. — U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today addressed business and education leaders on the importance of American competitiveness and the need for increased math and science education in the United States during a meeting at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The following are her prepared remarks:

Thank you. I want to thank Dr. Adams for welcoming us here to Fairleigh Dickinson University. And I want to thank Art Ryan for that kind introduction.

As the CEO of Prudential, Art's made a living out of encouraging people to plan ahead. And on the side—pro bono—he's working to ensure we do the same as a country by giving our students the skills to succeed in the 21st century. It's second nature for him.

I'm also glad to see Congressman Frelinghuysen here today. He's been a leading voice for ensuring America remains the world's leader in innovation and research. As you all know, it starts with education.

Business leaders have an important role to play in education reform, and I want to thank Thomas Bracken for his leadership in the business community. Here in New Jersey, you're at the heart of the telecommunications, pharmaceutical, and finance industries. You're also at the center of improving the way we educate and assess our students thanks to ETS. You know what skills our students will need in the future, and you have a vested interest in making sure every child has them.

That's why you're encouraging students to take more rigorous courses in high school through the State Scholars program. Our students are going to need these higher-level thinking skills whether they go on to college or the workforce. And I like your motto: Learn More Now. Do More Now. Earn More Later.

Under Art's leadership, you've been a powerful voice for raising standards and achievement through organizations like New Jersey United for Higher School Standards and the Business Coalition for Education Excellence. And I want to thank you for supporting No Child Left Behind.

For the first time ever, our country has made a commitment to ensure all students—regardless of race or zip code—can read and do math on grade level. And we are holding ourselves accountable for making sure it happens by 2014. That's what taxpayers want and expect. And as a parent, I don't think it's too much to ask for my child to have third grade reading and math skills by the end of third grade. And I'm pretty sure most all parents feel this way.

Now is not the time to back away from this commitment. The world is only getting more competitive. And if we're going to keep our edge, we must run faster and break new ground ... just like we Americans always have.

We're a nation of pioneers and innovators. We're always looking for better, faster, and new ways of doing business. And New Jersey has always led the way. You gave us the light bulb, the motion picture, the transistor, and the first communications satellites.

In the last century, American innovation fueled a communications revolution that connected people around the world like never before. As a result, it's not the same world we grew up in. The rules of the game have changed.

The spread of democracy and capitalism are opening new markets and giving us billions of new customers ... along with billions of new competitors. And the common currency everyone needs is math and science skills. Today what you know means far more than where you live.

While we're sleeping every night, accountants in India are doing our taxes. Radiologists in Australia are reading our CAT scans. And technicians in China are building our computers.

And here at home, we'd probably sleep a bit easier if we knew our students had the skills to compete. Currently, our 15-year-olds rank 24th out of 29 developed nations in math literacy and problem solving.

Meanwhile, only one state in the country requires students to take four years of math and science in high school. And it's not my home state of Texas. It's Alabama. High school students here in New Jersey have to take physical and health education every year—which is great—but they only have to take three years of math. Of course, we want our students to be physically fit, but we also want them to be academically prepared.

Math is becoming essential in fields ranging from advertising to consulting to media to policymaking. I can't say it any better than the recent Business Week cover story: "Math Will Rock Your World."

Whether filling "white" collar or "blue" collar jobs, employers today need workers with "pocket protector" skills—creative problem solvers with strong backgrounds in math and science. And there's a wide and growing consensus that our education system isn't keeping pace with the times.

Wherever I go, I hear the same message from governors, educators, parents, and business leaders like you. We've got a problem with our high schools. And as Charles Cascio said earlier, most New Jerseyans agree it's time for reform.

Every year, one million students across the country drop out of high school. And it's not just the students who are getting shortchanged. We all pay a cost—more than $260 billion in lost wages, taxes, and productivity.

We know 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education, but less than half of our students graduate from high school ready for college-level math and science. I recently heard a story about a New Jersey security firm that had to interview 1,300 high school graduates just to find 130 who could pass a seventh-grade math and reading test. That's unacceptable. A high school diploma should be a record of achievement, not a certificate of attendance.

That's why the President and I are supporting high school reform that focuses on reading, math and science. And we must start by extending the benefits of high standards and accountability for results to our high schools.

There's no way to know what students are learning unless you measure their progress with annual assessment. As business leaders, you understand the importance of setting high goals and measuring results. And I'm looking forward to working with you to help strengthen New Jersey's annual assessment system in the coming months.

As we say in Texas, "What gets measured gets done." And thanks to No Child Left Behind, we are collecting data in grades 3-8 to see how our students are doing, where they need to improve, and when we need to say congratulations for a job well done.

It's already making a real difference in our younger grades. Across the country, reading scores for 9-year-olds have increased more over the last five years than in the previous 28 years combined. And here in New Jersey, the number of fourth graders who know their math fundamentals has increased by well over 6,000 students since 2003. That's almost enough kids to fill the undergraduate class here at Fairleigh Dickinson.

Now we must build on this groundwork to prepare students for more rigorous math and science coursework in high school. In the State of the Union, President Bush announced a plan to double the federal investment in science over the next decade and encourage the private sector to make new bold investments in research and innovation. But to do all this, we first must give our students the skills to compete and lead in the global economy.

A key component of that is giving more students the chance to take Advanced Placement courses. The College Board tells us there were nearly a half million students who were ready for AP calculus last year but didn't take it or have access to it.

Unfortunately, many students, especially in lower-income communities, still don't have the opportunity to take these classes. More than a third of high schools across the country offer no AP classes at all.

With the way we ration these courses, you would think we don't want students to take them. And that needs to change, especially when we know that our students are going to need these skills to succeed in the future. Where I live in Virginia, suburban Langley High School offers 21 AP courses—which is great—but there's something wrong when just across the Potomac River, inner-city Ballou High School offers but four.

That's why President Bush has called for preparing an additional 70,000 teachers to lead Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes in math and science. We also want to recruit 30,000 qualified math and science professionals to become adjunct high school teachers. Imagine a NASA scientist teaching high school physics.

IBM has been a real leader on this front. Through the Transition to Teaching program, the company is working to prepare some of its most experienced employees for a second career in the classroom as math and science teachers.

Of course, just offering students more advanced math and science courses isn't enough. We have to change the way our students look at these classes as well. One recent study found that 84 percent of middle school students would rather clean their rooms, take out the garbage or go to the dentist than do their math homework. And their parents aren't much better. A study last week found that 70 percent of high school parents say their children already get enough math and science in school.

You and I know why this matters, and we must work together to make sure parents and students do too. Today, I'm proud to announce we're releasing a list of steps businesses and organizations can take to help prepare students in their communities for the future. And I look forward to sharing that with you.

As a mother, I've heard all the excuses for why things can't be done... but we didn't get where we are as a nation by saying things were too hard. Time and time again, from the Wild West to outer space, America's can-do attitude has broken new ground. Now we must raise the bar again.

If we give our children the skills to compete, they will rise to the challenge. As President Bush said in the State of the Union, above all else, "We must continue to lead the world in human talent and creativity." And we will.

There are certain things you can't teach in a classroom that our country already has—creativity, diversity, and a free-enterprising spirit. It's at the heart of the American dream.

Almost a century ago, Thomas Edison helped found the New Jersey Chamber of Commerce to give more New Jerseyans the chance to live that dream. And today, you're carrying on that legacy by expanding opportunity and ensuring America continues to lead on the frontiers of the future.

Thank you, and now I'd be happy to answer some of your questions.

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