More Resources Press Release & Report

I want to thank the teachers and staff of Engleburg Elementary School for hosting us today.

You have been a beacon of change as you've worked to implement the No Child Left Behind Act. Your dedication and hard work are paying off, and your efforts have not gone unnoticed.

We must now, as a nation, take the next step. For too long, we've watched as isolated islands of educational improvement emerged, unconnected to one another.

Our challenge now is to end that isolation, to build bridges to one another, so we may learn how to overcome common obstacles and turn our good intentions into positive results.

Our Office of Innovation and Improvement, with the help of two highly respected educational organizations, is publishing a series of booklets.

They offer schools and districts practical, real-world examples of educational innovations and ways to implement them.

Many districts are doing an excellent job. Our hope is that through these booklets on promising practices they will exchange good ideas with many more districts.

The booklet we are releasing today concerns the creation of strong district school choice programs in support of No Child Left Behind.

Under No Child Left Behind, Title I schools that do not bring children up to grade level in reading and mathematics over a two-year period must offer parents more options. These can include other public, charter, magnet or alternative schools.

I am here in Milwaukee because this school district is profiled in the book. It means you have done several things very well in offering parents educational choices.

Several promising practices from Milwaukee and four other districts around the country are highlighted:

• First, parents deserve to make informed choices--districts must communicate clearly, early and often with parents about their options.
• Second, students deserve adequate school and transportation options--districts must create and expand schools and programs to meet students' academic needs, now and in the future.
• Third, schools deserve the support of their district. Parents are most likely to ask their child's teacher or principal for information about their choice options. These folks need to be kept in the loop about the district's program.
• And fourth, choice programs must be improved over time. Districts must track the choices parents make, survey their satisfaction and learn from the results.

We found that even a simple letter to parents can make a big difference.

Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) communicates three separate times to parents about their options--in letters written in clear English, not in legalese.

Milwaukee's Parent Center then follows up, contacting parents about their overall experience.

MPS and the other districts featured in this booklet understand that No Child Left Behind is not imposed on them--it's owned by them. And they're taking ownership.

The others are Mesa Public Schools in Arizona; Cambridge Public School District in Massachusetts; Desert Sands Unified School District in California; and Miami-Dade County Public Schools in Florida.

I want to thank each and every one for its dedication and hard work. They are not "slow-walking" change.

Instead, they've committed to doing much more than the minimum to make sure that all children receive the best education possible.

The U.S. Department of Education has a responsibility to identify and highlight these promising practices and innovations, to help them take root all across the country.

Starting today, this booklet will be available over the Internet at http://www.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2004/05/05242004.html.

We're also making 50,000 copies available to teachers, principals, administrators and parents, some of whom may be learning about these choice options for the first time.

Let me talk about school choice for a moment.

Former Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Howard Fuller once asked why people do not want low-income parents to have choices.

In 1990, competition was introduced in Milwaukee, in the form of scholarships offered to parents of lower-income students.

Fourteen years later, more than 13,000 Milwaukee voucher students are enrolled in over 100 private or parochial schools. And studies have shown significant test score gains among students who used vouchers.

Charter schools have also blossomed in this great city, serving the needs of children who had once been left behind, and contributing myriad innovations of their own.

That's the best part. Choice didn't just give students a way out, it helped improve the public schools they left.

When I ran the Houston school district, I welcomed the competition. Forced to fight for customers, schools set the bar higher. And here in Milwaukee, increased choice has lifted all boats.

In other words, instead of isolated islands of academic change, competition changed the environment for everyone.

And that is why choice is a vital component of No Child Left Behind.

We must not be complacent. NCLB is less than three years old. We have a long way to go before we "graduate with honors"!

This is not the time to celebrate success, but to show our commitment to succeed.

We must offer an example to our students by fulfilling both the spirit and the letter of No Child Left Behind.

On the day he signed the law, President Bush said this is "just the beginning of change." He said it's up to us--all of us--"to stand up and demand that no child be left behind."

The people of Milwaukee have stood up--and we stand behind them and everyone else who is working to make No Child Left Behind a reality for all students, regardless of race, creed, ethnicity, neighborhood or hometown.

Thank you, Milwaukee, for doing more than your part!

Thank you.

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