U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings yesterday visited the Gary and Jerri-Ann Jacobs High Tech High School in San Diego, Calif., to learn how the school is challenging students with rigorous coursework in science, technology, engineering and math and to participate in an education policy roundtable discussion with students, teachers and administrators. In addition, Secretary Spellings delivered the keynote address at the Biotechnology Institute's Education Awards Banquet in San Diego before approximately 700 gifted high school students, scientists, educators and administrators.

During the school visit, Secretary Spellings commended High Tech High School's innovative teaching strategies and rigorous curriculum, particularly in the high-demand fields of science and math. Participants at the policy roundtable discussed how the federal government can build on successes such as those at High Tech High School to support academic gains in classrooms nationwide and to prepare every child with grade-level skills or better as called for under No Child Left Behind. High Tech High's Chief Executive Officer Larry Rosenstock and Board Chair Gary Jacobs joined Secretary Spellings for the school visit and roundtable.

Following the school visit, Secretary Spellings delivered the keynote address at the Biotechnology Institute's Education Awards Banquet in San Diego before approximately 700 gifted high school students, scientists, educators and administrators. The Biotechnology Institute is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to informing the public, students and teachers, about biotechnology and its potential for solving human health, food and environmental problems.

Following are the Secretary's remarks as prepared:

Thank you, Pete Leddy, for introducing me.

I'd also like to thank Paul Hanle, President of the Biotech Institute, for hosting me.

It's an honor to be here with you and so many other innovators—students, teachers, and pioneers of science and industry who are working to cure cancer, AIDS, and Alzheimer's.

You are game-changers and world-savers who are on the verge of accomplishments as great as mankind's journey to the moon... and as transformative as the World Wide Web.

Building a hopeful future depends on helping more of today's students grow up to be just like you. Which is why I'm especially excited that the 2008 BioGENEius Challenge finalists are here with us.

These high school students are working on projects from gene therapies to bioplastics... to a microbial fuel cell that helps clean wastewater and generates electricity at the same time.

What concerns me is that while these young people are demonstrating such remarkable ingenuity... the average minority student in an urban middle school lacks even basic math literacy. At the high school level, only half of African American and Hispanic students earn diplomas on time. Among all students who do graduate, only half are prepared for college-level math.

While other fields rocket ahead, our education system is in many ways stuck in the industrial age. As a report by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce put it, "Most schools preserve the routines, cultures, and operations of an obsolete 1930s manufacturing plant." That's unacceptable in today's global economy.

The good news is, we're beginning to change the way we think about learning and teaching... testing new theories, questioning old assumptions, and measuring results—just like the scientific method.

With No Child Left Behind, for the first time, we're beginning to use objective data to drive decision-making in education—just as in science, medicine, business, and other fields. And that shift offers tremendous potential for improvement and innovation.

Dr. James Watson, who won the 1962 Nobel Prize for helping to uncover the double helix structure of DNA, once said, "We won't know what went wrong" in mental diseases like Alzheimer's "until we can find the gene that sets it off."

You know better than anyone just how right he was. Since we mapped the human genome, avenues for life-altering research have multiplied exponentially. Our new ability to pinpoint potential health issues offers hope for developing treatments... and in some cases, for preventing illness before it even occurs.

In the same way, standards and measurement are helping us map what you might call our country's "academic genome." Now that we're using data to diagnose problems, we are not only solving them... we're also building an arsenal of proven solutions for educators to share and replicate.

As innovation and technology transform the way we live, work, and play, schools must become flexible and agile enough to meet employers'—and students'—changing needs. To accomplish this goal, we must begin tailoring instruction and using time in more innovative ways—so that every child gets the extra help they need when they need it... as well as the rigorous coursework they need and deserve. And we must dramatically improve the way we use and share information... from the classroom to the federal level.

For example, the Teacher-Leaders here today are pioneering new models of delivering content. They understand that teaching the fundamentals effectively... goes hand-in-hand with developing the leaders of tomorrow. They're reaching across disciplines to show students how emerging sciences are not only relevant to real life... but critical to our future. They're turning their classrooms into "CSI Miami"-style forensics labs that require students to cross-train in chemistry, biology, physics and math... and to combine these disciplines in creative and inventive ways.

I saw another beacon of innovation this morning, when I went to High Tech High in San Diego. Students there represent the full diversity of California's population. Nearly 20 percent are from low-income families. And 100 percent attend college. In fact, many start college before they're finished with high school—thanks to a "challenge option" to dual-enroll at a UC campus. And it's not just the students who are challenged; teachers also have the option to earn graduate degrees on site.

This is customized learning at its best. Now, we must bring it to scale.

All over our country, parents, students, policymakers, and educators are demanding more rigorous coursework. And rightly so. Three out of four students say that they don't feel challenged in school. And a recent Gates Foundation study confirmed that when students drop out of high school, it's often because they found classes to be boring and irrelevant—not because they were failing classes... and often not because they lacked the ability to succeed. In fact, studies estimate that up to 20 percent of dropouts could qualify as gifted.

Instead of wasting so much human potential, we must help all our students develop the knowledge and skills they need to improve their lives and ours. Accountability and measurement offer a framework for reaching this objective. Research shows that holding schools more accountable helps increase student achievement across all racial and ethnic groups... and at every level of the academic spectrum. In fact, accountability benefits high achievers at least as much as those who need extra help.

Of course, to challenge more students, we must arm more teachers with proven strategies. We would never ask a doctor to learn surgery on the operating table. And teachers shouldn't have to reinvent their own research labs every time they walk into a classroom, either. That's why I convened an expert panel to identify the best scientific research on teaching math. My department is working to share these insights with teachers across the country.

In addition, we are helping to train tens of thousands of educators to teach Advanced Placement classes. A high school student who passes an AP exam is three times more likely to earn a college degree. Unfortunately, nearly half our high schools offer no AP classes at all. Students can't learn what they haven't been taught.

It's no surprise that many of these schools serve poor and minority students. And that's unacceptable.

To combat this dire inequity, we are rewarding teachers who take on the most difficult assignments... and for the results they achieve when they do. In fields from science to government, we pay more to those who succeed in addressing our most pressing challenges. And we need to do the same in our schools.

That's why I'm pleased to see that this approach has generated a buzz on the campaign trail. And I hope that the next administration will take decisive action to build on this momentum.

All of these efforts are only the beginning of a larger movement to make education as dynamic, adaptive, and forward thinking as fields like biotech, nanotech, medicine, and business. Every person has a stake, so I've brought a few assignments:

Scientists and innovators: we need your help to better apply the lessons you've learned in your fields to improve education. So I was pleased to learn that the Biotech Institute plans to partner with Bio and Battelle to track and evaluate how well states are preparing students to succeed in your industry.

I also call on you to help us answer the next big questions in education: How can we do a better job of taking effective innovations to scale? What implications can we draw from science and technology to support educational improvement and transformation?

Teachers: Your voices are an essential part of our national conversation and the real work of education reform. How can we do a better job of sharing best practices and delivering insights from research to your classrooms and schools?

What can we do to support you and prevent you from having to reinvent the wheel with every lesson you teach?

Students: You are used to texting, IM-ing, and trolling Facebook and MySpace. I can only imagine how exciting it must be for many of you to stare at a blackboard in a 19th century classroom...

How can we draw on the technologies you've grown up with to create a classroom experience that's not only more engaging... but also more effective?

And finally, how can we convince the American people that we all have a stake in reform? How can we help more people understand that the quality of education we provide to young people in Anacostia and Harlem and Watts, is as important as the quality of education that we provide to you?

The actions we take today will have great consequences for our ability to tackle this century's toughest challenges. They'll also define the character of our nation. Every time science and innovation raise the bar... our neediest students fall farther behind.

At a time when 90 percent of our fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education... it's simply unacceptable that 90 percent of low-income students fail to earn a college degree before their mid-twenties.

With No Child Left Behind, we declared a goal of preparing every student with grade-level skills or better. That's the least we should expect in today's global economy—yet there are many who think even this is too much to ask.

As innovators, you know better. You know that our greatest accomplishments come from envisioning and working towards goals that others deem impossible.

If we can map the human genome, surely we can equip every student with grade-level skills or better.

If we can develop treatments and even cures for humanity's greatest afflictions, surely we can adapt our school systems to better serve every child's needs.

Together, we can and will open new doors of opportunity in education... just as you are opening new pathways of opportunity that increase our quality of life in every other way.

Thank you. I'd be happy to answer your questions.

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