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June 19, 2003

Secretary of Education Rod Paige reacts to release of the National Assessment of Educational Progress report on reading.

Clip #1:   Listen (:14)   Download(1.5mb)

Transcript: The NAEP is the nation's report card. And for too many years, this report card has been reporting poor performance on the part of our young people. This recent report gives us some glimmer of hope and something to look forward to.

Clip #2:   Listen (:17)   Download(1.8mb)

Transcript: What I found most encouraging about this report was the performance of students who were eligible for free or reduced lunch—disadvantaged students, limited English proficient students—those students that the No Child Left Behind act is aimed at primarily, showing great growth.

Clip #3:   Listen (:18)   Download(2mb)

Transcript: Reading is the one skill upon which all the other learning is based. We know from research that if a child does not learn to read on grade level by third grade, the chances are diminished that that child will ever learn to read on grade level. And so it's very important that we begin early with reading.

Clip #4:   Listen (:25)   Download(2.8mb)

Transcript: This shows clearly that this population of students, who we've identified as at risk, whom many people have lost faith in, can actually learn, they can make progress, they are making progress. And that progress outpaces the other students. And this is something that I'd like the nation to know so that we can put even more effort there, because this offers us great potential to create a system that leaves no child behind.

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