U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige released the following statement regarding today's study by The Manhattan Institute titled An Evaluation of Florida's Program to End Social Promotion:

"This study offers valuable insight into how we can save our most vulnerable students from falling behind. For too many years, we automatically passed students from one grade to the next without concern for whether they were actually learning. As a result, our most vulnerable students fell further and further behind their peers. We pushed these children through our schools regardless of whether they had been given the academic skills they needed to succeed in life. We owe our children better.

"If we can identify students early who are struggling in school, then we can give them the extra help they need before it is too late. We must ensure that all children have the chance to learn and reach their full potential—which is the great promise of No Child Left Behind. I applaud schools in Florida and across the nation that are working to help our children by stopping the dangerous practice of social promotion."

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