Thank you Gov. Barbour. Your leadership following Katrina provided strength to the people of Mississippi and inspired all Americans. I'm honored to be here with you and your fellow governors. I know you have already heard from an all-star lineup including some of my good friends from the Broad Foundation, the National Center for Educational Accountability, Just for the Kids, the Gates Foundation, and of course, Gov. Jim Hunt.

I've known Gov. Hunt for several years now. I met him when I was working in Texas for then-Gov. George W. Bush. One of Gov. Hunt's greatest strengths during that time was his systematic focus on using data to guide and inform policy. He focused on things that we know work—excellent teaching and early childhood development. He has always been a big thinker, and his big ideas have helped hundreds of thousands of students reach their potential.

That's why I've asked him to help start a national dialogue on higher education. As a member of the Department's new Commission on the Future of Higher Education, he is helping us focus on how to meet rising enrollment numbers and new economic demands—and how to provide more opportunity for more Americans who know that education is the key to the American Dream.

As you know, the Hunt Institute is a great resource for understanding education policy and how to work with many communities to achieve our goals. It also offers a great opportunity to step back and take a look at how far we've come and where we need to go.

Our journey on the road to reform started more than 20 years ago. The National Commission on Excellence in Education released its clarion-call report, A Nation at Risk, in spring 1983. It warned that our education system was being eroded by a "tide of mediocrity," and it got people's attention. Policymakers and the business community joined parents and educators in a movement to raise standards and hold schools accountable for student achievement.

Governors like Jim Hunt, Richard Riley, Lamar Alexander—and of course, my favorite, George W. Bush—raised the bar. They looked at the data and saw their schools needed improvement. And they knew that with higher standards, schools could do better.

They were right. High standards and accountability blazed a trail of achievement. The states lead the way. So it was fitting that in 2001, President Bush and the Congress by huge bipartisan margins set a similar course for students nationwide. The destination? Proficiency for all students by 2014.

With No Child Left Behind, Americans made a historic commitment to raise achievement for every child across our country. And we're beginning to see results.

The latest state-by-state Nation's Report Card, or NAEP, came out just a few weeks ago, and it shows we're on the right track. The scores keep rising as our country grows more diverse. More minority students are catching up to their peers than ever before. In the last two years, the number of fourth-graders who learned fundamental math skills increased by 116,000—that's enough to fill almost 250 elementary schools!

But we still have a long way to go to reach proficiency for all. Now that we have this data, we must act on it. Governors are the most important players in this process. You can look at the numbers and see where your schools are doing well and where they need improvement. When I worked for then-Gov. Bush, we poured over the data.

That's why I'm so excited about the Data Quality Campaign you heard about earlier today. The Education Department is the proud sponsor of the Council of Chief State School Officers Data Summit in Richmond next week, where the campaign will officially take off. I'm sure it will complement good work that's already been done in places like Virginia, Maryland, Wyoming, Rhode Island, and Mississippi. These states have taken the lead in collecting, sharing, and using performance data to learn what works for their students.

Along with annual assessment and closing the achievement gap by 2014, reporting data to show every child's achievement is one of what I call the "bright-line" principles of No Child Left Behind. On the road to achievement, we must continue to be guided by these principles. We must continue to have high expectations for every child. We must measure progress towards these standards. And we must hold ourselves accountable for reaching our goals.

Today, I'm announcing a new tool that will help states navigate the territory ahead. It's called No Child Left Behind: A Road Map to State Implementation.

The road map describes fair, reliable ways the Department—together with parents, educators, and state and local policymakers—is making No Child Left Behind work for students and educators across our country.

The law sets the same requirements for all states, while recognizing that the paths they take to get there will vary. The road map breaks down a 670-page law into clear principles for success, and it recaps and frames how states have adapted those principles to raise student achievement.

The road map also includes plenty of fun facts to know and tell. Did you know that every state has an approved accountability plan, and no state is rebelling against the law?

This short, user-friendly guide provides a comprehensive overview of how far we've come, where we are now, and how we got here. It lets you check out how we're making free tutoring more available in Virginia, Chicago, New York City, and Boston. You can get ideas for how to refine your accountability plan. And you can read about how we at the Education Department determine who is meeting standards and assessment requirements. And most importantly, you can learn how your fellow governors are doing it.

In other words, the road map will help you shape state policy that helps more children learn.

After working in education policy at the state, local, and now the national levels for more than 20 years, I respect the concerns of the people on the front lines. But make no mistake: we must not deviate from the road to proficiency for all by 2014.

Before No Child Left Behind, many students were shuffled from grade to grade, without knowing how to read or do math. It's right and righteous that we began by focusing on those two key areas.

Students who are now in kindergarten, and first and second grades are getting the fullest effects of the law. I look forward to their growth and progress over the years. And in the meantime, the next logical step is to take high standards and accountability into our middle and high schools.

Why? Take a look at our graduation rates. Three out of 10 students overall—and even worse—five out of 10 minority students—don't even finish high school on time. That is five out of every 10 minority kids!

High school reform is not just an education issue. It's also an economic issue, a civic issue, a social issue, and a national security issue. And it's everybody's issue.

I don't need to tell you that the international playing field is getting flatter by the day. American students need better education and training to compete.

The National Academy of Sciences just released a report titled Rising Above the Gathering Storm. It says a broad federal effort is "urgently needed" for America to succeed in the 21st century. Want to guess what was first on their list of recommendations? Vastly improving K-12 education in math and science.

We know the K-12 pipeline is the key to success in the fields of the future. As I tell my friends and colleagues, and as we heard Sir Ken Robinson of the J. Paul Getty Trust say last night, this is not the world we grew up in. The more technology levels the international playing field, the more critical math and science become. In fact, on the road to the future, they're practically survival skills.

Unfortunately, in a recent test of advanced math knowledge, American high school students tied for last place—behind 11 other countries.

I could devote a whole speech to this, but we all know the statistics. America's middle and high schools are clearly in need improvement.

As Chairman Alan Greenspan recently said, "if [we] don't solve [the education problem], nothing else is going to matter all that much."

The Education Department is helping to lead systemwide reform. We must focus on meaningful programs that are proven to work. And how do we know what's meaningful and what works? We measure. As we say in Texas, "In God we trust, all others bring data."

We know which way to go—we even have a road map now! And this road map lays out a path of high standards, accountability, annual measurement, and disaggregating data—the keys to putting every child on the road to success.

Thank you. I would be happy to answer your questions.

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