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Thank you, Phyllis Gutierrez Kenney. I want to thank you and Monica Lozano and all the other board members for inviting me. Let me also thank Senator Clinton and Governor Acevedo Vila for being here.

It's an honor to see Raul Yzaguirre here. He's a great leader and a true visionary who leaves big shoes to fill. Luckily, I think you found just the person to fill them in Janet Murguia.

Janet has a special understanding of the American dream. Her parents came to the United States over 50 years ago. They settled in Kansas with little education and little money. But they worked hard and encouraged Janet and her siblings to dream big and go to college.

I can't imagine how proud they must have been to see their daughter's office in the White House. And now as the president of the National Council of La Raza, Janet's working to make sure all Americans have these same opportunities. The key to the American dream has always been education.

That's why you threw your support behind No Child Left Behind. You've been with us on this journey from the beginning, and I appreciate Janet's commitment to working with us as we continue to implement this law and extend its principles to our high schools.

La Raza and your affiliates are in the trenches fighting to help children. You have never shied away from taking on challenges. In fact, you have made a point of seeking them out. Under Raul's leadership, you set out to start 50 charter schools for kids most in need, and there's no doubt you exceeded that goal. It turns out the demand for these schools was so high that you ended up building a network of almost 100 schools.

I know how much you care about education. As you know, one in every five children under 18 is now of Hispanic origin, and we must work together to ensure all these children stay in school and achieve their potential. I'm committed to making sure they all do. And I know you are too.

Four years ago, we all took a look in the mirror and decided to answer an urgent, clarion call. We made a commitment to close the achievement gap and provide every child with a quality education by 2014. That means all children, no matter their race or income level. And you know what? That commitment is paying off. We have the data to prove it.

Last Thursday, we learned the results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress long-term trend data. In other words, the grades from our Nation's Report Card are in, and they are encouraging. As we say in Texas, "Good on us. Good on America." Qué magnífico!

The report card shows how students have fared in reading and math over the last three decades. And my younger daughter said the results settle a longtime argument between children and parents. They show students today know more than kids when we were growing up. And I couldn't be happier about that.

It's big news because we're not talking about just any old test. The Nation's Report Card is the gold standard of assessment. This long-term data, along with the state data, is the yardstick that the experts use to measure how well we're serving our children. As I like to say, "In God we trust—all others bring data."

And with this data, we can see we're moving in the right direction: The achievement gap is closing, and No Child Left Behind is working.

• Nationally, reading scores for nine-year-olds increased more over the last five years than in all the years between 1971 and 1999 combined! Hispanic scores alone increased by 12 points!

• In math, the achievement gap between Hispanics and whites narrowed significantly. Hispanic student achievement fueled gains that helped nine-year-old and 13-year-old math scores reach all-time highs. In fact, the average Hispanic nine-year-old's math score increased by 17 points over just the last five years!

These results didn't come out of thin air. They come from a commitment to doing something that's never been done before—a commitment to giving every single child a quality education. They are the results of hours of hard work and determination by students, teachers, parents, and people like you here today. Thank you.

We meant business when we set out to close the achievement gap between minority and white students. And we're holding ourselves accountable for getting the job done. It all started with President Bush's belief that children will rise to the challenge of high standards. You get more when you expect more. Lawmakers from both sides of the aisle rallied around this message and passed the No Child Left Behind Act.

The law says all students can and should learn to read and do math at grade level. And it calls for states to annually assess all students to make sure they do. The law also says it's never too early to start teaching a child to read. Our Early Reading First program is providing schools with scientifically proven methods to help young children with reading. I'm glad to see you're working on the early childhood education front as well.

I'm committed to working with you to make this law work for all students—including those students new to the English language. Many of you have shared concerns with me about finding the best way to assess these students to make sure they're keeping pace in school. And because of that, we're convening a working group of researchers and educators to study the issue. Kathleen Leos is here today. She's my senior policy adviser on English language acquisition, and she will be reaching out to get your input. We need to get this right. The key is listening to people like you on the front lines. As we all know, a law is only as good as its implementation.

We need everyone's help to make No Child Left Behind work—teachers, community members, and families. As a mother, I know parents need to feel welcome in schools.

Around the time I was confirmed by the Senate in January, my youngest daughter—typically an A or B student—brought home a D in science. What did I do? I went up to her school and met with her teachers. I wanted to tackle the problem head-on.

Afterward, my daughter said, "I hated that you were in my school." I told her, "You get your grades up, and I'll get out of your school." And guess what? She got an A in science during the next grading period.

I know Hispanic families want to get involved too, but sometimes language and cultural barriers make it difficult, especially with all the educational acronyms like AYP, HQT, and SES flying around. To a lot of people, it sounds like mumbo jumbo. We need to help families make sense of it all. That's why No Child Left Behind requires schools to regularly reach out to families. And the law makes it easier for parents to get information in a language they can understand.

As a result, schools are starting to go the extra mile to communicate with parents. At Gainesville Elementary in Georgia, teachers have gone door-to-door to reach out to Hispanic immigrant families. They've even held parent conferences in laundromats!

I know you're working on this front too. With your support, the Parent Institute for Quality Education in San Diego has helped hundreds of thousands of immigrant families get more active. We want all families to have these same opportunities.

I want to thank Adam Chavarria for being here. He's the director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans. Last month in Washington, we hosted a summit to discuss how we could help Hispanic families take advantage of NCLB. And we announced that we're creating a new tool kit to help Hispanic families learn about their options under this law.

For example, when schools fall short of their responsibilities, programs like free tutoring can be the lifelines that save students from falling behind. I know many of you already provide tutoring to students in your communities. And I want to encourage more of you to become providers of supplemental educational services under No Child Left Behind. We must increase the number of programs catering to the needs of Hispanic students.

We still have room for improvement. It's no coincidence that nine- and 13-year-olds made the biggest gains on the Nation's Report Card, and scores for 17-year-olds stayed pretty flat. The first round of No Child Left Behind reforms focused on younger students and on reading. Now we must extend the benefits of high standards and accountability to our high schools.

This is especially important in the Hispanic community. As you know, the dropout rate for Hispanic students is almost four times higher than the rate for white students. This is simply unacceptable. I'm glad the nation's governors have joined me in calling for new ways to calculate graduation rates. We must address this dropout problem together. We've seen what happens when we raise the bar for children, and now we must bring that same can-do attitude to our high schools.

Thank you for inviting me today. You can be a powerful, united voice for our children and for reform. You have the ability to reach millions of Hispanic families through your over 300 affiliates and thousands of partners. You can effect real change.

I think of the story of the Mendez family in California. They wouldn't take no for an answer when their children were turned away from a mostly white California public school in 1944. The family sued and won. As you know, their case helped pave the way for Brown v. Board of Education.

No Child Left Behind is the next step in the struggle for equal opportunity. For the first time ever, we are working to provide every child with a quality education. We have a national report card that all students can be proud to bring home. And together, we will make sure there are many more to come.

Thank you.

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