Thank you Senator Rauschenberger for your kind introduction, and thanks to NCSL Executive Director Bill Pound, Staff Chair Susan Scharr, and all of you for inviting me here today. As the new school year begins, our thoughts and prayers are with the hundreds of thousands of school-age children and their families who have been displaced by Hurricane Katrina. Last week, I visited Southaven, Miss., with our first lady, Mrs. Laura Bush. Like other communities throughout our nation, Southaven is welcoming these individuals with open arms and without hesitation.

Volunteers across America, and especially in the South, are offering hope to those in need. Southaven residents are offering clothing, supplies, and even homemade jambalaya. They are finding jobs and apartments for displaced adults, and they're finding space in their schools for displaced children.

These students will likely end up in almost every one of your states, and I know NCSL members will join in the effort to help schools accommodate these new students. The Department of Education is already working with leaders throughout the Gulf Coast region as well as with others from the national K-12 community, the higher education community, the private sector, public sector, and charter schools to foster left-hand right-hand coordination in our response to this tragedy.

The federal government will continue to do its part. As secretary of education, one of my primary goals is to make sure displaced children are enrolled in school. All of us want these children to regain a sense of normalcy in their lives. We want states and schools to welcome these kids and deal with the fine print later. The Department's efforts thus far fall into three categories: outreach and coordination, resources, and flexibility.

On the outreach front, the Department's Hurricane Help for Schools Web site is enabling companies and organizations to send books, clothes, and other supplies directly to schools in need. And schools will be able to contact companies and organizations that are offering help. I am thrilled that our beloved first lady, Mrs. Laura Bush, is supporting this effort through public service announcements that are now being broadcast nationwide.

In the coming weeks, I will advocate for additional resources to help schools and districts that have been affected by this tragedy. The Department is already providing maximum latitude for student loan borrowers with regard to payment deadlines. And we are doing everything we can to make sure students moving from one institution to another continue to receive federal student aid at their new college or university.

At the president's direction, I am also working with the Office of Management and Budget to adequately meet the education needs of students in affected areas, as well as those in areas that are taking in displaced students.

The Department of Education will be flexible with certain provisions of No Child Left Behind on an as-needed, case-by-case basis. Honoring our commitment to give children a quality education is one of the most important things we can do for those affected by this disaster. I am in regular contact with states and districts along the Gulf Coast, and the Department will continue to work with them to find solutions that fit their individual needs. I will also be meeting tomorrow with the education chiefs from all other states.

One of the most immediate emerging needs relates to No Child Left Behind's Highly Qualified Teacher provisions. We are coordinating with states to help eliminate any barriers that may prevent displaced teachers from working in other states. Again, I urge you and all of your members to join in this effort.

Many people are rightly concerned about additional flexibilities that may be needed, particularly in the K-12 arena. We are in the process of learning exactly where displaced students and families are located and what their specific needs will be. As we gain more information, I will continue to be sensible and reasonable in implementing the law.

As a policymaker and, thanks to my two daughters, as an education consumer, I understand the value of a workable, common-sense approach to accomplishing just about any task you can imagine. From hurricane relief to parenting to implementing the law, it's hard to overestimate the importance of focusing on the bottom line. And the bottom-line, most important goal in education is providing every single child with a quality education. This is not a Pollyanna sentiment. After working in education policy for the last two decades, I know this is an ambitious goal. But like President Bush, I believe that setting big goals is a fundamental requirement for achieving great success. Districts in each and every one of your states are proving that No Child Left Behind can produce results for our students.

Together, we have learned a lot during the law's first three years. I hope that our combined wisdom and our shared desire to do what's right for every child will help create a brighter future. As you know, our nation's latest education report card for America's schools showed that student achievement is rising, and the achievement gap is closing. Once-struggling populations of students are beginning to catch up to their peers. We are making historic progress.

Nationwide, students are performing better in reading and in math than in any previous year. Students of every color from every zip code are making significant gains. America's 9-year-olds posted the best scores in reading and in math in the report card's history. Thirteen-year-olds' math scores also reached an all-time high.

State achievement tests are showing the same results. In Senator Rauschenberger's home state of Illinois, the achievement gap between white and Hispanic fifth-graders narrowed by 10 points in reading, and by 16 points in math over the last three years. And I am sure Senator Balfour is proud that in Georgia, the achievement gaps between white students and minorities in the third and fifth grades have been practically cut in half in the same amount of time.

This progress is a tribute to the hard work and dedication of students, teachers, principals, and administrators in your home states—and to the support of state policymakers like you. In many ways, so is the law itself. As NCSL's Task Force noted, No Child Left Behind "crystallizes efforts that were under way in states and classrooms all over the country." I agree.

We all know that the hard work of educating our children does not happen here in Washington, D.C. It happens in local schools. I worked in education policy at the state level for more than 20 years. I know well that the federal role is, and has always been, to help the children who need it most. The reform movement in education started with us in the states, and I'm counting on state legislators like you to continue the work on this great movement.

I know some of you may not see it this way, but No Child Left Behind is not a mandate, it's a partnership between states and the federal government. This law is an agreement that says if you take federal taxpayer dollars for education, you must accept responsibility for increasing student achievement. No parent thinks it's too much to ask for his or her child to be learning at grade level. And no taxpayer thinks it's too much to ask schools to show us how students are performing.

Studies prove the law is adequately funded:

• In May 2004, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found that No Child Left Behind is not a mandate, and that the law did not violate the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act. Instead, as this study said, "The requirements of the law were a condition of the federal assistance."

• A May 2003 GAO study concluded that Congress is providing more than enough money for states to design and implement the statewide achievement tests.

The money is flowing, and students' results prove that we are on the right track. Every state in America is in compliance with No Child Left Behind and in good standing with the U.S. Department of Education. Since taking office, I have been listening to the concerns of people on the front lines of education: parents, teachers, administrators, and of course, legislators like yourselves, and I am pleased to have this opportunity to respond. I appreciate the time and energy you devote to implementing this law. While the Department will continue to abide by the bright-line principles of the law-annual assessments, disaggregating of data, and closing the achievement gap by 2013-14—I am committed to working through remaining issues. Since I came to the Department, I have approved more than 150 state accountability plan amendments.

Your task force report on No Child Left Behind focuses on implementing the law with respect to students with limited English proficiency and those in special education, and measuring progress by the growth model. Several states already exercise two of that task force's 43 recommendations regarding limited English proficient students (numbers 25 and 27).

With your concerns in mind, I have convened a special working group that is exploring appropriate and meaningful approaches to measure the progress of children who have not grown up speaking English. We want them to learn English and meet the same high academic content standards and expectations that we have for every student. The working group includes researchers, practitioners, and educators who work with English language learners. They will provide expert recommendations on how to include English language learners in state accountability systems.

We continue to use our best research to make sure children in special education programs are learning and taking tests that are meaningful to them. The Department had already taken steps to help states establish alternate, more appropriate tests for students with significant disabilities. New research tells us there are other students with disabilities, representing about 2 percent of the total student population, who need additional time and intensive instruction to reach grade level. In response to that research, we will be working with states that want to develop modified tests. So far, 31 states have signed on to this effort by making changes to their accountability plans and committing to develop modified tests for these students. The Department will be providing help along the way in the form of technical assistance and competitive grants to states.

In response to your concerns about giving schools credit for improving student achievement, we are also considering the idea of a growth model, where schools would get credit for progress over time. But I must be clear: to have a sound growth-model system, you must have annual data. And students must be making progress that leads to proficiency as required by law.

In addition, I recently announced a series of agreements to increase the availability of the free extra help the law provides for students in struggling schools. Our new flexibility agreements will make it easier for certain districts to provide free tutoring, even if they have been identified as "needing improvement." We have also allowed Virginia to reverse the order in which they will provide public school choice and free tutoring. We are looking into additional agreements for rural districts. At the end of this school year, we will collect data from these pilots that will help us understand what ingredients are necessary for student success. My hope is that increased choices for parents will lead to increased achievement for children.

One of the things I love most about working in education is that everybody—Republicans and Democrats alike—cares about our children's futures. As Bill Gates said last month at your annual meeting, there is "no more important topic for the future of this country" than raising student achievement. I look forward to working with you to achieve that fundamental goal. Thank you again for welcoming me here today, and now I would be happy to answer your questions.

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