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Thank you Dr. Saunders, and thanks to the National Alliance of Black School Educators. It's a pleasure to be here with the people on the front lines of education. Congratulations to Dr. Epps on your election as the next president of NABSE. I look forward to working with you.

I just came from a meeting with Rev. Richard Wilson of Tried Stone Baptist Church here in Detroit. Rev. Wilson believes that if you aim high, anything is possible. I couldn't agree more.

That attitude is shared by my newest assistant secretary, Henry Johnson, a terrific educator and longtime NABSE member. I'm happy to have him here with me today. His leadership in Mississippi and North Carolina was so impressive that I asked him to help me out at the national level, and he's doing a great job.

One of Henry's first assignments at the Department was to return to the Gulf Coast to lead our hurricane recovery efforts. I could not have picked a better ambassador. I've told my staff that by the time this school year is over, we'll all have earned Ph.D.s in hurricane recovery policy. You probably feel like you will too. NABSE members, along with the entire education community, have truly rallied. Quentin Lawson, your outstanding executive director, joined our task force meeting to coordinate the education community's response to this tragedy.

We at the Department of Education continue to work with educators in affected areas. I know many of you are doing the same thing. To help schools that are welcoming displaced students, the president and I have asked the Congress to increase federal resources from the usual 9 percent to 90 percent of the cost of educating these kids this year.

And if severely affected schools show that the hurricanes caused them to miss Adequate Yearly Progress next year, they may delay moving forward in the school improvement timeline for a year. Schools may also request to classify hurricane-displaced students as a separate student subgroup so their performance can be counted, but not necessarily in the same way as that of other students.

The Education Department has extended reporting and spending deadlines and launched a Web site called "Hurricane Help for Schools." So far, it has matched more than 500 schools in need with other schools, organizations and businesses that have resources to offer. And we're providing guidance and support for educators who are helping children recover from the trauma of leaving their homes.

Beyond these urgent concerns, Katrina provides what we in the education community call "a teachable moment." We now have a chance to learn from—and act on—the moment we're in.

As President Bush has said, "Some of the greatest hardship fell upon citizens already facing lives of struggle—the elderly, the vulnerable, and the poor." We all saw the pictures on television and the looks on these children's faces. Many of them are African-Americans, and many of them are children. Their plight has roots in decades of inequality and indifference.

Education can—and will—break the cycle of poverty. It's the key to making sure that every single child has the chance to realize the American dream.

That's why four years ago we made an unprecedented commitment to close the achievement gap by 2014. Some said it was impossible. But to NABSE, it was nothing new. You have been helping children fight the "soft bigotry of low expectations" throughout your professional lives, and you're working with some great partners to do it—like the Education Trust, the Council for Exceptional Children, and PLATO Learning. Where many people see an impossible challenge, you see opportunity and hope.

Thanks to No Child Left Behind, we're learning what you've always known: With a quality education and high expectations, every child can and will achieve high standards.

That's why I'm counting on you to let parents and others in your community know this law is working.

Scores are rising, and the achievement gap between white and African-American students is at an all-time low. In the last two years, the number of African-American fourth-graders who learned fundamental math skills increased by 38,000. That's just about a sellout crowd for a Tigers game at Comerica Park!

We still have a long way to go. African-American students remain almost 30 points behind their peers in fourth-grade and eighth-grade reading and math. As you say at your annual conference, "there are no small roles in big change." That's why we must continue working together to close the achievement gap.

These numbers are unacceptable. For our country to remain economically, civically, and democratically viable, we must continue to have high expectations for every child. We must hold ourselves accountable for reaching our goals. And we must focus on meaningful programs that are proven to work.

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."

Monitoring student progress tells us where help is needed before it's too late. Once we know the contours of a problem and who is affected, we can work on the solution. Teachers can adjust lesson plans; administrators can evaluate curricula; and leadership can provide clear, achievable priorities and deploy resources toward those priorities.

Federal policymakers must also be held accountable. Just as my fine predecessor Secretary Rod Paige did, we must continue working to prepare students to compete in the global economy. We must focus on results and set clear expectations. And we must invest our resources—our billions of dollars in federal education aid—around some specific, understandable things, like improving the quality of our high schools.

Why? Eighty percent of our fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education. The more technology levels the playing field, the more critical postsecondary education becomes. In today's world, you need a meaningful high school education and a couple of years of college to succeed as a plumber or mechanic or electrician.

Meanwhile, one million students are dropping out of our high schools every year. As you know, five out of 10 minority students don't finish high school on time. That's half of all minority students! And many who do graduate are unprepared for college.

While we have encouraging long-term results for younger children, we have seen no progress for high school students in 30 years.

That's why the president and I are supporting high school reform to help more of our students reach the finish line on time and ready for college or work.

We have also proposed the Teacher Incentive Fund to reward teachers who take the toughest jobs and achieve real results, and I hope this will complement your work to increase the number of board-certified teachers educating at-risk students.

To make free tutoring available to more children, the Department has entered into new flexibility agreements with a number of districts. Students in four Virginia districts will receive supplemental services a year ahead of schedule. And families in Chicago, New York City, and Boston will have the option between selecting their district's tutoring program and selecting other private tutors who will operate in the school buildings.

Outside of school, people like Rev. Wilson at Tried Stone Baptist and Pastor Brooks of Evangel Ministries are also doing a great job of helping students right here in Michigan. I would also like to thank Pastor Jeffrey Dennis from Mt. Calvary Baptist in Akron (Ohio) for joining us here today.

We in the administration will continue to do our part. In October, Mrs. Bush led the first-ever White House Conference on Helping America's Youth at Howard University. She brought together policymakers, researchers, educators, mentors, and parents to discuss how we can help all children stay in school and succeed in life.

And this summer, I hosted a roundtable with Dr. Dorothy Height and other leaders to discuss how we could do a better job of reaching out to the African-American community. Yet again, I want to thank Quentin Lawson for his thoughtful contributions.

But as you know, the hard work of educating our children doesn't happen in Washington, D.C. It happens in real classrooms like yours.

Just last week I recognized Marilyn Walder from Yonkers Public School 29 in New York with a No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon Award. Her students speak 11 foreign languages, and almost three-quarters are poor. Before she became principal, there was a 70 percent gap between white and minority students. This year, thanks to what Marilyn calls "a focus on excellence and equity," every single fourth-grader achieved proficiency in reading and math.

This morning I visited Monnier Elementary School right here in Detroit, where 99 percent of the students are African-American, and more than half are disadvantaged. In less than two years on the job, principal Marcia Morrow has created a whole new culture, and her school has come off of the "needs improvement" list. She brought teachers together and opened a new parents' center where people can come to talk with teachers and even update their resumes! And she got help from local businesses and the nonprofit community to rebuild Monnier's library and computer lab.

When asked how she did it, Marcia said, "I work hard. I'm on my feet every minute. I never ask more of my teachers and students than I'm willing to do myself."

Marilyn and Marcia get it. They know that hard work and high standards are the keys to success. I look forward to working with you to close the achievement gap and ensure that all students get a quality education. Our children and our country deserve no less.

Thank you.

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