Meeting continues his Partnership to Leave No Child Behind

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige today met with school superintendents and school board members from some of the nation's largest school districts as part of his new Partnership to Leave No Child Behind.

"As the leaders of our great urban school districts, you oversee the education of almost four million children - more than eight percent of our nation's public school students," Paige said. "The futures of these and millions more children - and the well being of our nation - will be greatly affected by each of you, which is why our meeting today is so important.

"My goal is to create a new partnership with state and local leaders - to engage you in an ongoing conversation about the principles and details of this new law," Paige said. "Most important, however, I want to make sure that we work together to strengthen our schools and ensure that no child in America is left behind."

The session today was an opportunity for Paige and his staff to outline many of the elements of the new law, and to hear comments and suggestions from local school leaders. Last month, Paige hosted a similar meeting with state education chiefs in Alexandria, Va.

School superintendents and school board members from the nation??s largest urban public school systems were invited to the meeting. Leaders from the following systems attended: Atlanta Public Schools; Birmingham City Schools; Broward County Public Schools; Buffalo City School District; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools; Chicago Public Schools; Clark County School District; Columbus Public Schools; Dayton Public Schools; Denver Public Schools; and Detroit Public Schools.

Also: District of Columbia Public Schools; Fresno Unified School District; Fort Worth Independent School District; Guilford County Schools; Houston Independent School District; Jefferson County Public Schools; Milwaukee Public Schools; New York City Board of Education; Norfolk Public Schools; Oklahoma City Public Schools; Omaha Public Schools; Orange County Public Schools; Philadelphia Public Schools; Pittsburgh Public Schools; Richmond Public Schools; Rochester City School District; Seattle Public Schools; Toledo Public Schools.

The new law, which President Bush signed last month, will change the culture of America??s schools and, most important, improve student achievement in classrooms across the country.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 passed both houses of Congress by overwhelming bipartisan majorities in December, fulfilling President Bush??s promise to offer America's students meaningful education reform as his foremost domestic policy priority.

Under the new law, states and school districts will develop strong systems of accountability based upon student performance. The measure also gives those states and school districts increased local control and flexibility, removing federal red tape and bureaucracy and putting decision making in the hands of those at the local and state levels.

Parents of children from disadvantaged backgrounds will have options under the new law to participate in public school choice programs or obtain supplemental services such as tutoring. And teachers around the country will be encouraged to use teaching methods that are based upon scientific research demonstrating that they work.

Among other provisions, the act will:

• Enhance accountability for results by requiring states to issue annual report cards on school performance and statewide results;

• Authorize $400 million to help states design and administer tests for students in grades 3-8 that are aligned to state standards for what a child should be able to know and do in the basic subjects of reading and math;

• Provide unprecedented state and local flexibility for all 50 states and every local school district in America in the use of federal education funds;

• Give parents of children in failing schools the option to transfer their child to a better-performing public or charter school, and--where failure persists--it will allow federal Title I funds to be used to provide supplemental education services (including tutoring, after-school services and summer school programs);

• Triple the federal funding investment in reading and ensure that teachers are using instructional methods that have been proven to work through Reading First; and

• Invest almost $3 billion in improving teacher quality this year alone while asking states to put a highly qualified teacher in every public school classroom by 2005.

For more information about the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, visit http://www.ed.gov/nclb/.

Editor's note: For a complete list of attendees, please call the Department of Education's Office of Public Affairs at 202-401-1576.

Top

Back to February 2002