Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee:

Thank you for this opportunity to provide an update on our progress in implementing the No Child Left Behind Act, which reauthorized programs funded under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965. A little less than a year ago, I appeared before this Subcommittee to talk about our plans for translating this historic legislation—which had been signed into law by President Bush just three months earlier—into reality in every American classroom. A year later, and after a lot of hard work—at the Department of Education, in State education offices, and in school districts across the Nation—I believe we are delivering on the promise of No Child Left Behind.

States are developing and implementing statewide accountability systems that will cover all public schools and students and that include tough new measures of adequate yearly progress (AYP). School districts are offering new choices for students in low-performing schools while at the same time strengthening systems to help those schools improve. And educators are working harder than ever to identify and adopt proven methods of raising student achievement, with significant support from new programs like Reading First, which funds research-based instruction in reading.

Before I move on to discuss some of these activities in greater detail, I want to make a general observation about the response I've seen so far to No Child Left Behind at the State and local levels. It is important to consider whether the Federal government is providing the funds needed to carry out the law in an effective manner. But what I've been most impressed by when I travel to States and school districts and schools is how State and local officials and educators are stepping up to the challenge of No Child Left Behind. They recognize that the new law requires radical changes in the way they do business, and they are making a good-faith effort to make those changes. Sometimes this requires extra resources, and sometimes it calls for reallocating or combining existing resources in new ways. I believe this is the truly exciting impact of No Child Left Behind: not just new dollars from Washington, but new thinking about how to improve our schools and best meet the needs of students and parents.

I also want to acknowledge that the President's 2004 budget request is somewhat unusual, in that it was developed before the Congress completed its work on the 2003 appropriation. The request for the Department of Education reflected the Administration's relative priorities—at the time—within the overall 2004 discretionary total. We are prepared to work with the Congress to adjust some of these priorities, in light of the 2003 appropriation, as long as overall discretionary appropriations do not exceed the total in the President's budget.

STRONGER ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEMS

One key to understanding the needs of students are the expanded assessments that lie at the heart of the stronger accountability of No Child Left Behind. New standards and assessments, tougher measures of adequate yearly progress, and State and local report cards are key elements of the statewide accountability systems required by the new law. In particular, the new AYP requirements hold school districts and schools accountable for improving the achievement of all groups of students, including the poor and minority students most often left behind by our current education system. The Department completed regulations governing these activities last year, and States are now using the regulations to guide development of their accountability plans. Five State plans have been approved, and all remaining States submitted their plans on schedule at the end of January. We are now working with these States to refine and complete those plans over the next few months to ensure that the new systems, which will include the new AYP definitions required by No Child Left Behind, are in place when the school year begins next fall.

President Bush's 2004 budget would provide critical support for assessment development and other accountability-related activities through a $390 million request for State Assessment Grants. These funds would help keep States on course for implementing assessments in reading and math for all students in grades 3-8 by the 2005-2006 academic year.

SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

Expanded assessment and stronger requirements for adequate yearly progress bring us to what is really the core of No Child Left Behind: school improvement. The new law contains specific provisions regarding school improvement for schools and school districts that do not make adequate yearly progress, but I think it is appropriate to talk about the importance of continuous improvement for all schools, because this is really the goal of No Child Left Behind. After all, I'm fairly certain that there currently are few, if any, schools in which all students and student groups score at the proficient level in reading and math on current State assessments. That is why, for example, we want to test all students in grades 3-8, and why we believe all teachers in all public schools must be highly qualified. We have a long way to go, and every school needs to improve.

The President's 2004 budget provides considerable Federal resources to help States, school districts, and schools develop and implement the continuous-improvement process required by No Child Left Behind. For example, the $12.4 billion request for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies (LEAs) provides flexible support to nearly every school district in the Nation to help turn around low-performing schools, improve teacher quality, and increase choices for parents. This level represents a $3.6 billion or 41 percent increase in Title I Grants to LEAs funding since the passage of No Child Left Behind.

Our request also provides nearly $4 billion for Improving Teacher Quality State Grants, Educational Technology, Innovative Programs, and Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities. Under No Child Left Behind, States and school districts have unprecedented flexibility to reallocate and combine funding from these four programs to pursue their own strategies for raising student achievement and improving school performance. For example, States and LEAs may transfer up to 50 percent of the funding they receive under four major formula grant programs to any one of the programs, or to Title I. This flexibility permits consolidated funds to be used for nearly any educational purpose authorized under the ESEA.

We also are providing significant support for specific, research-based educational interventions and practices through such programs as Reading First. For the first time, we are requiring that State applications for a major formula grant program include a commitment to fund only local projects that use proven educational methods to teach reading in the early grades. States must demonstrate this commitment through a rigorous peer-review process, and 25 States have met this challenge and received first-year funding for Reading First State Grants. For 2004, we are asking for an $82 million increase for Reading First State Grants and Early Reading First, to strengthen support for this research-based approach to improving our schools.

MORE CHOICES FOR PARENTS

When schools do not improve, No Child Left Behind protects students and their parents by requiring new choices to ensure that no child is trapped in a low-performing school. School districts must offer the parents of students who attend schools that have been identified for school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring the option of transferring to a school that has not been identified for improvement. School districts must give priority to low-achieving students from low-income families in responding to transfer requests from parents, but must offer choice to all students in such schools, regardless of family income. Districts also must provide or pay for transportation to the schools selected by students exercising a choice option.

We know that in many communities, however, these options may be limited. For this reason, our 2004 budget includes a variety of proposals designed to help expand the range of choice options available to parents. These proposals include $75 million for a new Choice Incentive Fund that would make competitive awards to States, school districts, and community- based nonprofit organizations aimed at providing students with expanded choice opportunities; $25 million for Voluntary Public School Choice grants that would encourage States and school districts to establish or expand statewide and interdistrict public school choice programs; and $320 million to support charter schools, including $100 million to expand the new credit- enhancement program that will help charter schools pay for school facilities.

No Child Left Behind also provides another kind of choice to parents by making available supplemental educational services to students from low-income families who are enrolled in schools that have been identified for a second year of school improvement or that are subject to corrective action or restructuring. Parents of eligible students select a provider, which may include a faith-based organization, from a State-approved list, to obtain research-based tutoring or other academic services outside of the regular school program. We are very pleased that at least 46 States are actively soliciting supplemental educational service providers through requests for proposals (RFPs), and that at least 38 States have posted approved lists from which eligible parents may select a provider.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, I believe we, and more importantly States and school districts, are making good progress in implementing No Child Left Behind. The Department has published final regulations and is rapidly completing non-regulatory guidance on issues of specific concern to State and local officials. States are completing their accountability plans, and school districts are refining choice plans and other improvement efforts for the coming school year. More and more parents are becoming aware of the benefits and options they enjoy under the new law. And I believe the Department is providing sufficient resources to support these changes. There is a lot of hard work ahead for everyone, but I hope we would all agree with President Bush that "the work of reform is well begun."

I will be happy to take any questions you may have.

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