There?s an old saying that captures the importance of today?s events. It?s a bit of a clich?, but it bears repeating: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him how to fish . . . and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day."

Wait a minute ? that?s not right. It?s: "Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime."

That clich? is about "sustainability." It?s something that?s been on my mind lately as we think about how to continue the successes we?ve seen in education in recent years.

Let me highlight a few of these successes, especially as they relate to college readiness and attendance:

• First, high school students are taking more-advanced courses. For example, the percentage of students taking chemistry rose from 40 percent in 1986 to 57 percent in 1999, with the greatest increase among minority students.

• Second, young people are better prepared for college. More high school students are taking Advanced Placement courses, and SAT and ACT scores have risen steadily during the 1990s. In fact, SAT math scores are at a 30-year high.

• Third, more students are finishing high school than ever before. Also, the black-white gap has narrowed. In the 25-to-29 age group, 93 percent of whites and 89 percent of African-Americans have completed high school.

• Finally ? and this is the bottom line ? a higher percentage of young people are going directly to college.

This is good news, but these successes aren?t enough for me. Too many young people are being left behind, and we must do better.

Today?s announcement will help us do better. In February, at my State of American Education speech, I challenged foundations to come together and create a Pathway to College Network. They did me one better. They brought in 14 other organizations.

So let me thank the Ford Foundation, the Irvine Foundation, the GE Fund, the Knowledge Works Foundation, the Gates Foundation, and Lucent Technologies for creating the Pathway to College Network. I?d also like to thank the 14 other organizations that will be doing much of the heavy lifting in this effort.

As I said, we have seen many successes in education, and every single one involves the word "partnership." The foundations represented here today understand that the partnership is the key to success. So I?m thrilled that you have formed the Pathways to College Network, and I believe your work will have a positive impact on young people for many years to come.

I?ve seen many excellent efforts to help prepare children from all backgrounds to get on the path to college. Foundations sponsor excellent programs. The U.S. Department of Education, through our GEAR UP and TRIO programs, is encouraging disadvantaged students and their families to prepare academically and financially for college. And we?ve all heard the inspiring stories of private citizens, some of whom have surprisingly modest incomes, who have funded scholarships to send disadvantaged students to college.

But until the Pathways to College Network was formed, I couldn?t be sure that these efforts to increase college-going opportunities would grow and be sustained. So I am grateful not only that you are investing in education, but also that you have formed a partnership so that your investment will have a sustained and powerful pay-off.

And while I?m talking about sustaining these efforts, I want to thank Occidental College, which is using one of our grants to support the Pathways to College Network. Occidental, Ted Mitchell, and David Roth are the glue that holds this partnership together, and I?m delighted that the Department?s "Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education" is supporting your efforts.

Congress also has a role to play in sustaining our success. President Clinton, Vice President Gore, and I have asked Congress to strengthen our total investment in GEAR UP and TRIO. And we need to expand after-school to give students more learning time. Also, we need to help families pay for college - financial aid is a great way to help working parents and strengthen our nation.

Members of Congress returned to Washington this week, and I stand ready to work with them to produce a pro-education budget.

I?ve talked about the importance of forming strong partnerships, our successes in education, and how we can sustain them. But it?s important to keep our eyes on the prize ? better college-going opportunities for young Americans.

You?ll see the results of your efforts over the next few years. It may be a young woman who avoids a life of despair and drudgery because a mentor in middle school helps her dream of college and take the classes necessary to get to college. It may be a young man who earns a scholarship and becomes the first in his family to attend college.

The young people you help may not stop you on the street to thank you. They may not even know that the Pathways to College Network exists. But their lives will be better because of your work, and our nation will be greater.

So on behalf of the young people whose lives will be better, on behalf of the parents who will be proud of their children?s successes instead of worried about their struggles, and on behalf of our nation ? thank you very much.

Now I am honored to introduce two members of the steering committee who will make brief remarks. First will be Gaston Caperton, who did wonderful things for education in West Virginia when he was governor there. He continues to work to improve education today, serving as president of The College Board.

Second is Arnold Mitchem, President of the Council for Opportunity in Education. Arnie has been a lifelong advocate of educational opportunity for low-income and disabled Americans, and I can assure you that there is no stronger supporter of our nation?s public schools than Arnie.

Let?s welcome them both.