Thank you. I am delighted to be here.

Most presenters this morning have spoken of the achievement gap from the perspective of the classroom or the think tank. I appreciate your views, because they substantiate the torrent of evidence coming out of my Department and elsewhere. There is a growing consensus that the achievement gap is real and must be immediately addressed.

Today I would like to share my perspective from the policy side, because my Department must join with local and state officials, advocacy groups, Congress and educators to remedy this situation. We must join with you in discussing the achievement gap and fashioning consensus around workable answers. The president recognized the need for reform two years ago. And I believe he gave us a powerful tool, No Child Left Behind. We now have to fight to fully implement this law.

This conference will help focus the future direction of American education. We are in the midst of a revolution. And when the history of our time is written, two profound and powerful books will be remembered as laying the foundation for reform: America in Black and White and No Excuses. In my four decades in education, few works rival these for insight, scope, encyclopedic detail, persuasiveness and insight. I have personally learned much from Abigail and Stephen Thernstrom. I have also shared much with them, realizing they are crucial colleagues in my own efforts at the Department of Education. I have met with them several times and they have made helpful presentations to my staff.

Today, as we examine their work, we find ourselves at the frontier of education policy. A new chapter is being written. And as we move into the future, we act with greater confidence and clarity because of their remarkable scholarship.

There are many common features in today's presentations. We all agree there is a serious, devastating achievement gap, that many in the educational community refuse to recognize this gap, that reform of the current education system is needed and that there is no justification-no excuse-for this state of affairs. I also have the impression that most, if not all, of you agree that No Child Left Behind is an important first step in education reform. In short, there is considerable common ground in our views.

Yet, despite all of the evidence, some people still do not see the need for reform. Some have a perceptual blindness. They fail to see the gap for a variety of political, economic, administrative or personal reasons. That is part of the problem. They are part of the problem.

I do believe the open-minded do see a flawed, fractured, inequitable education system. For those who refuse to open their eyes and minds, I'm not sure what more may be done, what further data is needed. The evidence of an achievement gap is overwhelming, beyond doubt or denial. For example, this month I released a report that further documents the achievement gap. It gives us yet another perspective. Its title is "Status and Trends in the Education of Blacks," prepared by the Department's National Center for Education Statistics. The report looks at two decades of research. There is some good news. There has been some progress; some of the achievement gaps have narrowed.

But despite these gains, black children and adults still don't advance to the next grade at the same rate as their white peers. Black students also have higher dropout rates and lower test scores on exams such as the SAT and the ACT. Gaps in reading achievement showed no evidence of narrowing during the 1990s. Performance gaps between Blacks and Whites ages 13-17 have actually widened between 1988 and 1999. Down the line, these measures lead to lower pay and higher unemployment levels for equal levels of education.

The report also sheds light on higher education for blacks. In the year 2000, about one-third of 18-24-year-old blacks went to college. This is up from 19 percent two decades ago. But African Americans still represent only about 11 percent of college students, well below expectations based on a percentage of the nation's population. African Americans are still under-represented in the biological and life sciences. This is an outrage. We have a crisis, an education emergency. Millions of students are attending school but are not learning. Each student poorly educated is a tragedy. As Thurgood Marshall said in his oral argument for the Brown case: "There is no way you can repay lost school years." No way!!! There is no recompense for a lost education.

The president recognizes this fact and has made education a top domestic priority of this Administration. I have to give President Bush much credit in this discussion. During the campaign, he made education reform a front-page issue. When elected, he said he would be the "education president." When he first took office in January 2001, President Bush saw an education system in disarray. He understood that the system needed more than incremental tweaks or small adjustments; it needed major reform. He knew that the needed reform required bipartisan congressional support. On his fourth day in office, the president proposed the No Child Left Behind Act. And with bipartisan support, No Child Left Behind became the law of the land. In fact, right on the cover of the law, the first sentence reads: "An act to close the achievement gap."

This law is radical surgery, massive reform. It demands equity, justice and inclusion. The name is a constant reminder: no child left behind.

For the first time in the history of our country, every state in our nation is now accountable for educating all its children. They are accountable and they will be measured.

Thanks to No Child Left Behind, I'm proud to report that, all across the country, communities are empowered with the information they need to take action. Armed with information and options, parents are forcing change in the schools, just as schools will be forced to change by law. We are on our way and across America, improvements are taking root.

For example, Earl Hanson Elementary School in Rock Island, Illinois shows what can be done. More than 70 percent of the students come from low-income families. In fact, the number of students from low-income families rose from 58 percent in 2001 to 71 percent in 2003. As you know, students from low-income families face significant barriers to achievement. But during the same time, test scores rose. The school was chosen as a "Spotlight School" in Illinois, which reflects the fact that test scores were high and that the provisions of No Child Left Behind were met. One commentator has said that the success of this school is because "they expect every child to excel and they find ways to make that happen."

In Easton, Pennsylvania there is another sign of success. The Easton Area School District has just been awarded a No Child Left Behind grant. The money is to help students who speak English as a second language. The grant money will be used to train all teachers in reading, speaking, listening and writing techniques. The district's reading supervisor has said that the additional funding will help address low performance by limited-English proficiency students. This is a telling example. Because we have identified need areas, we are able to help schools target problems and find remedies. I have said that No Child Left Behind is both a law and a process. Here is the process in action.

Yet, despite its value, there are some who fight reform, or want to dismiss this law. You know this law has been controversial. There has been resistance, even stern opposition. We shouldn't be surprised.

But this law can and will work. It should be embraced. It will help local governments and school boards gain greater control over education spending, which is one of the most expensive items in their budgets.

Under No Child Left Behind, states and school districts have unprecedented flexibility in how they use federal funds, in exchange for greater accountability for results. Most school districts may transfer up to 50 percent of the federal formula grants they receive to a number of programs. This allows a school district to better meet their needs, such as teacher hiring, increased pay, improvement of teacher training and professional development.

New demonstration programs allow for local consolidation of funds.

Consolidation of bilingual education programs also gives school districts more control in planning programs.

Of course, some claim that we simply need to spend more money on the old system. That would be a mistake. We've tried just pouring money into the system with no measurement of results. In fact, we've tried it for the last three decades. As a nation, we now spend more than $470 billion dollars a year on education-more than on defense-more per pupil than any other country in the world. My question to the critics is this: what would they purchase with more money? More mediocrity? More programs that don't work?

In my view, we spend enough. This law is not underfunded. We calibrated the funding necessary to implement the law. It is funded at a level to make it work!

Our critics should remember that this Administration has provided record investment in education-the highest funding per child ever. President Bush has secured higher levels of federal funding-historic levels. We need to use the money wisely and not to hide inefficiency or mediocrity.

At some point, there must be a realization that the real issue is how we spend the money.

And there are some who think accountability won't work. They are wrong-of course it will. With accountability, schools have a powerful tool to monitor the progress of their students. Consider the alternative: spending without concern for results. That is no alternative.

Tests that evaluate a student's progress are the keys to serving them. And this year every state now has a plan in place to hold schools accountable and create an environment where teachers and students can thrive.

Not many people understand the significance of this. It is huge-a landmark achievement. Now, once we know what doesn't work, we will fix it. And we will continue to use what is working.

There are some who worry we have placed the emphasis on tests, not teaching. I am surprised by the debate about the need for tests. How else can we measure if students are learning?

Yes, instruction may center on "teaching to the test." But there is nothing wrong with "teaching to the test" if you are testing something that students need to learn. Testing allows us to highlight the places that most need our help-so we can give them our help. Testing can be a great tool for identifying teaching weaknesses and correcting them. It can be a powerful tool for progress and improvement.

No Child Left Behind also puts an emphasis on teaching because we know that teacher quality has a direct effect on student achievement. The new law requires that teachers be qualified to teach. We will work in partnership with the states to meet the goal of having a highly qualified teacher in every classroom, not just in schools in economically well-off districts.

But, for some, this is not enough. For some, funding, quality, testing and teaching are not even the issue. They condemn the effort precisely because they fear change itself. They like the habit and consistency of repeating the past, even if repetition means disaster for millions of American students. They fear this revolution because it is different! In my view, those people are on the wrong side of the argument, the wrong side of the future. If we have the will to improve, then No Child Left Behind provides an adequate legislative framework for reform and the right incentives to enhance the quality of education. Of course, we will have to make adjustments over time as we learn more about the law. But it provides the needed, workable framework and foundation for change.

In my mind, we have reached a new level of discussion, a second generation of thought. Thanks to the Thernstroms, the achievement gap has been powerfully stated and proven. Their landmark work is conclusive.

So where do we go from here? Well, forward into the future. As we move into a new level of discussion, a more advanced generation of thought, we will have new forums, new questions. We will surely spend even more time analyzing the work under No Child Left Behind. The law is still in its infancy. School districts have had less than two years to adapt themselves to the law. We await more data about the performance and progress under No Child Left Behind.

If I may offer a prediction, it would be this: the law will be viewed as visionary and empowering. Here's why: within a generation, we will see remarkable progress. Student achievement will be up. The achievement gap will be closed without pulling the scores of good students down. Rather, achievement scores will be pulled up across the board. Teacher quality will be at an all-time high. There will be a new spirit of cooperation and achievement in schools currently under-performing.

That prediction is more than wishful thinking. Every time this country has enhanced the freedom of low-income and minority citizens, there have been remarkable advances in educational achievement, employment opportunities and economic empowerment. The Thernstroms have argued that the achievement gap is a vestige of racism and low expectations. Quality education is a necessary step toward full personal and political freedom. Education is emancipation. I am confident that No Child Left Behind will be viewed as one of the most significant pieces of education reform and civil rights legislation in our nation's history.

One academic, the president of a historically black college, once asked that we help people find the "heart of the ethical consciousness." If we do, we will hear "the cry of the human heart and soul for something nobler, higher and richer."

That cry is made in schools throughout this country. I believe that the Thernstroms heard that cry, and so did all of you. That's why we are here today. Through our scholarship, our actions and our commitment, we can answer that cry-that plea-that imperative demand-with inclusiveness, compassion, understanding and achievement.

Thank you again for inviting me. I look forward to this afternoon's presentations.

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