Thank you. I am delighted to be a part of this conference.

No Child Left Behind is about openness and partnership. The President and I want transparency and forums for input. This law has revolutionized the educational landscape. We have much to learn from the process and we need as much data as possible. This is a learning process.

We need impressions, viewpoints, stories, facts, statistics, and studies. We have now reached the point where we need to work closely with individual school districts to complete implementation.

This means that two years into the No Child Left Behind process, we are moving into second generational implementation issues. The initial battle for passage of the law and constructing the regulatory framework is primarily over, in part because of the strong bipartisan support behind the law.

Now, we have to fully implement the law, sensitive to the local differences and challenges facing each individual school district. We have to understand those nuances and work with local school districts to make implementation as seamless as possible. That means we have to listen as well as talk, utilize the flexibility in the law to shift funds where needed, work to identify particular issues in the law, and assist school districts to meet their mission.

And, believe me, we do listen. On Tuesday, we published a new provision for No Child Left Behind in the Federal Register. It gives local school districts greater flexibility in meeting the Act's requirements for students with disabilities. Under the final rules, states, school districts, and schools can assess students with the most significant cognitive disabilities using standards appropriate for their intellectual development. The number of those students in this category may not exceed 1 percent of all students in the grades tested. This is about 9 percent of the students served by special education. Alternative achievement standards will be tied to state academic content standards. We will allow states and school districts to exceed the 1 percent limit if they can demonstrate they have a larger population of students with the most significant cognitive disabilities.

When I announced these regulations on Tuesday, Mark Howard, the parent of a child with autism, joined me. His son, Nicholas, is in 2nd grade at Falmouth Elementary School in Stafford County, Virginia. Because of the attention he has received, Nicholas is able to spend about half of his day in the mainstream 2nd grade class. Mr. Howard remarked that No Child Left Behind would allow the school district to determine how well students like Nicholas were doing "in their own right." He added that this effort to assess individual student progress means that children "are not buried in the details and ultimately left behind."

I agree. This new addition to the law is about meeting individual needs and ensuring quality education. It is accountability in action—for all students, including those with disabilities. When we say no child left behind, we mean it.

Flexibility is a demonstration of the give-and-take necessary to make the law work for all students. Therefore, our task is to convince superintendents and teachers that the law is working. There is a lot of resistance, stern opposition in many quarters

In my view, much of the opposition is due to misunderstanding of the law. Conferences like this help clear up confusion. The essays in the book help evaluate our progress. But part of the problem is simply some people don't like change. There is an inertia built into American public education that is a drag on implementation. But the law is working and it will continue to improve education in our nation

I am very interested in your predictions of movement toward softer accountability. I know that many of you have made that prediction.

But I have a prediction of my own: we will generally hold the line against soft accountability. We are determined to make the law work well and to fully implement the law, as intended. I realize that some states may soften their standards, but my department will urge that standards not be weakened over time.

In addition, those states who attempt to soften accountability will have to answer to parents, taxpayers, the business community, voters—everyone. They will fool no one by lowering standards. Citizens themselves will provide a powerful check against retrenchment.

Remember that accountability is a movement that started at the grassroots level many years ago. It is an essential part of educational reform. No Child Left Behind is just the latest form of it.

Under No Child Left Behind, accountability is a national priority, allowing us to make educational quality more comprehensive and inclusive. It means that we make the educational system more fair, just, and effective. It means that students will not be left behind because of income status, ethnicity, English language deficiencies, special needs, cultural differences, or location of residence.

Now every child must have the same chance to learn in our educational system: rich or poor, rural or urban, English speaker or not, African American or Asian American, Latino or White, easy learner or learning challenged.

Under No Child Left Behind, parents have a powerful and profound guarantee that each and every student will receive a quality education. After all, accountability is about creating a culture of responsibility, performance, and quality.

Thank you for your examination of our progress toward creating a culture of accountability.

And, again, thank you for including me.

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