Thank you. I want to thank Gerry Tirozzi for that kind introduction. I also want to thank the board of directors of the National Association of Secondary School Principals for inviting me to speak today. Let me give a special thanks to your president, Cynthia Rudrud. And I want to congratulate the board's president-elect, David Vodila.

It is an honor to be here today. If you told me a few decades ago that I was going to have to speak before an audience of several thousand principals, I would have assumed I was in a whole lot of trouble. Maybe I still am.

But in all seriousness, being a parent forces you to get over those worries. As the mother of two school-age daughters—one in middle school and the other in high school—I rely on principals like you for the most timely and accurate information about my children's schools. I want to know what's happening inside those walls—what's working, what needs to work better, and what I can do to help as a parent. Parents need this information, as do teachers, students, and community members. Everyone has a stake in this process. And no one has a better grasp of the big picture than the principal.

You manage everything from student instruction, class scheduling, and curriculum development to community relations, professional development, and building maintenance. We also know you steer the course of reform. And that's not an easy task. In Texas, we might describe your calling with the famous saying: "One riot, one ranger." As the principal, you are that lone ranger facing an overwhelming set of responsibilities. I often say: "Show me a great school, and I'll show you a great principal."

So it seems only fitting that the theme of your convention is "Take Charge of Learning." Taking charge means taking accountability. And taking accountability means leaving no child behind. That's just the type of talk the president and I like to hear.

And in that spirit, I am here to ask you to support our new $1.5 billion High School Initiative. We want to bring the benefits of No Child Left Behind to our high schools. As the middle school principals here well know, in just its first three years, this law has already transformed our expectations for what is possible in grades 3–8.

When President Bush signed the No Child Left Behind Act in January of 2002, he sent a message that every child has a right to a quality education. The law says all children can achieve high standards in school. And we should measure student progress each year to make sure that they do.

In the past, the performance of subgroups, like minority, low-income, and special-needs students, would often get buried beneath misleading averages. It became all too common to overlook these students and their academic struggles. No Child Left Behind forced us to confront this pernicious achievement gap and to do something about it.

The law calls for annual assessment of all children in grades 3–8 in both reading and math. And it requires us to disaggregate assessment data by subgroups, so we can ensure all of our students are making progress. We don't insist on assessments because we like to test kids. We do it so that principals like you can work with teachers to determine which students need extra help. We do it so you can identify what resources your schools need to ensure every child succeeds. We do it so you can see which programs work and where teachers are effective.

I like to remind my colleagues in Washington that no child is educated inside the offices of the U.S. Department of Education. That work happens in the classrooms of your schools. We set the broad strategic goals and provide unprecedented levels of funding. You do the heavy lifting of closing the achievement gap. Studies, including your organization's landmark Breaking Ranks series, have shown that reform cannot take hold without the leadership and dedication of principals and their staffs. So we know we must keep listening to you and responding to your concerns. Earlier this afternoon, I had the chance to meet with your board of directors and leadership. We are committed to working with you. And we want to be as flexible as possible where the law permits.

At the same time, there are some bright lines in the law. For example, the annual testing required in the law is a must. We must test every student every year. It's the linchpin of the whole effort. Without testing, there will be no way of measuring the effectiveness of our reforms. Without measurement, there can be no accountability for results. And without accountability, children will fall behind and slip through the cracks.

We already can see that No Child Left Behind is working. Across the country, test scores are rising, and the achievement gap is closing. I'm sure you are seeing it too in your own schools. More and more of your schools are making adequate yearly progress in reading and math among all subgroups of students. Pennsylvania has gone from 61 percent of schools meeting their academic goals to 81 percent; California, from 54 percent to 64 percent; Georgia, from 64 percent to 78 percent; and North Carolina, from 47 percent to 70 percent.

But we still have much work to do. The first round of No Child Left Behind reforms focused on grades 3–8. As a result, most of the recent gains in test scores have occurred among our younger students. Now we must extend these sound principles to our high schools. Every child needs to graduate with the skills to succeed in higher education or the economy of the 21st century.

Right now we are falling short of this goal. Just 68 out of every 100 ninth graders will graduate from high school on time. And the vast majority of these students are unprepared for higher education. Earlier this month, the Manhattan Institute released a study showing that two-thirds of students leave high school without the skills to succeed in college. As a result, out of those 100 original ninth-grade students, only 27 are still enrolled in college in their sophomore year.

The numbers are even more troubling when you break them down by race. Under a quarter of African-American students leave high school ready for higher education. And fewer than one in 10 African-American ninth graders will go on to graduate from college.

These numbers are a warning sign that we need change. And when you consider that 80 percent of the fastest-growing jobs will require at least some postsecondary education, they serve as a warning sign that we need change now.

With these statistics, it should come as no surprise that American companies, universities, and of course, taxpayers must spend billions of dollars each year on remedial education. By some estimates, the price tag approaches $16 billion annually—just to teach employees and students the basic skills they should have mastered in high school. We face a new gap—a "skills gap," which leaves our high school graduates unprepared for the lives ahead of them.

A high school diploma must represent a ticket to success in the 21st century. That's why the president has proposed a new $1.5 billion High School Initiative. This initiative will allow high schools to develop timely intervention programs to help save students at risk of falling behind and will help to ensure every student graduates with the skills to succeed in life.

Here's an example of how it will work. Participating high schools will analyze eighth-grade assessment data and then work in consultation with parents and teachers to develop intervention strategies for incoming ninth-graders at-risk of falling behind. Our middle schools and high schools must work together to help these students before it is too late. These students need to start ninth grade with support mechanisms in place, so we can make sure all 100 of those ninth graders graduate on time.

Now, we know that no two schools are the same and no two students are alike. And the last thing we want is for the federal government to tell you how to do your job. We want you to have the flexibility to choose the course of action that serves the specific needs of students in your schools. In the past, we would fund a lot of different programs. For example, some focused on college preparation, others on dropout prevention, and still others on vocational education. We realized it would make far more sense if we just let you decide how to spend the money, so long as there is accountability.

So we consolidated the funding for these programs into the High School Initiative. We want you to pursue the course of action that makes the most sense for your students—whether that be vocational education or dropout prevention or college preparation. The president and I believe it is more effective and efficient to make these decisions at the local level. We trust your judgment. When vocational education meets the needs of your students, we know you will allocate your federal resources accordingly.

We just want to make sure our investment produces results. And the only way to know is to expand annual testing. Back in Texas, we like to joke, "In God we trust—all others bring data." The High School Initiative calls for measuring student progress in reading and math at least three times during the course of high school. We will provide the funds to pay for these tests because we know this data can help you improve student performance. Last fall, the Department hosted a two-day workshop devoted to helping principals use data more effectively. And we want to encourage principals and their teachers to continue this discussion at our Teacher-to-Teacher workshops this summer. So far, over 2,000 teachers and principals have participated in these workshops. We want to make sure you have the tools to take full advantage of valuable testing data.

As we learn more about where our students stand academically, we need to focus on making sure they have the skills to succeed in the future. We know that reading proficiency is one of the best predictors of whether a child will finish high school. In plain English, that means students who cannot read have little or no chance of succeeding in school or life. No child should have to face this bleak future. So the president has proposed a $175 million increase for our Striving Readers program.

This investment will provide your teachers with scientifically proven methods for helping teenagers struggling to read. In recent years, experts like professor Don Deshler at the University of Kansas have discovered that we can teach older students to read with strategies similar to the ones we use to help younger students in our Reading First program. That's exciting news. Now we just need to make sure this research makes it to the classroom where it can help kids.

In addition, business leaders have told us that math skills will be in demand in the 21st century economy. Yet almost two-thirds of employers give high school graduates fair to poor marks in math. And recent studies have shown that our students lag behind their peers across the world in problem solving. We must close this skills gap. That's why the president has proposed a $120 million Secondary Education Mathematics Initiative to strengthen the quality of middle and high school math. We'll use these funds to train teachers to use teaching methods that are proven to work.

Once we help our students master these fundamental skills, we need to challenge them with more advanced courses to prepare them for the demands of college. The good news is that we've done a good job marketing the dream of college to our children. Each year more and more students are enrolling in institutions of higher education. Now we just need to make sure these students come to college prepared for college-level coursework.

We know students who take rigorous courses in high school stand a far greater chance of succeeding in college. That statistic would seem self-evident. Yet 40 percent of high schools currently offer no Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

We want to expand AP and International Baccalaureate programs, particularly in schools that serve students who have been traditionally underserved. The president and I believe every student should have the chance to embrace the challenges of advanced coursework. But we also know that you can't offer these courses at your school if you don't have teachers with the training to teach them. To help fix this problem, the president's new budget increases funding for these programs by 73 percent to $52 million.

And as we prepare more and more students for the challenges of college, we must ensure that finances don't dim a student's hope of postsecondary education. You should be able to tell all your students that if they work hard, college is within their reach. The president's budget expands funding for Pell Grants by more than $19 billion over the next 10 years. The maximum student grant would increase from its current level of $4,050 to $4,550 over the next five years.

The budget also includes $33 million for the new Enhanced Pell Grants for State Scholars program. We want to reward students who take the most rigorous course loads in high school and work hard to prepare for the challenges of college. Enhanced Pell Grants will provide an additional $1,000 to low-income students who complete a demanding high school curriculum. For the first time, we are tying federal student aid resources to expectations for achievement.

I have outlined an ambitious agenda of reform today. At the same time, the president and I know that reform is an empty promise without the leadership of dedicated principals working to make it a reality. We know your job is not easy, and I want to thank you for all your hard work on behalf of our children.

Some of you have noted with frustration that "high schools have been the stepchild of school reform efforts in this country." This must change. We can ill afford to overlook the importance of a quality high school education.

So to the middle school principals here today, I pledge that we will stay the course on this law. We will work to realize its full potential and do it in a sensible and workable way. And to the high school principals, I ask for your support as we work to extend the promise of high standards and strong accountability into the classrooms and hallways of your schools. Together, we will leave no child behind.

Thank you.

####