"HBCUs don't just train students to take advantage of opportunity; you train them to create opportunity—as outstanding graduates like Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr. have done. You give your students a firm grounding in history, and then you teach them to look to the future and see endless possibility." "HBCU leadership has always had the clarity of vision to see that every student has the potential to succeed. And you've always known that real leadership begins with learning to adapt and grow and innovate. Instead of asking, "can these students learn?", you've always shifted the conversation towards "how can we make sure every student gets ahead?"

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Washington, D.C. — U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today delivered remarks at the 2006 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week Conference in Washington, D.C. The President's Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities host the annual HBCU Week conference. Following are her prepared remarks:

Thank you, Lou [Sullivan] for introducing me. As a physician, policymaker, professor, college administrator, and community leader, you've always answered the call to serve others in need—which makes you a great example of generosity and dedication that Historically Black Colleges and Universities instill in their students. I know President Bush is grateful to you for leading his advisory board on HBCUs, and I'm equally thankful to you for stepping up to the plate and joining my Commission on the Future of Higher Education.

I'd also like to take a moment to remember Earl Hayes, a longtime Department of Education employee who recently passed away. Earl dedicated years of his life to advancing innovation and entrepreneurship in HBCUs. He knew that by supporting your institutions, he was helping to build a future of hope and achievement for generations of students—and so I think it's absolutely fitting that this conference is dedicated to his memory.

HBCUs don't just train students to take advantage of opportunity; you train them to create opportunity—as outstanding graduates like Thurgood Marshall and Martin Luther King, Jr. have done. You give your students a firm grounding in history, and then you teach them to look to the future and see endless possibility.

That ability to look ahead with courage and faith has been with the HBCU community from the beginning. It drove your founders to build the first teacher training schools for free slaves. It drove you to become lighthouses to help guide the civil rights movement. And since Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last fall, that same spirit has helped leaders like Marvalene Hughes of Dillard University and Victor Ukpolo of Southern University of New Orleans begin to rebuild, renew, and revitalize.

You've been turning challenges into opportunities for as long as you've been in existence. And a year after Katrina, 5 years after nine eleven, and 6 years into the twenty-first century, the HBCU tradition still holds true.

Earlier this year I visited NC A&T, which leads the nation in minorities graduating with engineering and technology degrees, and is the largest producer of African Americans with engineering doctorates. And in April I was proud to visit Tuskegee University with President Bush to see so many students studying fast-growing, innovative fields like nanotechnology, biomedicine, and aerospace engineering.

As American technology connects individuals and businesses around the world like never before, our country could stand to learn a thing or two from your example.

You can't pick up a newspaper or magazine these days without reading about how global competitors are challenging America's leadership. Meanwhile, leaders from Bill Gates to Bill Cosby are speaking out about the urgent need to better serve our students—especially African American students and those from low-income families. And they're absolutely right!

Today, 90 percent of the fastest-growing jobs require postsecondary education, yet just 5 out of 10 African American and Hispanic students graduate high school on time.

High school dropouts aren't just missing out on school. They're missing out on quality of life—and they're missing out on the 2 million new jobs being created each year for those with higher-level skills.

Meanwhile, our most experienced and qualified teachers are far more likely to be found in our more affluent communities. But in high-poverty middle and high schools, only half of math teachers majored or minored in the subject they're teaching.

The disparity isn't limited to teachers... nearly forty percent of high schools offer none of the challenging, college-level coursework that helps students prepare for college and the workforce. At Ballou High School here in D.C., just 40 students are enrolled in AP classes, while across the river at McLean High School, more than 500 enrolled last year.

And that must change ... especially when we know that just taking one or two of these courses increases a student's chance of graduating from college on time.

Just as we've committed to closing the achievement gap with No Child Left Behind, we must also close this opportunity gap. The economic, civic, and social health of our democracy depends on it.

That's why we at the Department of Education are already working with leaders from Dorothy Height and the NCNW to Marc Morial and the Urban League to Rev. Richard Wilson in Detroit. And just last week, I announced a partnership with 100 Black Men, whose Chairman Emeritus, Thomas Dortch, spoke to you on Sunday.

To move forward, we need all hands on deck—including yours.

HBCU leadership has always had the clarity of vision to see that every student has the potential to succeed. And you've always known that real leadership begins with learning to adapt and grow and innovate. Instead of asking, "can these students learn?", you've always shifted the conversation towards "how can we make sure every student gets ahead?"

Now more than ever, our nation needs your leadership and guidance to help equip every student with the knowledge and skills to succeed.

We must challenge our students and create a system that demands they step up to the plate—and to do so, we must challenge ourselves.

Of course, preparing our students for college and the workforce begins long before college. It starts with high standards and accountability in the early grades.

Fortunately, with the landmark education law N\o Child Left Behind, our nation recently committed to having every single child learning on grade level. As a parent, I don't think that's too much to ask—and I know you feel the same.

Thanks to this law, reading scores for 9-year-olds have increased more over the last 5 years than in the previous three decades combined.

Over the last two years, the number of fourth graders who learned fundamental math skills increased by 235,000 students—enough to fill 500 elementary schools!

And in the early grades, achievement gaps between minority students and their peers have reached record lows.

But the truth is, it's still not enough. All of us know that in today's world, grade-level learning is the minimum standard for success. Unlike when I was growing up, you now need a high school diploma and a couple of years of college to succeed as a mechanic or plumber or electrician.

In other words, a college diploma is rapidly transforming from a luxury to an absolute necessity.

That's why this time last Fall, I launched a Commission on the Future of Higher Education which included university presidents, CEOs, policymakers, researchers, and our own Lou Sullivan. They spent the last year examining whether our system—which all of us know to be the finest in the world—is remaining fine enough in our rapidly changing world.

I look forward to their final report, which will outline some challenges we face and offer critical insights into the type of changes that must be made if we are to remain the world's leader in higher education.

For example, the Commission found that inadequate high school preparation was exacerbated by poor alignment between high school curricula and college-level coursework. As a result, colleges and students spend $17 billion a year on remedial high school classes after graduation.

I'm counting on you to join in a united effort to better align dollars with our shared priorities.

I also pledge that we at the federal level will continue to do our part. It's no secret that we're part of the problem. Even if we didn't work in education, every parent in this room could tell you that with 60 federal financial aid websites, dozens of toll-free numbers, and more than 17 separate programs providing aid or tax benefits... we've got a lot of room for improvement in federal student aid. In fact, for most families, the FAFSA is longer and more complicated than the federal tax return!

In addition, we must increase need-based aid—and in fact we've already begun.

Earlier this year, President Bush signed legislation that broadened the availability of student loans, reduced the cost of loans to students, and made the loan programs more efficient for students and taxpayers by reducing subsidies to lenders and other program participants.

We've also worked with Congress to provide more than 4.5 billion dollars over the next 5 years in new Academic Competitiveness and SMART Grants—which could mean up to 23 million dollars for 30,000 HBCU students. These grants are already becoming available, and they provide a great incentive for students to challenge themselves to become the innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.

From raising HBCU funding by almost 30 percent... to providing billions more dollars in PELL grants... increasing college affordability has been a priority in this administration since the beginning.

That's because—as you know better than anyone—America's higher education system will always represent the chance for a more productive, more fulfilling life. I want to thank you once again for providing that opportunity to millions and millions of students. I look forward to continuing our work to ensure that our education system remains the best of the best... and that every student who seeks an education can acquire it.

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