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U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings Keynote at 2005 National Education Conference
April 27, 2005
Nation's Education Chief Discusses
$500 Million Teacher Incentive Fund
in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, April 27, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C. (April 27, 2005) — Today, the Milken Family Foundation welcomed U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings as Keynote Speaker of its 16th annual Milken National Education Conference, themed, The Challenges of School Reform: Implementation, Impact and Sustainability, taking place this week in Washington, D.C.
The Secretary took this opportunity to discuss the importance of high-quality teachers and to bring President Bush's $500 million Teacher Incentive Fund, proposed as part of his fiscal year 2006 budget, to the forefront. The Teacher Incentive Fund is designed to reward effective teachers and offer incentives to attract highly qualified teachers to teach in high-need schools.
Milken Family Foundation Chairman and Co-Founder Lowell Milken introduced the Secretary. His remarks, followed by the Secretary's, are below.
Lowell Milken's remarks:
MILKEN FAMILY FOUNDATION CHAIRMAN LOWELL MILKEN
INTRODUCTION OF
U.S. EDUCATION SECRETARY MARGARET SPELLINGS
MILKEN NATIONAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE,
WASHINGTON, D.C.
APRIL 27, 2005
Reforming American education is an enormous challenge. It has been and it will continue to be. It is a task our speaker today has tackled with great enthusiasm, talent and success.
This morning during our panel on The Challenges of School Reform: Implementation, Impact and Sustainability, we surveyed the decades of reform that – however well-intentioned – have not met the challenge. Reforms that have left generations of Americans with inadequate education and opportunities. Reforms that have perpetuated a system that has left all too many children behind.
Education is the primary concern of the Milken Family Foundation. Systemic reform to assure that every child is afforded a high-quality educational experience is our goal. Programs with exponential impact are our means. The first is the one that brings us together today—an Awards Program that focuses on excellence in the teaching profession and makes recognition of excellence a means to elevating the profession in the minds of teachers, students, parents and communities.
The second—The Teacher Advancement Program—also focuses on the crucial role that effective educators play, but does so by restructuring the profession to attract far greater numbers of talented people to teaching and then to create an environment—by means of powerful opportunities for career advancement, professional growth and competitive compensation—so that this talent will stay in education.
But reforming American education, to repeat, remains a great challenge. To succeed requires fundamental and, yes, difficult-to-achieve change. It therefore requires responsible officials of particular vision and courage.
The individual we're about to hear from is a key architect of what I believe to be the most visionary and courageous federal education reform in the last half century. No Child Left Behind, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support three years ago, is the first education reform to focus the nation's attention on achievement with consequences and to require that very child be prepared by a highly qualified teacher. That these goals should require federal legislation is indicative of the magnitude of the challenge before us.
Until NCLB, of course, the debate had focused on access. Access is essential. Access is laudable. But what good is access if 60% of black and 56% of Hispanic fourth graders in our nation can't read? What's the point of access if, after 30 years of intensive reform efforts, the achievement gap between rich and poor, suburban and inner city, and among ethnic groups is as wide as ever? As Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings recently observed: "Returning to the pre-NCLB days of fuzzy accountability and hiding children in averages will do nothing." Tomorrow, we will be discussing NCLB, and I predict that you will hear that even at this early stage of implementation, promising results are being achieved.
United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings brings a diverse capital of experience to her latest position. As Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy in President Bush's first term, she had responsibility for development and implementation of health, labor, transportation, justice and housing policies—as well as those in education. Before coming to Washington, as then-Governor Bush's senior advisor on education policy, Ms. Spellings' achievements included the Texas Reading Initiative and The Student Success Initiative to eliminate social promotion.
Her most inspiring achievement, though, is likely one she has just attained: She is the first mother of school-age youngsters to serve in the top national education position. Ladies and gentlemen, a true friend of every child and every parent, too—United States Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings.
Secretary Spellings's remarks:
Remarks by Secretary Spellings at the Milken Family Foundation National Education Conference in Washington, D.C.
For Release
April 27, 2005
Thank you. I want to thank Lowell Milken for that kind introduction. He's been a real friend to America's schools. We're all thankful for your commitment to improving education.
One magazine called the Milken Educator Awards the "Oscars of Teaching." The only difference is the speeches here are a bit shorter. As I look around the room though, I do feel the urge to start thanking a lot of people. And I haven't even won anything!
I want to thank all the chief state school officers here today. We've seen a lot of each other lately, and that's a good sign because we must work together to achieve the promise of No Child Left Behind. It's also great to see Michael Milken. Thank you for all your generosity.
Finally, and most importantly, let me thank the teachers and principals here today. There's no harder job in the world than being a teacher. And as you well know, there's no more rewarding job either.
I know you didn't choose this profession to win accolades. You didn't choose it to make the cover of magazines. You chose it because you wanted to help children and serve your communities. In truth, I know most of you didn't choose this path at all. It chose you. As President Bush likes to say, teaching is a calling. And I want to thank you all for answering that call.
That's why these awards are so important. They give us a chance to say thank you and to reward you for your hard work. That's something we don't do often enough for teachers in this country. And it's something we must change if we want to realize the promise ofNo Child Left Behind.
Looking around this room, I see a hundred reasons to honor teachers. Take the example of Chris McAuliffe from Oxbow Community School in White Lake, Michigan. When Chris first came to Oxbow, only around 20 percent of the school's fifth-graders were passing Michigan's statewide science assessments. Last year, over 90 percent of Chris's students passed. Chris's secret is combining science and math with technology and art. This year, he and his students studied simple machines and circuits by making a miniature amusement park out of old VCRs. Good for them—I barely can program my own VCR!
One of Chris's newest students is an 11-year-old boy named Mahir from Iraq. When Mahir arrived in Chris's classroom last December, he spoke no English. And he had only known a world of violence. Just five months later, Mahir can read English well enough to write all of his assignments down in his daily planner, and he's holding his own in math.
As the father of three children, Chris also goes out of his way to keep parents involved in the classroom. That's something I can appreciate as a mother. And by the way, in his spare time (Don't ask me how he finds any!), he works the night shift at the local fire department. After the September 11 attacks, he went to New York City to help. Chris, thank you for your service to your students and your country, particularly in its time of greatest need. You're an inspiration.
And you're in good company today. You all have inspiring stories to share. When someone says a child can't learn, you see a child who only needs a chance. Where many people see an impossible challenge, you see opportunity and hope.
It's the same spirit that led President Bush and representatives from both sides of the political aisle to pass the No Child Left Behind Act three years ago. The law says all children have the potential to achieve high standards in school. And it says we must measure student progress each year to make sure they all do.
In the years before No Child Left Behind, the performance of minority, low-income, and special-needs students would get lost in meaningless averages. We allowed the performance of the top students to overshadow the struggles of those at the bottom of the pack. No Child Left Behind forced us to confront this achievement gap and to do something about it. The law holds schools accountable for making progress among all groups of students.
And that starts with annually assessing every student and breaking down the results by student groups. We don't insist on annual assessments because we like to test students. We do it because we know this data provides teachers and principals with a valuable tool. It shows you which students need extra help and where. As the saying goes, "What gets measured gets done." When we assess every student, we make sure every child counts. And as a result, test scores are rising, and the stubborn achievement gap is starting to close.
No society has ever made such a commitment. And to most people, it was a revolutionary idea. But to the outstanding teachers here today, it was nothing new. You have brought that same attitude to work every day of your professional lives. And as a nation, we're learning what you have always known: Every child can learn.
And studies show that nothing helps a child learn as much as a great teacher. That's why No Child Left Behind says that by 2006, every classroom must have a highly qualified teacher. The president's new budget includes almost $3 billion to help states meet this goal.
Unfortunately, the schools that could most benefit from highly qualified teachers often have the hardest time attracting them. Our high-poverty schools face a real teaching crisis. To fill vacancies, they often must resort to emergency and temporary hires. Recent data shows that students in high-poverty secondary schools are far more likely to have teachers not certified in the subjects they teach.
And we have a system that doesn't give the teachers who want to help these students the support they deserve. While most professions reward those willing to take on the hardest assignments, the public school system often does the opposite. Teachers with the skill and desire to close the achievement gap find themselves drawn away from the schools that need the most help. Many school systems even offer de facto incentives for teachers to leave these schools.
It makes no sense, but that's the way the system has worked for decades. The results are devastating. Students often don't receive the best instruction possible. The achievement gap claims new victims. And many of the most energetic teachers find their dedication and talents underused. That's not fair to our students. And it's not fair to our teachers.
We must treat our teachers like the professionals they are. And that means we must reward teachers who make real progress closing the achievement gap in the most challenging classrooms. That's why the president has proposed a new $500 million Teacher Incentive Fund. This fund will provide states with money to reward teachers who take the toughest jobs and achieve real results.
According to a study by the bipartisan Teaching Commission, 76 percent of Americans and 77 percent of public school teachers support extra financial rewards for teachers willing to work in high-poverty schools. It's simple economics. When you have excess demand for a highly skilled position, you need to raise salaries to meet that demand. That's the way every business in America staffs its workforce. Why shouldn't we do the same for teachers?
The Teacher Incentive Fund will help align the way we reward teachers with the goals ofNo Child Left Behind. If we expect results for every child, we must support teachers who are getting the job done in America's toughest classrooms. There are a lot of different ideas for how these incentive systems could work. And we'll give each state the flexibility to design its own system for rewarding teachers. We recognize these decisions are best left to states and districts.
We'll also reserve some of this money to help states and districts develop new performance-based teacher compensation systems. Right now, most districts use pay models based on credentials and seniority. The longer you work, the more money you make. We want to help states develop pay models that reward not just experience but also results and hard work in challenging environments.
Across the country, states and districts have already started using these new systems with great success. For example, in 1999, Denver public schools worked with the local teachers union to develop a four-year pilot program for performance-based pay. Under the program, teachers received bonuses for meeting different classroom goals.
A study of the Denver program found that when teachers set high objectives, students responded with higher test scores. In other words, when you challenge low expectations, you can achieve big results. The program was so successful that Denver voters are now considering making it permanent.
The Milken Foundation has also been on the forefront of this issue. You recognized that teachers face a horrible choice between advancing their careers and staying in challenging classrooms. No teacher should have to face this dilemma.
Your Teacher Advancement Program or TAP has given over 2,000 teachers in nine states a new path to follow. The TAP program lets teachers move up a career ladder while staying in their classrooms. Each year, teachers have the opportunity to improve their skills and take on more responsibilities such as mentoring younger teachers. The program also rewards teachers who make a real difference in the classroom by improving student performance.
Of course, teachers aren't the only ones benefiting. In Arizona and South Carolina, student achievement in TAP schools outpaced achievement in similar schools two-thirds of the time. The message is clear. When we treat teachers better, students perform better.
We want to encourage more states and districts to make these reforms. I know Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota is working to give teachers in his state the compensation and respect they deserve. And the Teacher Incentive Fund will support similar efforts across the country.
As we work to make the teaching career more attractive, we also must tear down the barriers that have kept many of the best and brightest out of our nation's classrooms. The Teaching Commission estimates that over the next decade, our nation's public schools will need to hire around two million new teachers.
The president's budget includes almost $100 million to help schools meet this demand, including $40 million for a new Adjunct Teacher Corps Initiative. This money would help bring talented professionals from other walks of life to high school classrooms. These non-traditional teachers can bring valuable real-world experience to subjects like math and science. Imagine a NASA scientist teaching high school physics.
We're also working with the Department of Defense to support the Troops-to-Teachers program. The program has helped thousands of soldiers find jobs as teachers in high- poverty schools. These teachers bring a special can-do attitude to our neediest schools.
Now let me close with an old story about a famous soldier who left quite a mark on my hometown of Houston, Texas. During his life, Sam Houston served as the president of the Republic of Texas, as a U.S. senator, and as a Texas governor. But looking back upon his life, he remarked that his experience as a teacher in Maryville, Tennessee stood out above the rest. Houston told a friend: "I experienced a higher feeling of dignity and self-satisfaction than from any office or honor which I have since held."
The president and I believe every teacher should go to work with this same feeling of dignity and accomplishment. You are true professionals. And you deserve credit for the good work you do.
We knew when we passed No Child Left Behind that the hard work of closing the achievement gap would fall on your shoulders. We also knew that you wouldn't want it any other way. You never give up on a child. It's the same hope that drew you to teaching in the first place. And it's the same spirit that will lead us to the promise ofNo Child Left Behind.
Thank you.
For information on the Milken Family Foundation's key initiatives in K-12 education, including the Milken National Educator Awards and Teacher Advancement Program, visit www.mff.org.