Remarks at Butterfield Junior High School in Van Buren, Arkansas

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 17, 2004

Other critics say it is unfair to measure the performance of minority groups and unfair to require schools to improve the scores amongst all groups. That's a complaint you hear. These critics say we shouldn't fault a whole school just because some African American or Spanish students are not progressing. They're missing the higher--the people who say that missed the entire purpose of the law, and that is to make sure that no child of any background is left behind, see. That's the purpose of this law.

The reason we measure success and problems group by group--that's what's called disaggregating data. In other words, we want to know--we don't want to look at the school as a whole; we want to look at the people in the school. And that's the difference. We want to look at the data based upon individuals. We want to know student performance. See, you've got to make sure the schools are serving every student. So in other words, when you look at the school as a whole, you don't know whether or not certain children are being left behind. You don't know whether certain children need extra help.

And there's an achievement gap here in America today that we've got to close. There's an achievement gap between the test scores of white and minority students. Nationally, on reading tests, black and Hispanic fourth graders score at least 26 percentage points lower than white students in the same grade. We've got to do something about that. If we want this country to be a hopeful country for every citizen, if we want to make sure every person can realize the American Dream, we've got to close this gap. And what the accountability system--they'll help us close that gap by determining who needs help. No, we want America to be promising for every single child of every background so that not one single child in America is left behind.

Another claim is that under the new law, we're punishing schools that are not making progress. See, sometimes when you change, people are quick to criticize. And one of the complaints is that schools get punished that aren't making progress, but people who make that claim ought to read the law. The truth is, the lowest performing schools are getting extra money to improve. That's what the--that's the truth.

In 2003, we spent $234 million to assist underperforming schools to make sure people aren't left behind. In other words, we said, "Here's a problem, and here's some extra money to help you fix it." In 2004, we'll at least double that amount. In other words, the Federal Government is saying, "Measure, and, oh, by the way, when we find mediocrity, we'll help, but the local people have got to change. You've got to change what you're doing in order to make sure that children can learn." We expect schools to do their job, and we're helping them do their job.

We also understand it can take some time to get there. Some say the No Child Left Behind Act doesn't provide enough money to meet our goals. First, let me tell you again what I said. It's the primary responsibility of the State and local governments to fund schools, not the Federal Government. But the additional testing required by the law--in other words, the Federal Government did say, "Okay, you've got to test in return for money." We're helping to pay for the tests. People say, "Well, it's an unfunded mandate to put accountability systems in place." No, the accountability systems are largely funded by the Federal Government.