Remarks at Butterfield Junior High School in Van Buren, Arkansas

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, May 17, 2004

We'll use resources to help the school districts to train teachers so they can get the right kind of help and use a curriculum that works. I mean, there are good curriculum that can work. The school districts need the help of implementing those curriculum, and that's what this money will be for.

I also proposed a $120 million increase for the Mathematics and Science Partnership program. In other words, we want to make sure kids can read; we also want to make sure they can do math and science. But we've got some new jobs that are being created that require new skill sets, and it's not good enough to shuffle kids out of the schools that don't know anything about math and science. And so the creation of these partnerships will help school districts set up effective math and science programs.

I believe that in every school, we ought to continue to raise the bar, and one way to do so is to make sure that the advanced placement programs are vibrant and active across our country. Right here at Butterfield, you offer pre-8 AP courses, which is good--preparing these children to take advanced placement. Advanced placement means you're raising the bar as high as you can possibly go.

I've proposed increasing money from the Federal Government, double the current amount we spend, for teacher training, to help good-hearted teachers become AP teachers.

And I fully recognize as well there are some low-income students. When they go home and say, "Look, I'm getting ready to take the AP exam," and the mother or father will say, "How much does it cost," and they lay out the cost of the AP exam, the mother or dad says, "'No, I think we'll use the money for something else," see. So the child prepares to take the AP, and then Mom or Dad look at the fund--look at the cost, and they say, "No, we'd like for you to take the AP exam, but we need this money for rent or food." The Federal Government ought to help low-income students pay for the fee so they can take the AP exam. We want to be raising the bar for every student, and the entry fee should not be an excuse.

One of the things we need to do is encourage math and science professionals from the private sector to teach part-time in our high schools. And so we've got what's called the Adjunct Teacher Corps, which is a neat program, when you think about it. Got somebody here in Fort Smith, Arkansas, who's an engineer. They may have--he or she may have worked for a while, and they may be retired, and the school district--I don't know if the high school principal is looking for a science teacher or not; he may be. But it makes sense to have--to encourage citizens to get back in the classroom as a second career, to lend their talents.

You've got what you call a State Scholars program here in Arkansas. Governor, thanks for implementing it. It's an initiative that we announced here 2 years ago, which brings businesses and college officials in the middle schools and high schools to encourage students to take a more demanding coursework load. In other words, when you get--people can get inspired to take tougher courses, we ought to try to do so. The program is raising the completion rates in algebra II and chemistry and physics among Arkansas high school students. In other words, you've got more students now taking algebra II and chemistry and physics, and that's going to benefit your State.