Remarks at the National Education Summit in Palisades, New York

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 4, 1999

And again, I say - a lot of people in Congress don't want to adopt this accountability standard for Federal funds because they say that we shouldn't impose that on you. But I think all of you know that the five elements in the Federal bill were basically ideas we got straight out of local school districts and States. They weren't something that Dick Riley cooked up. It was something that the Education Department developed based on the proven experience and results of local school districts and States.

Finally, let me just give you something to feel good about again, at the end. In 1996, there were only 14 States with measurable standards. Today there are 50. That's the good news. Here's why you ought to focus on accountability. In 1996, there were only 11 States with systems that identify and sanction low-performing schools. Today there are only 16. This is the hard part.

But again, I say, we've got to give the schools the tools they need to do the job. And the Federal Government has an important role to play. We don't provide an enormous amount of the total funds for schools, but that amount was slipping for a while, and we got it going back up now. And I feel very strongly, as the Secretary of Education, that with the largest student population in history and with all this educational evidence about the benefits of smaller classes and with the imperative of ending the practice of social promotion, finishing the work of 100,000 teachers, helping you to build or remodel 6,000 schools so they'll be modern, and doing these other things are quite important.

Now, let me just make one other point. I'm encouraged by the movement to standards in the 3 1/2 years since you had your last summit here, and you should be, too. That's a rather astonishing move. And it shows what can happen if you meet in an environment where you've got business and education and the political leadership working together, and Republicans and Democrats leave the party labels at the door, and everybody just works on what's good for the kids.

But this is the hard part. It's not an accident that we've gone from 16 to 50 standards and 11 to 16 in genuine accountability. It's hard. But you also can take a lot of pride in the fact that you have evidence, even in big urban areas with a lot of trouble, where this has worked. And the consequences are good.

Now, last February when the Governors were in the White House, I just noted that it took 100 years for laws mandating compulsory, free elementary education to spread from a few States to the whole Nation. When it comes to this accountability agenda, will we follow the model of the last 3 1/2 years with standards and go from 16 to 50 in a hurry, or will we go back to the model of the earlier time? I think all of you know what we ought to do.

And I will say again, I think the fact that we have the largest number of children in our public schools in history, I think the fact that they are more diverse than ever before in terms of their backgrounds and their languages is a godsend for us for the 21st century in a global society if, but only if, we prove not only that they can all learn but that we can teach them all. We know they can all learn from - you can do a brain scan and determine that. That's always been - that's the wrong question. The question is, can we teach them all, and are we prepared to do it, and are we prepared to have constructive compassion for their present difficulties by having genuine accountability and also heartfelt support.