For Immediate Release
September 26, 2007

Fact Sheet: 2007 Nation's Report Card Shows Minority Students Posting All-Time Highs
No Child Left Behind Is Helping Students Achieve Record Success

White House News

      In Focus: Education
      President Bush Discusses No Child Left Behind Reauthorization

Today, President and Mrs. Bush and Education Secretary Margaret Spellings met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor of Education Joel Klein to discuss how No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is producing positive results for students across the country and record high scores for minority students. Yesterday, the latest results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), or Nation's Report Card, were released. The Report Card shows record results for our Nation's students in reading and math. Scores are improving and achievement gaps are beginning to close.

• Chancellor Klein is strongly supportive of NCLB, calling it "one of the great bipartisan compromises in education" and praising its "focus on accountability." With the support of Mayor Bloomberg, he's made tough decisions that are getting great results in closing the achievement gap and raising achievement for New York City students.



• As the positive results from our Nation's Report Card show, children can learn when standards are set high and results are measured.



• The President calls on Congress to reauthorize NCLB and give our teachers, parents, and children the educational tools they need. Now is not the time to water down standards, or roll back accountability and options for parents.

The Hard Work Being Done By Teachers, Parents, And Children Under NCLB Is Paying Off

The Nation's Report Card shows across-the-board improvement in 4th and 8th grade reading and math.

• In reading, scores for 4th graders were the highest they have ever been.
• In math, scores for 4th and 8th graders were the highest on record.

African-American and Hispanic students are making significant progress, posting all-time highs in a number of categories.

• In 4th grade reading, the achievement gap between white and African-American students is at an all-time low.
• In math, 4th and 8th grade African-American students achieved their highest scores to date.
• In 4th grade reading and in 4th and 8th grade math, Hispanic students set new achievement records. In reading, Hispanic 8th graders matched their previous all-time high.

Our Nation's Report Card: Holding Schools Accountable For Results

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. It is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics and overseen by a bipartisan, independent Governing Board composed of educators, public officials, business leaders, and members of the general public. Under NCLB, all states participate in the Nation's Report Card by being tested in reading and math every two years.

Yesterday, the latest NAEP results of 4th and 8th grade students in reading and in math were released, on a national and state-by-state basis. These results may be viewed at: http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/.

To Continue This Progress, Congress Needs To Reauthorize And Strengthen NCLB

Reauthorizing NCLB is one of the President's top priorities. Our Nation has made a historic commitment to America's children, and we have a moral obligation to keep it.

The President calls on Congress to send him a bipartisan reauthorization bill that maintains the law's "bright line" principles by:

• Holding schools accountable for teaching every child to read and do math at grade level by 2014.
• Measuring results every year, with all students, to help teachers spot problems early enough to fix them, and to give parents information about how their child's school is doing compared to others.
• Providing timely information and schooling options for parents, and providing support for schools to improve.

The President has sent Congress several proposals to help strengthen NCLB:

1. We need to increase flexibility for states and districts to help them turn around struggling schools. The President has proposed to let states and districts tailor interventions to each school, and to measure individual students' achievement growth over time.



2. We need to empower parents with more choices. The President has proposed Promise Scholarships to allow eligible students to transfer out of low-performing schools to private or out-of-district public schools, or receive intensive tutoring. The President has also proposed a nationwide "Opportunity Scholarships Program" to assist communities that want to provide additional scholarships for low-income students to attend private schools.



3. We need to increase support for struggling students and underperforming schools. The President has proposed helping more students take advantage of NCLB's free tutoring by ensuring that districts notify parents when their children are eligible, and by requiring school districts to use the full Federal funds set aside for tutoring and school choice. The President's FY 2008 Budget will increase Federal support for underperforming schools by more than $400 million – to a total of more than $1 billion next year.



4. We need to reward our best teachers and encourage good instructors to take jobs in underperforming schools. The President has proposed increasing our investment in the Teacher Incentive Fund to nearly $200 million next year. This fund rewards teachers for success in raising student achievement in low-income schools.



5. We need to make sure our children graduate prepared for the jobs of the 21st century. The President has proposed increasing accountability in our high schools, expanding access to Advanced Placement courses, and strengthening math and science education. His Adjunct Teacher Corps would allow 30,000 math and science professionals to bring real-life experience to the classroom as part-time teachers.

# # #