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Home / Washington Business - November/December 2004 / Q&A with Rod Paige, Secretary of Education: Paige Says No Child Left Behind is Necessary and Must Work |
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Q&A with Rod Paige, Secretary of Education: Paige Says No Child Left Behind is Necessary and Must Work |
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Written On: November/December 2004 |
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Written By: Rod Paige, Secretary of Education |
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Dr. Rod Paige was appointed by President Bush as the seventh U.S. Secretary of Education. Paige is the first school superintendent ever to serve as Secretary of Education. Prior to joining the Bush Cabinet, Paige was superintendent of schools in Houston.
He is the son of a principal and a librarian in public schools and was born in 1933 in segregated Monticello, Mississippi. He earned a Bachelor's degree from Jackson State University in his home state and then earned both a Master's and a doctoral degree from Indiana University.
Paige began working with students early in his career as a teacher and a coach. He then served for a decade as dean of the College of Education at Texas Southern University (TSU). He also established the university's Center for Excellence in Urban Education, a research facility that concentrates on issues related to instruction and management in urban school systems. In 2001, he was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators.
Editor’s Note: AWB President Don Brunell met with Secretary of Education Rod Paige on Oct. 20 and attended a town hall meeting with him at the New Holly Community Center in south Seattle. The following is a summary of many of the questions from the audience of parents, teachers, school administrators, students and citizens along with his answers from that meeting.
On Jan. 8, 2002, the No Child Left Behind Act became the law. Democrats and Republicans in Congress joined together with President Bush in this historic agreement to improve the educational opportunities for every American child. “No Child Left Behind” had bipartisan support. The leading Democrat supporter was Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and all members of Washington’s congressional delegation voted for the bill in late 2001.
In his opening statement to the audience at New Holly, Secretary Paige said the goal is to create an education system where no child slips between the cracks and is left behind. Every child is important and our country can’t afford to pass children through and out of the school system without the knowledge and skill to survive today’s highly competitive world.
No Child Left Behind requires parents to be involved in their children’s education. It gives them the learning and measurement tools they need. It also lets them know if their children are learning and if the schools they attend are meeting academic standards.
Q. What’s the role of the state in No Child Left Behind?
A. Because the U.S. Constitution does not designate a public education role for the federal government, the states are responsible for K-12 education. However, because there is a compelling federal interest in the quality of our schools, Congress and the federal government provide assistance to supplement, not supplant, state support. That’s an important point to remember. The federal government supplements, not supplants, state support.
Q. How important is testing?
A. No Child Left Behind calls for accountability and measurement, so testing is very important. It is just like testing for high blood pressure. If you don’t monitor your blood pressure, you can’t treat it effectively and you may end up with a stroke or heart attack. So you have to test to first find out what the problem is and continue to test to make sure the treatment is working.
Q. Don’t different children test differently and isn’t testing intimidating to some?
AYes. Tests should be useful tools for parents, teachers and students as a measure of progress and to target students who need help and in what areas the help should occur. That is the way they should be used. Where students have problems with tests, we need to find other ways to determine whether they are proficient in the knowledge and skills they need to know before moving them to the next level. We simply cannot continue to pass students from grade to grade hoping they will suddenly learn. It doesn’t work that way. Falling behind is cumulative and it compounds the problem the students will have in life.
Q. How is No Child Left Behind different from federal support in the past?
A. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is actually reauthorization of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The difference is the money is more targeted to improvement and there are measurements in place. For example, we know that school or district test scores represent an average of how students are performing. That was the old way of measuring learning. Our goal is to dig deep to find the students who are below the average and help them to learn. It is tailored to individual students.
Q. But if the federal government passes legislation requiring schools to meet certain academic standards, doesn’t it have an obligation to provide adequate funding to the states and local schools?
A. Funding for basic education remains the state’s responsibility; however, a little over 9 percent of the funds come from the federal government. Another 9 percent funding for K-12 education comes from private sources, primarily for private schools.
Since President Bush took office federal funding has jumped 60 percent. Title I money for disadvantaged children is up 43 percent and federal funds for reading increased more than $1 billion — nearly four times the amount allocated by the Clinton Administration. In 2005, the President will increase funding for the economically disadvantaged and for students with disabilities by $9.3 billion.
In Washington, federal funding increased 54 percent since President Bush took office which amounts to $1.9 billion
Q. What about pay for teachers who have to implement No Child Left Behind?
A. The federal government has added about $5.1 billion which is available to the states for teacher pay enhancement under No Child Left Behind. The states decide how that money is allocated.
Q. Is there one indicator of success or failure?
A. Reading! If there is one thing a parent can do to insure their children has the opportunity to be successful, it is to teach them to read and make sure they comprehend what they read.
Q. Does No Child Left Behind place enough emphasis on reading?
A. Reading is fundamental to learning. If a child can’t read proficiently by the time they leave third grade, that child’s learning difficulties compound as they grow.
Q. Can children get help if they are struggling?
A. Yes! If the state says your school needs to improve, your child may be eligible for free tutoring.
Q. If a student attends a school with a history of violent crime on the school grounds, do parents have the option to move their students to another school under No Child Left Behind?
A. Yes.
Q. What about transferring to a charter school?
A. Yes, if Washington voters approve Referendum 55
Q. Why do you support charter schools and why would you allow businesses to run them?
A. First, the new Washington charter schools law, if the voters keep it and I hope they will, calls for public charter schools. They are not private schools. So we will encourage businesses to support them like we do across the country, but charter schools are public schools.
Second, students and parents need alternatives. Charter schools provide an alternative. Different students learn in different learning environments and need the opportunity to choose which learning environment is best for them.
Q. Won’t charter schools harm the quality of our public schools?
A. Competition is good and improves education. We just can’t keep doing the same things in the same environment and hope for improvement. We have to make the necessary changes to insure our students are learning and have the best environment to learn.
Q. How should parents be involved?
A. First, they need to take an active interest in their children’s education. They also need to hold them accountable for turning in their assignments and making sure they are learning. That means you turn off the TV and video games and sit down with your kids. Read to them and have them read to you.
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