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For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 22, 2008
Statement by the President on No Child Left Behind Act
Today, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings took an important step towards strengthening and improving the No Child Left Behind Act. In the 6 years since its enactment, this law has delivered real results for students across the country. Students are achieving record math and reading scores, and African American and Hispanic students are making significant progress, posting all-time high scores in a number of categories.
No Child Left Behind was a bipartisan achievement. Unfortunately, at this time, Congress hasn't made noteworthy progress toward strengthening the law. In January, I indicated that the Secretary should move forward on reforms she can undertake administratively if Congress fails to act.
Secretary Spellings' announced package of regulations and pilot programs will address the dropout crisis in America, strengthen accountability, improve our lowest-performing schools, and ensure that more students get access to high-quality tutoring. Her actions build on a series of administrative steps we've taken to provide additional flexibility to strengthen and improve the law to ensure continued progress toward the goal of every child reading and doing math at grade level by 2014.
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