Education Secretary Speaks at Harvard

By Michael J. New
April 29, 2003

The poor performance of America's students is not due to a lack of funding," argued Rod Paige, U.S. Secretary of Education, at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government last week.

Between 1970 and 1975, the amount of education spending increased by 75%. Paige added that the student teacher ratio has fallen by 25% and the number of teachers with advanced degrees doubled. "Never has so much effort accomplished so little," he concluded.

Paige, however, expressed optimism over the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. "The No Child Left Behind Act differs from other reform efforts because it empowers parents with choice. Only in Education could choice be a topic of innovation, everywhere else choice is taken for granted." He argued that choice is essential for public school reform and said, "Americans will no longer allow themselves to be boxed in by an educational monopoly."

The Secretary has had a great deal of experience, having served as a teacher, coach, and superintendent of the Houston public schools before being tapped to be President Bush's Secretary of Education in 2001.

Paige told about the need for school reform. "Twenty years after the release of 'A Nation at Risk' too many children are still falling through the cracks," he said. He cited a number of statistics to demonstrate the poor academic performance of America's students including the fact that 25-million students have no basics of U.S. History, and 20 million students cannot do basic math.

He then told about the need to reform schools "The current way of doing business is not fine," he said, "when three of four urban fourth graders cannot read." He said that to strengthen public schools we need to give parents the ability to choose. "Now there are no consequences for failure. However if parents can remove their children, schools will respond." Paige said that many urban superintendents agree with him. He cited the Milwaukee superintendent who says that people want "both public schools and choice."

Paige went on to describe a series of school choice programs that have been effective. He talked about Florida's "A-Plus" program which gives students vouchers if their schools perform badly for two consecutive years. He also talked about how a school superintendent in Albany made positive changes after a number of children accepted school vouchers that were offered by a philanthropist.

"These programs show that when students have choice, schools will treat them with the respect they deserve," said Paige.

The Cleveland school voucher program and the Supreme Court's ruling in Zelman vs. Simmons Harris was "great news." Paige touted the success of the Cleveland school voucher program and extensively cited the research of Harvard Professor Paul Peterson, which found that vouchers improved the educational performance of children.

During his talk, Paige even reflected on his own experiences as the superintendent of the Houston Public Schools. "In Houston we did not shy away from competition," he said. "We allowed children to attend private schools instead of riding across town to attend a public school." Paige also talked about the VIP program to address the needs of underachieving schools. "The VIP program has been a very effective affirmative action program as it has helped many students of color."

The importance of education policy was stressed throughout the course of the talk. "Eighty seven percent of school age children attend public schools and strengthening public education is the top priority of the Bush administration," he said. The Education Secretary added that that everyone can work to improve the quality of education in America and he urged the audience to help. "Work as a volunteer, sign up for Teach for America, launch a charter school, or even become an urban superintendent," he said.

Paige concluded by telling the students, "We came to this country on different ships, but we are all in the same boat." He added, "Three decades of history show that we cannot spend our way out of this problem. Our challenge is to create an education system in this country that educates all students and leaves no child behind."