Speeches Given by President Barack Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan Pertaining to NCLB/ESEA

This section contains passages of major speeches that President Barack Obama and Secretary Arne Duncan have made on public education since January 2009. For the full text of the speeches, click on the links listed at the end of each section.

Secretary Arne Duncan
June 23, 2011
Making the Middle Grades Matter
Remarks at the National Forum’s Annual Schools to Watch Conference
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Secretary Arne Duncan
May 24, 2011
Lessons from High-Performing Countries
Remarks at National Center on Education and the Economy National Symposium
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President Barack Obama
May 3, 2011
Remarks by the President Honoring the 2011 National and State Teachers of the Year
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Secretary Arne Duncan
May 2, 2011
In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week
An Open Letter from Arne Duncan to America’s Teachers
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Rigor, Relevance, and the Future of Career and Technical Education
Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
April 19, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President at the National Action Network Annual Gala
April 6, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Next Generation of Civics Education
Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the iCivics "Educating for Democracy in a Digital Age" conference
March 29, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Road Less Traveled
Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at the United Way of Greater Los Angeles Education Summit
March 22, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President at a DNC Event
March 16, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, Virginia
March 14, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Education in Arlington, Virginia
March 14, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Winning the Future with Education: Responsibility, Reform and Results
Oral Testimony of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan
March 9, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Winning the Future in Education in Boston, Massachusetts
March 8, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Arne Duncan Testified Before the Senate Budget Committee on ED's FY 2012 Budget
March 1, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President and the Vice President to the National Governors Association
February 28, 2011
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President and the Vice President to the National Governors Association
February 22, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Investing in Reform and Results: Secretary Duncan's Remarks at the Ed Stakeholders Meeting
February 14, 2011
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Secretary Arne Duncan
How Our Blueprint Supports Teachers
December 16, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Education in Indian Country: Prepared Remarks of U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan at Town Hall/Listening Session with Tribal Officials
December 15, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Education and the Language Gap: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Foreign Language Summit
December 8, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Fulfilling the Promise of IDEA: Remarks on the 35th Anniversary of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act
November 18, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The New Normal: Doing More with Less -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the American Enterprise Institute
November 17, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Link Between Standards and Innovation: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to Innovate to Educate Symposium, Richmond, VA
October 27, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Attorneys and the Higher Calling: Secretary Duncan's Remarks to the American Bar Association Litigation Section, Chicago, Illinois
October 2, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Beyond the Bubble Tests: The Next Generation of Assessments -- Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to State Leaders at Achieve's American Diploma Project Leadership Team Meeting
September 2, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, Arkansas
August 25, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Myths About Bullying: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Bullying Prevention Summit
August 11, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Role and Responsibilities of States in Increasing Access, Quality, and Completion: Under Secretary Martha J. Kanter’s Remarks at the SHEEO Higher Education Policy Conference
August 11, 2010
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Higher Education and the Economy at the University of Texas at Austin
August 9, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Power of the Parent Voice: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Leadership Mega Conference
August 3, 2010
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Education Reform at the National Urban League Centennial Conference
July 29, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the National Urban League Centennial Conference
July 27, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Quiet Revolution: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the National Press Club
July 27, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Equity and Education Reform
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
July 14, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Keeping the Promise to All America's Children
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to the Council for Exceptional Children
April 21, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Well-Rounded Curriculum
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum
April 9, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Obama Administration's Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results
March 15, 2010
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President Barack Obama
President Obama to Send Updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act Blueprint to Congress on Monday
March 13, 2010
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Duncan Says Rewrite of 'No Child Left Behind' Should Start Now; Reauthorization Can't Wait
September 24, 2009
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Monthly Stakeholders Meeting
September 24, 2009
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Higher Education and the Economy at the University of Texas at Austin
August 9, 2010
“We need to set up an early learning fund to challenge our states and make sure our young people, our children, are entering kindergarten ready for success. That's something we’ve got to do. We can’t accept anything but the best in America’s classrooms. And that's why we’ve launched an initiative called Race to the Top, where we are challenging states to strengthen their commitment to excellence, and hire outstanding teachers and train wonderful principals, and create superior schools with higher standards and better assessments. And we’re already seeing powerful results across the country".
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Power of the Parent Voice: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) Leadership Mega Conference
August 3, 2010
"In our proposal to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we're working hard to ensure that we have the right policies and incentives to help states and districts accelerate achievement for all students, including those with disabilities. We want to make sure that students with disabilities are included in all aspects of ESEA, and to continue to measure achievement gaps and work to close them. We want to align ESEA with IDEA so that we create one seamless system that addresses the needs of each child. Under our ESEA Blueprint, students with disabilities will continue to be full participants in accountability systems. One thing NCLB did right was hold schools accountable for all students and highlighted the achievement gaps between subgroups of students. We absolutely want to continue that. But NCLB doesn't measure student growth. We'll maintain that focus on achievement gaps from NCLB. Our proposal would continue to hold schools accountable for teaching students with disabilities but will also reward them for increasing student learning. While we're confident that our accountability system will be fair and flexible, we recognize it won't be flawless. Our blueprint to reauthorize ESEA enhances information and transparency in school report cards about academic performance and school climate. It supports programs that actually ask families how they feel about their child's school and educational experience giving parents a real voice and opportunity to engage".
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President Barack Obama
Remarks by the President on Education Reform at the National Urban League Centennial Conference
July 29, 2010
"Now, so far, about 30 states have come together to embrace and develop common standards, high standards. More states are expected to do so in the coming weeks. And by the way, this is different from No Child Left Behind, because what that did was it gave the states the wrong incentives. A bunch of states watered down their standards so that school districts wouldn't be penalized when their students fell short. And what's happened now is, at least two states Illinois and Oklahoma that lowered standards in response to No Child Left Behind are now raising those standards back up, partly in response to Race to the Top. We're challenging states to turn around our 5,000 lowest performing schools. And I don't think it's any secret that most of those are serving African American or Hispanic kids. We're investing over $4 billion to help them do that, to transform those schools $4 billion, which even in Washington is real money. This isn't about unlike No Child Left Behind, this isn't about labeling a troubled school a failure and then just throwing up your hands and saying, well, we're giving up on you. It's about investing in that school's future, and recruiting the whole community to help turn it around, and identifying viable options for how to move forward."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the National Urban League Centennial Conference
July 27, 2010
"Today, many superintendents and school boards don't track this inequity, and the law doesn't require them to fix it. But if we change the law, when we reauthorize ESEA, and require schools to distribute resources more equitably, schools serving low-income students will have more money and better teachers. That money can buy more support for students and teachers, higher pay for great teachers willing to work in low-income schools, and breakthrough technology to advance learning. One of the things that No Child Left Behind really got right was transparency. It requires every district and state to show the test scores of all subgroups so we can see the insidious achievement gaps of poor, minority and special education students."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Quiet Revolution: Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the National Press Club
July 27, 2010
"We arrived in Washington at a time when America was deeply divided over the proper federal role in education policy. No Child Left Behind forced some hard conversations around issues like accountability and the achievement gap but it also triggered some negative consequences. It caused states to lower standards, mandated impractical remedies, and incentivized the wrong behavior among some educators who put standardized testing ahead of a well-rounded curriculum. Rather than driving reform at the local level, NCLB fed long-standing frustration with federal over-reaching. Forty-eight states voluntarily collaborated to raise the bar and create common college and career-ready standards -- solving the single biggest drawback of NCLB without a federal mandate or a federal dollar. So far, 27 states have adopted those standards. Even Massachusetts universally viewed with the highest standards in the country voted unanimously to adopt last week. The big game-changer is to start measuring individual student growth rather than proficiency which is in our blueprint for reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Act. We have to use that information to drive student instruction and accountability at every level classroom, school, district and state. Our blueprint also envisions a more humble and realistic federal role in driving reform. We are a very long way from the classroom in Washington and if we have learned one thing from NCLB it's that one-size-fits-all remedies generally don't work. NCLB prescribed tutoring for an entire school even if only one subgroup was behind. It prescribed choice for millions of children in thousands of schools even though there were few available options. We have learned from NCLB that if we don't mandate real consequences in these struggling schools, nothing will change and none of us can accept that."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Equity and Education Reform
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Annual Meeting of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
July 14, 2010
"Last year's Recovery Act included $100 billion dollars for education. That money saved or created 400,000 jobs most of them teachers and protected millions of children from cuts in key educational programs. Through the Race to the Top competition, we have unleashed a deluge of reform activity in 46 states and scores of cities all across America reforms that will have an outsize impact on minorities. So, today, I'm announcing that based on your input and the very productive engagement we have had around the school improvement grant program we will revise our ESEA reauthorization proposal to require parent and community input. That means notification, outreach, public input, and honest, open discussion about the right option for each community. This is really common sense and most superintendents understand this. But we also know this is very hard work and it's a challenge to build consensus around these very tough interventions."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Keeping the Promise to All America's Children
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks to the Council for Exceptional Children
April 21, 2010
"Many children with disabilities are not getting a world-class education. The President and I are committed to doing everything in our power to make that bedrock American promise of equal educational opportunity a reality. With the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we have a historic opportunity to move closer to fulfilling that promise for all students. We will work with schools and enforce laws to ensure that all children, no matter what their race, gender, disability or national origin, have a fair chance at a good future. We will make sure ESEA doesn't lose track of these students, who in many cases are making significant progress. This year, I'm working closely with Democrats and Republicans in Congress to fix the No Child Left Behind Act through the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. We want the law to be fair, flexible, and focused on the right goals. We want a law that ensures all students are prepared for success in college and careers. Our proposal will set a goal that all students graduate high school ready to succeed in college and careers. We want to make sure that students with disabilities are included in all aspects of ESEA, and to continue the measure achievement gaps and work to close them. We want to align ESEA with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act so that we create one seamless system that addresses the needs of each child. One thing NCLB did right was hold schools accountable for all students and highlighted the achievement gaps between subgroups of students. We absolutely want to continue that. But NCLB doesn't measure student growth. Our ESEA Blueprint and Race to the Top Assessment Competition will invest in that next generation of tests to measure student growth and achievement. Our proposal goes further by bolstering traditional and alternative pathways to teaching – especially for those teaching in high-need areas – such as special education – and those teaching in high-need schools. This reauthorized ESEA will provide the building block for the reauthorization of the IDEA that will follow. Alexa Posny will be leading our work in IDEA reauthorization, and she will be a strong advocate for students with disabilities in ESEA reauthorization as well."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
The Well-Rounded Curriculum
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Arts Education Partnership National Forum
April 9, 2010
"In the coming debate over ESEA reauthorization, I believe that arts education can help build the case for the importance of a well-rounded, content-rich curriculum in at least three ways. First, the arts significantly boost student achievement, reduce discipline problems, and increase the odds that students will go on to graduate from college. Second, arts education is essential to stimulating the creativity and innovation that will prove critical to young Americans competing in a global economy. And last, but not least, the arts are valuable for their own sake, and they empower students to create and appreciate aesthetic works. I want to underscore that our proposal to reauthorize ESEA goes much further than existing law in supporting a well-balanced curriculum. Our ESEA proposal will allow states to incorporate assessments of subjects beyond English language arts and math in their accountability systems. And we plan to invest in the development of better assessments, so schools and teachers don't feel pressured to teach to low-quality, standardized tests. Under our new ESEA proposal, high-need districts, and states and non-profits in partnership with high-need districts, would be eligible to apply for the grants, which place a priority on cross-subject learning but don't mandate it. At the same time, we would increase access and funding for college-level, dual credit, and other accelerated courses in high-need schools to support not only a well-rounded, but a rigorous curriculum."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Obama Administration's Education Reform Plan Emphasizes Flexibility, Resources and Accountability for Results
March 15, 2010
"We will work with Congress on a bipartisan basis to reauthorize ESEA this year. We owe it to our children and our country to act now. NCLB highlighted the achievement gap and created a national conversation about student achievement. But it also created incentives for states to lower their standards; emphasized punishing failure over rewarding success; focused on absolute scores, rather than recognizing growth and progress; and prescribed a pass-fail, one-size-fits-all series of interventions for schools that miss their goals. To make ESEA work, we have to fix accountability and get it right. A rigorous and fair accountability system measures student growth, rewards schools that accelerate student achievement, and identifies and rewards outstanding teachers and leaders. NCLB says that fifth-grade teacher who helps a student reading at a second-grade level reach a fourth-grade level, within one year, has this missed their goal. In fact, that teacher is an excellent teacher and should be applauded."
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President Barack Obama
President Obama to Send Updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act Blueprint to Congress on Monday
March 13, 2010
"My administration will send to Congress our blueprint for an updated Elementary and Secondary Education Act to overhaul No Child Left Behind. What this plan recognizes is that while the federal government can play a leading role in encouraging the reforms and high standards we need, the impetus for that change will come from states, and from local schools and school districts. So, yes, we set a high bar but we also provide educators the flexibility to reach it. Through this plan we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career no matter who you are or where you come from."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Secretary Duncan Says Rewrite of 'No Child Left Behind' Should Start Now; Reauthorization Can't Wait
September 24, 2009
"Today, I am calling on all of you to join with us to build a transformative education law that guarantees every child the education they want and need a law that recognizes and reinforces the proper role of the federal government to support and drive reform at the state and local level. The ESEA was reauthorized most recently in 2002 in what is known as the No Child Left Behind Act. But the biggest problem with NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. The next version of ESEA to create tests that better measure student learning and to build an accountability system that is based on the academic growth of students. He also wants the law to create programs to improve the performance of existing teachers and school leaders, to recruit new effective educators, and to ensure that the best educators are serving the children that are the furthest behind."
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Secretary Arne Duncan
Reauthorization of ESEA: Why We Can't Wait
Secretary Arne Duncan's Remarks at the Monthly Stakeholders Meeting
September 24, 2009
"Many teachers complain bitterly about NCLB's emphasis on testing. Principals hate being labeled as failures. Superintendents say it wasn't adequately funded. Some people accuse NCLB of over-reaching while others say that it doesn't go far enough in holding people accountable for results. I will always give NCLB credit for exposing achievement gaps, and for requiring that we measure our efforts to improve education by looking at outcomes, rather than inputs. I also agree with some NCLB critics: it unfairly labeled many schools as failures even when they were making real progress it places too much emphasis on absolute test scores rather than student growth and it is overly prescriptive in some ways while it is too blunt an instrument of reform in others. But the biggest problem with NCLB is that it doesn't encourage high learning standards. In fact, it inadvertently encourages states to lower them. The net effect is that we are lying to children and parents by telling kids they are succeeding when, in fact, they are not."
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