So when Arne speaks to - to educators across America, it won't be from up in some ivory tower, but from the lessons he's learned during his years changing our schools from the bottom up. And on the ACT, the gains of Chicago students have been twice as big as those for students in the rest of the state. The dropout rate has gone down every year he's been in charge. In just seven years, Arne's boosted elementary test scores here in Chicago from 38 percent of students meeting the standards to 67 percent. Since this school was revamped and reopened in 2003, the number of students meeting state standards has more than tripled. This school right here, Dodge Renaissance Academy, is a perfect example. He's shut down failing schools and replaced their entire staffs, even when it was unpopular. He's championed good charter schools, even when it was controversial. He's worked tirelessly to improve teacher quality, increasing the number of master teachers who've completed a rigorous national certification process from just 11 to just shy of 1,200, rewarding school leaders and teachers for gains in student achievement. He's not beholden to any one ideology, and he doesn't hesitate for one minute to do what needs to be done. When faced with tough decisions, Arne doesn't blink. And the results aren't just about test scores or statistics, but about whether our children are developing the skills they need to compete with any worker in the world for any job. For Arne, school reform isn't just a theory in a book it's the cause of his life. When it comes to school reform, Arne is the most hands-on of hands-on practitioners. These are precisely the goals to which Arne Duncan has devoted his life, from his days back in college, tutoring children here in Chicago, to his work at the helm of a non-profit remaking schools on the South Side to his time working for the Chicago Public Schools, where he became chief executive officer of this city's school system. We need a new vision for the 21st century education system, one where we aren't just supporting existing schools but spurring innovation where we're not just investing more money but demanding more reform where parents take responsibility for their children's success where we're recruiting, retaining and rewarding an army of new teachers where we hold our schools, teachers and government accountable for results and where we expect all our children not only to graduate high school, but to graduate from college and to get a good paying job. It's morally unacceptable for our children and economically untenable for America. But we've failed to act, stuck in the same tired debates that have stymied our progress and left schools and parents to fend for themselves - Democrat versus Republican, vouchers versus the status quo, more money versus more reform - all along failing to acknowledge that both sides have good ideas and good intentions. Unfortunately when our high school dropout rate is one of the highest, in the industrialized world, when a third of all 4th graders can't do basic math, when more and more Americans are getting priced out of attending college, we're falling far short of that goal.įor years, we've talked our education problems to death in Washington. They will determine not just whether our children have the chance to fulfill their God-given potential or whether or workers have the chance to build a better life for their families but whether we as a nation will remain, in the 21st century, the kind of global economic leader that we were in the 20th.īecause at a time when companies can plant jobs wherever there's an Internet connection, and two-thirds of all new jobs require a higher education or advanced training, if we want to outcompete the world tomorrow, then we're going to have to outeducate the world today.
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In the next few years, the decisions we make, about how to educate our children, will shape our future for generations to come. So today, we're pleased to announce the leader of our education team, whose work will be critical to these efforts, our nominee for secretary of Education and my friend, Arne Duncan. But we know that in the long run, the path to jobs and growth begins right here, in America's schools, in America's classrooms. And they are working, as we speak, to craft a recovery program that will save and create millions of new jobs and grow our struggling economy. Over the past few weeks, Vice President-elect Biden and I have announced key members of our economic team. 352765 President-elect press conference (12/16/08) Barack Obama