OII: Office of Innovation and Improvement
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Celebrating a Legacy of Leadership
Prepared remarks for Assistant Deputy Secretary for Innovation and Improvement Nina S. Rees at the 25th Anniversary Conference of Women Administrators, American Association of School Administrators, in Washington, D.C.
Archived Information


FOR RELEASE:
November 3, 2005
Speaker frequently
deviates from prepared text
Contact: Cynthia Dorfman
(202) 205-5560

Introduction

Thank you for that kind introduction. It is a pleasure to be here at the American Association of School Administrators' 25th Anniversary Conference to celebrate the legacy of women in education. It isn't often that I get to address a crowd that I have so much in common with: as a woman, wife, mother, and advocate for children in our nation's schools.

On behalf of U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings, who is deeply concerned with American education, especially as the mother of two teenage daughters, I want to commend you on the work that you do to ensure that every student has access to a high quality education.

You understand that our nation's students belong to all of us, and with this understanding you are part of a collective group that is doing the most important work in the world: preparing future generations for success in school and in life.

This conference provides its members with a great opportunity to gain new knowledge and skills, to network, and to share triumphs and tribulations with other female public school educators. What impresses me most about this event, though, is the diversity represented here: we not only have leaders in the room who are working in their own unique ways to improve our schools, but we also have teachers and graduate students who may be currently aspiring toward such leadership positions!

Women in Leadership Roles

As some of you may know, I head up the Office of Innovation and Improvement at the U.S. Department of Education, and I am also a first generation Iranian-American. I left Iran in 1983 at the age of 14 with my parents, and at the time I could not have imagined that I would have a role in helping to shape education in the United States. That is one of the great things about our country: if you work hard and persevere, anything is possible.

It certainly is an interesting time to be a woman and a leader. On television we have Martha Stewart whose new reality show is attempting to "trump" The Donald's original Apprentice. And Academy Award winning actress Geena Davis is showing millions of viewers what it might be like if a female was the leader of the free world in the weekly drama Commander In Chief.

Just recently we had a real reminder of the power of female leadership with the death of Rosa Parks. The strong, yet demure, African-American seamstress galvanized the civil rights movement 50 years ago by refusing to give up her seat on an Alabama bus to a white man. Last Sunday, Mrs. Parks lay in honor beneath the rotunda of the United States Capitol—the first woman ever to be so honored.

In 1988 Mrs. Parks said, "I will leave this legacy to all of you... to bring peace, justice, equality, and a fulfillment of what [their] lives should be" to America's youth.

No Child Left Behind and a Legacy of Education Reform

I know that every person in this room works toward the achievement of that legacy by ensuring that all of our children are given the chance to dream big dreams and to succeed in life, regardless of the color of their skin, their country of origin, or socio-economic status. And that is what No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is all about. The law has focused our attention squarely on the needs of our low-income students - to ensure that they are all given an excellent education. The law has laid the groundwork for improving American education by requiring accountability and parental options.

Every state now has a concrete plan to improve its schools and student achievement. Schools are being held accountable for all students to make academic gains, beginning with annual assessments and data broken down by student groups. Without annual assessments, there can be no way to measure which students are benefiting from our reforms and which need more help. And without measurement, there can be no accountability for results. Or, as Secretary Spellings often says, "In God we trust, all others bring data."

And the early results indicate that we are on the right track. Test scores have begun to rise across the country, and the achievement gap is beginning to close. We have proof of this from the recent Long Term Trend Results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), which show our nation's students have made more progress in the last five years than in the previous 30 years combined.

Nationally, math scores for nine- and thirteen-year-olds have reached all time highs. Hispanic nine-year-olds raised their scores by 17 points over the last five years. And White, Hispanic, and African-American thirteen-year-olds have all made significant gains. The gap between White and African-American nine-year-old students in reading is the smallest it has ever been. In fact, since 1999, African-American students have improved their reading scores by 14 points, which is a huge jump.

And just last month, the 2004 National and State Report Cards in Mathematics and Reading were released. These results, like the long-term NAEP data, confirm that we are on the right track with NCLB, particularly with younger students who have benefited from annual assessments and disaggregated data. For example, since the previous assessment in 2003, fourth graders scored higher in both reading and math. And these new NAEP results once again confirm that many of the differences in achievement between Black or Hispanic students and their White counterparts have narrowed.

The High School Initiative

We are currently coming upon the fourth anniversary of the enactment of No Child Left Behind. Like most four-year-olds, the law has experienced growing pains, but is continuing to develop and shows much promise. We have seen success in elementary and middle schools, but now we must finish the job in our high schools. Right now, however, we are falling short of this goal. Let me share with you some statistics that confirm this fact:

Based on these numbers, it's clear that we have to restore the meaning of a high school diploma. It can't be a simple piece of paper that a student receives as a result of sitting in a classroom for 12 years. Rather, it must represent a ticket to success after graduation. That is why the President has proposed a new High School Initiative and the Secretary and all of us at the Department are working to set the terms of the debate about the need for high school reform. Many states have already taken the lead in this area and we want the federal government to be as helpful as it can be in this endeavor.

As all of you know, reforming our schools is no simple task, but we are seeing that it can be done. We can improve our public education system by replacing low expectations with a culture of achievement that rewards success and does not tolerate failure. But we cannot do this without your help, energy and optimism.

Acknowledging Outstanding Leaders in Our Midst

Today I am honored to speak at a conference with so many visionary leaders in attendance. Three of these leaders I am sure you are already familiar with, and you'll be hearing from them at a general session bright and early on Saturday morning: the National Teacher, National Middle School Principal, and National Superintendent of the Year.

I am especially proud of Jason Kamras who teaches at John Philip Sousa Middle School right here in Washington, DC. During his nine-year career, he has taught mathematics and social studies to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders, and his diligent efforts have helped him to achieve significant gains with these students. For example, he spearheaded revisions to the mathematics curriculum that enabled the percent of students scoring "below basic" on the Stanford 9 test to fall from 80 percent to 40 percent in just one year.

And jumping over the Potomac to Virginia there is Sharon Byrdsong, who was just named the 2006 MetLife/NASSP National Middle School Principal of the Year. Mrs. Byrdsong has worked tirelessly to raise student achievement and improve the learning environment at Azalea Gardens Middle School in Norfolk. When she arrived there in 2000, students at the school had between a 50 and 60 percent pass rate on the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL) assessment. Mrs. Byrdsong focused the school on proven best practices and a rigorous curriculum. And in 2004 Azalea students scored in the 90s in all areas of the SOL assessments, which marked the highest scores for middle schools in the entire Norfolk area.

And last but not least, students in Greenwood Village, Colorado are lucky to have Dr. Monte Moses as Superintendent of the Cherry Creek School District. Dr. Moses is the son of a high school principal, so he knows what it takes to be an education leader. He lives by his district's mission statement, "To inspire every student to think, to learn, to achieve, and to care." Despite the fact that his district has increased by 10,000 students in the last few years, achievement has continued to improve.

And, on Sunday, I'm sure you'll be inspired to return to your schools by the words of Nikki Giovanni, the talented poet and author who also happens to be a Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech University, my alma mater! Nikki Giovanni has been committed to civil rights and equality throughout her life, and as a writer and professor at Virginia Tech, she's educating and inspiring not only her students, but people across the world. She's also proving that Virginia Tech is more than just a football powerhouse!

Conclusion

To site another writer: Louisa May Alcott, best known for authoring the classic book Little Women, once wrote, "I'm not afraid of storms for I'm learning to sail my ship." Today at the 25th Anniversary of the Women Administrators' Conference I believe that's what a leader's legacy really is, as a woman or a man. It's about how well the leader learns to steer her ship, whether that ship is a school, a district, or a federal law.

Many of you have already seen the ripple effects from your ship. Others of you are about to embark on your own leadership journey. Whatever you do, know that we all have a lot to learn from one another. And the more daring your goals, the more difficult and ultimately rewarding your journeys will be. We cannot be afraid to "rock the boat" or to question our path, but we must remember to look back and learn from the journey we've all begun, and the reason we embarked on it in the first place.

Thank you for having me.


 
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Last Modified: 05/10/2007