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THE

ACHIEVERwww.ed.gov • December 15, 2004 • Vol. 3, No. 1

THE

ACHIEVERSM

Paige Resigns, Bush Appoints New Education Secretary

At a White House ceremony on Nov. 17, President Bushnominated Margaret Spellings for the nation’s top lead-ership position in education. If confirmed by the

Senate, she would succeed current U.S. Secretary of EducationRod Paige, who submitted his letter of resignation to PresidentBush on Nov 5. Although the resignation is effective Jan. 20,at the end of the president’s first term, Paige has agreed to con-

tinue to serve until his successor is confirmed.“The issue of education is close to my heart,” said

President Bush. “And on this vital issue, there is no one I trustmore than Margaret Spellings.” For the last four years,Spellings served as assistant to the president for domestic policy on issues ranging from education and health care to job train-

ing. Prior to her White House appointment, Spellings workedfor six years as chief education adviser for then-Governor Busand was responsible for such projects as the Texas ReadingInitiative and the Student Success Initiative to eliminate sociapromotion.

Accepting the nomination, Spellings said to PresidentBush, “More than 10 years ago, you gave me the opportunity

to work with you on improving Texas schools. You said thenthat the government should do a few things and do them weland that one of those few things is educating all children. …Our schools must keep their promise to all of our children. And I pledge to do all I can to ensure that no child is leftbehind.”

If confirmed, Spellings would serve as America’s eighthsecretary of education.

Looki ng Bac k “The stubborn, and I believe unacceptable, academic achievement gap betwminority students and their white peers...has begun to close,” wrote

Secretary Paige in listing the accomplisments achieved during his tenure.

Fo u r y e a r s a g o , R o d P a i g e a c c e pt e d t h e po s i t i o n a s U .S . s e c r e t a r y

o f e d u c a t i o n f o l l o w i n g a n i l l u s t r i o u s c a r e e r i n e d u c a t i o n a s a

t e a c h e r , f o o t b a l l c o a c h , c o l l e g e d e a n a n d s u pe r i n t e n d e n t o f o n e

o f t h e l a r g e s t s c h o o l s y s t e ms i n t h e c o u n t r y . L a s t mo n t h , P a i g e

r e s i g n e d f r o m h i s C a b i n e t po s t . I n h i s r e s i g n a t i o n l e t t e r t o P r e s i d e n t

B u s h , a c o p y o f w h i c h a p pe a r s b e l o w , S e c r e t a r y P a i g e r e c a p pe d t h e

s t r i d e s e d u c a t i o n h a s ma d e d u r i n g h i s t e n u r e .

Dear Mr. President:

This letter comes to ad vise you of m y desire to resign

f rom the position of U.S. secretar y of education

ef f ecti ve at the end of your f irst presidential

term. It comes also to e xpress m y deepest

appreciation to you f or the opportunit y to

ser ve you and the nation in such an impor-

tant position.

I am ver y proud of the man y accom-

plishments achie ved b y the talented and

committed men and women of the U.S.

Department of Education. Because of your

strong and clear leadership, our work has

been a labor of lo ve. Of the man y important

accomplishments achie ved b y the Department

during this short and intense f our- year period,

I belie ve the f ollo wing are illustrati ve: Photo by © 2

Ann Johanssoc ont i nue d on page 2



—The Department’sunder secretary has advised usthat by the middle of this month theDepartment of Education can expect offi-cial notification of its third consecutiveclean annual audit by an outside “big six”audit firm. Prior to 2001, the Departmenthad achieved only one clean audit in itshistory, and that audit was one conductedby the Department’s Office of theInspector General.

—As evidenced by the President’s

Management Agenda Scorecard, theDepartment’s management and accounta-bility improvements have been stellar.Consequently, the Department is now much sounder organizationally than before2001.

—The No Child Left Behind Act’s

(NCLB) reform initiatives have been welllaunched. Despite highly financed andorganized opposition, a penchant for waiv-er requests, and other types of delays, all50 states, the District of Columbia andPuerto Rico have approved accountability plans, and all states are working vigorously to gain and maintain compliance withNCLB law and regulations. This is a sharpcontrast to state compliance with the

Improving America’s Schools Act (IASA) of 1994. When you assumed the presidency in January 2001, only 11 states were incompliance with the IASA’s accountability requirements.

—The Department has held the lineon Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) compliance issues, and has, forthe first time in the Department’s history,exercised its authority to withhold admin-istrative funds from states for clear failureto comply with the substance of the

ESEA.—The national education culture is

changing. All across the nation, the educa-tional dialogue is now about results andless about inputs.

—The Department’s Web site hasbeen transformed from a confusing, unat-tractive site to one of the best in the feder-

al government. In September2004, the Center for

Public Policy at BrownUniversity ranked the

ED Web site third over-all among 60 federal

government sitesand first

among

Cabinet agencies.—The Student Financial Aid Nat

Cohort Default Rate is at an historic lo—In 2001, the Department’s resea

office, the Office of Educational Reseaand Improvement (OERI), was reformand reauthorized as the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), which sharpthe Department’s research focus to betinform instructional practices.

—The stubborn, and I believe unceptable, academic achievement gapbetween minority students and their wpeers, essentially stagnant throughout tperiod between 1992 and 2000, has beto close.

—Hispanic and African Americanscores, especially in the big urban centof our nation, are beginning to rise. Thpercentage of African American andHispanic fourth-graders who know thereading and math basics increased subs

tially more between 2000 and 2003 thin the previous eight years combined.

Although the aforementioned accoplishments represent but a sample of thachievements of the talented and commted members of your U.S. DepartmenEducation, I believe they represent a sofoundation from which to launch newinvigorated leadership for the DepartmI believe that this is an appropriate timfor me to return to Texas where I candevote attention to a personal project,

which I began planning prior to assummy present responsibilities.

Although my desire is to leave theoffice at the completion of your first p

dential term, if my successor hasbeen confirmed by that tim

would be pleased to contuntil such time as my su

cessor is confirmed, if yso wish.

Sincerely,

Rod Paig

The Achiever is published semi-monthly during the school year for parents and community leaders by the Office of Intergovernmental and Interagency Affairs, U.S.

Department of Education (ED). Rod Paige, Secretary.

For questions and comments, contact:Nicole Ashby, Editor, U.S. Department of Education,400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Room 5E217,Washington, DC 20202, 202-205-0676 (fax),[email protected].

For address changes and subscriptions,contact: ED Pubs, P.O. Box 1398, Jessup, MD

20794, 1-877-4ED-PUBS (1-877-433-7827),[email protected].

For information on ED programs, resources and events, contact: Information Resource Center,U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20202,1-800-USA-LEARN (1-800-872-5327),[email protected].

Disclaimer: The Achiever contains news and information about public and private organizations for the reader’s information. Inclusion does not constitute an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education of any products or services offered or views expressed.

tinued f r om page 1

2 Photo by © 2003 Ann Johansson



T i p s f o

r Pa r e n t s

:

No Child

Left Behind What Works Clearinghouse

The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences created the What WorksClearinghouse (WWC) in 2002 to provide

educators, policy-makers, researchers and the public witha central and credible source of scientific evidence about what

works in education, thus facilitating decisions about which strategies for learningto implement in schools. Through a series of databases and reports, the WWCprovides ongoing reviews of the effectiveness of educational interventions-pro-

grams, products, practices and policies-designed to improve student outcomes.To ensure the quality of these efforts, a technical advisory group composed of research experts helps to establish the standards for reviewing research, outlinesthe methodological aspects of the evidence reviews, and provides guidance to WWC contractors. The clearinghouse is administered through a contract to a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research and the CampbellCollaboration.

Recently, the WWC reviewed research available on mathematics programs forgrades six through nine. It concluded in a report released last month that only asmall number of the nation’s middle school mathematics curricula have scientificevidence of effectiveness. A review of more than 800 studies of math programsidentified 10 evaluations that met evidence standards developed for the

Department by the WWC. These evaluations covered five math curricula, two of which showed significant improvement in student learning. The WWC is keepingits review of mathematics programs open to consider new studies, for which it will provide updates reflecting later reviews.

Additionally, clearinghouse officials stressed that the absence of scientificevidence of effectiveness does not mean that a curriculum is ineffective; rather, itindicates the lack of documentation for how well the curriculum works. Pleasenote that the Department does not endorse curricula.

Future clearinghouse reviews to be released in the coming months will focuson beginning reading and character education. For more information about the What Works Clearinghouse, visit http://whatworks.ed.gov/.

“Rod Paige has been a t the fore fron t

o f fundamen tall y

re forming and impro ving our na tion’s public educa tion

s ys tem so tha t no child is le f t behind in Am

erica. His pas-

sion for taking on the s ta tus quo and

figh ting for re form

underscores his s trong commi tmen t to our coun tr y

’s

young people and his desire to gi ve

them a brigh ter

fu ture. Throughou t his li fe, Rod has o verco

me grea t

obs tacles and achie ved grea t success. He represen ts the

bes t o f America.”

Presiden t Bush, in a s ta temen t thanking Ro

d Paige for his four- year

ser vice as U.S. secre tar y o f educ

a tion, No v. 15, 200 4.

C l o s e

- U p:

Parents can help children develop con fidence in their math abilities by help

ing them to understand the followinconcepts:

1. Problems can be solved in different ways.Learning math is more than findingthe correct answer; it’s also a processof solving problems and applying wh you’ve learned to new problems.

2. Wrong answers can sometimesbe useful. Ask your child to explain how she

solved a math problem. Her explana-tion might help you to discover if sheneeds help with addition, subtractionmultiplication and division, or withthe concepts involved in solving theproblem.

3. Don’t be afraid to take risks.Give your child time to explore different approaches to solving a difficultproblem. As he works, encourage himto talk about what he is thinking. Thiwill help him to strengthen math skil

and to become an independentthinker and problem solver.

4. Being able to do mental mathis important.Doing math “in your head” (mentalmath) is a valuable skill that comes inhandy as we make quick calculationsof costs in stores, restaurants or gasstations. Let your child know that byusing mental math, her math skills wbecome stronger.

5. It’s sometimes OK to use a calcu

lator to solve mathematics problems.Let your child know that to use calculators correctly and efficiently, she wineed a strong grounding in mathoperations; otherwise, how will sheknow whether the answer she sees dplayed is reasonable?

Source: Adapted from Helping Your Child Learn

Mathematics , U.S. Department of Education, 2004.



THE

A C H I E V E RTHE

A C H I E V E R

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

ED PUBS

P.O. Box 1398

JESSUP, MD 20794-1398

OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300

POSTAGE AND FEES PAI

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF

EDUCATION

Permit NO. G-17

PRESORTED

FIRST CLASS

SM December 15, 2004 • Vol. 3, No. 19

NEW GUIDE! C r eating Alter

nativ e Route s

to T eac her C er tif ic ation

Traditiona l teac her

preparation programs cannot b y t h

emse l ves meet t he gro wing demand

f

K -12 educators. A s a resu lt, states an

d communities are creating a lternat

i ve pat h wa ys into

t he teac hing prof ession to attract ta l

ented candidates-f rom t he mid-care

er prof essiona l to

t he midd le-aged retiree- w ho are a lre

ad y we l l- versed in t he content t he y

want to teac h. T hese a lt

nati ve programs are designed to pre

pare indi vidua ls w ho ha ve at least a

co l lege degree to becom

teac hers and o btain a state teac hing

license. T he pro visions on “ hig h l y

q ua lif ied teac hers” in t he

N o C h i l d L e f t B e h i nd A c t req uire e ver y teac her to ha ve a bac he lor’s deg

ree, su bject-matter competenc y and

f u l l state certif ication.

Ho w a lternati ve teac her certif icatio

n programs are e xpanding t he education wor k f orce is t he f ocus of a n

e w pu b lication f rom t h

U.S. Department of Education’s O

f f ice of Inno vation and Impro vemen

t. A l t e r n a t i v e R o u t e s t o T e a c h e r C e r t i f i c a t i o n , w hic h f eatu

si x case studies, out lines f our action

areas t hat emp hasi ze t he e lements

of a promising a lternati ve program:

(1 ) recruit wide l y, se lect

caref u l l y; (2 ) design a co herent, f le xi

b le program; (3 ) pro vide e xtensi ve s

upport; and (4 ) engage in continuou

s ref lection and impro

ment. A lso inc luded are samp les of

an inter vie w f orm and a position de

scription.

T he si x programs prof i led in t he gu

ide are: t he A lternati ve Certif ication

Program, Hi l ls boroug h Count y, F l

a.; t he Educator

Certif ication Program, R egion X I I I

, A ustin, Te xas; t he Georgia Teac her

A lternati ve Preparation Program, N

ort h west R egiona l

Educationa l Ser vice A genc y (R ES A

) and Metro R ES A , Ga.; t he Ne w Y

or k Cit y Teac hing Fe l lo ws program

, Ne w Yor k , N. Y.; t he

Nort heastern Ca lif ornia Partners hip

f or Specia l Education, C hico, Ca lif

.; and t he Wic hita A rea Transition t

o Teac hing program,

Wic hita, K an.

For a f ree cop y of A lternati ve R ou

tes to Teac her Certif ication, w hi le su

pp lies last, contact t he Department

’s pu b lication cente

1-8 7 7-4ED- P U BS wit h identif ication num ber E U0115 P. O

r visit w w w.ed.go v/admins/tc hrq ua

l/recruit/a ltroutes/inde x. htm l.

“When it comes tothe education of our

children ... failure isnot an option.”

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

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