National Education Leaders Discuss Future Policy

The Education Leadership Summit at Duke University, moderated by former Gov. Jim Hunt, was the first public activity of the James B. Hunt Jr. Institute for Educational Leadership and Policy, an educational think tank established by the UNC system.

A large part of the discussion focused on the No Child Left Behind Act, which is the centerpiece of President Bush's educational reforms.

The act, which Bush signed into law in January, requires that third- through eighth-grade students take year-end tests in math and reading.

Hunt said the act's goal is to "make every public school work and have every child learn."

"Within 12 years, all students, including poor and minorities, will meet state standards in reading and math," he said.

The five secretaries of education said they support Bush's desire to reform education and the idea of national testing to develop a way to evaluate student performance.

But the secretaries differed sharply on how much the government should judge students and schools based on test scores.

Secretary of Education Rod Paige, who was appointed by Bush in 2001, said mandatory testing allows administrators to find out which techniques successfully teach students and which programs are failures, making it a vital part of education reform.

Paige also said a school's test scores must be tied to federal funding, forcing schools to improve and to better educate their students to receive funding.

"We must shift the emphasis from spending to investing," he said, adding that flexibility is key to the success of local school districts. "If schools change, then they change because of the teachers who look students in the eye."

But former Secretary of Education Lauro Cavazos, who served from 1988-90 under Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush, said there are alternative criteria, such as grades, courses, graduation rates and college attendance figures, for evaluating student performance.

"I don't want testing to become the single measure of student achievement in this nation," Cavazos said, to widespread audience applause.

Cavazos, who was the first Hispanic to hold a Cabinet position, said partnerships between teachers, students and parents are more beneficial to education than standardized testing. "Education is everybody's business," he said.

Former Secretary of Education William Bennett, who served from 1985-88 under Reagan, said the nation desperately needs to take a new approach to schooling.

Bennett said more than half of black fourth graders nationwide cannot read at grade level. "If you can't read, then you're probably finished," he said. "There are wonderful public schools in this country, but we are sorely in need of reform."

Bennett also pointed out that people sometimes blame too much on schools.

He told one story about a mother who claimed public schools made her teenage son use profanity and keep bad company. Bennett said there is only one real way to reform education and make that mother happy. "I'd get rid of puberty," he said to the audience.

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.