Bush
aide lends ear, voice to education
reform
Thursday, February 23, 2006 •
BY JOHN MOONEY • Star-Ledger
Staff
She's a longtime confidante of President
Bush, an accomplished lawyer and the mother of two
school-age children.
Margaret Spellings has had to tap all
three roles in her first year as education secretary, a year
in which she's been both cheerleader and mediator for White
House school policies, most notably Bush's No Child Left
Behind Act.
And yesterday, as she touted the law's
seminal demand that all students be learning at grade level
by 2014, there's no mistaking her Southern fortitude,
certainly not when it comes in Texas drawl.
"How we get there is up for discussion,"
she said. "But God dang it, we're going to get there by
2014."
Spellings, 48, brought her road show to
New Jersey for the first time yesterday, promoting high
school reform to a lunchtime group of business and school
leaders in Madison before sitting down with some Newark
schoolchildren and parents to talk about their
goals.
There was little about Spellings'
appearances that wasn't scheduled and choreographed. High
school reform, especially around science and math, is Bush's
latest signature issue. The Newark school was an innovative
and highly successful charter school, an urban success story
any politician would love.
Less advertised on her itinerary was a
private meeting with several New Jersey church and community
leaders who have been pushing a school voucher plan, another
pet issue for Bush.
But along the way, Spellings lived up to
her reputation as someone who's willing to spend time and
listen to concerns, be it from 12 year olds or graying
business leaders.
Talking to parents at the Robert Treat
Academy Charter School in Newark, Spellings compared stories
with a mother about their respective eighth graders'
indecision about high school. "Believe me, I live in that
world," she said.
And adjusting her trademark cats eye
eyeglasses, she took notes.
"Some people come to visit and maybe ask
a few questions, " said Michael Pallante, principal of the
Robert Treat Academy. "She wants to talk to kids, she wants
to hear what works ... Sure, she has a math and science
agenda, but it starts right here. And she asks the right
questions."
Before her appointment as secretary in
January 2005, Spellings was among the original architects of
the No Child Left Behind Act as Bush's White House counsel.
Since her appointment, much of Spellings' job has been in
trying to make it work.
The law requires schools to meet specific
test-performance goals each year, with escalating sanctions
for those that do not. In New Jersey, more than 900 schools
fell short last year, and as in many states, the law has
sparked frustration, if not fury, in both urban and suburban
districts.
But in her first year as education
secretary, Spellings has won praise for softening some of
the law's sharpest edges, including providing leeway for
states to exclude some students from the strictest
requirements.
That flexibility came through yesterday
in her speech at Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison,
at an event hosted by the Education Testing Service and a
business group known as New Jersey United for Higher School
Standards.
Spellings said she would look hard in the
law's upcoming reauthorization at alternative ways to
measure improvements in student performance. The annual
tests aren't going away, but she said the strict adherence
to specific goals each year could be loosened.
"Never in the history of the world have
we passed the perfect education law, or the perfect any
law," she said afterward. "Public policy making is organic
and we want to -- and need to -- learn from experience and
learn what works."
Much of her speech at FDU centered on
high school reform, and especially the need for better math
and science instruction to prepare students for careers in
the global economy. In his proposed fiscal 2007 budget, Bush
has called for the hiring of 100,000 new science and math
teachers.
"We know 90 percent of the
fastest-growing jobs require post-secondary education, but
less than half of our minority students graduate from high
school and less than half of all students graduate ready for
college-level math and science," Spellings said.
"I recently heard a story about a New
Jersey security firm that had to interview 1,300 high school
graduates just to find 130 who could pass a seventh-grade
math and reading test," she continued. "That's
unacceptable."
Her remarks came the same day a national
report found New Jersey, like most states, falling short in
their requirements for high school graduation.
Conducted by a business-led Achieve Inc.,
the report said the state's high school tests need to be
tougher and more should be required, especially in math, for
students to graduate.
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@starledger.com or (973) 392-1548.
© 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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