Secretary Promises Principals Support and Flexibility

We've been challenged to provide a quality education to every child in America," U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige said of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) during the Opening General Session at the NASSP Annual Convention.

Rod Paige, U.S. secretary of education, addressed Convention attendees at the Opening General Session, reiterating the NCLB challenge to close the achievement gap and pledging support to make it a reality.

"We have to focus on closing the achievement gap it's a problem that plagues our nation," he continued. "The status quo isn't good enough."

Paige likened the challenge of NCLB to President Kennedy's challenge for the United States to safely land a man on the Moon and return him to Earth. "It might even be tougher than Kennedy's challenge at least he had the laws of physics to guide him."

Paige acknowledged that principals bear tremendous responsibility for NCLB's success and promised that unlike education departments of past administrations that just "monitored" schools, "We want to provide real support to schools" to reach the goals of NCLB.

"The principalship is one of the most critically important jobs in education and one of the most demanding. You have responsibility for everything in your school, but you have scant authority," Paige said.

Paige, a former superintendent of the year, recalled his days as superintendent of the Houston Independent School District: "I chose my principals very carefully. I was selective to make sure I got the best individuals in the job."

He described his commitment to providing copious professional development and then taking "a critical next step: I put my faith in them." Under Paige's leadership, principals' discretionary spending went from 5% to 66% of their school budgets in just a few years; however, he clarified, "then we measured for results."

Paige went on to discuss the implementation of NCLB and emphasized the need for principals to make ED aware of the problems they are encountering. "When we hear from you, we try to solve those problems," Paige said.

Paige opened his remarks by repeating his apology to U.S. teachers for his "inappropriate choice of words." The week before Convention, he referred to the National Education Association (NEA) as a "terrorist organization" while addressing the nation's governors.

Although Paige voiced regret over his choice of words and expressed uncompromised support for U.S. teachers, he did not back off from his criticism of the NEA. "Teachers are the foot soldiers of democracy…and they deserve representation responsible representation." Paige said that his comments were directed exclusively at the union leadership in Washington, DC, "who distort and misrepresent" reform intentions "while at the same time proposing no alternatives. They're fighting against the real reform of our education system."

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