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American Morning

Interview of Rod Paige, Secretary of Education

Aired January 08, 2002 - 09:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN FINANCIAL ANCHOR: His father, you may recall, was the "education president." This morning, George W. Bush will take his best shot. He is set to sign into law an education bill that among other things, will hold failing schools accountable for their students' performance. Secretary of Education Rod Paige talked to me about this earlier today from Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAFFERTY: Mr. Secretary, the centerpiece of this legislation seems to be accountability. How do the schools meet these standards, and what are the repercussions if they don't?

ROD PAIGE, SECRETARY OF EDUCATION: Well, accountability is a big part of the bill, but the bill is much broader than that. It is designed to drive deep broad changes in the culture of education, how we do business. There will be consequences for action. Accountability for results means being responsible for our product.

CAFFERTY: What are the consequences though? If a school doesn't meet the standards, what happens?

PAIGE: Well, another big part of the bill is the opportunity for parents to have deep options, changes, they can do things differently. Parents will have other possibilities. Schools will have consequences for failure. If a school fails to make adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years, then that school will be identified as needing improvement, and there will be activities there to make the school much better.

If it fails an additional year, then there will be other consequences, some possibilities like supplemental services for parents who can choose to go out into the private sector or to another public school, and get the services they need for their young person.

CAFFERTY: There is a question, if the local school districts are given the power to determine the standards for their schools, how -- what guarantee is there that this will be fair across the country if the authority to make the decisions about what curriculums will include and not include is left to local school officials?

PAIGE: Well actually, it will be left to states. It's a state driven issue. States will be required to set standards, achievement standards, and to develop tests to measure achievement against those standards.

CAFFERTY: And that will be done on a state-by-state basis or will it be a national set of standards?

PAIGE: It will be done on a state -- No, no. No national standards. It will be done on a state-by-state basis.

CAFFERTY: Okay. There are critics who say we have done down this road before, that we have attempted to legislate our way out of problems with public education for a good long while. Let me read you a quote here from a gentleman named Jack Jennings. He's with a research group, the Center for Education Policy, and he was quoted in the "Boston Globe" as saying, "this not a new bill, it's like many political changes. It is an evolution, not a revolution." Can you respond to that?

PAIGE: Yes, I think the gentleman is quite wrong. Anyone who would take the time to read this entire bill would be very impressed with the comprehensive nature of the bill. The major changes -- nothing like this has ever happened before in public education. This is a revolutionary change.

CAFFERTY: Mr. Secretary, what are the items in this particular bill that, if someone is reading the piece of legislation, would make them say, you know what, this is different, it's revolutionary, we've never done this kind of approach before.

PAIGE: We've got four items that they would notice right away. One is accountability for results. We've addressed that.

The second one is flexibility and local control, giving the people at the scene much more flexibility to do the things that they know work best.

Another one is expanded options for parents, who will have more choices than they've ever had before.

And a fourth would be requiring the expenditures to support programs that are based on science. Things that work, that have evidence that they work.

CAFFERTY: The first lady, Laura Bush, has stated often that education is a subject that is very close to her heart. Is she going to be involved in any way in this particular bill, and watching its implementation or perhaps spearheading the effort, or touring the country selling the points in it, or does she have role at all in this?

PAIGE: Oh, the first lady has a wonderful role in this, and she is particularly interested in teachers, and expanding opportunities for teachers, and recruiting more teachers for our schools, and she is a wonderful advocate for program.

CAFFERTY: Thank you so much. We've been talking to Rod Paige, the secretary of education joining us from Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

The president is expected to sign the education bill in a ceremony at 9:45, about 24 minutes from now. It will be live on this here network from Hamilton, Ohio, when it happens.

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