William H. Gates Sr.

-
EducationGrantee Convening
guARANTee
So let me lay out in a very general way some ofte temes we!re
"ursuing as we ma#e greatteacing our "riority.
temes for great teacings
$rst teme is standard
Tey need to %e iger. Tat means college-ready. And tey need to
%e consistent across tecountry. Common standards are te
educational%ac#%one of te world!s to"-"erformingcountries& and
tey are a #ey ingredient of tewor# we must do to el" our young
"eo"le %ecome to" "erformers once again. Witouttem& we ave
no %asis for #nowing ow goodour scools or our teacers are'and&
morefundamentally& we ave no way of ensuring tattey are as
great as our students deserve.
iger
consistent
%ac# %one of our system
%asis to #now ow well our scools and teacers are
At te foundation& we!ll #ee" wor#ing witstates and districts to
develo" a common set ofcore standards tat are tied to te
demands ofcollege. (ore tan )* states ave already cometogeter
on tis issue troug an e+ort called teAmerican ,i"loma -ro.ect&
and we!re su""ortive of te "us to %ring tis num%er u" to /*.
common set of standards
Te second teme tat runs troug our newstrategy is data.
Teacers sould ave data a%out te studentsassigned to tem.
Rigt now& on te $rst day ofscool& a nint-grade teacer as
a%solutely noidea wic of er students can calculate te areaof a
circle or identify te elements of a sortstory.
0!ve eard tat some teacers ave resorted to#ee"ing teir own
data in E1cel s"readseets onteir own com"uters. Te data el"
tem $gureout tat student A needs more "ractice onreading
com"reension wile student 2 needse1tra el" wit te 3uadratic
formula. 2ut wen te year is over& te data goes away& and
tene1t teacer as to start all over again.
Te tird teme is su""orting great teacers sotey can continue
to %e great.
0!m ama4ed tat we ave a system tat doesn!tallow us to "ay
more for strong "erformance inteacing. Tis is te only "rofession
in te worldtat could %e descri%ed in tis way.
we "ay for iger 3uali$cation not for iger "erformance
5et me insert tis footnote6 7ur system s"ends 89%illion a year on
teacers wit master!s degrees&even toug tere is no evidence
tat it el"sstudents acieve.
%ut let!s $rst "ut our dollars %eind initiatives tat we #now will
%ring real results for te #ids
. 0f we don!t "ay te most e+ective teacers more&we won!t develo"
and #ee" more e+ectiveteacers. Tat is te way te world wor#s'
actually& it!s te way umans wor#.
Wen 0 was a lawyer& 0 s"ent considera%le timeinterviewing .o%
a""licants for my law $rm. 0was always im"ressed %y tem& and
ten 0started to wonder. Wy were none of tesee1em"lary
students a""lying to wor# in ourscools:
We can draw more of te %est "eo"le to teteacing "rofession if
we ensure tat wor# donewell is rewarded& tat innovation in
teclassroom is em%raced&

barack obama
"re scool & scool and college education
Wen two-tirds-- ;a""lause< -- of all new .o%s re3uire a
igereducation or advanced training& #nowledge iste most
valua%le s#ill you can sell. ;A""lause.<0t=s not only a "atway to
o""ortunity& %ut it=s a "rere3uisite for o""ortunity. Witout a
good"rescool education& our cildren are less li#ely to#ee" u" wit
teir "eers. Witout a ig scooldi"loma -- ;a""lause< -- witout a
ig scooldi"loma& you=re li#ely to ma#e a%out tree timesless
tan a college graduate. And witout a college degree or industry
certi$cation& it=s arderand arder to $nd a .o% tat can el"
yousu""ort your family and #ee" u" wit risingcosts

wor# force training
Witout a wor#force trained in mat& science andtecnology& and
te oter s#ills of te >?st century& our com"anies will innovate
less& oureconomy will grow less& and our nation will %eless
com"etitive. 0f we want to outcom"ete teworld tomorrow& we must
out-educate teworld today.
growt of economy
innovation of com"anies
com-ET0Tive nations
"d education
5et me -- let me %e more s"eci$c. 0f we want to#ee" %uilding te
cars of te future ere inAmerica& ten we can=t a+ord to see te
num%erof -.,.s in engineering clim%ing in Cina& Sout@orea and
Aa"an even as it=s dro""ed ere in teBnited States. We can=t a+ord
a future were our ig scool students ran# near te %ottom in --
inmat and science among industriali4ed countries&and our ig
scool dro"-out rate is one of teigest in te industriali4ed world.
more ". dians from sout #orea & cina and .a"an
we can not a+ord increasing num%ers of "..dians from tese states
and decreasing num%ers in our state
ran#ing of our ig scool students and a%ility so do mats
our ig scool students ran# in %ottom amongst ig scool
cildren of industrialised nations and were our dro" out rate is te
igest
wecan=t a+ord a future were a tird of all fourtgraders and a $ft
of all eigt graders can=t do%asic mat&
tere as always %een de%ate a%out education
0t=s %een ,emocrat versus Re"u%lican& voucers versus te status
3uo& moremoney versus more reform. Tere=s "artisansi"and
tere=s %ic#ering& %ut tere=s nounderstanding tat %ot sides ave
good ideastat we=ll need to im"lement if we o"e to ma#ete
canges our cildren need.
our success as a nationde"ends on our success in education and
oursuccess in "u%lic education. Tat=s someting 0 dounderstand.
;Ceers& a""lause.< We need -- we need a full-troated
commitmentto "u%lic education.
We need a new vision for a >?st centuryeducation -- one were we
aren=t .ust su""ortinge1isting scools& %ut s"urring innovationC
werewe=re not .ust investing more money& %utdemanding more
reformC were "arents ta#eres"onsi%ility for teir cildren=s success
-- ;a""lause< -- were our scools and ourgovernment are
accounta%le for resultsC
And it=s time to as# ourselves wy otercountries are out"erforming
us in education&%ecause it=s not tat teir #ids are smarter
tanoursC it=s tat tey=re %eing smarter a%out ow toeducate teir
#ids. Tey=re s"ending less timeteacing tings tat don=t matter
and more time teacing tings tat do.
Second ting we need to do is to ma#e sure tatwe=re "re"aring our
#ids for te >?st centuryeconomy %y %ringing our scool system
into te>?st century
0magine a future were our cildren are moremotivated %ecause
tey aren=t .ust learning on%lac#%oards& %ut on new wite%oards
witdigital touc screensC were every student in aclassroom as a
la"to" at teir des#C were teydon=t .ust do %oo# re"orts %ut
design -ower-oint "resentations -- ;a""lause< -- weretey don=t
.ust write "a"ers& %ut tey %uildwe%sitesC were researc isn=t done
.ust %yta#ing a %oo# out of te li%rary& %ut %y e-mailinge1"erts in
te $eldC and were teacers are less asource of #nowledge tan a
coac for ow %est to use it and -- and o%tain #nowledge.
2yfostering innovation& we can el" ma#e sureevery scool in
America is a scool of te future.
Tis leads me to my $nal "oint. As "resident& 0will lead a new era of
accounta%ility in education.2ut see& 0 don=t .ust want to old our
teacersaccounta%leC 0 want to old our governmentaccounta%le. 0
want you to old me accounta%le.;Ceers& a""lause.<
Accounta%ility in Wasington starts %y ma#ingsure tat every ta1
dollar s"ent %y te,e"artment of Education is %eing s"ent
wisely.Wen 0=m "resident& "rograms tat wor# will getmore money.
-rograms tat don=t wor# or .ustcreate more %ureaucracy and
"a"erwor# and administrative gridloc# will get less money.
0n te end& res"onsi%ility for our cildren=ssuccess doesn=t start in
Wasington& it starts inour omes. 0t starts in our families.
;A""lause.<2ecause no education "olicy can re"lace a "arentwo=s
involved in teir cild=s education fromday one -- ;a""lause< -- wo
ma#es sure teir cildren are in scool on time& el"s tem
witteir omewor# after dinner& and attends tose"arent- teacer
conferences. No government"rogram can turn o+ te TD set or "ut
away tevideo games or read to your cildren. ;Ceers&a""lause.<
-aul Wolfowit4
-resident of te World 2an# (ay >& >**E
(any leaders are ta#ing te su%.ect of girls education "articularly
seriously. 0 was im"ressed in a visit to -a#istan and tal#ing wit
Governor of Sind wo told me tat educating girls is #ey to
-a#istan!s develo"ment& indeed #ey to its "olitical sta%ility. 0 visited
scools in te (uslim world& including in -a#istan and 2anglades
tat are wor#ing to reac more girlsC te entusiasm on te faces of
tose girls was unmista#a%le. 0n 2anglades& girls sowed me teir
s#ills& reassem%ling television sets& wen 0 as#ed tem wat tey
wanted to %e in te future& tey all dreamed of %eing electrical
engineers. Tat!s te good news %ut tere are still EE million
cildren around te world wo don!t get any education at all. Aust
"onder tat num%er for a moment - tat!s more tan an entire
"o"ulation of te Bnited @ingdom& it!s more tan te entire
"o"ulation of France or 0taly& it!s nearly as muc as te "o"ulation
of Germany. 0t is "otentially a wole lost generation
Te cri""ling of individuals 0 consider te worst evil of ca"italism.
7ur wole educationalsystem su+ers from tis evil. An
e1aggeratedcom"etitive attitude is inculcated into te student&wo
is trained to worsi" material success as a"re"aration for is future
career. Al%ert Einstein
ac3uisitive success or material success for is future