Ted Kennedy

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I yield 2 minutes to the Senator from Arkansas. First, I remind the Senate that during the debate on this issue her amendment to increase the funding for bilingual education passed 62 to 34, and we kept her first year mark in this bill. That will mean that 400,000 more limited-English-speaking children will be able to learn. It is a major achievement and accomplishment. She has educated the Senate about the change in demographics and what is happening in her part of the world. We welcome the opportunity to yield her 2 minutes.

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield 3 minutes to my friend from Iowa, the champion for the disabled, the leader in our full funding for IDEA. He has also been a leader in terms of school construction. On so many of these issues, we have profited from his intervention.

Mr. KENNEDY. I am going to yield time to Senator Mikulski.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, we have had a very good discussion and debate today and yesterday. I expect we will have an overwhelming vote in support of the conference report by Senators from all different parts of the country who have varying views on educational issues. We recognize this is an important step forward. I want to acknowledge, as I have on other occasions, the strong leadership of President Bush. This was a unique undertaking on his part. I can remember, as I am sure the Senator from New Hampshire can, being in this Chamber 2\1/2\ years ago when we had 3 weeks of debate in the Chamber and were unable to come to any kind of common position. We were facing the fact that the program that reaches out to the neediest of children was effectively going to be awash at sea. That has changed. The President deserves great credit for that. Credit also goes to the able chairman of our conference, Congressman Boehner, our leader over in the House on education issues. There are many who contributed to this conference report, but George Miller brings a special commitment to education, as does my friend and colleague from New Hampshire, Senator Gregg. The reason this issue is so important is that it affects every family in this country; it is one that goes back to the earliest times of our Nation. Our Founding Fathers understood the importance of educating the whole of the public. It isn't just an accident that the first public schools were developed in this country. It was a really fundamental commitment that all the children were going to be educated. Virtually all the constitutions of our States are committed to the States ensuring a quality education for all the children of this Nation. That has not always been the case. We have seen the great social movements that have taken place in this Nation. We understand the strong drive of parents for a quality education. It was at the heart of the women's movement. It was not only the right to vote, but the women's movement understood that young ladies, young girls ought to be able to receive a quality education. It took a long time, and now it would be unthinkable if we said we were going to educate everyone but women in our society. Then it became the principal civil rights issue in the 1950s. Long before Dr. King and others spoke about civil rights, the principal civil rights issue was, were minorities going to be able to gain an education by opening up the doors of education? It became the principal civil rights issue. We can understand why we have seen the progress we have made for the disabled in recent times. We have heard the statements by the Senator from Iowa, the Senator from Nebraska, and the Senator from Vermont about trying to assure a quality education for those students, which really follows a national concern and commitment that has been part of our tradition. We have not always reached that commitment. But I think, when history examines where we have been and where we are going, those who have followed this issue will believe this is a historic piece of legislation and one that deserves the support of all of the Members of this body. The legislation before us today is a blueprint for progress in all of the Nation's schools. It proclaims that every child matters--every child, in every school, in every community in this country. That is why this legislation is so important. School improvement and school reform are not optional; they are mandatory for us to achieve if we are going to meet our responsibilities to the next generation. When we fail our students, we fail our country. We cannot expect the next generation of Americans to carry the banner of progress and opportunity if they are not well prepared for the challenges that lie ahead. This is a defining issue about the future of our Nation and about the future of democracy, the future of liberty, and the future of the United States in leading the free world. No piece of legislation will have a greater impact or influence on that. In conclusion, what are we really trying to do? Now that we have put this issue into some kind of framework, we are assuring American families this is what this legislation is really all about: Greater opportunity for all of our students to achieve high standards. Extra help will be there for students in need. We are committed to high- quality teachers. We are committed to extra help in mastering the basics. We are committed to reducing the dropout rate. We are committed to providing guidance counselors. We are committed to assist young children who need mental health counseling. We are committed as well to the advanced placement in foreign language, American history, civics, economics, the arts, physical education, and the gifted and talented, and character education. We have the pathways to American excellence. We are saying to families: If your child is doing well, with this legislation your child will do even better; if your child is failing in the public schools, with this legislation they will get the help they need. This is the challenge for the schools: Reform in our American schools, having high standards, high expectations. We are going to insist on teacher training and mentoring, high-quality teachers in every classroom, smaller class size, early reading support, violence and drug prevention programs, more classroom technology, afterschool opportunities, high-quality bilingual instruction, new books for school libraries, and greater parental involvement. This is the third and the important final dimension. This is the power we are going to be giving parents in States and local schools all across this country so that they will know what the achievement is for all the students, not only their own but the other children who are in the classes, including children with disabilities and those with limited English proficiency, and minority and poor children. They will be able to find out what their graduation rates are, what the quality is of the teachers in those classrooms in high-poverty and low-poverty schools, and the percentage of highly qualified teachers. This is our commitment. We are challenging the children in this Nation. We are challenging the schools in this Nation. And we are challenging the parents in this Nation. As has been pointed out in the course of the debate, finally, we are going to challenge ourselves. Are we in this Congress going to make this kind of an opportunity realized for all children in America, not just a third, but for all children to move along? That is a battle that is going to be fought on this Senate floor day in and day out over the years in the future. Are we going to expect that the States are going to meet their responsibilities in fulfilling this kind of a promise? Those are the kinds of challenges we welcome. But we are giving the assurance to the American families that help is on its way. This legislation deserves our support. I hope we will have an overwhelming vote on its adoption. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until the hour of 9:30 a.m., Tuesday, December 18; that immediately following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 1; that the vote on adoption of the ESEA conference report originally scheduled for 11 a.m. occur at 12 noon, with the additional 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member of the HELP Committee.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating thereto be placed in the Record. The committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, as amended, was agreed to. The bill (S. 1271), as amended, was read the third time and passed, as follows:

Mr. KENNEDY. Senator Lieberman and Senator Kerry each have an amendment at the desk, and I ask unanimous consent that each amendment be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask unanimous consent there now be a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 5 minutes each.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank my friend again, my colleague from Rhode Island, for his excellent presentation in highlighting a number of the very important provisions included in the bill in which he was particularly interested. I thank him also for emphasizing the importance of responsible action and investment in education by the States, and by the Federal Government. As I mentioned earlier in the day, we are putting a great deal of responsibility on children and youth to succeed academically. We are putting enormous responsibilities on the schools to teach effectively, and we are giving a great deal of information to the parents so that they can be responsive and effective advocates for their children. All of these ideas and reforms are set forth in this legislation. But the ingredient that will make the real difference, and ensure that all of this works, is funding--additional help and assistance State legislatures and additional help from this institution. We are prepared to make that case in the future, as we have tried to do so often this past year, and in the most recent past with some success. Mr. President, I thank all of our colleagues on both sides for their comments. A number of colleagues came and talked about the different parts of the legislation that they were most involved in, and we have a number of others who are looking forward to making comments tomorrow. I think there is requested time for probably 12 to 14 colleagues on our side. I know a similar number on the other side will have a short timeframe. We are coming in at 9:30 and intend to vote at noontime. In summary--and I will do this very quickly--I think if someone can think about these elements together, I think they come to the realization that each of these reforms is important, but taken together, they give us something that is very special in this legislation, reforms that are eminently worthwhile. We were talking about State standards. We will have additional discussion on the issue of standards and assessment tomorrow, but I would like to highlight these elements in this legislation and make a brief comment before we adjourn this evening. In this legislation, we talk about assessments and States developing content standards--what the educators, parents, and those involved in educational policy think a child should know at a grade level. We then highlight curriculum development, and invest in a well-trained teacher for each classroom. After reforms are in place, high-quality assessments help us identify what a child does not know so that we may assist that child to achieve the knowledge he or she needs to succeed. That is our desire, and we are doing it with assessments that are not off-the-shelf tests but a thoughtful way of testing not only what the child has actually learned but also how they have learned to think. I will mention briefly several aspects of these assessments. They must be valid and reliable. They must be aligned to academic standards. The scores must be disaggregated by race and ethnicity, English- proficiency status, migrant status, students with disabilities, and economically disadvantaged students so that we know that all children are learning. And so that we can identify who is falling behind, and provide additional help and attention to such children. Gone are the days where students fall through the cracks. Children will not fail with no attention to their failure in a given classroom. We will know. And we will be held accountable. This is incredibly important. We are going to insist the tests meet high standards of validity and reliability, and that they are developed consistent with professional and technical standards. There must be multiple measures within the test multiple test items, varying formats, and multiple tests to assess the highest order of understanding and thinking; not just memorizing, but critical thinking and true problem solving. That is a key element. All educators understand that developing those skills is the key to student success. Under this bill, Itemized score analyses of test results will be prepared and reported to school districts and schools to address specific academic needs so districts will know if their children are falling behind, and why. All schools and school districts, for the first time, will have the data to know. We will be able to analyze not only a particular school but also an entire school district, which is very important. We have individual diagnostic reports that will be provided to teachers, parents, and principals to provide information on student achievement and help address the specific academic needs of the students. Students with disabilities will be provided reasonable adaptations and accommodations for inclusion in State assessments. If a child needs additional time because of a disability, they will receive the time they need. That will be worked out by teachers and by professionals so parents will not be tormented with saying: My child could have done all right if they had a little more time. States vary in the type of accommodations they provide to students with special needs. But some States have structured a system that works very well. We have taken the success of those States and worked closely to model this legislation to ensure that all students with special needs--students with disabilities and students with limited English proficiency--are provided the accommodations they need to succeed. I believe that we will make a major difference in the evaluation of such students. States must also identify languages other than English that are spoken by English language learners, and identify the need for testing such students in their native language. This is of the utmost importance, because we have seen in States such as Colorado that, at an early point in their academic career, some English language learners perform better on assessments in their native language than they do in English. Ultimately, and at the appropriate time, all students should be assessed on their reading skills in English. But in the meantime, States must make every effort to develop native language assessments. These are the kinds of details we have gone into in this area and why we think it will make an important difference in educational enhancement. I will quickly summarize in these final moments before the Senate goes in recess for the evening. We have basically set goals to achieve academic proficiency for all children in this country within 12 years. I said on a number of occasions those great words of H. L. Mencken: For every complex problem, there is a simple, easy answer, and it is wrong. We understand it is complex, and it is going to take us some time. We set the goal for 12 years for proficiency for all children, and we are going to need the resources to do it. We are setting the mark down now that we are starting down that road. We have increased targeting of the resources, as we explained earlier, both in rural areas and in urban areas; a qualified teacher in every classroom, and professional development to continue to support their professional growth. These are key aspects of ensuring opportunity for our children. I talked about these reforms earlier today. We are allowing States to continue to reduce class sizes. There will be the resources to do that, not as broad as I would like, but there will be resources. We expand afterschool opportunities. There will still be a lot of children who will not be able to participate because we are not giving that enough support, but it is in the bill. We promote safe and drug-free schools. We expand the support for limited English proficient students. I was reminded of the success of bilingual education, listening to my colleague from New Hampshire earlier, who is not here now, as he spoke about the failure of bilingual education programs. Not all bilingual education programs are successful. However, many are. I know of some school districts where they are teaching children several days a week in English, and other days in Spanish. The students receive dual immersion in those two languages. The limited English proficient students learn in their native language and in English. And at the end of the fifth, sixth, and seventh grades, these children have higher levels of literacy than that have only learned in one language. There are successes. Not all of them are successful, but there are successes, and this legislation builds on those programs that have been successful. Since 1995, the two-way bilingual education programs introduced in a number of the elementary schools in the St. John's Valley in the State of Maine have taken substantial steps to improve student achievement. The French-English program is an additive bilingual program, meaning that all students learn a second language without compromising their first language. This is the only program of its kind in Maine. The St. John's Valley district, through support from a federal bilingual education grant, supported costs for teaching training, materials, and administrative costs between 1995 and 2000. In 1997, students from the immersion program at the second grade out-performed non-immersion students on the California Test of Basic Skills in reading, vocabulary, and language mechanics. The trend continued in 1998 with students in the bilingual education program placing 93rd in the national percentile in reading and math on that test. Clearly, there are programs that work, and they work well. The additional commitment to reading and early reading in this bill is enormously important. Parental involvement, resources for the construction of charter schools, expansion of school libraries, assistance for children's mental health and emotional needs--this is something which is of enormous importance. Supportive resources for struggling schools, accountability for results, protecting civil rights of all children--each reform is eminently worthwhile. Taken together, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. This conference report deserves to receive an overwhelming vote in the Senate. I look forward to that tomorrow. If there is no one further who desires to speak, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want to take just a moment because I see my friend and our committee member, Senator Reed, in the Chamber. I also thank Senator Enzi for his work and his support on this legislation. We have some important protections of rural education in here. I took a few moments earlier today in a presentation to show that we have about a 30-percent increase--for example, in Detroit, MI, in terms of the urban areas, but we have a similar increase in the poorest rural areas of this country as well. He has fought, not only on that issue, but also for flexibility in rural areas. He was very much involved in the Indian education programs and has been, as we all know, and is involved in education technology issues. I thank him. This legislation incorporates a number of recommendations that Members have made. Senator Enzi has been very constructive and helpful. I enjoy working with him on this, as I always do when we work on OSHA. I always enjoy working with him on OSHA. I was not in the Chamber when Senator DeWine spoke. As has been referenced earlier, Senator DeWine and Senator Dodd restructured the whole Safe and Drug Free School provision. It is better in this legislation. It is enormously important. All of us have seen in very recent days the rather dramatic increase in substances that have been coming into the United States, principally, I believe, because our Coast Guard has been involved in other kinds of activities. This has been true in the Northeast, I learned from talking to various law enforcement officials. They are overstretched and overworked. The total membership of the Coast Guard is just what it was in the 1960s, and we have given them many more responsibilities. But the Safe and Drug Free School provision has been enormously important, particularly in dealing with violence in schools. So I thank Senator DeWine for his work. He has also been very much involved in Troops to Teachers. I see the chairman of the Armed Services Committee. He knows about this, is familiar with this program, and has supported it. Senator DeWine has been very much involved, particularly in the areas of science and math, where retired officers have gone back into education. It has made an enormous difference. I thank him for his work. I see my good friend, Senator Reed. I want to tell America, if you see a library being modernized in your school district, there is the man right over there who was able to do it. We were in an incredible situation with regard to expanded reading. This is one of the principal recommendations of the President. It is very worthwhile. Also the early education reading. There was strong support for that and a budget allotment for it, but not for libraries. Our good friend, Senator Reed, had brought up the problems that school libraries have been facing. Also the parent involvement, I mentioned earlier this afternoon the role of parent involvement: Tough accountability for students, tough accountability for schools, and real responsibility for parents. There are two areas where we are going to need responsibility in this institution and in the States. We have to get the resources. Senator Reed has been the most actively involved in making sure we are going to have school libraries, parental involvement provisions, and highly professional development for teachers. I thank Senator Jack Reed for all of his good work. He comes from Rhode Island, which has a long tradition of educators, with Claiborne Pell, former chairman of our committee and the author of the Pell grants and many other important educational programs as well. There is something in the air in Rhode Island; all of their Senators are strongly committed to good education for children. We are fortunate to have him as a member of the committee.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank the good Senator. We have a number of other Senators who have indicated their desire to comment on this legislation. We are waiting now for the Senator from Ohio. As soon as he comes, I will yield the floor. I want to take a moment to reiterate another important provision in this legislation. Achieving our goal of a well-trained teacher in every classroom. That is a critical and important reform. There are other key reforms to which our colleagues have spoken, but I think this is one of the most important commitments in this legislation. For those who are very interested in this particular subject matter, there is a wonderful document entitled ``What Matters Most, Teaching for America's Future,'' a report of the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future, which I have found to be one of the most helpful and useful documents in terms of understanding what is happening in schools across the country and what is missing. Let me mention some of the conclusions they have reached in this excellent study. Their conclusions are evident in many communities across the country. I will also indicate what we have tried to do about them. I read from page 38. I will not ask, obviously, that the Record print it. The Record will include the parts I read. Some problems, however, are national in scope and require special attention. There is no coordinated system for helping colleges decide how many teachers in which fields should be prepared, or where they will be needed. Neither is there regular support of the kind [of recruitment] long provided in medicine to recruit teachers for high-need fields and locations. This legislation responds to that. It recognizes that recruitment is a national problem. The bill greatly expands the support for recruitment in all subject areas, including math and science, and through State-grant programs. This bill also includes Troops to Teachers, which has been enormously successful in a number of communities across the country. Also, there is support for the Transition to Teaching Program, which is another very successful program. Another important area: Turnover in the first few years is particularly high because new teachers are typically given the most challenging teaching assignments and left to sink or swim with little or no support. They are often placed in the most disadvantaged schools, and assigned the most-difficult-to-teach students with the greatest number of class preparations. Many of them are outside their field of expertise with a slew of extracurricular activities with no mentoring or support. There is little wonder that so many give up before they have really learned to teach. We have included a very effective mentoring program that is responsive to this issue. This legislation supports teacher mentoring at the local level for all schools and for schools that have fallen behind. We must fulfill our goal of providing every new teacher with an effective and dependable teacher mentor. Finally, on professional development: In addition to the lack of support for beginning teachers, most U.S. school districts invest little in ongoing professional development for experienced teachers, and spend much of these limited resources on unproductive practices. Estimates of professional development support range from one to three percent of the district operating budget even when the costs of staff time are factored in. We have included provisions in this legislation that ensure that professional development will reconnect teachers to work with their students. It will be linked to concrete tasks of teaching. It will be organized around problem solving. It will be based on scientifically based research and will be sustained over time by ongoing conversations and coaching. All of those recommendations are included in this report. This legislation requires professional development funding to meet these criteria that I have mentioned. In addition, all title I schools must spend 5 percent of their funds for professional development. Title I schools that are falling behind must reserve 10 percent of funding for professional development. Hiring well-trained teachers and having such teachers stay in classrooms located in underserved areas is a high priority in this legislation. We have taken the best recommendations we could possibly receive based upon experience and incorporated them into this legislation. I yield the floor.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I see our friend and colleague from Delaware in the Chamber. I wanted to again point out to our colleagues that again he is one of our newer members, but he spent a great deal of time making education a top priority in Delaware. I have listened to him speak about education on many different occasions. He has been enormously active during our debate on this legislation on the charter school programs and also on the voluntary school choice programs. We are very grateful for all of his interventions and for his strong support.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I mentioned before a number of the provisions in which the Senator from Connecticut had been particularly interested. The one I had not mentioned and the one I welcomed the opportunity to work with him on was full funding of the title I for Puerto Rico. If we look over the percentage of men and women who serve in the military, they come from Puerto Rico. They are at the highest, if not the highest, of the top two or three equivalent States. If we look at Congressional Medals of Honor and other awards--these are individuals who have always been there. They are American citizens and their children should receive the full benefits of the legislation. I welcomed the chance to work with Senator Dodd and our conferees to make sure that was going to happen over time. I thank the Senator from New Mexico. He is not a member of our committee--and he will express his views--but if my colleagues will take a moment and look on page 434 for the provisions to improve the mental health of children, as well as character education, which Senator Dodd mentioned--character counts also includes community of caring programs as well--Senator Domenici has been the leader in this institution of making sure we have parity and equality in mental health. This has been one of his great causes. He has educated this body and educated the country. He and Senator Wellstone are two real champions in understanding there are mental health challenges for children and for students. Senator Domenici has been enormously helpful to our committee. He has made a very important contribution to the development of this legislation. We are enormously grateful for his interest and involvement.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I mentioned earlier how much we value our colleague's participation in the fashioning and shaping of this legislation. He remembers that we had a 2-week debate without conclusion in the year 2000 on this legislation. We had 8 days of markup even this time. The legislative effort has been ongoing. It is a better product as a result of it. Frequently legislation gets derailed. I again thank the Senator for all of his good work and his counsel. I know he will be very much involved as we follow on with this legislation with a reauthorization of higher education. I see my friend and colleague from Connecticut. Senator Dodd has, as all of us know, been the chairman of the children's caucus and has always taken a great interest in education, as well as children's interests. He has been very much involved in this legislation, he and Senator DeWine, with our safe and drug-free school features that are so important now in terms of violence in schools, the afterschool programs, which are so essential. He has been the principal advocate for those programs, the private character education, early childhood educators, a whole series of measures that have been included in this legislation as a result of his strong work. We are delighted to see him.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from New Mexico. He mentioned the whole issue of the Governors' meeting in Charlottesville. Senator Bingaman, I think, more than anyone else from that meeting up until this legislation, has followed the issue of accountability in the development of education and education standards. The issue on dropouts that he mentioned has been included in here. Advanced placement, smaller learning communities, education technology--this legislation reflects a great deal of what the Senator has been interested in and has spoken to. I thank him not only because of all of that, but he has made an indelible mark on this legislation. I am grateful to him. I see the Senator from Indiana who, again, on the issue of accountability, has been enormously schooled in this subject. When he arrived here in the Senate and started speaking about education, I took the chance to look back over Indiana and found that this was his No. 1 one priority as Governor. He arrived here with a very keen insight into ways we could be more effective in trying to benefit children in learning. Although not a member of the committee, he has been very much involved with this legislation. We always benefit from his comments and insights. I am delighted to see him in the Chamber.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, one of the very important aspects of this legislation deals with accountability. In addressing accountability, we must address the issue of assessment. A number of our Members have focused on this issue. I want to discuss several points, in the few minutes we have waiting for our colleagues, about why developing high- quality assessments is such an important goal. Under this bill, States will develop their content standards about what children ought to know in a particular grade. Those standards will shape curriculum. With ensuring that all classrooms have a well-trained teacher, and with quality curriculum, we will be able to assess students to find out what they are learning, and where we need to improve. Schools will identify areas for improving student achievement, and will provide active support and extra assistance to help those children. Such services may be accomplished throughout the school day, or they may take place after school. The school has the flexibility to decide what works in terms of that support. Several of my colleagues raise questions about assessments, and about the practice of testing. I recognize from the outset that American children are the most overtested children in the world. However, the problem is that we're not focusing deliberately measuring what we should. And we're not focused on the quality of the measure--too many children are being tested with off-the-shelf tests, and we're running into situations where teachers are teaching to such low-level tests. This obviously undermines what we are attempting to achieve with this legislation. Our objective is much different in this legislation. We seek to establish high standards. We seek to set in place the reforms that will ensure that all students meet those standards, because we know that they all have the potential to achieve. And we seek to use good assessments as tools, not as reforms in and of themselves, to gauge the success of our progress, and to understand the academic needs of students. All assessments under this bill must be aligned to State academic standards to help teachers and parents understand how well a child knows a particular subject that is being taught. All of this works together. You have challenging content standards. You have good curriculum. You have high-quality tests. You have the well-trained and highly-qualified teacher--the real professional--working with students to ensure their success. It is all coordinated. Rarely are all of these pieces in place in all of our schools. So often schools with needy children are the places where one or more of these elements are missing. We must change that. Assessments are important tools in school reform. We need objective information about how children are achieving in order to identify the problem areas and fix them. When your car breaks down, the mechanic runs a test to determine where the problem is. Is it in the carburetor or the exhaust? Is it in the electrical system? Then the mechanic uses the tools specific to the problems to fix it. When you are sick, the doctor performs a series of tests to determine what the illness is that you have. Then the doctor prescribes a remedy specific to the illness. The academic tests under this bill serve the same purpose. They help the teachers and parents diagnose the problem and apply remedies that will help the child achieve in those areas. The tests are not punitive. They serve as a stethoscope, not a hammer. This bill builds upon current law by requiring States to administer one test each year in the elementary school grades, one test in the middle school grades, one test in the high school grades, until 2005. Not all States have complied with this requirement. We need to get about the business of doing it, and doing it now. There is no excuse for having poor-quality, sub-par assessment program. Beginning in the 2005-2006 school year, States will be required to administer assessments in every grade, 3 through 8, in order to provide accurate information. That gives States 3 years under our bill to develop a high-quality system that is valid, reliable, and aligned to standards. Such a system should ultimately provide accurate information about student achievement from year to year, and should be useful in diagnosing student needs, skills, and knowledge more accurate. All of the tests under this bill must be of high technical quality, and based on nationally recognized professional standards. However, we know the tests cannot provide a complete picture of how a school is doing. Therefore, we require that the States use the additional resources such as graduation rates and retention rates to determine whether a school is performing well. We have made tests an integral part of the reform, and we provide the resources to help the children do well in them. We will begin to provide States the resources to develop and implement these assessments in FY 2002, even though the tests themselves will not be required for close to 3 more years. There will be resources available to the States. Help is on the way to meet the challenge of ensuring that all students achieve to high standards. Seeing the Senator from Ohio, I yield the floor.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. KENNEDY. I know Senator DeWine and Senator Enzi are on their way over to the Chamber. As soon as they arrive, I will yield the floor. I bring to the attention of the Senate a rather interesting story that recently evolved at the Sterling Middle School in Quincy, MA. Five years ago, the Sterling Middle School was known as the school where tough kids went. This year, Sterling was recognized by the Massachusetts Department of Education for the improvement they made in the statewide tests. In fact, Sterling has reduced their failure rates every year since 1998. How did they transform this failing school? The school changed the way they scheduled classes, giving teachers more time to teach and students more time to do things, such as experiments in science, problem solving in math classes, and serious writing in English classes. Teachers got the professional development they needed to make sure that longer classes incorporated techniques that would increase learning. And the school created a council, which gives parents, teachers, and students the ability to decide what textbooks work and how lessons should be structured. Since 1998, Sterling's eighth grade failure rates have dropped, from 46 percent to 17 percent in math, and from 12 percent to 2 percent in English. This is a school which has turned itself around. The reforms we have enacted in this bill will give other school districts the chance they need to turn around schools that are failing. With this legislation, we give the teachers more professional development, we give the parents the voice they need to connect with the schools that serve their children, and we give the schools the flexibility to reduce their class size so that teachers can reach every child. So this bipartisan legislation will help more public schools provide the best possible education to every student. I will mention another factor. The absentee rate at the Sterling Middle School has been reduced by 90 percent, and today it is under 1 percent. They previously had an enormous absentee rate and an incredible dropout rate which has been dramatically reduced. The Sterling school is low-income, working-class school. Forty-two percent of students in the Sterling Middle School receive free or reduced-price lunches. The district's free and reduced-price lunch rate is 28 percent. Eighty-one percent of Sterling students are white. The percentage of students in the Quincy district who are white is 70 percent. Twenty-five percent of the students are classified as disabled. Principal Metzler credits the school's outcomes to a commitment to high academic standards for all children, including those with disabilities. The school has instituted a full inclusion program for children with disabilities. There is block scheduling to extend instructional time, and math and reading are integrated throughout the curriculum. These are the kinds of innovations taking place at the local level that we are giving life to with this legislation and which we believe will be replicated and duplicated across the country. This is an extraordinary example of how things work. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. KENNEDY. I yield to the Senator from New Mexico.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I strongly support the conference report on the education reform bill. I urge the Senate to approve it. This landmark bipartisan legislation contains far-reaching reforms to give all the Nation's students much greater opportunity than ever before to succeed educationally, to do well economically and participate fully in American society, and to enable schools and communities across the Nation to provide a much higher quality of education for their students. The conference committee has worked well together for over 5 months to reach these agreements. I commend all of the conferees for their effective work and leadership on the many parts of this bill, and for their commitment to the high priority of improving education for all students. It has been a genuine bipartisan process. We have been able to reach effective agreement on these reforms, because the challenge is so important and the need is so significant. We need to enact these reforms and implement them as soon as possible. The Nation's students, schools, teachers, principals, and superintendents cannot wait. The parents of the 48 million students in the Nation's public schools cannot wait. And Congress shouldn't wait either. Throughout our history, education has opened the doors of opportunity for generations of Americans. It has been a long and continuing battle, and it still is. The Nation's Founders understood this, when they urge public education in the early days of the Republic. As John Adams said so well, The education of a nation instead of being confined to a few schools and universities for the instruction of the few, must become the national care and expense for the formation of the many. The women's movement understood this, as they fought to open the doors of schools to girls as well as boys. Civil rights leaders understood this, as they risked their lives to end segregated schools that were separate and unequal. The bill before us today continues that great march of history, to fulfill the promise of a good education and greater opportunity to all children in America--whether they are black or white, from the cities or the suburbs or the rural areas, from the North to the South to the East to the West. This legislation is about the future of America. In this 21st century, we want an America that continues to be a beacon of freedom and progress for the world. And we want all Americans to have a chance to fulfill their greatest dreams and reach their fullest potential. But to do so will require more than just the words of the legislation we adopt today. It will require hard work and continued partnership between Federal, State, and local governments--and between schools, communities, and parents. It will require constant effort and constant vigilance to see that all students receive the help they need. And, it will require a commitment of more resources in the years ahead, so that the Federal Government lives up to its part of the bargain. I strongly support these reforms, but I am concerned that this conference and this Congress and this President have failed to support the investments necessary if we are serious about truly leaving no child behind. Moving IDEA to the mandatory side of the budget would have been a victory both for children with disabilities and for children without disabilities. Prior to the passage of the IDEA legislation in 1975, we had approximately one million disabled students who were being warehoused and receiving informal education, if any education at all. All State constitutions guarantee education for all children--not just children who do not have disabilities. In 1975 we passed IDEA, with the idea goal that the Federal Government would meet its responsibilities by offsetting 40 percent of the cost for the education of children who qualified for IDEA. Over the past 25 years, Congress failed to meet its responsibility of 40 percent of funding IDEA. The Senate insisted on full funding. We introduced an amendment that called for mandatory spending, which would have required that we provide full funding of this important program. The reason this was such a controversy during the time of our conference is that: One, it involves children; two, it involves children who are the most vulnerable, those having special needs; three, it is a constitutional right; four, we committed ourselves to the States and local communities that we were going to provide this help and assistance over a long period of time. The principal argument against us was we should wait, that we are going to reform the IDEA system next year. As was pointed out in the numerous debates on this issue, we are committed to these children. They need our help now. Now is the time. We have heard enough excuses. We should be meeting our responsibilities. Moving IDEA to the mandatory side of the budget would have been a victory both for children with disabilities and for children without disabilities. It would have guaranteed students with disabilities that they and their parents will not have to fight as hard as they do today to get the education to which they are entitled. It would have freed up local resources to improve regular public school programs for all students. Our very able and gifted leader on so many of the disability issues-- Tom Harkin, joined by Senator Hagel who has been strongly committed on this issue for years in a bipartisan way--have reminded us that this fight will continue next year. I am absolutely convinced we will be successful. Nonetheless, as we address these issues, we ought to understand that two-thirds of the children who actually qualify for IDEA also qualify for what we call the title I funding. Only one third of the children are actually covered by the title I program today. With what has happened to our economy, there are more than 660,000 additional students who will be eligible for title 1 funds. With early requests in the budget this year, there is a 3.6- percent increase. We have been able to get that up to close to $4 billion, which represents about a 20-percent increase, which under the whole ESEA budget is just about where it has been for the last 5 years. This is an important improvement, but it will still only reach one third of the students. We are strongly committed to making sure the benefits of this legislation are going to reach all of the children, and we are going to come back and make the battle and the fight for this particular program. Since I am talking about the budget, I will give just a very brief oversight as to how the funds are distributed based on the money that has been authorized and included in this legislation, and then actually the money in appropriations that have also tracked our legislation. The title I education program, is targeted towards the neediest children in this country. The formula has not only reached the needy, but it has also been spread out until there is no question that it needs more focus and more targeting to reach the neediest of the children. This has been one of President Bush's prime considerations and one of his prime objectives. It was his strong commitment in this area that allowed the opportunity to reach strong common ground. We give him praise and credit for his leadership in this whole reform of the title I program. One of the major achievements of this legislation is that it dramatically increases Federal education funds for the neediest students. With this bill and the pending appropriations bill, we will be able to tell every city in the country that they will see an increase of more than 30 percent in supplemental Title I education funding for disadvantaged children. There will be $11 million more for Boston, $80 million more aid for Los Angeles in the next school year, and $140 million more for New York City. High poverty rural areas will see similar percentage increases in Federal education aid in the next school year. In Todd County, South Dakota there is a 50-percent poverty rate, however we will see a 30- percent increase in the resources to reach those neediest children. In Arizona, there is a 75-percent poverty rate, and we see an indication of increased support for the education of those children in that particular county. In the Meek Public Schools in Nebraska, where there is a 67-percent child poverty rate, there is likewise an increase in resources. So whether it has been in the urban areas with the increased poverty rate or it has been in the rural areas, what we have tried to do in this bill is to get increased focus and attention in terms of investment in this program. Money is not the answer to everything, but it is a pretty clear indication of the Nation's priorities. You cannot increase the quality of education with money alone, but you cannot do it with reform alone. The key is to have reform, the resources, and the investment. That is what we are attempting to do with this legislation. But Congress and the administration have to do more next year and the year after. This battle will go on. This battle for resources will continue again and again and again, until we meet our obligations to families, parents and students across the country. One of the major goals of this conference report, is to lessen, over the 12-year period, the educational achievement gap between the disadvantaged students and their more affluent peers, between minority and non-minority students. There are wide gaps between these students today in the K-12. We are strongly committed to reducing and attempting to eliminate that disparity. The bill begins to do that by ensuring that all States set performance standards in reading and math and that they will set high standards in science by the year 2005. These standards outline what students should know and be able to do in these subjects. Each State will develop a strong curriculum that helps teachers translate those standards into day-to-day learning for their students. Each State, itself, makes the judgment and decision about what their children should know in what particular grade. Their educators, their professionals, their parents, their instructors, their principals, and their school boards get together and make the determination about what the children should know in each particular grade in each of the particular States. We give States the flexibility to do so. We have stated--and we will restate--our objective, and that is to make sure these tests are not punitive, they should be used to find out what a child knows. These accountability measures will help ensure that every children receives a good education. But they won't work alone. Accountability is only the measure of the reform--it is not reform itself. We must provide the necessary support and resources to see that schools can achieve their goals. We want to make sure that, across the country, the child who is doing reasonably well today will do even better, the child who is having difficulty making it will find out they are able to deal with the challenges they are facing in school, and the child who is not making it is going to get the help and the assistance they need in order to be able to reach proficiency. That is what we are going to do with our program. States must also set annual goals for schools to raise student achievement. The States will each set their own goals based on how they are doing now. But all States must put themselves on a glidepath to see that all children achieve proficiency in 12 years. We let the States make the judgments and decisions about how that will progress. Schools that do not meet the annual goals set by the State for 2 consecutive years will be given extra resources and technical help to turn themselves around. Students in those schools will have the option to transfer to a high performing school. If the school does not meet its achievement goals for another year, it must offer the lowest- achieving children after-school tutoring services. If the school continues to fail to meet the goals after 6 years, it will be either restructured as a charter school, taken over by the State or district, or reopened with new leadership and staff. But at the end of 12 years, every child in America has to be able to reach the proficiency level. Twelve years is a long time, but this is a complex issue. I am always reminded of the great words of H.L. Mencken when he said: For every complex question, there is a simple, easy answer, and it's wrong. This is a complex challenge. We are not offering a simple answer. We are offering a responsible answer that has been based on the experiences of recent years and our studies in the committees and the conference and taking the best judgment of those who have really thought about this over a long period of time. That is what we believe is represented in this legislation. These accountability measures will ensure that every child receives a good education. They will not work alone. Accountability is only the measure of reform, it is not reform itself. We must provide the necessary support and resources to see that schools can achieve their goals. This legislation includes the needed reforms that are the building blocks of change to help the Nation's schools meet their goals. The objective of this legislation, is to provide a greater opportunity for all students to achieve high standards. There is the extra help for mastering the basics. There is a very important dropout provision. My friend from New Mexico, Senator Bingaman, has been so active in that area, as well as in many other areas. There will be more mental health services, more counselors highly qualified teachers, more after-school tutoring. In addition to better basic students, students will have greater access to a variety of other courses to enhance education, including advanced placement, foreign languages, civics education, economics, American history, physical education, art education, character education, and programs for gifted and talented students. The pathways to excellence--we have the advanced placement, foreign language, American history, civics, economics, arts, physical education, the gifted and talented programs, as well as character education. So the tools will be out there for these children to be able to take advantage of this. The support systems will be out there to help and assist them, depending on what the particular needs are of the children. We are setting high standards for children, we are setting high standards for schools, and we are setting high standards for parents. We ought to set high standards for the Congress to make sure we give the resources so these programs will work, and we ought to set the standards for the States to make sure they are going to meet their responsibility. That is what we are able to do here with regard to the children, with regard to the schools, and with regard to the parents. The rest of that puzzle is here in the Senate and in the statehouses across the country. They are the ones that provide the principal resources for the children. Reform of the schools is high standards and high expectations. We know and we saw once again from the tragic circumstances of September 11, Americans do their best when they are challenged. That was certainly true of those at the time and place of the disaster in New York and at the Pentagon and the field in Pennsylvania, the individuals who performed with such extraordinary bravery and heroism, and how our service men and women are performing today. Americans respond best to challenges. That is the essence of this legislation, high standards and support. In order to achieve high expectations, the bill includes reforms that will strengthen teacher training and mentoring, with the strong commitment that we are going to have highly qualified teachers in every classroom. We have the option for moving toward smaller class size which has demonstrated such success in a number of our States, such as Tennessee and Wisconsin. It expands support for early reading, so that all children read well by the end of the third grade. Violence and drug prevention programs are even stronger, there are more opportunities for parents to be involved in their children's education greater parent involvement, and the new books for school libraries. If we are going to develop effective reading programs, the new school library program will have enormous success. One of my real pleasures is reading with a child each week as part of the Everyone Wins! Program, where a number of my colleagues also participate. I have seen the change that have taken place in the last 5 years in books in those libraries. If you went there and started reading 4 or 5 years ago, you would have to search to find an age- appropriate book in order to be able to read to the child. Now that is changing. We want to make sure this is going to change for schools and school libraries across the country. It improves bilingual education for students with limited proficiency in English. It also strengthens after-school activities, to give extra opportunities to more students to improve their learning. Afterschool programs which have demonstrated such success--I don't think in any of the categorical programs in the last 2 years that the Federal Government has out that any of them have been as oversubscribed with quality applications as the afterschool programs. They work and are making a major difference. I recently visited an afterschool program in the Boston area, which has partnered with the business community. They are teaching children graphics and art design, things that they would never have seen in school. This is an awakening, an interest in these children in some areas of learning that they had never even thought of. It is transferring into enhanced grades. All of this is happening in boys clubs and girls clubs across the country. It needs to be supported. And more classroom need to have access to technology. Finally, we have the State and local school report cards for parents--the children, the schools, and now the parents. The student achievement for all students, children with disabilities, children with limited English proficiency. We have seen the changing of the demographics in our public school systems, minority children, and the poor children; graduation rates, professional qualification of teachers, the high poverty/low poverty schools, and the percent of the highly qualified teachers, high poverty, low poverty. Every parent is going to be able to receive a report card, not just on their child, but also detailing the achievement of all children in a particular school district or state. They will know how many qualified teachers they have. They will know also what is happening in these other areas of learning in their schools, what the graduation rates are. We are giving the greatest amount of information to parents so that they will know what is happening in their school, what is happening in the next school, what is happening around their schools; empowering the parents in ways they need and they want and they desire so that they can help make a difference in terms of the education of their children. This has not been done, and it needs to be done. Thirteen States provide no individual school profiles at all. Of the 37 States that do produce school report cards, their quality and accessibility for parents vary widely. Here, we are setting a standard to provide uniform information to all parents in an understandable format. That is really something that we intend to do. I know there are others who want to speak early. I have taken about a half-hour of the Senate's time. I do want to say that I believe we have very important legislation that is going to make a very important difference in the lives of the children. Before concluding, I will express some appreciation to some very important and special people who helped get us to where we are, and then I will yield the floor. I see my friend from New Hampshire, Senator Gregg. I am enormously grateful to him. First of all, I thank President Bush for his strong commitment in making this his No. 1 domestic agenda item. I have been here in recent years where we have seen attempts to dismantle education programs and to cut back in terms of funding for education. I have seen attempts to repeal the Department of Education. Thankfully, now we are beyond that debate. I have always believed that it would be useful to have someone at the President's elbow when they have those cabinet meetings talking about children and education. This President has indicated he wants to make real education reform available for the neediest children. He deserves great credit for helping to give direction to this effort. I, in particular, thank my colleague, Senator Gregg. We worked closely together on this important legislation, particularly over the period of the past 5 months. We came at this issue from very different directions. We both shared a very important commitment to try to get something done that would benefit children. We were each prepared to put aside some of our own reservations to come up with legislation. And I frankly believe that our final product, with what has been achieved, is better, quite better than the previous legislation passed by the House and the Senate earlier this summer. I thank Senator Gregg for his strong involvement and participation. I thank John Boehner, who was our chairman, and who was very effective in keeping us moving in a positive direction. He was very talented and should receive very considerable credit for this achievement. Also, I thank George Miller from the House, whose knowledge and legislative skills and dedication helped make this conference report an excellent piece of legislation. George is a legend in many ways. His passion is education. We saw that in this conference. Anyone who listens to George speak on this subject knows his very strong commitment and the knowledge and ability he holds in this area. We thank him. I want to thank the majority leader, Senator Daschle, and Senator Reid for their leadership and support throughout this process. Senator Daschle, from the earliest days of this effort on education, was strongly committed to achieving results and good legislation. He was committed to getting something positive, something that was going to make a difference for children. I don't need to remind this body of the number of times that Senator Daschle has addressed the conferees on this education conference, urging us forward and working to try to make sure we would achieve great results. His help and assistance has been absolutely invaluable and essential in getting us to where we are today. I am enormously grateful to him personally, and I commend his strong commitment to education. I thank Senator Reid, as well, for his continued support and assistance. I also want to mention Secretary Paige and Sandy Kress. Secretary Paige came to our committee as one of the first members of President Bush's Cabinet. He had a strong record in Houston, under very challenging circumstances, and demonstrated many of the principles the President illustrated. Sandy Kress was able to devote much of his time during the early days in which this legislation was formed, and he carried a great commitment to the President's positions. He is a very effective fighter for those positions and never gave up on any of them as we moved through, but always tried to find some way of moving this process toward a positive solution. I am grateful and thankful to both Secretary Paige and Mr. Kress. I want to take a final moment to thank the staffs. It is important as we enter the final passage of this legislation that they be included in the managers' opening statements. Their role has been absolutely indispensable. Their satisfaction should be deep, continuing, and abiding. They are all skilled professionals. They will do many things in their lives, but I doubt they will ever do anything that will be more important to children in this country than what they did over the period of this last summer. While others were away during the August Recess, staff were here working tirelessly throughout the summer on various provisions of this legislation. They were in touch with all of us as discussions moved forward, and they are absolute masters of the details of these provisions. I think all of us are mindful of the words that ``the devil is in the details.'' This legislation is over 1,100 pages long, and our staffs combed through the details and ensured that our objectives were met. They have done it with a professional excellence, which is, I think, in the highest order of this institution. It is what the American people expect and what they deserve to have, and we have not let them down. So I thank all of them for their good work. In particular, I thank Danica Petroshius, who is here on my staff; Michael Dannenberg, Roberto Rodriguez, Dana Fiordaliso, Ben Cope, Connie Garner, David Sutphen, Melody Barnes, Jim Manley, Helen Yuen, Karen DiGiovanni, and Menda Fife of my staff, who all worked long and hard together on a wide variety of issues in this legislation. I also thank Sally Lovejoy and Paula Nowakowski of Congressman Boehner's staff; John Lawrence, Charles Barone, Alex Nock, and Denise Forte of Congressman Miller's staff; Denzel McGuire, Townsend McNitt, and Stephanie Monroe of Senator Gregg's staff; Lloyd Horwich of Senator Dodd's staff; Bev Schroeder of Senator Harkin's staff; Kimberly Ross of Senator Mikulski's staff; Sherry Kaiman, Michael Yudin, and Justin King of Senator Jeffords' staff; Carmel Martin of Senator Bingaman's staff; Jill Morningstar of Senator Wellstone's staff; Bethany Little of Senator Murray's staff; Elyse Wasch of Senator Reed's staff; David Sewell of Senator Edwards' staff; Ann O'Leary and Wendy Katz of Senator Clinton's staff; Michele Stockwell of Senator Lieberman's staff; Elizabeth Fay of Senator Bayh's staff, and Joan Huffer of Senator Daschle's staff. I also thank Denis O'Donovan and Steve Chapman who served our committee so effectively and made sure that the conference ran smoothly. I also thank the staff of the Congressional Research Service, Wayne Riddle, Jim Stedman, Rick Apling, and Jeff Kuenzi. CRS provides invaluable help to all of us. There are also many others who work hard and they don't get recognition, but they were absolutely invaluable. I am sure there are others I should mention, and I will try to make sure I include them later in the day or tomorrow. I yield the floor.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I call for the regular order with respect to S. 1731.

Mr. KENNEDY

Mr. KENNEDY. I ask that S. 1833 be read for a second time, and I would then object to any further proceedings at this time.

Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I understand S. 1833 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.