Arne Duncan address on the Common Core: Good Morning Below please find Secretary Duncans remarks, as prepared,

, for his speech at the American Society of News Editors Annual Convention in Washington, DC. Secretary Duncan will highlight the importance of maintaining high college and career-ready standards for our nations schools.

Arne Duncan Remarks at the American Society of News Editors Annual Convention Tuesday, June 25, 2013, 3:10-3:30 pm ET -- Capital Hilton, Washington, D.C AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY Thank you, Clark. The work you are doing to help the next generation become more sophisticated in understanding the news is absolutely vital. To have full power over their lives, young people must understand the world they live in. They have to read, they have to follow the news, and they have to vote. All that is such an important part of what it means to be educated. So, thank you. Traditionally, this event has been an opportunity for federal leaders to talk about touchy subjects. For example, you asked President Kennedy to talk about the Bay of Pigs. So, thanks for having me here to talk about the Common Core State Standards. Academic standards used to be a subject for after-school department meetings and late-night state board sessions. But now, theyre a topic for dueling newspaper editorials. Thats because a new set of standards rigorous, high-quality learning standards, developed and led by a group of governors and state education chiefs are under attack as a federal takeover of the schools. And your role in sorting out truth from nonsense is really important. So Id like to explain how we arrived at this place. Ill talk about information and misinformation, and ask you to help Americans draw a bright line between the two. Id like to make the case that these standards have the capacity to change education in the best ways setting loose the creativity and innovation of educators, raising the bar for students, strengthening our economy and building a clearer path to the middle class. But for these new standards to succeed, Americans will need to be clear on whats true and whats false. You and I wake up every day to similar worries and similar hopes. We just attach different labels to them. You wonder whether theres a market for serious news. You wonder whether a generation that grew up on text messages and Twitter will read about interest rates and Iran. I worry about the one in four young Americans who dont graduate from high school and the three out of four high school graduates who are ineligible to serve in the military. I worry about the 90 million American adults with below-basic or basic reading skills. If you dont worry about these things you will. Because they put your future at risk -- and ours. For America to prosper and for journalism to survive we need a generation that reads, writes and thinks.

You may have heard President Obama say that America was Number 1 in the world in college completion just a generation ago. Today were Number 12 among young adults. Thats not good enough. Were not going to pave a path to the middle class with the cheapest labor. Were not going to reverse the polarization of wealth in this country through unskilled jobs. The only way that we can promise all of our young people a genuine opportunity is through a world-class education. What our young people need, and deserve, is an education that leaves them not just collegeready but innovation-ready. They need an education that prepares them for the reality of todays flat world a world where you invent your own job, change careers, and constantly acquire new skills. The real world demands readers, writers, and critical thinkers. People who can work with others and communicate skillfully. Its the same thing you demand. The problem is, a lot of children, in a lot of places in America, havent been getting a world-class education. But rather than recognize that, for a long time, our school systems lied to kids, to families, and to communities. They said the kids were all right. What made those soothing lies possible were low standards for learning. Low standards are like setting up for a track-and-field event with hurdles a foot tall. Thats what happened in education in a lot of places, and everyone came out looking good educators, administrators and especially politicians. The truth was that we had thousands of schools where as few as 10 percent of students were reading or doing math at grade level, and where less than half were graduating. The truth was that, in a class of 100 low-income kindergartners, 29 could expect to enroll in college, and nine could expect to graduate. Nine. For those who made it to college, remediation rates were high. Our competitiveness was in danger. Fortunately, in 2007, a group of governors and state education chiefs decided they were unwilling to perpetuate this cycle of deception and dysfunction. They set out to develop a set of learning standards aligned to the demands of the real world to the kind of deep learning that your children, and mine, will need to thrive. What happened was far beyond anyones expectations: 45 states and DC adopted these new standards. Nobody foresaw that development in 2009. Its a testament to the courage of these state leaders, and the power of a good idea. It was powerful for two reasons: because these standards were rigorous enough to prepare students for the real world, and because they would be shared among a number of states. Heres what that means: Today, for the first time in American history a child in Mississippi will face the same expectations as a child in Massachusetts. Today a fourth grade teacher in New Mexico can develop a lesson plan and a fourth grade teacher in New York can use it if she wants to. Today, the child of a Marine officer who is transferred from Camp Pendleton in California to Camp Lejeune in North Carolina will be able to make that academic transition without a hitch.

When these standards are fully implemented, a student who graduates from a high school in any one of these states who is performing at standard -- will be ready to attend and succeed in his or her state university without remedial education. We are no longer lying to kids about whether they are ready. We are finally telling them the truth, telling their parents the truth, and telling their future employers the truth. We are finally holding ourselves accountable to giving our children a true college and career-ready education. The New York Times has called the Common Core a once-in-a-generation opportunity to bring our public schools up to levels of our high-performing international competitors. I believe the Common Core state standards may prove to be the among the most important things to happen to public education in America since Brown versus Board of Education -- and the federal government had nothing to do with creating them. The federal government didnt write them, didnt approve them and doesnt mandate them, and we never will. Anyone who says otherwise is either misinformed or willfully misleading. Now I will tell you what we did do. And then you can do your job by confirming it -- and by questioning anyone who says otherwise because all kinds of people are saying all kinds of things that are simply not true. When the Obama Administration came into office in 2009, the Common Core standards were in development, and gaining momentum. We set out to support states and districts in changing the conditions that were limiting educational opportunity, and raising standards was a vital part of that. With governors and state leaders making major progress on standards, we gave them all the support we could, within the bounds of whats appropriate for the limited federal role in education. Our big competitive reform fund, Race to the Top, awarded points 40 points out of 500 -- to states that were collaborating to create common college- and career-ready standards and assessments. It was voluntary -- we didnt mandate it but we absolutely encouraged it because it is good for kids and good for the country. And at the time, no one knew how many groups of states would come together to create their own set of common standards. It turned out to be one big group of 46 but it could have been several groups of states uniting around different sets of standards. So this notion of our pushing for one set of standards was never correct. Moreover, theres a huge difference between creating an incentive, which was absolutely the right thing to do, and mandating particular standards which we have never done and never will do. The states choose their standards; they were, and remain, free to opt for different ones. Did the points, and the dollars, matter to the states? Undoubtedly. But its not the only reason or even the most important reason why states adopted the Common Core. States signed on to the Common Core because it was the right thing to do. They knew that their children were being cheated and they refused to be a part of it and for that they deserve our deepest praise and gratitude. In fact, dozens of states that didnt get Race to the Top money still kept those standards and American education is better because of it. These standards are under attack now.

Its important to remember where this all started. Before 2009, No Child Left Behind created pressure for schools and districts to meet standards and in response, 19 states actually dummied down their standards to make more of their students look proficient. Heres how low the bar was. Youve heard about the NAEP test the one we refer to as the nations report card. Fourth-grade reading standards in 35 states were set below what NAEP considers the bare minimum or basic. In 2007, Tennessee was one of only two states to receive an "F" for its academic standards, from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Ninety percent of students there scored proficient on state reading and math tests, yet only 26 percent were proficient according to NAEP. Same kids, different tests, wildly different results all because Tennessee had pathetically low standards. Those proficiency cut scores on Tennessees assessments were dishonest. They corresponded to a student GPA of a D-minus, and concealed huge achievement gaps, especially for disadvantaged students. Two Tennessee governors one Democrat and one Republican Phil Bredesen and Bill Haslam -- changed that. They started telling the truth about student learning by raising standards. Measured against these higher standards, test scores looked lower and achievement gaps wider. Proficiency rates dropped by more than half. Achievement gaps more than doubled. Yet Tennessee stuck by the higher standards -- and, last year, Tennessees students made the biggest single-year jump in achievement ever recorded in the state. High standards and high expectations are the first step toward higher performance. In that effort, the Common Core standards mark a sea-change in education. Not only do they set the bar high, they give teachers the room to go deep, emphasizing problem-solving, analysis, and critical thinking, as well as creativity and teamwork. They give teachers room to innovate. And teachers have responded. Three out of four say the Common Core standards will help them teach better. A few weeks ago, I had a group of local teachers to dinner, and I asked them about the Common Core: One fourth-grade teacher from Maryland said: I think most teachers love and embrace the idea that were not just teaching them to spit back formulas to us A middle-school teacher said: It's giving us a lot more time to get kids into really engaged discussions and deeper thought. These standards open up all kinds of new directions.

One teacher a county teacher of the year even brought in a quote from one of her fifthgraders. Heres what the student said: Sometimes in the past, we knew what the steps were to solve a problem but we could not process it in a way to make sense of the big mathematical idea. Now we start with the big idea and we discover the math within it. Thats what a fifth-grader said!

Unfortunately, not everyone shares that enthusiasm. The Common Core has become a rallying cry for fringe groups that claim it is a scheme for the federal government to usurp state and local control of what students learn. An op-ed in the New York Times called the Common Core a radical curriculum. It is neither radical nor a curriculum. We should be very clear about terms here. Standards learning standards, academic standards are the goals, typically set by states, for what students should know by a certain age.

Curriculum on the other hand -- is what teachers teach to help students meet those standards. Curriculum is generally chosen at the district or even the school level and in many cases individual teachers actually decide on the curriculum and classroom content. When the critics cant persuade you that the Common Core is a curriculum, they make even more outlandish claims. They say that the Common Core calls for federal collection of student data. For the record, it doesnt, were not allowed to, and we wont. And lets not even get into the really wacky stuff: mind control, robots, and biometric brain mapping. The Washington Post laid out the facts in an editorial I will quote: Lost in the hysteria being whipped up about Common Core standards is that the movement to infuse new rigor in schools started at the state level... This sensible and badly needed reform should not be derailed by misguided and misinformed opposition. Now, I dont think the Common Core is going to get derailed. But this misguided, misinformed opposition is making life more difficult in several states, where various forms of anti-Common Core legislation have been introduced. A lot of that legislation is based on false information. Some of the hostility to Common Core also comes from critics who conflate standards with curriculum, assessments and accountability. They oppose mandated testing and they oppose using student achievement as one of multiple measures to evaluate principals and teachers. They also oppose intervention in chronically low-performing schools. Its convenient for opponents to simply write it all off as federal over-reach but these are separate and distinct issues and they should be publicly debated openly and honestly with a common understanding about the facts. Thats where you come in. As you know, good journalism is more than just claim and counter-claim. Its investigating whats true and false, whats a responsible statement and whats not. Many of you have done fine work on that front. You understand the truth about the role of the federal government with respect to common core standards: We didnt write them, we dont mandate them and we dont regulate them. Thats why leaders on the left and the right Randi Weingarten and Mitch Daniels; Dennis van Roekel; and Jeb Bush and so many others support the common core standards even if they disagree on other issues. You also understand that the federal government has nothing to do with curriculum. In fact, were prohibited by law from creating or mandating curricula.

So do the reporting. Ask the Common Core critics: Please identify a single lesson plan that the federal government created, or requires of any school, teacher, or district. Ask if they can identify any textbook that the federal government created, endorsed, or required for any school, teacher, or district in their state. Ask them to identify any element, phrase, or a single word of the Common Core standards that was developed or required by the federal government. If they tell you that any of these things are happening challenge them to name names. Challenge them to produce evidence because they wont find it. It doesnt exist. Many responsible conservatives are already speaking the truth and showing real courage. Governor Mike Huckabee recently wrote: Ive heard the argument these standards threaten local control of whats being taught in Oklahoma classrooms. Speaking from one conservative to another, let me assure you this simply is not trueTheyre not something to be afraid of; indeed they are something to embrace. Columnist Michael Gerson wrote recently that if the Common Core is a conspiracy against limited government, it has somehow managed to recruit governors Mitch Daniels and Jeb Bush, current governors Bobby Jindal and Chris Christie, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Gerson concluded, A plot this vast is either diabolical or imaginary. Imaginary is the right word. In this change, the state chiefs are in the drivers seat. I have talked with every governor in America and visited almost every state. Ive spent time with every state chief because I know that when it comes to improving public education the buck does not stop here in Washington. It stops in Albany, in Lansing, in Tallahassee and in Sacramento. In public education, the buck stops with the states. And thats why you have seen this administration devote so much energy to helping our states succeed at the same time that we continue to try to work with a dysfunctional Congress. I respect the men and women serving in Congress today, but the institution is fundamentally broken. Congress has let six years go by without fixing No Child Left Behind and the consequences have been devastating for public education. Fortunately, through the waiver process, we found a way to minimize the damage, while supporting bold and courageous work in states all across America. Weve set a high bar for states on issues like closing achievement gaps, evaluating principals and teachers, and turning around low-performing schools but weve given them lots of flexibility in how they get there. But I look forward to a day when we dont have to turn to waivers to support states in their efforts to improve education. Im pleased to see that Congress has finally begun the reauthorization process -- though I worry that the current effort is plagued by partisan politics. I would urge members of Congress who care about this issue to spend more time talking with governors and state chiefs on both sides of the aisle about the kind of support they want from

Washington and then work together to develop a bipartisan bill to fix NCLB. Thats how we get to the reality of better educational opportunities at every stage from cradle to career. Were seeing terrific ideas originating from the states as we work with them on flexibility. To name just a couple of examples: Kentucky is making moves to focus accountability for high schools on a basket of indicators of college and career readiness, ranging from the ACT to preparedness for military service to industry certificates. Similarly, Nevada is looking to multiple measures in a rating system that includes not just achievement and graduation rates, but measures like college remediation rates, advanced diploma rates, and participation and performance in college entrance exams.

Lets not pretend that we have the answers here in Washington when the blueprint for improving schools is already being implemented all across America. And thats why I am still hopeful. Because I see, every day, what happens when educators get to do their best work when they are free to create and innovate. Theres still much more work to do. Raising standards is only one part of the job. We need to support great teaching. We need to make college affordable. And we need to make high-quality preschool available to every child. And as this works moves forward, we need guardians of the truth to separate fact from fiction. Whatever your views about public education, it is indefensible to lower learning standards. There is simply too much at stake for the country for our future and for your industry. If your state lowers standards, you lose a high bar for reading, for critical thinking, for writing, and for taking ideas seriously. You lose one of the cornerstones of democracy. Because the power of democracy depends upon an informed electorate and a free press. Americas children will live in a very different world from their parents. Our obligation is to prepare them for it. We all share that responsibility. Thank you. ###