Education Secretary: School Failure Is National Failure

By Laura Smith, University of New Mexico-Talk Radio News Service

While Secretary of Education Arne Duncan is certainly pleased over the strides made by many schools, he concedes that more needs to be done to improve education.

During an award ceremony Wednesday honoring Texas’ Aldine Independent School District (ASID), Duncan noted that only seven out 10 public school students finish high school, and that only one in four college students can do college work.

“This simply isn’t just a personal failure. It’s a national failure,” Duncan said.

An additional $100 billion of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds has recently been allocated for education reform.

The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation awarded the Aldine Independent School District (AISD) from outside Houston the 2009 Broad Prize for Urban Education. This award is the largest education award in the country, and the school district will receive $1 million in college scholarships.

Superintendent Dr. Wanda Bamberg Ed.D., accepted the award.

Aldine has shown some of the most consistent student achievement gains nationally in the last decade and has been recognized as one of the top five most improved urban American school systems in four of the last six years.

The four finalists were Broward County Public Schools in southern Florida; Gwinnett County Public Schools outside Atlanta; the Long Beach Unified School District in California; and the Socorro Independent School District in Texas. Each finalist will receive $250,000 in college scholarships.

Dr. Bamberg said Aldine is 84% economically disadvantaged, and have watched their college students and college participation numbers decline in the past few years. She said the scholarship is truly the only way students can further their education.

“When you see the conditions that our students live, and understand that they truly do live in poverty in some places, then this doesn’t just represent a scholarship opportunity, it doesn’t just represent four years at school, it represents a future and a complete change of life for that individual student and, in many cases, the family of that student,” Bamberg said.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said excellence is what the Broad Award has always been about. She said the nation’s children success is essential to the success of the U.S.

“Those blessed with the most serve all of us,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said that while a high school diploma may gain entry into the workforce, but a college degree is a ticket to higher wages, more job security and a brighter future.