Education Secretary Paige sells Bush plan

U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige discusses vouchers, charter schools and standardized testing.

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- As students head back to school, Education Secretary Rod Paige heads across the country to sell President Bush's educational plan. Paige was in Atlanta Tuesday where he talked with CNN's Carol Lin and students during CNN's "Live at Daybreak."

LIN: Earlier in the broadcast, we were talking about a federal appeals court decision regarding three white students who sued to get into the University of Georgia -- potentially precedent setting here. And I'm just wondering from the administration standpoint, do you think that there is still a role for these point systems -- these racial preference systems -- to diversify student bodies across the country?

PAIGE: Well, as that works its way through the courts, what we would prefer are systems that provide access to all students. We know that this is a nation that's very diverse. And we need systems that represent what the nation looks like.

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LIN: So is that a case for racial preferences -- a point system that might favor minority students who might not otherwise go to that university?

PAIGE: More deserving students, which would be preferred, and deserving students of all races.

LIN: We were talking with a Time magazine education reporter. And she [said the] really hot topic among parents out there is this move toward charter schools. That there is this growing trend of parents in communities taking control of their child's education and ... creating schools in their own communities, where they dictate the curriculum. Do you think charter schools ... offer a choice to parents in communities that, say, a school voucher system does not?

PAIGE: Well, we think that expanded form of choice is a necessary condition for effective schooling in the United States of America. And charter schools provide a greater access for parents and an additional choice. We think it's a good thing and we support charter schools.

LIN: Over vouchers?

PAIGE: Well, we support charter schools. We support all kinds of choice mechanisms. And we don't necessarily have to have one or the other, or this over that. We think that systems that provide parents with expanded opportunities -- parents need good information about what's going on in schooling and they need alternatives -- ways to do different things. And so charter [schools] provide that. We support that.

LIN: You are certainly exercising the choices across the country.

PAIGE: Yes. I think it's a great trend.

LIN: In the meantime, we've got a trend here at CNN. We're raising the ... journalists of tomorrow.

PAIGE: Oh, my goodness.

LIN: With us right next to you is Ashley Hayes, [a student at ... School of the Arts].

PAIGE: Hi, Ashley.

HAYES: Hi, how are you?

LIN: And Brittany Stevenson -- she is [at] Grady High School.

And you have some questions for the secretary?

HAYES: Yes. Secretary, I was going to ask you -- under the "there is no child is left behind" plan with the national standards of accountability that you're talking about developing ...

PAIGE: Yes.

HAYES: ... do you also see a move toward a nationally standardized-like curriculum to make sure that these learning objectives are accomplished?

PAIGE: Absolutely not. We think that this is a state-by-state issue. Each state should set its own standards about what students in that state should learn, know and be able to do as a result of education in that state. It is a state responsibility right now. And so we support local control and flexibility, and that conflicts with a national curriculum. We don't support that.

STEVENSON: Also, Mr. Secretary, I know in your "no child left behind" plan [that] you guys have a plan to implement a standardized test nationwide.

PAIGE: Yes.

STEVENSON: Many kids do not like taking standardized tests ...

[LAUGHTER]

STEVENSON: ... and what way could you get the kids more interested in taking the standardized test or make them feel more comfortable?

PAIGE: OK. Let's deal with the nationwide concept first. It's not actually nationwide. It is state by state. Each state would have its own test aligned to its own standards. And the purpose here is just to determine what has been achieved by each student relative to the standards. And so we want to know how each student is progressing. And that's the reason. None of us like tests. You know, we don't like [that] we have to take a test for our driver's license.

HAYES: Yes.

PAIGE: We have to take a test to get admitted to universities. But it's necessary to have that kind of information.

STEVENSON: Also I wanted to know [that since] minorities don't perform as well on these types of standardized tests or testing in general ... how are you going to go about making minorities perform better on these tests? Or what [are] your goals and aspirations to help us

PAIGE: Well, the information that we have, and we think it's some pretty good research, shows that minorities perform well when instruction is good and also when they take high quality courses like you are taking, the AP courses -- advanced placement courses -- and advanced courses in math and science and social studies .... When the instruction is good, minorities perform very well. So what we want to do is enhance the quality of teaching.

HAYES: OK. And with the growing number of students who speak English as a second language in this country, and who also might not have parents at home who speak English, how can we make sure that they get an education that's equal to all of the other average -- English-speaking American students?

PAIGE: Well, first of all, the goal of most of an instruction would be English fluency as early as possible. And so we want to provide them with the type of instruction and also the type of environment that promotes that. We like to see them also stay fluent in their native language, so they can have multiple languages. But our instruction is aimed at having English fluency be achieved as early as possible.

LIN: Brittany Stevenson, Ashley Hayes -- right now are in a test of time, unfortunately.

Mr. Secretary...

PAIGE: They're going to be great, aren't they?

LIN: They got an A as far as I am concerned.

PAIGE: Yes.

LIN: Congratulations.

HAYES: Thank you.

STEVENSON: Thank you.

LIN: Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us this morning.

PAIGE: Thank you.

LIN: You're a good sport.

PAIGE: Thank you.