In his address, the president appealed for all states to adopt a nationally established set of performance standards centered on skills evaluations that measure students' achievement in reading and math.
Because an educated workforce is essential to a 21st century global economy, we've launched a competitive Race to the Top fund through the Recovery Act to reform our schools and raise achievement, especially in math and science.
And this funding is tied to reforms that raise student achievement, inspire students to excel in math and science, and turn around failing schools which consign too many young people to a lesser future -- because in the 21st century there is no better anti-poverty program than a world-class education.
We launched a national competition to improve our schools by investing only in reform that closes the achievement gap, and inspires students to excel in math and science, and turns around failing schools that steal the future from too many young Americans.