Bush Defends Annual Tests as Key Reform for Schools

President Bush on Thursday defended annual student tests, a centerpiece of his education proposals, as “the cornerstone of reform” for the nation’s schools.

He made his case at an all-black elementary school, surrounded by Democratic lawmakers, emphasizing both his outreach to African Americans and his attempt to find bipartisan consensus in Washington on such issues as education.

The testing requirement is controversial among educators and parents. Some parents argue that annual standard tests put too much pressure on children. Some teachers complain that they are forced to gear their year’s work toward teaching children how to pass the tests.

But the Bush administration argues that tests are the only way to determine whether American students are keeping up with their counterparts in other countries.

But it is not always easy at home, Bush acknowledged. He recounted the experience he and his wife, Laura, had in Texas as the parents of two teenage daughters, now freshmen in college.

“I’m confident that parents here heard the same thing [from their children] Laura and I heard when our daughters went to Austin High School: ‘We’re sick of tests.’ But my answer was, ‘Well, I’m sorry you’re sick of it, but we want to know.’ We, the adults, want to know whether or not you’re learning, because if you’re not, we expect something else to happen.”

Bush spoke to about two dozen parents, teachers and administrators at Merritt Elementary School, which has 541 students ranging from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

By choosing a school where, according to the principal, every student is African American and 80% are from families with incomes below the poverty level, Bush sought to dramatize the effect his program could have, not just on suburban and well-to-do schools but also on schools where children face some of the greatest impediments to learning.

The visit also allowed him, during his first week in office, to demonstrate his pledge to reach out to communities where he is not likely to find political support.

Asked whether such a visit would help Bush among African Americans, who voted overwhelmingly for Democrat Al Gore, the school’s principal, Nancy Shannon, said: “I’m sure it helps.”

Merritt, like all District of Columbia schools, has conducted annual assessment tests of reading and math skills for many years. It has been administering the Stanford 9 test for three years. The students’ scores came close to school targets the first year, missed all the targets the second year but hit all six targets in reading and math the third year, Shannon said.

“You have to know where your children are to know what their weaknesses are,” Shannon said.

She said that, while the school seeks to offer students a range of activities, part of its curriculum is devoted to test preparation. “It’s constant reevaluation, frequent quizzes and practice tests for them to be successful in April,” the principal said.

Bush said that the reason he visited the school was to “herald what happens inside the walls here. And what happens here is there is a strong sense of accountability, which means there’s a strong sense of the possible.

“Accountability is so important, and by ‘accountability’ I mean testing children to determine whether or not children are learning. I believe it’s the cornerstone of reform.”

Seeking to demonstrate a bipartisan appeal to his approach, the president brought with him two Democrats, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and Rep. George Miller of Martinez, and two Republicans, Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont and Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio. Each plays a leading role in writing education bills in Congress.

Speaking with reporters outside the school, Kennedy said that Bush had presented “a very vigorous accountability standard, which is going to include not only the testing of students but also making sure that students have got other kinds of support.” He noted that Merritt Elementary offers failing students a variety of after-school and summer programs, and tutorials. “In that context,” he said, “there’s a good deal of sense” to the sort of testing standards that Bush is advancing.

At the end of the day, Bush left the White House again, journeying to Hyattsville, Md., to have dinner with Archbishop Theodore Edgar McCarrick, whom the Vatican announced will be elevated to cardinal, and other Roman Catholic leaders, including the Vatican’s emissary to Washington.