became sophomores and juniors. But when these classmates began talking about picking up tickets to graduation and being measured for their robes the nonachievers quietly drifted away from school. They didn t want to be around when their failure would become obvious to everyone. Pai rightly recognized this as a failure of the school system, not the students During the past few decades, we ve learned an enormous amount about how children learn. In particular, we know much more about the process by which children learn to read, and we know that the inability to read proficiently is a barrier to further progress in education. These kids ho became stuck in ninth grade had probably fallen behind their peers by third grade. After that, teachers think that it is not their job to teach reading, and they typically will not teach reading unless a student asks for help This is not the responsibility of a nine-year-old; it is the job of the adults, the schools, and the school districts. This i where accountability must begin. The second principle is to put control where it belongs. We cannot simply mandate from Washington how every school ought to operate, what standards it ought to use, what structures it ought to put into place. Thats got to be done in the states. Indeed, the states are likely to find that it is even more effective to have the school districts and the chools determine how best to help their students achieve high s tandard And so in the bill, the states are left to determine what their standards hould be to develop assessments that are ali gned with these standards, and to create an accountability system that must--for the first time--inc lude all children The third principle is parental choice, and I am disappointed that the legislation that Congress passed did not go as far as the administration hoped it would. We recommended that any child in low-performing school be allowed to transfer to a better-performing school, whether it be private or public. Congress agreed that no student should be forced to attend a low-performing school, but the majority decided that students have a right to attend a bet ter public school but not a private school. The legislation also enables parents who decide, perhaps for social or practical reasons, to keep their child in the low-performing schoolbecame sophomores and juniors. But when these classmates began talking about picking up tickets to graduation and being measured for their robes, the nonachievers quietly drifted away from school. They didn't want to be around when their failure would become obvious to everyone. Paige rightly recognized this as a failure of the school system, not the students. During the past few decades, we've learned an enormous amount about how children learn. In particular, we know much more about the process by which children learn to read, and we know that the inability to read proficiently is a barrier to further progress in education. These kids who became stuck in ninth grade had probably fallen behind their peers by third grade. After that, teachers think that it is not their job to teach reading, and they typically will not teach reading unless a student asks for help. This is not the responsibility of a nine-year-old; it is the job of the adults, the schools, and the school districts. This is where accountability must begin. The second principle is to put control where it belongs. We cannot simply mandate from Washington how every school ought to operate, what standards it ought to use, what structures it ought to put into place. That's got to be done in the states. Indeed, the states are likely to find that it is even more effective to have the school districts and the schools determine how best to help their students achieve high standards. And so in the bill, the states are left to determine what their standards should be, to develop assessments that are aligned with these standards, and to create an accountability system that must--for the first time--include all children. The third principle is parental choice, and I am disappointed that the legislation that Congress passed did not go as far as the administration hoped it would. We recommended that any child in a low-performing school be allowed to transfer to a better-performing school, whether it be private or public. Congress agreed that no student should be forced to attend a low-performing school, but the majority decided that students have a right to attend a better public school but not a private school. The legislation also enables parents who decide, perhaps for social or practical reasons, to keep their child in the low-performing school