leaving high school with limited skills or even without a diploma could still find jobs. They could acquire the limited training that they needed and earn enough to en joy a mi ddle-class life. Thats no longer the case. In 2000, the job market is still 20 percent professional, but now t's65 percent skilled, leaving only 15 percent unskilled. In a nation with a steady stream of immi grants who are willing to accept very low wages, there is intense competition for a small number of unskil led jobs that don' t even pay well. We know that if we want our young people to have the opportunity to earn a decent living, raise a family, and become ctive members of society, we must provide them with a good education. That is the underlying motivation for the president s No Child Left Behind legislation. The president and Secretary of Education Rod Pai are both committed to improving the life chances of our children and recognizing that the first principle that should guide reform is that we as adults need to take responsibility for the quality of learning n our schools Studies that seek to identify the factors that improve school performance all agree that teacher quality is the critical element of success. Of course, in some situations, even a magnificent teacher is not enough. Consider a sixth grader who ranks in the 20th percentile of student performance. That child is entering middle school without adequate basic skills in reading and math. Middle-school teachers are not trained to teach students rudimentary reading and mathematics, so this student is likely to be shunted into classes where little if anything taught. The s tudent might even be a llowed to pass on through middle and high school without ever developing these skills. If the student lives in a state that does not have a high-school exit exam, he or she could receive a diploma. When Rod Paige became superintendent of the Houston public school he noticed that the system had an unusually large number of ninth graders He wondered where they were coming from. He discovered that in ninth grade students were required to meet specified academic standards in order to be promoted. This was the first time that these students took a test with real consequences, and many were failing. He found that many of these students stayed in school for a year or two while their former classmatesleaving high school with limited skills or even without a diploma could still find jobs. They could acquire the limited training that they needed and earn enough to enjoy a middle-class life. That's no longer the case. In 2000, the job market is still 20 percent professional, but now it's 65 percent skilled, leaving only 15 percent unskilled. In a nation with a steady stream of immigrants who are willing to accept very low wages, there is intense competition for a small number of unskilled jobs that don't even pay well. We know that if we want our young people to have the opportunity to earn a decent living, raise a family, and become active members of society, we must provide them with a good education. That is the underlying motivation for the president's No Child Left Behind legislation. The president and Secretary of Education Rod Paige are both committed to improving the life chances of our children and recognizing that the first principle that should guide reform is that we as adults need to take responsibility for the quality of learning in our schools. Studies that seek to identify the factors that improve school performance all agree that teacher quality is the critical element of success. Of course, in some situations, even a magnificent teacher is not enough. Consider a sixth grader who ranks in the 20th percentile of student performance. That child is entering middle school without adequate basic skills in reading and math. Middle-school teachers are not trained to teach students rudimentary reading and mathematics, so this student is likely to be shunted into classes where little if anything is taught. The student might even be allowed to pass on through middle and high school without ever developing these skills. If the student lives in a state that does not have a high-school exit exam, he or she could receive a diploma. When Rod Paige became superintendent of the Houston public schools, he noticed that the system had an unusually large number of ninth graders. He wondered where they were coming from. He discovered that in ninth grade, students were required to meet specified academic standards in order to be promoted. This was the first time that these students took a test with real consequences, and many were failing. He found that many of these students stayed in school for a year or two while their former classmates