We are always going to put the best interests of kids above the rights, privileges and priorities of adults..

I'd rather deal with anger than apathy..

We've lost our competitive spirit. We've become so obsessed with making kids feel good about themselves that we've lost sight of building the skills ….

We need to do everything we can to ensure every single child has an effective teacher every day, which means we need to identify who are the most hig….

The notion about education has changed and that now it’s sort of much more aligned with, “Well, schools can’t combat poverty. We can’t possibly expec….

I have an absolutely unshakable faith in kids, grounded in the fact that I worked for three years in one of the worst public schools in Baltimore, wi….

I think that one thing that people are missing is that we are never going to be able to fix this country's [American] economy in the long run until w….

If you grew up in a lower-income community, or less well-off, the belief is that the way to change that circumstance is through education..

My parents were extraordinarily focused on education. It was the topic of every dinner conversation, is are you number one, are you getting all As, i….

We are in tough economic times right now, and the first thing we have to do is look at how we're spending the dollars that we have, and at what kind ….

Creativity is good and whatever. But if the children don't know how to read, I don't care how creative you are. You're not doing your job..

I think for what success looks like for me, it is a world in which you can look at the achievement scores, the academic scores, of any school anywher….

We need to identify the least effective or ineffective teachers and for those people we need to either quickly accelerate their practice or move them….

Standardized tests are an indicator of the kind of service taxpayers are receiving - and whether schools, educators and policymakers are doing their ….

My grandfather was a teacher, my grandmother on my mom's side, four of my aunts, my sister-in-law, my best friend. So I've always, my entire life, be….

That should be the goal, is that every kid in every neighborhood, despite whatever challenges they may face, are getting a great education in our pub….

In schools where parent involvement is greater, you do have higher achievement levels and better functioning, better performing schools..

We all have to have more rigorous expectations of our kids in America..

The reality in Washington D.C. is if you live in Tenleytown versus if you live in Anacostia, you get two wildly different educational experiences. It….

You may not do well, necessarily, up front, and in order to be the best, you've got to work hard..

I think people don't talk enough about education and what we need to do in our public education system..