have a great two days. >> please welcome john bridgeland. >> good morning.ow lucky the nation is to have brian gallagher leading the united way. yes. not only their wonderful commitments in the past, but their new commitment to identify the feeder elementary and middle schools to the lowest performing high schools. also how lucky it is for the country to have leadership from general, mrs. and michael powell. what a powerful father/mother/son combination. but let me also say what a gift it's been to the nation to have marguerite kondracki at the helm of america's promise alliance. i'd love her to stand and be acknowledged by everybody. [ applause ] and she's not going anywhere. also what a gift it will be to have john gomperts. i'd love him to stand as well so everybody knows who he is. [ applause ] and to randall stephenson of at&t for their extraordinary work on so many fronts to help boost high school graduation rates, support annual updates to the nation and make education a stronger data driven enterprise through the aspire 1 and now 2 programs. this mor

i also want to give a quick shout taught to bob belfanz and john bridgeland. this morning i want to provide a preliminary progress report on our school improvement grants or what's known as our sig program. it cbs news to accelerate achievement in our nation's lowest performer 5% of schools. our federal grant supports schools, leaders, teachers, unions and local partners in the community to undertake this challenging work. we're seeing some very encouraging signs of progress in this first year of data from our sig schools, which actually few experts anticipated. but before i talk about that data, i want to put in context what we're seeing. the starting premise for the sig program is unfortunately painfully self-evident. the united states simply cannot meaningfully boost graduation rates and prom ace quality education to every single child without ending the cycle of failure in our chronically low lf performing schools. tragically not just for a few years but literally for decades children have been cheat out of a world class education in the underperforming sc

i think we turn it back over now to john bridgeland to talk about some powerful stutional plays. [ applause ] sfwl fantastic, bob. not only wonderful data but a homework assignment. also great to know the 13 states where the battle will be won or lost over the next decade to reach this national goal. as brian gallagher highlighted at the outset of this plenary session, the theory of change of the civic marshal plan is to highlight groups that are beating the odds and makie inin ground breaking progress on one or more of the benchmarks. many case studies in the report that are featured this year, for example double digit gains in rural maryland. thank you, betty morgan. to significant progress in georgia, in atlanta, in houston and in alabama show us the pathways forward on how these states and school districts are beating the odds. i want to thank the leadership council members of the civic marshal plan to build a grad nation. all the organizations listed here for their extraordinary work over the last year working in partnership. this is their civilic marshal plan. it was developed in part

i really do want to thank john bridgeland for his enormous commitment and what he's done through civic enterprises, part of the president's white house counsel for community solutions. he is a personal example that there are people in this town who are committed to get iting done as opposed to worryinging about what party party's in power and who's going to get the credit and i thank him for that. and i want to thank general powell for their profounding, chairing the alliance. it is so important this president stays. i'm inspired that today it is still a force in public policy and obviously, you actually just got to see our commitment in action and seeing arne duncan and all that he has done. i thank them and all of you. you're going to hear from a lot of people. going to try to make five points. quick and let you get, let you move on. number one, focus on how education and the challenge of preventing dropouts, but beyond preventing dropouts, having higher aspirations, higher achievement, higher graduation rates, higher accomplishment is absolutely critical to our economy and our econo

i also want to give a quick shout out to bob belfanz and john bridgeland. round of across -- applause. [applause] this morning i want to provide a preliminary progress report on our school improvement grants or what's known as our sig program. it seeks to accelerate the achievement in the schools. leaders, teachers, unions, and local partners in the community undertake this challenging work. we are seeing some encouraging signs of progress in this first year of data from are six schools, which few anticipated. before i talk about that data, i want to put in context what we are seeing. the starting premise for the program is self-evident. the united states cannot meaningfully boost graduation rates and promise education without ending the cycle of failure in our low performing schools. tragically,

i also want to give a quick shout out to bob belfanz and john bridgeland.fy and promote solutions. please give them a round of applause. [applause] this morning i want to provide a preliminary progress report on our school improvement grants or what's known as our sig program. it seeks to accelerate the achievement in the schools. leaders, teachers, unions, and local partners in the community undertake this challenging work. we are seeing some encouraging signs of progress in this first year of data from are six schools, which few anticipated. before i talk about that data, i want to put in context what we are seeing. the starting premise for the program is self-evident. the united states cannot meaningfully boost graduation rates and promise education without ending the cycle of failure in our low performing schools. tragically, sometimes not just for a few years, but the kids, children have been cheated that of a world-class education. and for far too long, all of us here, adults, educators, have observed this failure with a complacency that is disturbing

i really do want to thank john bridgeland for his enormous commitment and what he's done through civic enterprises, part of the president's white house council for community conclusions. they are a personal example to the people in this town are committed to getting it done as opposed to which party is in power and who will get the credit and i thank him for that. and i thank for alma powell for her now chairing america's promised alliance. it's so important this president stays. i remember its creation. i'm inspired today that it is still a force in public policy. and you obviously got to see our commitment in action and see arne duncan and all these done. so i thank them and i thank all of you. let me -- you're going to hear from a lot of people. i'm going to try to make five points quick and let you move on. number one, the focus on education and the challenge of preventing dropouts but beyond preventing dropouts, having higher aspirations, higher achievement, higher graduation rates, higher accomplishment is absolutely critical to our economy and our economic growth. now, there is

i really do want to thank john bridgeland for his commitment and what he has done through civic enterprisesrt of the president's white house counsel for solutions. there are people in this town that are committed to getting this done as opposed to worrying about what party is in power and who is going to get the credit, and i thank him for that, and i want to thank the powells. for her chair in the alliance. i remember its creation. it is still a force in public policy, and obviously, you got to see our commitment in action, c and arne duncan -- seeing none arne duncan -- seeing arne duncan. i will try to make five points quick and let you move on. number one, a focus on how education and the challenge of preventing dropouts, but beyond preventing dropouts, having higher aspirations, higher achievement, higher graduation rates, higher accomplishment is absolutely critical to our economy and our economic growth. now, there is a degree, and with that, it is just common sense. i am just talking about the basketball playoffs. if you look at any team, any team is stronger, everyone is stronger w