Welcome to the White House. First of all, I want to thank Antonio for being such an outstanding role model. Back in 2011 -- when he was much shorter -- I visited Kenmore Middle School and saw firsthand their great work helping students like Antonio achieve their potential. And that's why we're here today. 欢迎来到白宫。首先，我要感谢安东尼奥，他是一位如此出色的榜样。早在2011年——那时候他个子还矮得多——我访问了肯莫尔中学，亲眼看到他们在帮助像安东尼奥这样的学生发挥潜力方面所做的出色工作。这就是我们今天来到这里的原因。
This is an early Christmas present. After more than 10 years, members of Congress from both parties have come together to revise our national education law. A Christmas miracle: A bipartisan bill signing right here. So I was telling Lamar we should do this more often. I love it when we're signing bipartisan bills. Today, I'm proud to sign a law that's going to make sure that every student is prepared to succeed in the 21st century. 这是一份提前到来的圣诞礼物。经过十多年的时间，来自两党的国会议员终于携起手来，修订我们的国家教育法案。这真是一个圣诞奇迹：就在这里签署一项两党共同支持的法案。我刚才还跟拉马尔说，我们应该多做这样的事。我最喜欢签署两党法案了。今天，我很自豪地签署这项法案，它将确保每一名学生都为在21世纪取得成功做好准备。
The goals of No Child Left Behind, the predecessor of this law, were the right ones: High standards. Accountability. Closing the achievement gap. Making sure that every child was learning, not just some. 作为本法案前身的《不让一个孩子掉队法案》，其目标是正确的：高标准。问责制。缩小学业差距。确保每个孩子都在学习，而不只是一部分孩子。
But in practice, it often fell short. It didn't always consider the specific needs of each community. It led to too much testing during classroom time. It often forced schools and school districts into cookie-cutter reforms that didn't always produce the kinds of results that we wanted to see. And that's okay -- sometimes reform efforts require you try something, it doesn't work, you learn some lessons, and you make modifications. 但在实践中，它往往未能达到预期。它并不总是考虑到每个社区的具体需求。它导致课堂时间内的考试过多。它常常迫使学校和学区采取千篇一律的改革措施，而这些措施并不总能产生我们希望看到的结果。这没关系——有时候改革需要你去尝试，行不通就吸取教训，然后做出调整。
So my Administration, when we came into office, tried some different things. We tried to lead a Race to the Top. That's why we acted to give states that were willing to embrace reforms -- that they helped to formulate -- more flexibility in how to improve student achievement. They were receiving waivers from some of the requirements of No Child Left Behind. But the truth is that could only do so much. And that's why, for years, I have called on Congress to come together and get a bipartisan effort to fix No Child Left Behind. 因此，本届政府上任后，尝试了一些不同的做法。我们推动了"力争上游"计划。正因为如此，我们采取行动，给予那些愿意接受改革——这些改革是各州参与制定的——的州在提高学生成绩方面更大的灵活性。这些州获得了《不让一个孩子掉队法案》部分要求的豁免。但事实上，这些措施的作用有限。这就是为什么多年来我一直呼吁国会携手合作，通过两党共同努力来修正《不让一个孩子掉队法案》。
It took a lot of time; it required a lot of work. But thanks to the tireless efforts of many of the people on this stage and some people who are in attendance here today, we finally reached that deal. 这花了很长时间，付出了大量努力。但多亏了台上许多人以及今天在座一些人的不懈努力，我们终于达成了这项协议。
There are some people that I especially want to thank. First of all, Senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray on the Senate side, and Representatives John Kline and Bobby Scott on the House side, as well as their dedicated staffs. This would not have happened without them. 有一些人我要特别感谢。首先是参议院的拉马尔·亚历山大参议员和帕蒂·默里参议员，以及众议院的约翰·克莱因众议员和鲍比·斯科特众议员，还有他们敬业的工作人员。没有他们，这一切都不会发生。
And I just want to point out that it's not as if there weren't some significant ideological differences on some of these issues. No, there were, but I think this is really a good example of how bipartisanship can work. People did not agree on everything at the outset, but they were willing to listen to each other in a civil, constructive way, and to work through these issues, compromise where necessary, while still keeping their eye on the ball. 我想指出的是，并不是说在这些问题上不存在重大的意识形态分歧。不，分歧是存在的，但我认为这恰恰是两党合作如何发挥作用的一个很好的例子。人们并非从一开始就在所有问题上达成一致，但他们愿意以文明、建设性的方式倾听彼此，共同解决这些问题，在必要时做出妥协，同时始终紧盯目标。
And I think it's really a testament of the four leaders of the respective committees that they set that kind of tone. And that's something that we don't always see here in Washington. There wasn't a lot of grandstanding, not a lot of posturing -- just a lot of really good, hard work. So I just want to, again, thank them for the outstanding work that they did. 我认为，这充分体现了各自委员会四位领导人所树立的良好风气。而这在华盛顿并不常见。没有太多的哗众取宠，没有太多的装腔作势——只有大量实实在在的、辛勤的工作。所以我想再次感谢他们所做的出色工作。
I also want to thank my outgoing Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Arne has dedicated his life to the cause of education -- and sometimes in the nicest possible way, he has gotten on people's nerves because he has pushed them and prodded them and tried to make sure that we set high expectations and that we are holding ourselves accountable for children's performance -- or the school's performance and how they were delivering for our kids. 我还要感谢即将离任的教育部长阿恩·邓肯。阿恩将他的一生都奉献给了教育事业——有时候，他以最温和的方式让人们感到不安，因为他不断地推动和督促大家，努力确保我们设定高期望，并对孩子们的表现负责——或者说对学校的表现以及它们如何为我们的孩子提供教育负责。
And had he not been, I believe, as tenacious as he was, I think that we would not have as good of a product as we do here today. And so I could not be prouder of Arne Duncan. And I want acknowledge him. 我相信，如果不是他如此坚韧不拔，我们今天就不会有这么好的成果。我为阿恩·邓肯感到无比骄傲。我要向他表示敬意。
We are going to miss Arne Duncan a lot. Fortunately, in addition to some great staff that he assembled that is going to be staying on, we also have a great replacement for Arne in Dr. John King, who is going to be doing outstanding work helping to implement this. 我们会非常想念阿恩·邓肯的。幸运的是，除了他组建的一些优秀团队将继续留任外，我们还有约翰·金博士这样出色的人选来接替阿恩，他将在帮助实施本法案方面做出杰出的工作。
In addition, obviously we've had some outstanding advocates. We've got our teachers unions, we've got our civil rights organizations, we've got philanthropies -- all of who -- community groups -- who have been active and involved, and the governors organizations and school districts have also been involved, the superintendants. So we want to thank all them for their contributions. All the stakeholders have really buckled down to make this day possible. 此外，我们显然还有一些杰出的倡导者。我们的教师工会、民权组织、慈善机构——所有这些——社区团体——都积极参与其中，州长组织和学区也参与了进来，还有学区总监们。我们要感谢所有人的贡献。所有利益相关方都真正全力以赴，才让这一天成为可能。
And the law comes at an important moment. Over the past seven years, the good news is that our students have made real strides. We've seen states raise academic expectations for all students. That means that we're in a better position to out-teach and out-compete other nations at a time when knowledge is really the single-biggest determinant of economic performance. 这项法案的出台恰逢其时。过去七年里，好消息是我们的学生取得了实实在在的进步。我们看到各州提高了对所有学生的学业期望。这意味着，在知识真正成为经济表现最大决定因素的时代，我们更有能力在教育和竞争方面超越其他国家。
High school graduation rates have reached an all-time high; dropout rates have hit historic lows. The number of high schools so bad they're called "dropout factories" has been cut almost in half. We're training tens of thousands of outstanding math and science teachers. More students are graduating from college than ever before, and more than a million additional black and Hispanic students are now going to college. 高中毕业率创下历史新高；辍学率降至历史最低。那些被称为"辍学工厂"的劣质高中数量减少了近一半。我们正在培训数万名优秀的数学和科学教师。大学毕业生人数比以往任何时候都多，新增了超过一百万黑人和西班牙裔学生进入大学。
So there is some real good work that's been done, a foundation to build from. But we're here because we all know that there's a lot more work to be done. As wonderful as Antonio's school is, as wonderful as a learning experience is as a lot of our young people are receiving, we know that there are other schools that just aren't hitting the mark yet. And in today's economy, a high-quality education is a prerequisite for success. 因此，我们已经取得了一些实实在在的成绩，奠定了进一步发展的基础。但我们今天聚在这里，是因为我们都知道还有更多的工作要做。尽管安东尼奥的学校很棒，尽管我们很多年轻人正在接受出色的教育，但我们知道还有一些学校尚未达到标准。在当今的经济环境下，高质量的教育是成功的前提。
We're going to have to have our young people master not just the basics but also become critical thinkers and creative problem solvers. And our competitive advantage depends on whether our kids are prepared to seize the opportunities for tomorrow. So we need to build on the momentum that has already been established. We've got to learn what works and do more of that, and we've got to get rid of the stuff that doesn't work. And that's exactly what the Every Student Succeeds Act does. 我们需要让年轻人不仅掌握基础知识，还要成为具有批判性思维的人和富有创造力的问题解决者。我们的竞争优势取决于我们的孩子是否准备好抓住明天的机遇。因此，我们需要在已经建立的势头上继续前进。我们必须了解什么行之有效，然后更多地去做；我们必须摒弃那些行不通的做法。而这正是《每一名学生成功法案》所要做的。
First, this law focuses on a national goal of ensuring that all of our students graduate prepared for college and future careers. It builds on the reforms that have helped us make so much progress already, holding everybody to high standards for teaching and learning, empowering states and school districts to develop their own strategies for improvement, dedicating resources to our most vulnerable children. And this law requires states to invest in helping students and schools improve, and focusing on the lowest-performing schools and closing those big achievement gaps. 首先，本法案聚焦于一个全国性目标：确保所有学生毕业时都为大学和未来职业做好准备。它建立在已经帮助我们取得巨大进步的改革基础之上，要求每个人在教与学方面都达到高标准，赋予各州和学区制定自身改进策略的权力，将资源投入到我们最弱势的儿童身上。本法案还要求各州投入资源帮助学生和学校改进，重点关注表现最差的学校，缩小那些巨大的学业差距。
Second, this bill makes long-overdue fixes to the last education law, replacing the one-size-fits-all approach to reform with a commitment to provide every student with a well-rounded education. It creates real partnerships between the states, which will have new flexibility to tailor their improvement plans, and the federal government, which will have the oversight to make sure that the plans are sound. 其次，本法案对上一部教育法进行了早该进行的修正，用"为每一名学生提供全面教育"的承诺取代了一刀切的改革方式。它在各州与联邦政府之间建立了真正的合作伙伴关系——各州将拥有新的灵活性来制定适合自身的改进计划，而联邦政府则负责监督，确保这些计划是健全的。
It helps states and districts reduce unnecessary standardized tests -- something we talked about a couple of months ago, because what we want to do is to get rid of unnecessary standardized tests so that more teachers can spend time engaging in student learning while, at the same time, making sure that parents and teachers have clear information on their children's academic performance. 它帮助各州和学区减少不必要的标准化考试——这是我们几个月前讨论过的问题，因为我们想要的是取消不必要的标准化考试，让更多教师有时间投入到学生学习中，同时确保家长和教师清楚了解孩子的学业表现。
Number three, we know that the early years can make a huge difference in a child's life, so this law lays the foundation to expand access to high-quality preschools, and it creates incentives for innovative approaches to learning and for supporting great teachers. 第三，我们知道早期教育对孩子的一生影响巨大，因此本法案为扩大学前优质教育的覆盖面奠定了基础，并为创新学习方法和支持优秀教师提供了激励。
And finally, this bill upholds the core value that animated the original Elementary and Secondary Education Act signed by President Lyndon Johnson -- the value that says education, the key to economic opportunity, is a civil right. With this bill, we reaffirm that fundamental American ideal that every child, regardless of race, income, background, the zip code where they live, deserves the chance to make out of their lives what they will. 最后，本法案秉承了林登·约翰逊总统签署的最初《中小学教育法案》所蕴含的核心价值观——即教育作为经济机会的关键，是一项公民权利。通过本法案，我们重申了美国的根本理念：每一个孩子，无论种族、收入、背景，无论他们居住在哪个社区，都应有机会掌握自己的人生。
So this is a big step in the right direction, a true bipartisan effort, a reminder of what can be done when people enter into these issues in a spirit of listening and compromise. But, of course, now the hard work begins. Laws are only as good as the implementation. And that means that we're going to have to be engaging with the schools and communities all across the country, educators, school leaders, families, students, elected officials, community leaders, philanthropies -- all to make the promise of this law reality. 因此，这是朝着正确方向迈出的重要一步，是一次真正的两党合作，它提醒我们，当人们以倾听和妥协的精神对待这些问题时，我们能够取得怎样的成就。但当然，现在真正艰巨的工作才刚刚开始。法律的效果取决于实施。这意味着我们必须与全国各地的学校和社区、教育工作者、学校领导、家庭、学生、民选官员、社区领袖、慈善机构等各方合作，共同将本法案的承诺变为现实。
And, by the way, it's going to take students like Antonio. He's doing his part. He's taking advanced classes to get a head start on high school credits. He plays the violin. He plays sports. He volunteers. He owns one share of stock in Tesla. So he's clearly going places. I'd invest in him if I could. But one of the reasons Antonio is thriving is he's got great teachers and a great principal at Kenmore. They saw that spark in him, and, like all great educators, they're helping him to harness his energy and his curiosity and his talents. 顺便说一下，这需要像安东尼奥这样的学生。他正在尽自己的一份力。他在修高级课程，为高中学分提前做准备。他拉小提琴。他参加体育运动。他做志愿者。他还持有一股特斯拉的股票。所以他显然前途无量。如果可以的话，我都想投资他。但安东尼奥能够茁壮成长的原因之一，是他在肯莫尔有优秀的老师和一位出色的校长。他们看到了他身上的火花，并且像所有伟大的教育工作者一样，正在帮助他发挥自己的能量、好奇心和才能。
And that's what we want every single child in America to have. We just want to give them a chance. And so many of them are full of that same talent and drive, but we let them slip through the cracks, or we're not creative enough in thinking about how they can be engaged, or they just don't have the resources that they need in the classroom, or they fell behind early because they didn't get the support that they needed given the tough circumstances they were born into. 而这正是我们希望美国每一个孩子都能拥有的。我们只是想给他们一个机会。他们中很多人同样充满才华和动力，但我们却让他们从缝隙中溜走，或者我们在如何激发他们的参与度方面不够有创意，或者他们在课堂上缺乏所需的资源，又或者因为出生在艰难的环境中得不到所需的支持而早早落后了。
And we want to make sure that through this piece of legislation, with our hard work, with our focus, with our discipline, with our passion, with our commitment, that every kid is given the same opportunities that Antonio is getting. I want this not just because it's good for the students themselves, not just because it's good for the communities involved, not only because it's good for our economy, but because it really goes to the essence of what we are about as Americans. 我们希望确保通过这项立法，凭借我们的努力、专注、自律、热情和承诺，每一个孩子都能获得安东尼奥所拥有的同样机会。我希望如此，不仅因为这对学生自身有好处，不仅因为这对相关社区有好处，也不仅因为这对我们的经济有好处，而是因为这真正触及了我们作为美国人的本质。
There was a time I think when upward mobility was the hallmark of America. We've slipped on that front compared to other countries. And some of it is because where we used to be so far ahead of other countries in investing in education for every child, now on some indicators, we've been lagging behind. Hopefully, this is going to get us back out front. 曾几何时，我认为向上流动是美国的标志。在这方面，我们与其他国家相比已经有所退步。部分原因在于，我们曾经在每个孩子的教育投资方面遥遥领先于其他国家，而现在在某些指标上我们已经落后了。希望这项法案能让我们重新回到领先地位。
There's nothing more essential to living up to the ideals of this nation than making sure every child is able to achieve their God-given potential. And I could not be prouder of the people on this stage and those of you in the audience who helped us take just one step closer to that reality. 要实现这个国家的理想，没有什么比确保每一个孩子都能发挥其天赋潜能更为重要的了。我为台上的各位以及在座的各位观众感到无比骄傲，是你们帮助我们向这一现实又迈进了一步。
So with that, let me sign this bill. 好了，现在让我来签署这项法案。