Political Quotes

“Mr. President, it is my honor today to introduce the Success in the Middle Act of 2011. This bill recognizes the role of the middle grades as a tipping point in the education of many of our Nation's students, especially those who are at risk of dropping out. Success in the Middle invests much-needed attention and resources in middle grades education, requiring states to create plans to specifically address the unique needs of students in the age group, and focusing on schools that feed students into some of our country's most dropout prone high schools so they are ready for the curriculum and the unique social pressures they will encounter there. My concern about the middle grades began in a unique place behind my desk in the Rhode Island Attorney General's Office. After serving as the United States Attorney for Rhode Island, where I dealt with cases involving mobsters and white collar crime, I now suddenly had hundreds of juvenile cases coming across my desk. I asked my staff to examine the problem and together we tried to find the root of it. Ultimately, it all seemed to go back to one issue: middle school truancy. In order to better see what was happening in middle schools, my office adopted one, Oliver Hazard Perry Middle School in Providence.…”