William Bennett Quotes

There's no question that a great teacher can make a huge difference in a student's achievement, and we need to recruit, train and reward more such teachers. But here's what some new studies are also showing: We need better parents. Parents more focused on their children's education can also make a huge difference in a student's achievement.

Parents should continue to become more involved with their communities, and more involved in their children's education.

Excitement in education and student productivity, the ability to get a result that you want from students, go together and cannot be separated.

Parents have got to become more involved in their children’s education.

The single most important factor in determining [student] achievement is not the color of skin or where they come from. It is not who their parents are or how much money they have. It is who their teacher is.

Teachers tell me that they'd like to work more closely with parents.

Research shows that children do better in school and are less likely to drop out when fathers are involved. Engaged parents can strengthen communities, mentor and tutor students, and demonstrate through their actions how much they value their children's education.

You can’t think how much anxiety pervades the country about the children’s education. I receive dozens of letters from schools and tutors every day about it.

Let's talk about after-school programs generally. They're supposed to be educational programs, right? And that's what they're supposed to do; they're supposed to help kids who can't - who don't get fed at home, get fed so that they do better at school. Guess what? There's no demonstrable evidence they're actually doing that.

Every schoolteacher will tell you that there is no substitute for engaged parents in the education of a child.

But there are parents out there who feel like they have been shut out from the process of how their children are educated, and that's never a good thing.

There’s a belief now that the problem with our schools is parents, that if we just had better parents we would have better performing kids and, therefore, we wouldn’t have a problem at all. But what’s missing in that equation is that you do have a lot of parents in this country who are very involved in their children’s education and who do want something better. They want to see better for their kids. They know that they’re in schools that aren’t performing particularly well and if you look at how we treat those parents, it is quite poorly.

It is striking to see the magnitude of impact mentorship and tutoring can have on student performance and young lives.

Earlier today, Arnold Schwarzenegger criticized the California school system, calling it disastrous. Arnold says California's schools are so bad that its graduates are willing to vote for me.

Scholarships that allow students to get a good education are important, but first we want to measure the progress that the schools are teaching our students, we want to hold them accountable for the progress, we want to hold the schools accountable for teaching the young people in America.

As a teacher you can see the difference in kids who have parents who were involved. That difference, by the time these kids get to the third grade, is drastic.

Many people want to send their children to faith schools because they get good exam results, but they're not foolish enough to believe that it's because of faith that they get good exam results.

Albuquerque is my home. I want my kids and all of our children to be able to go to any public or charter school and receive an excellent education.

There is nothing more valuable than great classroom instruction. But let's stop putting the whole burden on teachers. We also need better parents. Better parents can make every teacher more effective.

I know that many students take personal responsibility for their education and succeed as a result. I want them to know they are not alone - that Nevada's system can and will support them.

What makes me angry? The education of children. How in God's name can you expect to have a functioning society the way we teach our kids?

I made good grades in school.

We do recognise the need to move towards the publication of information showing the progress made by pupils from one stage of their education to another.

Knowing what to expect from a teacher is a really good thing, of course: It lets you get the right answers more quickly than you would otherwise.

The single most important thing in a child's performance is the quality of the teacher. Making sure a child spends the maximum amount of time with inspirational teachers is the most important thing.