Paul Houston Quotations

Manny Rivera represents high-quality leadership in our nation's public schools. Since his return to Rochester, Manny has focused on raising achievement standards ... Despite pervasive poverty ? Rochester ranks 11th in the nation in child poverty ? the district has achieved dramatic improvements in the number of students passing the statewide exams in the past three years.

We definitely didn't put it on the schedule because we thought it was going to be an easy win. We knew we were going to have our hands full but we played them very competitively.

You have to show sensitivity and openness, and at the same time not be so sensitive and so open that you are promoting something that certain portions of your parent population and students would be opposed to.

The results clearly prove that his leadership has been successful. The (Rochester) district has achieved dramatic improvements in the number of students passing the statewide exams in the past three years.

They all played great for their first start. It's good to get people in there when we can.

As children are growing up in an increasingly diverse world, they need to have exposure to people different than themselves. I'm not saying it can't happen outside the public system, but it happens easily in the public system in many cases.

This kind of thing distracts energy and resources for defending yourself. Sometimes there are important precedents to be set, but sometimes people are just trying to have their way with the districts.

It makes it even worse. It is really a tone-deaf response to the crisis. It is a real grab to get an ideological position across that they haven't been able to achieve under normal circumstances.

(Students) have rights that have to be protected, but they also have responsibilities. We spend a lot of time talking about rights, but not much time talking about responsibility. Maybe these are opportunities to teach a lesson, not issue punishment.

The single largest variable that predicts SAT scores is family income. If you want higher SAT scores, you need to get your kids born into wealthier families. You know, it's great to tell kids to pull themselves up by their own boot straps, but you better put boots on them first.

The hill will be higher for the school to climb than the kid.