(applause)

Good to see you guys.

How's everybody doing?

You all look good.

You look good.

(applause)

Hey!

How's everybody?

Well, it is so nice to see you guys.

Everybody have a seat, though.

Have a seat.

I know you've been waiting here a while.

Good thing you all had your phones with you.

(applause)

As the father of two teenage daughters, I know the whole

time you were just like, "And then he said -- girl,

I couldn't believe it."

(laughter)

Anyway, it's so good to see you.

(applause)

A couple of people I want to acknowledge.

First of all, I want to thank our Secretary of

Education, who has done outstanding work, John King

is in the house.

(applause)

And then, my great friend and former Education

Secretary and multiple winner of the three-on-three

contest, as well as at the NBA All-Star Game -- he can

ball -- Arne Duncan.

(applause)

We've got your mayor; Muriel Bowser is here.

Give her a big round of applause.

(applause)

Your representative, Eleanor Holmes Norton.

(applause)

And we are so grateful not only for their service to

the country, but the amazing work they're doing with

their philanthropic work and America's Promise, Colin and

Alma Powell.

(applause)

So, by now you've settled into the new year.

Right?

Adjusted to classes.

You're preparing for Spirit Week.

(applause)

Learning how to ballroom dance.

(laughter)

I remember having to do that.

Getting the nerve to text that cute girl or boy in

your English class.

(laughter)

I don't remember that; we did not have texts.

We had to send little notes.

And then we used to actually have to go up to somebody if

we liked them and talk to them.

So that may happen to you someday.

(laughter)

Seniors are looking at colleges, taking tests,

filling out all the forms.

(applause)

Malia just went through this, so I know how tough

this is for you and for the parents.

But as I'm winding down my presidency -- I was so

impressed with Banneker the last time I was here in 2011

that I wanted to come back -

(applause)

-- because you're an example of a school that's doing

things the right way.

And I believe that if you're going to be able to do

whatever you want to do in your lives -- if you want to

become a teacher, or a doctor, or start a business,

or develop the next great app, or be President -- then

you've got to have great education.

We live in a global economy.

And when you graduate, you're no longer going to be

competing just with somebody here in D.C. for a great job.

You're competing with somebody on the other side

of the world, in China or in India, because jobs can go

wherever they want because of the Internet and because

of technology.

And the best jobs are going to go to the people who are

the best educated -- whether in India or China, or

anywhere in the world.

So when I took office almost eight years ago, we knew

that our education system was falling short when it

came to preparing young people like you

for that reality.

Our public schools had been the envy of the world, but

the world caught up.

And we started getting outpaced when it came to

math and science education.

And African American and Latino students, in part

because of the legacy of discrimination, too often

lagged behind our white classmates -- something

called the achievement gap that, by one estimate, costs

us hundreds of billions of dollars a year.

And we were behind other developed countries when it

came to the number of young people who were getting a

higher education.

So I said, when I first came into office, by 2020 I want

us to be number one again.

I want us to be number one across the board.

So we got to work, making real changes to improve the

chances for all of our young people, from the time

they're born all the way through until they got a career.

And the good news is that we've made real progress.

So I just wanted to talk to you about the progress we've

made, because you are the reason we've made progress

-- some outstanding young people all across the country.

We recently learned that America's high school

graduation rate went up to 83 percent, which is the

highest on record.

That's good news.

(applause)

More African American and Latino students are

graduating than ever before.

(applause)

Right here in D.C., in just five years, the graduation

rate in the District of Columbia public schools went

from just 53 percent to 69 percent.

(applause)

So D.C.'s graduation rates grew faster than any other

place in the country this year -- this past year.

That's something to be really proud of.

(applause)

Now, of course, here at Banneker, you graduated 100

percent of your seniors last year.

(applause)

One hundred percent.

It's been a while since I did math, but

100 percent is good.

(laughter)

You can't do better than that.

So what all these numbers mean is that more schools

across D.C. and across the country are starting to

catch up to what you guys are doing here, at this school.

Now, some of the changes we made were hard, and some of

them were controversial.

We expected more from our teachers and our students.

But the hard work that people have put in across

the country has started to pay off.

And I just want to talk to you a little bit about some

of the things that we did.

It starts with our youngest learners.

High-quality early education is one of the best

investments we can make, which is why we've added

over 60,000 children to Head Start.

We called for high-quality preschool for every

four-year-old in America.

And when I took office, only 38 states offered access to

state-funded preschool.

Today, it's up to 46.

We're trying to get those last holdouts to do the

right thing.

And, by the way, the District of Columbia leads

the nation with the highest share of children -- nearly

9 out of 10 -- in high-quality preschool.

And that's a big achievement.

(applause)

We launched then a competition called Race to

the Top, which inspired states to set higher, better

standards so that we could out-teach and out-compete

other nations, and make sure that we've got high

expectations for our students.

D.C. was one of the winners of this competition.

It upgraded standards, upgraded curriculum, worked

to help teachers build their skills.

And that, in part, is why D.C. has done so well.

We realized that in today's world, when you all have a

computer in your pocket in those phones, then you need

to learn not just how to use a phone, you need to learn

computer science.

So we're working with private and philanthropic

partners to bring high schools into the 21st