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Meeting a state standard. those children are barely able to graduate from high school and are totally inadequately prepared for college. >> who do you blame for this failure? >> i agree with the secretary that there have been a number of states that have lowered -- like 15 to 18 states have lowered standards since no child left behind. but there are the pressures of the groups -- the labor unions get into it -- >> teachers unions -- >> and they react negatively. there is insufficient accountable. secretary duncan said if you're going to evaluate teachers and you should because we have to rewar...

Teachers who aren't educating the kids but they can't be fired because of the unions? >> this idea of higher standards, both national unions are absolutely behind that effort. they're supporting that. you've seen the head of the aft say they don't want to protect teachers who aren't making it. the majority of teachers are working extraordinarily hard. teacher evaluation systems in our country are broken. we need to reward great teachers, help those in the middle improve and those at the bottom where it's not working, we need to move them. >> the american federation of teachers is the a.f.t. >>...

Nothing more important than educating our kids. let's talk about it in our strategy session. joining us, two special guests, the education secretary, arne duncan and cnn political contributor, bill bennett. he served as education secretary under president reagan. he also has a brand-new book that's just out. thanks very much for coming in. secretary duncan, what is the single most important initiative, just one initiative, that the federal government can do to improve the education of our kids? >> i think we can reward excellence. what you've seen with race to the top and many other similar ty...

Back to jack for the cafferty file. jack. >> there is a deafening silence emanating from the vatican. when pope john xvi met with uganda, he made no mention of this bill. a bill called kill the gays is making its way through the parliament. people around the world have rightfully protested it, expressing outrage. president obama has called it odious. secretary of state hillary clinton said she has called the president of uganda to express her concerns. they would not recognize homosexual relations as an acceptable lifestyle. it even carries prison sentences of up to three years for anyone who ...

Line. in other words, amnesty with some inconvenience attached. for many americans that's a nonstarter. anything reassembling amnesty won't cut it. here's the question -- are worker i.d. cards a good idea? go to cnn.com/caffertyfile and post a comment on my blog. good to have you back. more allegations are surfacing about eric massa. there are new reports that massa has been under investigations for allegations. massa had acknowledged he was being investigated for possible harassment, but he had contended the claims were limited to his use of so-called salty language. clearly there's plent...