Estiven Rodriguez couldn't speak a word of English when he moved to New York City at age 9. But last month, thanks to the support of great teachers and an innovative tutoring program, he led a march of his classmates - through a crowd of cheering parents and neighbors - from their high school to the post office, where they mailed off their college applications. And this son of a factory worker just found out he's going to college this fall.

当伊斯蒂文•罗德里格斯来到纽约时只有9岁，一句英语都不会。但在优秀的老师和创新的辅导计划支持下，上个月，这个普通工人的儿子被大学录取了，将在今年秋季入学。在欢呼雀跃的家长和邻里的簇拥下，他带领全班从学校出发去往邮局举行庆祝游行，那是他们寄出大学申请书的地方。

Five years ago, we set out to change the odds for all our kids. We worked with lenders to reform student loans, and today, more young people are earning college degrees than ever before. Race to the Top, with the help of governors from both parties, has helped states raise expectations and performance. Teachers and principals in schools from Tennessee to Washington, D.C., are making big strides in preparing students with skills for the new economy - problem solving, critical thinking, science, technology, engineering, and math. Some of this change is hard. It requires everything from more challenging curriculums and more demanding parents to better support for teachers and new ways to measure how well our kids think, not how well they can fill in a bubble on a test. But it's worth it - and it's working.

5年前，我们竭尽所能为孩子们努力，我们和贷款者一起改革学生贷款。今天，越来越的年轻人能够获得大学学位。在两党领导人的帮助下，我们力争上游，让各个州提升了期望值和表现。从田纳西州到华盛顿，从校长到老师，都在尽最大的努力让学生学习当今社会的技能——解决问题、批判性思维、科学、技术、工程和数学。其中一些改变是很困难的，需要更多挑战性的课程，需要更多要求高的家长给教师更好的支持，需要新的方法去检验孩子的学习成果，而不仅仅是考试分数。但是这一切都是值得的——也正在进行中。

The problem is we're still not reaching enough kids, and we're not reaching them in time. That has to change.

问题是，我们没有把这件事覆盖到所有的孩子，也不是很及时。我们必须要进行改变。

Research shows that one of the best investments we can make in a child's life is high-quality early education. Last year, I asked this Congress to help states make high-quality pre-K available to every four year-old. As a parent as well as a president, I repeat that request tonight. But in the meantime, thirty states have raised pre-k funding on their own. They know we can't wait. So just as we worked with states to reform our schools, this year, we'll invest in new partnerships with states and communities across the country in a race to the top for our youngest children. And as Congress decides what it's going to do, I'm going to pull together a coalition of elected officials, business leaders, and philanthropists willing to help more kids access the high-quality pre-K they need.

调查研究显示，我们能为孩子们做的最好的投资之一就是给他们高质量的学前教育。去年，我要求国会帮助各州为4岁小孩提供高质量的学前教育。作为一名总统，也作为一名家长，今晚，我再次重申这个要求。但与此同时，已经有30个州用自己的预算开展学前教育了，他们知道我们不能再等了。因此，就让我们与各州同行，改革我们的教育吧。今年，我们将会在全国范围内投资各州和社会团体的学前教育，努力达到最高标准。国会将决定下一步的行动，而我将联合官员、商界领袖和慈善家们，让更多的孩子接触到必须的高质量的学前教育。

Last year, I also pledged to connect 99 percent of our students to high-speed broadband over the next four years. Tonight, I can announce that with the support of the FCC and companies like Apple, Microsoft, Sprint, and Verizon, we've got a down payment to start connecting more than 15,000 schools and 20 million students over the next two years, without adding a dime to the deficit.

去年，我呼吁在未来4年里实现99%的学生能够接入宽带。今天，我宣布，我们已经获得了联邦通讯委员会（FCC）和像苹果、微软、斯普林特、威瑞森电信等公司的支持，在不增加一分财政赤字的情况下在未来两年内让1.5万多所学校和2000多万学生用上宽带。

We're working to redesign high schools and partner them with colleges and employers that offer the real-world education and hands-on training that can lead directly to a job and career. We're shaking up our system of higher education to give parents more information, and colleges more incentives to offer better value, so that no middle-class kid is priced out of a college education. We're offering millions the opportunity to cap their monthly student loan payments to ten percent of their income, and I want to work with Congress to see how we can help even more Americans who feel trapped by student loan debt. And I'm reaching out to some of America's leading foundations and corporations on a new initiative to help more young men of color facing tough odds stay on track and reach their full potential.

我们正在重新规划高中教育，让高中与大学、公司真正的连接起来，给学生提供社会所需的教育和实习培训，能他们能够直接适应工作。我们正在重组高等教育体系，给家长们更多的讯息，激励大学提供更有价值的教育，不会让任何一个中产阶级的小孩因为高昂的学费不能读大学。我们给上百万学生提供了只需支付自己每月收入10%的贷款机会，我希望和国会一起合作来帮助更多的学生，即使越来越多的学生因为债务而陷入困境。在一项新倡议中，我会和一些美国顶尖的基金会和公司做一个新项目，即帮助更多不同肤色的年轻人能够继续努力、发挥最大的潜力、实现个人价值。