PROVIDENCE -- U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings came to Providence yesterday to deliver almost $7 million to a local organization that helps childcare workers prepare preschoolers to read and write.

The two grants were awarded to Ready to Learn Providence, which makes professional training available to early education providers. The organization's goal is to make sure that young children have the literacy skills they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

"I'm thrilled to brag on you," Spellings said in a distinctly Texan drawl. "I'm always interested in programs that can be great models around the country. The eyes of the world are on you."

Spellings delivered the checks in person because Ready to Learn, an initiative with The Providence Plan, is the only organization in the nation to receive an Early Reading First grant and a professional-development grant in the same year.

"We are pleased with the progress we've made," said Joyce Butler, director of Ready to Learn. "In 2005, the children in our current Early Reading First sites doubled the number of letters that they could identify -- a key forerunner of their future success in school."

The $3.6-million Reading First grant will be used to train childcare workers at four Providence daycare centers: Federal Hill House, West End Community Center, Genesis Center and John Hope Settlement House. The grants will also help the centers buy books and other materials to prepare children for kindergarten and first grade. The $3.3-million professional-development grant will pay for 250 hours of training in early childhood literacy for 200 childcare workers.

Earlier in the day, Spellings took time to read a book called Click, Clack, Moo, Moo to a group of 3- and 4-year-olds from a local daycare center. Flanked by Sen. Lincoln Chafee and Governor Carcieri, Spellings seemed as comfortable reading to preschoolers as she was discussing policy with Rhode Island's top business leaders.

A divorced single mother, Spellings was one of a handful of Texans who followed President Bush to the White House. Although she has no formal background in education, Spellings shaped Mr. Bush's signature education reform law, No Child Left Behind, while she was the president's domestic policy adviser.

Yesterday, she peppered her comments with a folksy humor. Speaking about NCLB, she said: "In God we trust but in everything else, bring me data."

Later, during a meeting with members of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce, a business leader complained that it is impossible to bring about lasting education reform in Rhode Island because the state is carved into 36 school districts.

What, he asked, would she do about that?

"Nothing, happily," she said to mild laughter. "I'm not weighing in on doing away with school districts."

Business leaders discussed what Rhode Island is doing to improve the competitiveness of the state's work force, especially in math and science. Spellings was blunt about the yawning gap between what students are learning in high school and what they need to succeed in college.

"It's horrifying to find the disconnect between what state universities expect and what a high school diploma means," she said. Spellings also said she was disheartened by the lack of Advanced Placement courses in poor, urban schools, especially when compared to their suburban peers.

On No Child Left Behind, Spellings said she will not make major changes to the law, which is up for Congressional renewal next year. "It's like Ivory soap," she said. "It's 99.9 percent pure."

But many teachers, union leaders and legislators say it needs a major overhaul four years after Congress signed it into law. More than 80 organizations have signed a statement urging Congress to make substantial changes in everything from the way student achievement is measured to how schools are penalized for failing to improve.

Spellings, however, said she welcomes suggestions from teachers and school leaders about how to make the law more user-friendly. She has already given a handful states more flexibility in areas such as tutoring and testing requirements.

"We've taken care of the basics," she said, "The next big thing is how to manage human capital and time."

Schools need to look at not only the length of the school day but how it is organized. Does the day still need to be divided into six, 50-minute periods? Should children return to school at night for enrichment activities?

Asked if poverty was a valid defense for poorly performing schools, Spellings said, "No. No. No."

"But," she said, "we have to pay our teachers more to teach in challenging schools."

lborg@projo.com / (401) 277-7823