to massachusetts where there would be a citywide referendum in 2013. teenagers are arguing support, especially from the mayor and state senator eileen donoghue who praises the teenagers were fighting for something that many people take for granted. for a number of years, many of us bemoan the fact that nobody comes out to vote and there is a low voter turnout and apathy. it was really refreshing to have young people say let us vote. reporter: only 65% of americans are registered to vote. in the 2010 midterm elections, a 45% portion of those voters showed up. 45% of them are registered to vote in just the 21% showed up to them interpret a lot of people are not taking advantage of this right, and they want to get before they turn 18. i m hoping for some action by the end of the month. jon: molly line reporting from
schools. i was inspired a few weeks ago by students in one ever kenny gamble s charter schools in philadelphia. right here in houston, is another remarkable success story. the knowledge is power program which has set the standard thanks to the groundbreaking work of the late harriet ball. these charter schools are doing a lot more than closing the achievement gap. they re bringing hope and real opportunity to places where for years there s been none. charter schools are so successful that almost every politician can find something good to say about them but as we saw in massachusetts, true reform requires much more than talk. as governor, i vetoed the bill blocking charter schools. but my legislature was 87% democrat and my veto could have easily been overridden. so i joined with with the blackledge slate tiff caucus and their votes helped preserve my veto, which meant that new charter schools, including some in urban neighborhoods, would be opened. [applause] when it comes t
took over the top spot. those results revealed what good teachers can do if the system will let them the problem was this success wasn t shared. a significant achievement gap between students of different races remained. so we set out to do our best to close it. i urged faster interventions in failing schools. and the funding to go alongwith it. i promoted math and science excellence in schools and proposed baying bonuses to our best teachers. i refused to weaken testing standards and instead raised them. to graduate from high school in massachusetts, students now had to pass an exam in math and english and i added a science requirement as well. and i put in place a merit scholarship for all those students who excelled. that the top 25% of students in each high school in massachusetts were awarded a john and abigail adams schrol aship, four years, few wish-free at any massachusetts institute of higher learning [applause] and when i was governor, not only did our test scores i