LITTLE ROCK, ARK. ? President Bush on Thursday announced a $2.4 million pilot program to help high schools in five states develop and promote stronger courses of study, a plan that aims to prepare children better for college and the work force.

Speaking at a back-to-school event in Little Rock, Bush said Arkansas would be included in the State Scholars Initiative, which is modeled after a similar program in Texas. The four other pilot states have yet to be chosen. The $2.4 million would come from money already held by the Department of Education and would not require new action by Congress. The money will be drawn from the DOE’s budget for grants.

“Every child matters,” Bush told students at the Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School, where he was joined by Education Secretary Rod Paige. “It starts with setting high standards. It starts with believing that every child can learn.”

“If you set the bar low, that’s exactly what you’re going to get you’re going to get mediocrity,” the president said.

Bush, who earlier attended a closed roundtable education discussion at the school, also argued for increasing local control of schools and for more accountability and testing of students’ performance, two key elements of his education reform platform.

“It’s to the citizens’ advantage” to raise standards, he said. “You don’t want your higher education systems to be remedial education systems.” According to the administration, nearly half of college students need remedial courses.

Bush made education reform his top domestic priority when he ran for president, and Congress approved major legislation to his design last year. So far, however, his showcase revision permitting children in failing schools to transfer out of them has drawn very few participants.

Several provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, which the president signed in January, are to be implemented this school year, including more than $4 billion toward improving reading programs and teacher quality and recruitment.

But very few applications have been filed in most troubled schools for the even fewer available slots in better ones, according to education officials whom The New York Times cited Thursday.

Also at issue are the standards for measuring progress, which vary from state to state. The Department of Education has listed 8,600 schools as needing improvement.