BY LIBBY QUAID

Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- In an interview with The Associated Press, Education Secretary Arne Duncan said students should take more responsibility for doing well in school, and he called on their parents to step up, too.

Duncan said that is the message of President Barack Obama's address to students on Tuesday. He also thanked teachers for being "unsung heroes."

Highlights from the interview:

Q: The president is making an address to the nation's school kids on Tuesday. You've encouraged schools to watch the speech. What ideas, broadly speaking, do you expect him to talk about?

A: What's so fun about working for the president is this is so personal for him. He did not grow up with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father wasn't around much. There were times when his family was on welfare.

And here he is, the president of our country, the leader of the free world, because he received a great education and worked so hard.

He's challenging all of us, but he is absolutely going to challenge students and parents to take their education seriously, to really have personal responsibility.

He really is asking students think about how critically important it is that they do well, that they take advantage of those opportunities and they apply themselves and they work hard.

Q: What's your message to teachers as the school year begins?

A: I just want to say thank you. Teachers are the unsung heroes in our society.

In so many other professions, you're measured by what you get, what you accumulate. Wealth and power and prestige and fancy titles.

Education, teaching, is totally different. It's all about what you give, not what you get. Helping students learn. Giving students a sense of self-esteem. Giving them a vision of what they can accomplish.

Q: What about for parents?

A: Parents are always going to be our students' first teachers. The most important thing I can do is to read to my children every night, to not have them watching TV and to really be a partner with that teacher.

Parents have to step up. I know it's tough. People are working several jobs now. They've never been under more financial stress.

But there is nothing more important any of us can do than to help our students be successful academically, to really let our children know how important school is, how much we value education, and how much teachers and principals are our partners in helping our students fulfill their potential.