Rod Paige, an educator, coach and administrator who rolled out the nation's landmark No Child Left Behind law as the first African American to serve as U.S. education secretary, died Tuesday.

Former President George W. Bush, who tapped Paige for the nation's top federal education post, announced the death in a statement but did not provide further details. Paige was 92.

Under Paige's leadership, the Department of Education implemented No Child Left Behind policy that in 2002 became Bush's signature education law and was modeled on Paige's previous work as a schools superintendent in Houston. The law established universal testing standards and sanctioned schools that failed to meet certain benchmarks.

"Rod was a leader and a friend," Bush said in his statement. "Unsatisfied with the st

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