WASHINGTON, Aug. 1 — President Bush pressured Congress today to settle differences in House and Senate education bills and send legislation to him as quickly as possible, saying the state of many urban schools was a "great and continuing scandal" that cried out for rapid action.

"Rarely in American history have we faced a problem so serious and destructive on which change has come so slowly," Mr. Bush said in a speech here to the National Urban League, a predominantly black group.

He asserted that such change was almost within reach and urged Congress to go the remaining distance without delay, using the imminent start of a new school year as a summons to action.

"Time is running short," Mr. Bush said. "We're now in August. In 35 days, school starts in New York City. Thirty-four days — schools open in Oakland, Calif."

That oratorical countdown, like the rest of Mr. Bush's speech, was intended to add momentum to his stalled education proposals. The president also wanted to throw a spotlight on the issue, a popular one with bipartisan appeal, at a moment when Congress is clogged with more contentious debates.

And Mr. Bush's speech, coupled with the audience he selected, underscored the administration's desire to present the president in a more moderate light. Mr. Bush's outreach to members of minorities has been especially vigorous lately; earlier this week, he spoke to a convention of black law enforcement officers.

In his remarks today, he frequently mentioned an achievement gap between white and black students and repeatedly framed his push to hold failing schools accountable as something that would help African- American students.

"An equal society," Mr. Bush said, would begin with "equally excellent schools."

The overall reaction to Mr. Bush was respectful but not wildly enthusiastic.

"I'm impressed that he's here today," said Erroll Reese, who owns a technological company in Durham, N.C. "And I'm interested in what he's saying. We all need, collectively, to come together to solve this problem. It's not his problem. It's not my problem. It's our problem."

But Mr. Reese and a half-dozen other people in the audience said they were reserving judgment on whether Mr. Bush's prescriptions would work, and almost all of them said they were Democrats who had not voted for Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush wants student performance in public schools to be measured rigorously, and he wants schools that fail to show improvement to be held accountable, in part by letting the students enrolled there seize other options.

The Senate and House bills address these goals and put these changes into effect in slightly different ways, varying in how strictly students should be judged, how soon schools should be punished and how much money should be directed toward the problem.

As these differences get hashed out in a conference committee, Democrats want more funding than Republicans — including Mr. Bush — do. And Mr. Bush said today that simply raising the federal investment of dollars had not worked and was like "pumping gas into a flooded engine."

Representative George Miller, a California Democrat who is on the committee, countered in a written statement that "reform without adequate funding is cruelty."

Several hours after Mr. Bush's speech, House and Senate conferees said they had reached agreement on some minor differences and had decided to continue meeting through August. They are scheduled to meet on Thursday with Mr. Bush at the White House.

The administration sees Mr. Bush's focus on education as a potential bridge to the kinds of minorities who do not usually vote Republican. Despite Mr. Bush's frequent speeches about education in the presidential campaign, he fared poorly among black voters.

The Urban League, a nonprofit group promoting economic progress and civil rights for African-Americans, is more conservative than the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the league's president, Hugh Price, has long supported many of Mr. Bush's education ideas.

In introducing Mr. Bush today, Mr. Price said the president "genuinely believes to the marrow of his bones that America must leave no child behind."