A policy analyst from Michigan's Mackinac Center is sky-high on Florida education, particularly its reform model, insisting the Sunshine State has plenty to be proud of.
A new study by the state-based think tank compares the Wolverine States student achievement and education policies with the Sunshine States. The conclusion: Michigan would be a top performer if it had enacted similar education reforms during the past 15 years.
The study shows that reforms expanding school choice options, teacher accountability standards and online learning programs, have helped students tremendously.
Despite once outranking Florida, Michigan like many others finds itself well behind the southeastern megastate on the National Assessment of Educational Progress, often referred to as the nations report card.
Since Floridas education shift began, fourth-grade reading levels have increased 9.1 percent, while Michigans grew only 1.3 percent. The national average during the same period was 3.4 percent.
Similarly, fourth-grade math scores are up 11.2 percent, while Michigan registered a 4.5 percent increase, and the nation 8.1 percent.
Other important student-performance measures reflect a similar pattern.
The Mackinac report points to policy changes, not an increase in spending levels, to explain why Florida earned the second highest standardized test score gains in the country.
In fact, a recent U.S. Census report ranked Florida 42 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia in per-pupil spending for elementary and secondary education.
Education Week, a well-respected national research nonprofit, reports Florida consistently ranks near the top in education quality despite giving it an F for spending on its 2013 Quality Counts list.
Students from low-income families often are blamed for depressing standardized test scores. But as evidenced through a wide variety of sources, the reverse is true under Floridas reform model.
Floridas students, especially those from low-income backgrounds, have been making substantial and unmistakable learning gains for more than a decade, Education Policy Director Michael Van Beek said in a statement. Michigan policymakers should take notice. Theres a lot to learn from this other peninsular state.
The study outlines six key recommendations ranging from an A-F school grading system, to tuition tax credits, to limiting the social promotion of third graders who struggle with reading.
Theres no silver bullet here, but Floridas example should be considered when setting the agenda to improve Michigans public education system in the years to come, Van Beek said.
Contact William Patrick at william@floridawatchdog.org
