Florida earned the highest combined grade on a new national education report card, and researchers said reform-minded Republican leaders deserve some of the credit.
The American Legislative Exchange Council ranked Florida first among 50 states for education reform, citing rising proficiency standards, friendly charter school laws and wide online learning opportunities.
The state ranked third in the country for academic performance of low-income and minority students, based on gains recorded by the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
No other state scored in the top 10 on both indicators, giving Florida the best combined showing.
Jeb Bush, who launched the state's education reform drive during his tenure as governor, stated in the report:
"A decade ago, Florida's schools ranked near the bottom in nearly every national survey. Then, in 1999, we stopped accepting excuses for poor performance and embraced the core belief that all children can achieve when school organized around the singular goal of learning."
What followed were a host of accountability programs, keyed by FCAT exams that calibrated achievement and set benchmarks for grade promotion.
"Ten years later, Sunshine State students are above the national average in reading on NAEP," Bush noted. "Best of all, Florida's Hispanic and African-American students are making the greatest gains, narrowing the achievement gap for the first time in our lifetime."
Raising the scores of non-white students has been crucial for Florida, which has a majority of minority children in its public schools.
Just as impressively, Florida's classroom performance has risen even as the state has kept expenses down. The state continues to rank toward the bottom of per-pupil spending scales nationally while earning top marks academically.
Responding to the report, incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon said, In the midst of the most difficult budget times in recent memory, the Florida Legislature has made education funding and reform coupled with accountability and school choice a priority, and the result has been better performance and increased student achievement.
"Were proud of Floridas students for their accomplishment and the hard of work of Florida teachers in reaching this grade," said Cannon, R-Winter Park.
The Florida Education Association declined to comment on the report, which applauded the GOP-controlled House and Senate for enacting several initiatives over the years:
- The McKay Scholarships Program for Students with Disabilities. The corporate-funded scholarships give the families of handicapped pupils vouchers to use at schools of their choice.
- Stricter standards. With a tighter focus on reading, social promotions have been curbed in third-grade. Result: From 1998-2009, Florida increased the percentage of pupils scoring "proficient or better" by 54 percent and more than doubled the number scoring "advanced" on NAEP's fourth-grade reading exam.
- Charter schools. Florida has more than 300 of these privately run public campuses, providing some 100,000 students a tuition-free alternative to government schools.
- Online learning. The state-funded Florida Virtual School, offering more than 90 courses ranging from GED to Advanced Placement curricula, "is recognized as a model statewide online learning program."
"Florida's progress is no fluke," the ALEC report stated.
"Governor Bush and leaders in the state Legislature implemented a sweeping series of education reforms that expanded school choice, strengthened teacher quality, provided aggressive remediation, focused on proper reading instruction and harnessed the power of new technologies to deliver education.
"In addition, Florida started grading schools with clear 'A' to 'F' labels, holding them accountable for failure, and rewarding them for progress."
There have been bumps along the road to reform in recent years, however.
The state Supreme Court ruled that a voucher program for students of failing schools was unconstitutional.
This year, FEA opposed and Gov. Charlie Crist vetoed legislation that would have tied pupil performance to teacher pay and discontinued tenure.
And, this summer, a Sunshine State News investigation found that FCAT writing scores were wildly inflated in comparison to reading results.
State Sen. John Thrasher, who authored the politically controversial teacher tenure bill, said, Accountability should be a basic building block in our platform for educating our children, and I am pleased to see that Florida is serving as yet another model for other states.
"However, with all of our strides, we can always do better and I urge my colleagues in the Florida Legislature to always look for ways to better our education system, whether it be in accountability, achievement or funding," said Thrasher, a Jacksonville Republican and chairman of the Republican Party of Florida.
Indeed, the ALEC report found there is much room for improvement. Noting that no state received an "A" for reform efforts (Florida topped the list with a B+), authors issued a cautionary conclusion:
"Despite the state's remarkable progress, many students continue to perform at low levels. However, Florida's experience after a decade of reform shows that all children can improve academically."
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
