Jeb Bush: My legacy to Florida schools
Thanks to the hard work of our Florida teachers and the philosophy that every child has the God-given ability to learn, remarkable progress has been made in Florida's schools during the past eight years.
Eight years ago, our students' test scores ranked at the bottom in the nation; our school librarians could track school books better than we could track our students' progress; and we had more schools under-performing than performing well.
Then we put the A-Plus Plan into action -- a plan based on high standards and expectations, clear measurement and accountability, and rewards and consequences for results. We made student learning the organizing principle of our schools.
Today, Florida's education reforms serve as a model for the nation, and are even being emulated in places like New York City. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the nation's report card, our fourth-graders are now above the national average in reading and math. In fourth-grade writing, we are eighth in the nation. And now, hundreds of thousands of Florida students are attending a higher-performing school and receiving a better education.
We debunked several myths along the way:
We showed how retaining and assisting low-performing third-graders gives them a greater chance for long-term success.
We witnessed firsthand how holding all students -- including Limited English Proficient students, students with disabilities and minority students -- to the same high expectations leads to greater student success and higher graduation rates.
We proved that teachers are not "teaching to the test," but teaching to the standards established by educators. This was validated by the Norm-Referenced Test, on which Florida's students scored significantly better than the national average in all eight grades tested.
Finally, we demonstrated that accountability works. Teachers now brag about using research-we didn't measure, we wouldn't know that 223,000 more students in grades three through 10 are reading at or above grade level and 234,000 more students are performing math at or above grade level compared to 2001. We wouldn't know our dropout rate has been cut in half, while our graduation rate has improved from 60 percent to 72 percent.
Measuring shows progress, it shows results, and it shows we really care about education in Florida.
Even with our many successes, more still needs to be done.
We need to continue to raise our education standards. We need to recruit more mentors. We need the state board to incrementally raise the bar on school grades, and we need to implement pay-for-performance for our teachers.
We also need our middle schools to continue building on their great learning gains by implementing the reforms passed earlier this year.
This means ensuring every middle-school student completes 12 core courses, takes a course in career planning, receives a high-quality intensive reading course if they are struggling, and that advanced middle-school students are able to take high-school courses for credit.
More work must also be done in our high schools. Starting next school year, high-school students will have the opportunity to declare a major. There are already 180 state-approved majors, and districts have submitted more than 750 additional proposed majors. Whether it is science, performing arts or a career-oriented major -- majors will make high school a more relevant and interesting place for students.
We also need to continue to expand the number of Advanced Placement classes being offered.
Building a brighter future for our students -- starting with pre-K and continuing all the way through college -- is not only good for our students, it is also a good investment for Florida.
Currently, we are leading the nation in job growth, but we don't just want new jobs, we also want better jobs. A well-educated, highly skilled workforce is critical to our continued success.
We can offer the biggest company incentives, friendliest tax codes, miles of beautiful beaches and the best weather, but if we can't provide businesses the workers who can do these high-tech, high-skilled jobs, we won't receive our share of the growth.
When we look at our education system, it took a full generation of school decline to bring us today's problems, and it will take at least half that long to fix them. But, if we get education right -- and I believe we have built a strong foundation -- then all other issues at the state level become easier, from fostering strong economic development to strengthening our communities.
It is my sincere hope that Florida's next big crisis will be having an avalanche of educated students all wanting to study at Florida's community colleges and universities.
It will be up to all Floridians to ensure we continue our education reforms and give our students the high-quality education they deserve, so they are better prepared to compete in the global marketplace and make the Sunshine State a better place.
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush wrote this commentary for the Orlando Sentinel.
Justine S. Florez
Central Florida Field Director
Florida Department of Education