Thursday, April 01, 2010

School Choice Advocate
The New Emerging Leaders of the School Choice Movement

Dear Reformers,

For more than 15 years—including eight as governor of Florida—I've focused on the importance of education and what has to be done to improve schools here in Florida and across our nation.

It is a pleasure to share lessons learned on the road to real reform with so many passionate education and parental choice advocates. And, I thank the Friedman Foundation, their members and generous donors for their many years of tireless efforts to ensure every single American child has access to a high quality education, regardless of race, socioeconomic background, or geographic location. In Florida, we have worked with thousands of educators, policymakers, parents and students to reform education in our state. The reality of reform is vastly different from the theory, and change is a lot harder than it looks. But there are a few rules, you might say, for real reform that make it possible.

The first rule is that when you run for office, accept an appointment, or assume a new leadership role, you need to say what you're going to do and then do what you said you would. Leaders and candidates for office who aren't willing to take political risks won't take the policy risks required to drive real change.

Just 10 years ago, Florida schools were failing, and our students routinely scored at the bottom in the nation on standardized tests. By taking a stand during our gubernatorial campaign in 1998, my running mate and I gave voters a chance to examine and debate our plan to transform Florida schools. As a result, our election came with a mandate to implement a comprehensive education reform package based on high standards and expectations, clear measurement and accountability, rewards and consequences for results, and choices for Florida families.

Vouchers were one of the tools that dramatically improved student achievement and spurred a turnaround. In 1999, we created Opportunity Scholarships to give students in failing schools access to high performing schools—regardless of whether they were public, private or religious. Poor families assigned to failing schools were afforded the same opportunity as affluent families who have the money to make a better choice. The successful program provided options for students in chronically failing schools and created competition that improved low-performing public schools. Choice wasn't just for the elite and as a result all schools got better.

Despite a tortured ruling by the state's highest court that outlawed Opportunity Scholarships in 2006, Florida remains a national leader in providing choices to students and parents through a myriad of education options, including scholarships for children with disabilities, tax credit scholarships for low income and foster children, charter schools, virtual education, and a totally voucherized prekindergarten system.

The second rule of reform is that if you don't measure, you don't care. You have to be willing to measure the outcome of reform and to let the world know what the real results are—the ones you're proud of and the ones that show more work is needed.

Today, 58 percent of Florida students are reading at or above grade level, up from 46 percent in 2001. That's hundreds of thousands more students with this critical skill. Our graduation rate is up by 15 percent, our drop-out rate is down by half, and our students are making greater learning gains than their national counterparts. Minority students are making the biggest gains, as Florida closes the achievement gap between affluent white students and minority students more each year.

A recent study found Hispanic fourth grade students in Florida actually outscore the average student in 15 other states. Ten of those states spend more money per student than Florida, including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Hawaii, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and West Virginia. Our African American fourth graders in Florida outscore 73 percent of their peers nationally. Finally, the U.S. Department of Education recognized Florida as one of three states to close the achievement gap for low income students and as one of five states to close the achievement gap for minority students.

The third rule is that big reforms require long-term commitment. We've been testing fourth grade reading since the 1998-99 school year. At that time, only 51 percent of our fourth graders could read at grade level—two years later, the number had risen to just 53 percent. Now that our education reforms have been in place for 10 school years, 70 percent of all Florida fourth graders have the ability to pick up a book and read it independently. It's the cumulative effect of incremental improvement that creates significant progress.

Another rule—the fourth—is to communicate what you're doing, especially to parents. Education reform can only be sustained when families know it is working. Florida gives parents a comprehensive report card tracking their child's performance year-over-year, along with the school's performance against state and national standards and explanations of each.

The fifth rule is that success is never final and reform is never finished. You are either in ascendance or decline, so if you aren't moving forward, you are losing ground as well as opportunities for students and families.

To really transform education in America, we need to embrace the fundamental concept that education should be custom-designed to maximize every child's God given capacity to learn. And then we need to allow freedom, innovation and competition to reshape the education system around the goal of ensuring their success.

The great social, moral and economic challenge of our time is providing a high quality education to every child in our nation. Our success will define our destiny. An educated and highly skilled workforce will attract the investment that fuels job creation and wealth. A quality education will sustain our quality of life and the standard of living that is still the envy of most of the world.