Wednesday, September 02, 2009

Indiana education reformers can learn a lesson or two from Florida's school reform efforts, according to a report released today by the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

Entitled Florida's Lessons for Indiana K-12 Reform, the report by Mathew Ladner, a senior fellow at the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, contrasts Florida's progress on a variety of educational indicators with Indiana's after a series of school reform efforts made by then Governor Jeb Bush and Florida lawmakers in the late 1990's. Ladner is also Vice President of Research at Arizona's Goldwater Institute.

Florida's school reforms have included higher standards and accountability for public schools, choice options for dissatisfied parents, instructional-based reforms, curtailing social promotion, and merit pay for teachers.

"Now more than 10 years after those reforms, there is strong evidence that the Florida reforms are working," Ladner notes. "Policymakers across the country should look to Florida's experience as a model demonstrating that education reforms can lead to positive outcomes such as improved student learning."

"Florida proves that you can't have dramatic educational reform without a combination of true accountability, clear consequences for failure and parental school choice," said Robert Enlow, President and CEO of the Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice.

"A decade ago, Florida schools were failing and ranked near the bottom in nearly every national survey," said former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Chairman of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. "Under a system of high standards, accountability and competition, Florida has experienced unprecedented rising student achievement in public schools. Today, more children are reading and performing math at grade level, Florida is steadily closing the achievement gap and more of our students are entering college."

The report cites National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP) test scores as one illustration of the success of Florida's reform package. In 1998, 47 percent of Florida fourth-graders scored "below basic" on the NAEP reading test, meaning they couldn't read. By 2007, 70 percent of Florida's fourth graders scored basic or above — a remarkable improvement.

In 1992, Indiana's fourth graders were more than a grade level ahead of their peers in Florida on average. By 2007, this advantage had vanished, and Florida's average achievement exceeded that of Indiana. With a gain of 16 points, Florida's 2007 4th graders were reading at about a grade level and a half better than the average for Florida students in the 1990's.

Indiana's scores, meanwhile, have barely nudged: Indiana's fourth graders scored 221 in 1992, and 15 years later, they scored 222. Outputs were stagnant, but inputs were not. Spending per pupil in Indiana, however, was not flat - in constant dollars it increased by 32% between 1990 and 2005.

The same holds true for minority test scores. In 1992, Indiana's African Americans on average were performing about a grade and a half higher than Florida's African Americans. In 2007, however, Indiana's African American students scored only one point higher than their 1992 peers. Florida's African American students meanwhile enjoyed a 23 point gain in average achievement.

In 2007, Florida's Hispanic students outscored Indiana Hispanic students by 11 points, and have come within striking distance of the statewide average for all Hoosier students. Florida's Hispanic students now have the second-highest reading scores in the nation; and African-Americans score fourth-highest when compared to their peers.

In short, Indiana's bang for the education buck declined by almost a third between 1992 and 2007. More money per pupil went in, but the results were the same, the report states.

Ladner referred to the recent past as "Indiana's lost decade on education reform."

Please visit our website to read the full study at http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/research.

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News media contact: Joe DiLaura (317) 229-2128