Subscribe
Jobs
Cars
Real Estate
Apts
Classifieds
Shop
Humorist Will Rogers once described an expert as “a man 50 miles from home with a briefcase.” By that definition, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush qualifies as an expert on public education. By the numbers, the experts are better found right here in Indiana.
The Indiana Education Roundtable heard Bush’s pitch on school improvement efforts last week, speaking at the invitation of Gov. Mitch Daniels and Tony Bennett, Indiana’s superintendent of public instruction. News reports of the session touted Florida fourth-graders’ reading scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Indeed, Florida students posted a score of 224 on reading – 2 points higher than Indiana fourth-graders and 4 points higher than the national average.
But on all other math and reading measures, Indiana fourth- and eighth-graders outscored their Florida counterparts across the board.
On the grade 8 math test, Indiana students topped Florida students by 8 points. The NAEP tests are known in education circles as “the nation’s report card” because they provide an apples-to-apples comparison of student performance, unlike state-specific tests such as ISTEP+ or Florida’s FCAT.
While the former Florida governor is traveling and boasting of school improvements made under his watch, his actual record is mixed, at best. The accountability system he put in place, which assigns a letter grade to each school based on standardized test scores, is credited with driving improvement, but critics say Florida students have simply improved their test-taking skills.
The Sunshine State’s high school graduation rate continues to be among the lowest in the nation. A recent study from Johns Hopkins University assigns a set of graduation rate indicators to each state. Florida’s overall rate was estimated at 63.6; Indiana’s was 73.4.
The interest in Bush’s school reform efforts by Republicans Daniels and Bennett likely has more to do with his choice agenda than with results. The former governor pushed through the nation’s first statewide private school voucher program, although the Florida Supreme Court ruled in January 2006 that the original program violated the state constitution. The St. Petersburg Times reported in June that a study of the revised program found little difference in performance between voucher students enrolled in private schools and students in public schools.
“I’m confident that it’s highly unlikely that we’re going to see huge differential positive test score gains from this program,” Northwestern University economics professor David Figlio told the Times.
“My hunch is, when all is said and done … it’s going to be a wash in terms of test scores,” Figlio said.
Those results haven’t deterred Bush’s backers. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice, which championed the voucher program approved by the Indiana General Assembly this year, last week released a report, “Florida’s Lessons for Indiana K-12 Reform.” You can expect Bennett’s eventual blueprint for reform to look strikingly similar.
“There is nothing off the table in the areas of freedom, competition and accountability,” Bennett told the Education Roundtable last week.
“Roger that,” Daniels replied.
But Hoosiers should take a more critical look at Jeb Bush’s education record. Indiana’s performance holds up quite well in comparison. Perhaps the best practices can be found in our own backyard.
