Jeb Bush Speaks to NCSL on Education Reform

Tallahassee — Yesterday, Jeb Bush spoke to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) to share Florida’s education success story, how it went from being at the bottom of the nation in education, to a model for the nation today. A copy of Governor Bush’s prepared remarks is provided below.

Thank you Senator Balfour (Don) for your kind introduction. It is an honor to be with you today to talk about education.

First, I am going to tell you what we did to improve the quality of education in Florida and then, I am going to share with you what I think we need to do to transform education across America.

Perspective

But let me give you a little perspective.

Back in 1998, Florida ranked at the bottom in the nation in nearly every measure of educational quality.
According to the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP – National Assessment of Educational Progress), nearly half of our fourth grade students were functionally illiterate.
Just three in five students graduated from high school and graduates only had to pass an 8th grade test to earn a diploma.
We tracked library books better than student progress.
And debates about education focused primarily on how much we were spending, not how much kids were learning.

We were in bad shape.

That year, I ran for governor on a platform of tough-love, hard-edge education reform.  My policy was based on a few core beliefs that I still hold today:

First, I believe all students can learn.  Whatever your challenges – poverty, learning disabilities, language barriers – you can learn.  No excuses.  All kids can learn.  Period.  Exclamation point!

Second, I believe that it is our responsibility as adults to create an environment where every child can achieve their God-given potential and gain the knowledge and skills to pursue their dreams.  If kids aren’t learning, the fault is with the adults in the system – not the students.

Third, I believe that if we get education right, then many of the other challenges we face – crime, providing social services, economic development – become easier to solve.  Likewise, the higher our quality of education, the higher our standard of living.  Something we can’t take for granted anymore in the increasingly competitive global economy.

A+ Plan

Our plan, the A+ Plan, was pretty simple.  We held schools accountability for student learning, which is really the only measure that matters.  Then, we rewarded success and we had consequences for mediocrity and failure.

It started with the way we measured quality.  We started grading schools A, B, C, D and F.

We weren’t the first to grade schools, but we were the first to do it in a way that parents and the general public could understand.

Before the letter scale, Florida schools were graded on a scale of 1 – 5, but no one knew if a five was the best or the worst.  In other states, a “satisfactory” might be the equivalent of a C on our scale.  Many parents might not be too concerned if their child is going to a satisfactory school, whereas they were clearly not satisfied with a school grade of C.

School grades were based solely on test scores in reading, math and writing – and we recently added science.

Half of the grade was based on proficiency – whether students were performing on grade level – and the other half was based on progress – whether students were making a year’s worth of progress in a year’s time, regardless of whether they were on, above or below grade level.

We rewarded schools – directly – with cash.  Schools that earned an A or improved a letter grade were rewarded with $100 per student – directly to the schools bank account. During this time of economic hardship, the amount has been reduced to $75 per student. Schools could decide how to spend the money and more than 85% of the billion-plus dollars given to schools during the last decade went to bonuses for teachers and staff.

We also had consequences for failure.  Students in schools that earned an F for two or more years became eligible for an opportunity scholarship voucher to go to the school of their choice, whether public, private or religious.

While more than 100,000 students were eligible for the voucher, less than one percent – about 750 students – a year participated.  Unfortunately, a ruling by the Florida Supreme Court ended this part of the reform in 2006.

As you can see, when we started, we had more D and F schools than A and B schools.  The fear – or even the shame – of getting an F spurred change and the prospect of getting extra cash didn’t hurt the motivation either.

Those dotted lines indicate when we raised the bar – such as adding science to the grade or adding the progress of students with disabilities or students learning English as a second language to the grade.

Several years ago, under the great leadership of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and School Chancellor Joel Klein, New York City started grading schools A thru F. This year, Arizona, Indiana and Louisiana all adopted an A – F scale.

Reading

While we started making steady progress, too many students were still not reading on grade level.  Let’s face it, if you can’t read, you are going to have a tough time learning any other subject.  Because of that, we decided to zero in on third grade.

Through third grade, students “learn to read.”  In the fourth grade, students are expected to “read to learn.”  Students who are unable to read independently in that pivotal year are more likely to fall behind in more subjects in subsequent grades.

You can see from this slide, nearly 30 percent of students in 2000-2001 were reading at the lowest level on the state test but less than 3 percent of them were being retained for more instruction.

In 2002-2003, we adopted a policy that required students who couldn’t read to be retained. The policy was definitely tough love but not zero-tolerance.  We provided good faith exemptions to ensure students who had the skills were not held back.

The immediate impact of the policy was a quadrupling of the retention rate (13.2 percent). The long-term impact is that more students are learning to read by the end of the third grade and most of those that were held back showed learning gains going forward.

But it wasn’t for a couple of years that we really learned the full benefits of the policy to students in later grades.

As you can see from this slide, we saw almost immediate improvement in reading in elementary school.  Every year brought better and better results.

That was not the case in middle schools.  Year after year, scores remained flat.  I have to tell you, those were some tough press conferences.

Then in 2006, we saw a big jump – six points.  That was the year students who started third grade under the retention policy entered middle school.  The ripple effects of hard-edge reform were starting to show up.

Students were promoted when they were ready to learn.  That made all the difference in their ability to achieve.

I am really glad we didn’t give up when the going got tough because today Florida’s fourth grade students are reading and doing math above the national average (according to the Nation’s Report Card, known more formally as the National Assessment of Education Progress).

And eighth graders are above the national average in reading and are closing in on the national average in math.

These results were achieved because we established high expectations for all students and then we organized ourselves around achieving them.

But I am not finished.

One the most prevalent myths in education is that we can’t have the same high expectations of all students.  You’ve heard the excuses.
“It’s not fair to hold poor, inner-city kids to the same expectations as rich, suburban kids.”
“We can’t expect kids who are learning to speak English to read as well as students who grew up speaking English.”
“It’s what happens at home – not in school – that determines whether kids learn.”

Florida’s experience busts those myths wide open.

Florida’s African American and Hispanic students perform as well or better than the average student in eight states.

And Florida’s Hispanic students perform as well or better than the average student in 31 states and the District of Columbia.

For those who want to explain away our results, consider this:
Florida has the fourth largest public school student population in the country, just behind California, New York and Texas.
Our student population is majority minority.
About half of our students are in low-income families.

All of that gives me hope because frankly, if Florida can do it, every state can do it and it should be a national imperative to do it.

Closing the Achievement Gap

The fact is, the reason Florida is one of the few states in the country that is closing the achievement gap is because we hold all students to the same high expectations.

That principle starts with learning to read and extends through our policies to better prepare students to succeed in college.

In 2000, Florida entered into a partnership with the College Board to expand access to Advanced Placement courses.

For years, Florida rewarded school districts for students who passed a rigorous Advanced Placement course.  That year, we changed the law to reward teachers as well.

Teachers earn $50 per student up to $2000 for every one of their students who passes a rigorous college placement test.  Just look at the surge of participation and passage rates.

Again, some of the greatest gains occurred among Hispanic and African American students

Spending more money without demanding some sort of outcome gets you nowhere.   When you target money at achievement, you get real results.

Five Reforms for Future Success in States

While I am really proud of Florida’s progress and I believe every state can achieve the same success by adopting versions of our reforms, I believe there is so much room to improve.

For a brief moment, let’s get beyond the standard debate concerning education, which is an argument about whether our schools are good or bad or whether it is fair for school officials to be responsible for student learning given the fact that students arrive with different family backgrounds and different learning aptitudes.

Let us assume that in order to create sustainable communities and competitive countries, our schools have to get better.

How should we do it?

I have five suggestions, implemented together, that will give the communities that embrace them a leg up.  They are higher and more rigorous standards of learning, robust accountability, a healthy injection of competition through school choice, teacher effectiveness and an embrace of technology.

Rigorous Academic Standards

Rigorous academic standards are the foundation of a quality education.  Academic standards define what students are expected to learn in each grade.

Sadly, only about one-third of U.S. high school seniors are college or career-ready, one third graduate high school but need remediation, and one third don’t graduate from high school at all. Less than half the states in the U.S. require a math course beyond Algebra one (21 require Algebra two).  And just 14 other states require Biology.

My experience with developing standards is that educators focus on their niche and demand their inclusion.  The resulting compromise has made many standards a mile wide and an inch deep, making it harder for teachers to effectively teach to all of them.

In the United States, the good news is that during the last year, 48 states got together to develop a set of common core standards for language arts and math with the ultimate goal that if students graduate from high school, they will be truly college and career-ready.

The common core sets fewer standards that are easier to understand.  That’s important because Moms and Dads need to understand them and fight for them when the efforts begin to dilute, abandon or diffuse, which always happens.

Standards are the important first step. Next must come assessments that accurately reflect how students are faring. Ideally, the assessments would be given intermittently during the school year to identify and reverse failure early.  The final annual assessment should be given nearer the end of the year to accurately measure whether students achieved a year’s worth of knowledge in a year’s time.

Robust Accountability

Accountability matters in every aspect of life. Good parenting requires accountability. Successful businesses have strong accountability. Successful institutions of all types embrace accountability. Schools are no exception.

As we’ve learned under state accountability and No Child Left Behind, disclosing results identifies the great work being done with like-kind students and points out where improvement is necessary.

Simply put, accountability puts an end to excuses!  It works.

School Choice

In today’s world, we have unprecedented choices in nearly every area of our lives – where we live, where we shop, what we drive.  In every area except what could be the most important – that is in education.

Knowing what we know – that a quality education is the proven path to prosperity – how can we deny a child that lifeline to a better living and a more secure financial future?  How can we doom a child to a school that we know will not prepare them for success in life?

It is time to give parents a choice and a voice in where their children go to school, arming them with quality information and requiring their engagement.

Call it a scholarship, call it a grant, call it a voucher, call it whatever you want.

Florida provides the greatest array of choices to parents and it has improved public education, not hurt it.  Our pre-k program is the largest voucher program in the United States with over 140,000 four year olds going to private schools with public money.

We have the largest corporate tax scholarship program, the largest number of students attending virtual schools, over a hundred thousand students attending charter schools, the largest voucher program for students with disabilities and one of the largest dual enrollment programs in the country.

Research over the last decade has shown that Florida public schools have done better because of our array of school choice programs. Not surprisingly, competition improves all schools. In essence, school choice is like a catalytic converter accelerating the benefits of other elements of education reforms.

Teacher Effectiveness

Like you all, I believe all children can learn.  Poverty, broken families, disabilities, and language barriers – all are challenges to learning.  But all of these challenges can be overcome by effective teaching.

That is one area where there is consensus.  It is hard to find a researcher who doesn’t believe a teacher makes a difference.

Kati Haycock with The Education Trust found that students of the most effective teachers learn almost four times more than students of the least effective teachers and these effects can be seen for at least three years.

Dr. Bill Sanders of the University of Tennessee pioneered research showing how 5th grade students who have an effective teacher for three consecutive years score 50+ percentile points higher than students who have an ineffective teacher for three consecutive years.   Subsequent studies show that the impact of teacher effectiveness may persist even longer, especially among young elementary students.

To find and foster great teachers, we need to modernize the profession.  Colorado, Louisiana and Washington DC are leading the way to accomplishing this important reform.

Teachers should be evaluated and compensated based on how much their students learn and teachers whose students learn more should earn more.

To attract and reward individuals with the skills in high-demand subjects, such as math and science, those teaching positions should pay more.

Teaching in a high-poverty school is more challenging than teaching in an affluent school.  To attract great teachers to our toughest challenges, teachers who work in high-poverty schools should earn more.  That’s our best hope of closing the achievement gap.

Finally, in this competitive global economy, no one should have a lifetime guarantee of employment – and that includes teachers.

Technology

We know that students learn differently and at different paces.  Yet, most schools teach students roughly the same as they did 50 years ago.

If you walked into a classroom in Miami or Baton Rouge, chances are it would look pretty much the same — students at desks with textbooks and pencils with a teacher in the front of the room. The only difference might be that the chalkboard is now a whiteboard and a television or computer might sit in the corner of the room.

This is all the more extraordinary when compared to all of the changes that have occurred outside of school during the last 10, 20 or 30 years.

To really transform education, we need to embrace the fundamental concept that education should be custom-designed to maximize every child’s God-given ability to learn.

How could we possibly do this for thousands or millions of students?  We need to harness technology to tailor lessons to each child’s learning style and ability.  This concept was only a dream a generation ago. Now it can be accomplished.

When you think about the possibilities, today’s online courses are really just the beginning.

We have the ability to create the iTunes of the education world where teachers and students could access rich and rigorous content from different sources to create a learning experience that meets the individual needs of the students.

Aligning the content to the standards ensures students are learning what is important.  But students would learn at their own pace, spending more or less time on particular areas based on their ability.

Imagine a repository of rich and rigorous content from multiple sources that could be accessed by teachers and students to build a personalized education plan.  The potential for such a system is endless. Exercises and homework could be customized to a student’s interests. Adaptive and customized learning already exists on a massive scale in the entertainment and job training fields. It should be expanded to our schools.

With a personalized education, more students would achieve.

Transforming the “delivery system” would make some existing policies obsolete.  In fact, some of the more contentious issues would become moot.
Class size would cease to be an issue.  A student, armed with a computer, could learn from anywhere.
Learning at your own pace would end the need for social promotion.  Students would move on when ready, not before.
More students could graduate high school with college credits and fewer students would be frustrated and feel compelled to drop out.
Providing the highest quality of instruction online could eliminate the disparity in instruction that currently exists in high-poverty or rural schools.  Students would have access to the same curriculum and quality instruction that is available in the best schools.
Funding could be based on completion or achievement, rather than attendance or seat-time. This expansion of virtual education – in the classroom – would likely create the economies of scale to reduce costs, even as quality dramatically improves.

Conclusion

But as I have long said, success is never final and reform is never finished.

The aging of our populations, the entitlement time bomb that has not been dealt with, the emergence of new competitors without our legacy costs and the current economic downturn has created a cloud and more and more people wonder if we will be able to compete.

The stakes are high.  The quality of education in classrooms across America will define our destiny as nation.  More than any one thing, how we respond to the challenge of assuring more young people gain the power of knowledge will determine our future economic prospects.

We will be able to compete; we will be maintain and improve our standard of living; and we will not be in decline if we transform our education system.

I hope you embrace it.

Thank you.

The Foundation for Excellence in Education is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit charitable organization launched in 2007 by Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Our mission is to improve the quality of education in American classrooms by sponsoring innovative, reform-based programs. Programs to develop new strategies to raise student achievement, share the qualities of excellence in teaching and reward excellence in the arts are among the bold initiatives offered by the Foundation for Excellence in Education. To learn more, visit www.excelined.org.