Patricia Levesque has worked for Jeb Bush for many years. She is his henchperson in promoting Florida as a miraculous story of educational improvement, based on Bush’s beliefs in high-stakes testing, test-based accountability, school report cards, and choice via charters, cybercharters, for-profit charters, and vouchers. The one belief he does not have is that public schools are important and valuable community institutions.
Here she is today, touting Florida as a “national model.” She says that Florida’s accountability system has “paid off” and is a roaring success.
The Bush approach may be briefly summarized as test-test-test, then close or privatize the schools that can’t produce the scores.
Let’s go to the videotape, or in this case, the NAEP scores for 2015.
In 2015, Florida scored at about the national average in 4th grade math but below the national average in 8th grade math.
Nineteen states had higher NAEP scores in 4th grade math than Florida.
Florida students in 8th grade math scored below the national average and were tied with their peers in South Carolina and Nevada.
Forty states had higher scores in 8th grade math than Florida in 2015.
In 4th grade reading in 2015, Florida was just above the national average.
Fifteen states recorded higher scores than Florida in 4th grade reading.
In 8th grade reading in 2015, Florida students were at the national average, tied with North Carolina and Georgia.
Thirty five states had higher reading scores on the NAEP in 2015 than students in Florida.
Why would anyone consider Florida to be a national model?
Why not choose a state like Massachusetts, which is #1 on all of these measures?
Who would choose to follow the practices of a state that scored at about the national average, rather than one of those states that consistently has greater success on the NAEP than Florida?
What Levesque fails to mention is that many states produced higher test scores over the past 20 years, and Florida’s relative position remained about the same. Florida has a policy of holding back third-graders based on test scores, so that probably inflates their 4th grade reading and math scores. The gains of Florida and other states may reflect that unrelenting emphasis on testing, pre-testing, interim testing, etc., which, as Daniel Koretz points out in his recent book “The Testing Charade” produces inflated scores.
If you live in Florida, check the facts before you follow the lead of Jeb Bush, who is trying to protect his “legacy” of high-stakes testing and privatization.
Bottom line: Florida is no national model, unless your goal is mediocrity.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
The propaganda piece claims that Florida schools that score poorly on tests (serve communities suffering in poverty) must be closed or turned over to private operators “ensuring higher quality options”. That’s the problem with privatization propaganda, it always assumes charters are higher quality options. They aren’t. The only things privatization ensures are fewer options, less support from and access to schools and school boards, money being skimmed by wealthy outsiders, and another small victory for the libertarian agenda most people despise.
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QThe only things privatization ensures are fewer options, END Q
I do not follow your reasoning. In a locality which does not have school choice/vouchers, then the only option open to parents/students is the local government-run, publicly operated school Take or leave it. Only wealthy people, who can afford non-public school costs, have a choice.
In a locality, which has choice/vouchers,etc. Then parents/students may select a school, public or private, which will accept the voucher.
By this reasoning, choice is available to parents who reside in an area, which has school choice/vouchers.
Am I missing something?
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Yes. You’re missing a few of them.
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Agree, but Happy Holidays to men of goodwill.
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Interesting idea, having goodwill toward segregationists.
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Yes, Charles you are missing something. What the hell do you have against local publically elected governments? Would you rather have the town governed by Walmart or Exxon-Mobile? Government schools? Actually the schools are run by the elected school board (in most cases) and the superintendent. The school board and the superintendent are not the actual government. Who runs the charter schools? An unelected board of directors and the “CEO” who is appointed by whomever. Why do you hate local governments?
Public schools are a public service funded by tax dollars just like the police force or the fire departments. Public schools should be supported not demonized, smeared, demeaned or swift boated by people like you.
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Joe, You 8:30 reply is very well phrased
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The far-right, which hates anything that serves the public and is entirely public, adopted the terminology “government schools” to demean public schools. People who are contemptuous of public schools call them “government schools.”
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As a person who has lived under both Communism, and an Islamic Kingdom, I have a better appreciation of representative (democratic) government, than most. I am 100% in favor of our constitutional republic.
I have nothing against Wal-Mart nor Exxon Mobil (I used to work for ARAMCO Oil company). I do not want these corporations “running” my town. Ludicrous.
I do not “hate” local governments. I support them with my taxes, and I have served as an election judge. Again, Ludicrous.
“God made idiots, that was for practice. Then He made school boards” -Mark Twain.
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Charles, you might have lived in a Communist country (or Islamic country) but you were not a citizen of those countries and were free to leave at any time. That means you don’t know what it really meant to live in a Communist Country (or Islamic) because you could leave.
Most of the citizens in those countries can’t leave. They were born there and grew up there and will probably die there without ever leaving.
Do you hold dual citizenship in Russia and the United States? If you are only a U.S. citizen, then you don’t know what it is like to live in a country like that from birth to death. You were an outsider who lived there for awhile, a visitor working in those countries.
How long did you stay in each Communist or Islamic country that you worked in and did you live in a guarded western enclave or outside mixing with the people of those countries?
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Stop calling democratically based public schools government schools. The real public schools are run by the democratically elected school boards, the superintendent and other school administrators. They are not the government of the town, city or municipality. Do you have something against “government” police departments and “government” fire departments? Why do you hate local governments?
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You are correct about the mythology of higher quality options–except the marketing rhetoric favors the phrase “high quality seats.”
Larry Cuban has been examining the concept of mediocrity in several recent posts, in his most recent post, he relies on one of his favorite teaching props–cartoons.
The last in this series is a bell curve with a little kid at the top of the curve—caption: “Hooray! I’ve reached mediocrity. comment+l_3v54wysspju494syxvzn3@comment.wordpress.com
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The answer to “high quality seats” is “qualified, experienced teachers”.
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It all depends on an individual’s perspective.
Patricia Levesque and Jeb Bush think that it means making lots of money and destroying the teaching profession and crushing unions. It has nothing to do with teaching children how to solve problems, think critically and hopefully become life-long learners who enjoy reading.
To most if not all educators, it’s always about teaching and learning and hopefully, they get paid enough to afford a middle-class lifestyle.
Jeb Bush has tunnel vision and he worships at the altar of avarice. No matter what he says about tests, tests, tests, his agenda is about money, money, money, subverting the U.S. Constitution and crushing the working class in a vise as he turns the handle to squeeze more money out of us.
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Lloyd, you often write of Jefferson, someone I too revere. I am convinced, though, the answer lies not in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and his call for the refreshing of Tree of Liberty with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It lies in the writings of Gandhi, King, and Mandela. Civil disobedience is the only way to prevent tyranny in a post-musket age. Students and teachers are the answer. They, we, must find ways to disobey unjust laws. I can tell you from the classroom that it’s possible. Remember the Bernie rallies. The young believe. They just need a leader.
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I agree, and suggest that too many teachers do not have enough work experience outside the classroom to appreciate your first paragraph. (And I think you’re being generous to Jeb. ) Devotion to the profit-motive genuinely conflated with goodwill.
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Any accomplishments in Florida schools are due to the hard working teachers, not the governor or legislature. Florida is known for continuously undermining public schools, cutting budgets, passing a new law that puts charters on equal funding footing as public schools and lots of other bad policies that ignore evidence like “best and brightest” bonuses, letter grades for schools and voucher scholarships, that are really tax avoidance schemes for the wealthy. Most Florida teachers are trying to do their best despite the hostile climate created by the Republicans in charge, low wages and eroded benefits.
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