By Jeanne Allen
The New Yorker
February 16, 2015 Issue
I read Alec MacGillis’s piece on the education reforms of Jeb Bush with a careful eye (“Testing Time,” January 26th). In my twenty-five years of experience in education, I have found that Florida’s success story surpasses that of all other states. When Bush became governor, in 1999, more than sixty per cent of minority and low-income fourth graders couldn’t read at a basic level, which doomed them to failure in future grades. Barely half of Florida’s high-school seniors were graduating. After Bush’s programs were enacted, Florida’s gains in math and reading, according to the federally funded Nation’s Report Card, were larger than they were anywhere else in the country—save Washington, D.C., which also used rigorous accountability systems and choice to improve education. The graduation rate has improved twenty-five per cent, and is at an all-time high. This reversal came about because Bush measured results, held schools accountable, and exposed them to competition. As adults vested in the system protested, student achievement accelerated. Business does have something to gain from this—an educated citizenry.