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By THOMAS C. TOBIN, Times Staff WriterJeb Bush points to accountability and the FCAT, but criticisms of his approach linger.
LAKE BUENA VISTA - Gov. Jeb Bush proclaimed his controversial education program a ringing success Thursday, saying five years of standardized tests, focus on reading and stiff consequences for struggling schools have dramatically improved Florida's classrooms.
In his first "State of Education in Florida" address, Bush defended the most criticized elements of his A+
Plan for Education, including its heavy reliance on the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test and its refusal, beginning this year, to promote third-graders who fail the reading portion of the test.The penalties and rewards tied to the FCAT are prodding teachers to target their instruction and pay more attention to struggling students, said the governor, citing selected state and national test results.
Among them: The reading scores of Florida fourth-graders from last school year, which were above the national average for the first time. The scores, released Thursday, were from the National Assessment of Education Progress, or NAEP, known as "the nation's report card."
As for holding back third-graders who can't read, Bush said: "We're the only state that has had the guts and the courage to recognize that we have to stop what we do when children are not reading at that age, organize ourselves in a different way to ensure that they do, or their dreams will be shattered."
That remark drew applause from members of Enterprise Florida, the business group that sponsored the event. Bush tied his address to the future of Florida's economy, saying "People are not going to invest in a place where the quality of the work force is not assured."
The governor said his plan is slowly reversing the "low expectations" and "excuses" of past administrations, but that "it will take a half a generation to be able to get to where we can be proud."
Critics were quick to portray the A+
plan in other terms, seizing on what they say are its many glitches.The plan is a collection of "risky experiments and gimmicks" and won't bring lasting improvements to schools, said state Sen. Ron Klein, the Delray Beach Democrat who serves as the senate's minority leader.
"We're all for accountability in education," Klein said. "But there's something wrong when a high school honor roll student can't graduate (because of a bad FCAT score) or a third-grader can't advance to the fourth grade because of just one computerized test."
Jade Moore, the longtime executive director of Pinellas County's teachers union, said the test results used by the governor portray only a slice of a student's education experience.
"It's akin to taking a snapshot of a sunset and saying it's like that all the time," Moore said. "You look wherever the good news is and you call it a victory. It sounds like Iraq to me."
Florida NAACP president Adora Obi Nweze said Bush's use of selected test results to tout reforms is misleading and masks the achievement gap between black and white students.
"We cannot allow the twisting of these statistics to blind us to the reality of what's happening to black and minority kids in our state," Nweze said.
The NAACP recently filed a federal civil rights complaint accusing Florida of discriminating against black students. The group has urged the state to stop using the FCAT in graduation and retention decisions until the alleged inequities have been eliminated.
Overall, Bush said, criticism of the A+
plan has waned as the fruits of reform have begun to show. He and Education Commissioner Jim Horne cited a range of statistics:The percentage of Florida fourth-graders testing at grade level on the FCAT is at 60 percent, up from 51 percent five years ago.
The number of students taking Advanced Placement courses is up 76 percent since 1998, including increases of more than 100 percent in black and Hispanic students in those courses.
The NAEP reading score increased 12 points for Florida fourth-graders in 2003 - four times the gain nationally.
"Clearly the A+
plan is making a big difference," Horne said.Bush also noted the graduation rate had climbed to 69 percent, up from 60 percent five years ago. He added: "That is not something to be bragging about to be honest with you, but the improvement is remarkable."
He predicted the gains in earlier grades today will result in better graduation rates in future years.
The NAEP numbers were less than encouraging when it comes to the achievement gap, which is a national problem.
In Florida, white fourth-graders taking the NAEP test in 2003 scored an average of 31 points higher than black students - the same as in 1998. Similarly, Hispanic students in Florida scored an average of 18 points lower than white students, compared with 20 points in 1998.
The gap grew significantly between 1998 and 2003 among fourth-graders who scored as "proficient" or good readers. In 2003, the percentage of white students scoring in this category was 29 points higher than the percentage of black students - a widening of 8 points from five years ago.
Still, Horne said of the gap: "I almost bet you that we're closing it faster than any state."