Empowering Families Through Educational Freedom

Founder, President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Excellence in Education. He was elected the 43rd governor of the state of Florida on Nov. 3, 1998, and served two four-year terms.

By //
Jeb Bush

Categories

“ Without aspiration, our great country becomes just another country.”
Jeb Bush

Empowering-Families-through-Educational-Freedom_full
Definition of Choice

Share this article


more articles

6 Comments

Leave a Comment

almost half of our fourth graders could not read at a basic level and almost half of our students were not graduating from high school.

Whatever the solution, there is incredible urgency around closing gaps in outcomes. How do we act with urgency even while we're exploring the best possible solutions?

held more accountable

It seems like all adults who are part of the education system should be on the same page about clear and rigorous accountability metrics that are also fair. How can we learn from Florida's work to make sure we do that well across the country?

Not only do students in choice programs benefit from them, so do students who remain in traditional public schools

What were the benefits for the students in the traditional public schools?

Does choice offer better opportunity for a more personalized approach to learning and accommodation of the great diversity of student needs?

Instructional diversity is not synonymous with "choice." Instructional diversity, personalization, and/or accommodation of student needs are provided by effective teachers with the knowledge and skill regardless of school "option."

We responded with rigorous accountability measures but knew that was just part of the answer. So we added robust school choice policies to give parents options if assigned schools were not working for their children.

While enhanced accountability is certainly a valuable response, I'm wondering how building instructional leadership capacity and/or educator professional learning were explored as critical levers for improvement within the public schools?

As someone who is keenly focused on educating children in underserved communities and a life long Democrat…I am whole heartedly in agreement with Jeb Bush! We do not have time for incremental change in urban education. We see the results of our failures each and every day in the stark reality of generational poverty. We need a different approach! What we are now offering in Missouri and across the country is not working and has not worked for decades. The new approach needs to be bold and have a sense of urgency. In the greatest country on earth parents of children in underserved communities have got to stop accepting less than the best. All segments of our society must come together and demand more and better choices. The clock is ticking!