Just on Friday, I put together a story based on Governor DeSantis’s Executive Order to embark on a year-long curriculum that will rid the state of the remnants of Common Core. In it, I shared examples of how much better we could and should do in areas like financial literacy. The Governor highlighted civics education. This is all true. However, credit where credit is due. I’ll always go where the information takes me and this story paints a picture of how well Florida has been delivering educational ROI. As is the case in most things in life, balance is often best.
In our state there’s long been a battle between the typically left-leaning education establishment/unions and the right-leaning state government. The combination of the two having to work in-conjunction with one another is likely a reason we’ve made the progress we have in this state. Overall in the past fifteen years, Florida has improved educationally from one of the worst states for outcomes into an average or above average performer in most areas. What's even more impressive is when you consider the diversity of the students.
If Florida continues to make good decisions, on back of what we’ve already been doing, there’s lots of room for optimism in the future.
Photo by: Duane Prokop-Getty Images for Feeding America