Romano: Time to throw out Bush-era education reforms
For the longest time, it seemed educational reformers could do no wrong. They had the theories, they had the platform and, most importantly, they had the power.
So George W. Bush's Texas Miracle begat the nation's No Child Left Behind law, which was around the same time Jeb Bush's accountability crusade took hold in Florida.
They were our models for education. They were going to revolutionize schools and rescue generations of students from despair.
And yet today, they are being attacked from all sides.
The U.S. Senate and House have passed separate bills that would revamp the No Child Left Behind law and return more authority to local school districts.
Around here, the state School Board Association on Thursday called Florida's accountability system broken. That came a few days after the Florida PTA called the system a mess. And that came a few days after the Florida Association of District School Superintendents announced it had lost confidence in the system.
So is it time to finally admit the Bush-era reforms have failed?
The answer is yes, but with a caveat.
The big-picture philosophy behind some of these reforms is sound. Some level of accountability — for everyone involved — is necessary. Standardized tests and a comparable curriculum can also help make sure students across the nation are learning similar things.
The problem, particularly in Florida, is lawmakers took reforms to an absurd extreme. They turned accountability into a weapon, and that turned schools into sweatshops.
The Legislature heaped so much responsibility on a handful of tests that teachers feared for their jobs, districts worried about funding and everything else became an afterthought.
Senate Education Committee Chairman John Legg, R-Trinity, acknowledges missteps along the way, but says the Legislature has corrected many of the problems in the past two years.
What lawmakers have not corrected is their perception problem.
Leaders in Tallahassee have zealously protected the Bush legacy for far too long. They have been slow to listen to parents and educators, and even slower to compromise.
So when Department of Education Commissioner Pam Stewart tried to justify a mistake-riddled launch to a new state assessment this year, no one wanted to listen.
Instead, it seems the tide of unrest has finally reached local shores.
Where critics once seemed to be on the fringe, they are now showing up in greater numbers and in more Romano: Time to throw out Bush-era education reforms | Tampa Bay Times: