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Florida is worthy model for Oklahoma education efforts

The Oklahoman Editorial | Published: December 13, 2012 Comment on this article

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Mike Thomas, who blogs on education issues for The Foundation for Education Reform (founded by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush), noted Florida “has gone from one of the worst reading states in the nation to one of the top reading nations in the world.” He said the improvement is “a direct result of education reforms begun in 1999, targeting the most important indicator of academic success: early childhood literacy.”

If a similar analysis compared Oklahoma to other nations, we would probably not fare that well. National Assessment for Educational Progress scores show Oklahoma ranked 40th among the 50 states in fourth-grade reading.

But then again, we just started implementing the data-driven reforms that have proved successful in Florida. The PIRLS reinforces that Oklahoma is on the right path to improve student performance.

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