States should not back away from higher expectations for their students in the face of a contentious debate over the education standards, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Thursday.
In a closely watched address that marked the start of the Foundation for Excellence in Education’s National Summit on Education Reform, Bush said the debate of the Common Core State Standards, which have caused a rift among conservative reformers, is “troubling.”
He called for the federal government to scale back its role dictating education policy. At the same time, he said, “the rigor of the Common Core State Standards must be the new minimum in classrooms.”
“For those states that are choosing a path other than Common Core, I say this: That’s fine, except you should be aiming even higher, and be bolder, and raise standards, and ask more for our students and the system,” he told the gathering of hundreds of education reformers in Washington.
Citing a policy in Orange County schools that recently made headlines, in which students receive a minimum score of 50 out of 100, he called for reformers to push back against the drive to ease expectations for students in the name of protecting their “self esteem.”
His comments have been framed as part of a “delicate dance” around the benchmarks, which have drawn the ire of conservatives wary of the role the federal government has played in promoting them.
In his keynote address, Bush also called for expanded school choice and increased use of digital learning to tailor education to the needs of individual students.
He was introduced by Denisha Merriweather, a recipient of a Florida tax credit scholarship who has become an ambassador for the school choice movement. The scholarship program is administered by Step Up For Students, which co-hosts this blog.
Bush said federal education funds should not be tied to mandates on state and local education agencies, which he said need to have freedom to innovate.
“Education should be a national priority,” he said, “not a federal program.”
The full text of Bush’s remarks can be found here.
