Excellence in Action National Summit on Education (Update)

Jeb Bush Urges Allies to Stand Firm on Ed Policy

By Sean Cavanagh on November 27, 2012 1:59 PM

Jeb Bush, whose political aspirations are a favorite source of speculation in this city, urged attendees at an education conference he organized to act as aggressive champions of contentious school policies—regardless of the political fallout.

The former Republican Florida governor spoke on the opening day of the fifth annual national summit hosted by an advocacy organization he leads, the Foundation for Excellence in Education.

That group is devoted to promoting a schools agenda that closely mirrors the often divisive one that Bush backed while in office, pieces of which have since been emulated in Republican-led states around the country.

"This is a big fight," Bush said. "This is not a happy place if you [want] to be advocating big things."

Bush joked that when he hosted the first summit five years ago, he worried that no one would show up.

On Tuesday, Bush spoke to a packed house at a downtown hotel in the nation's capital, promoting his favored policies in areas such as private school vouchers, test-based accountability, tougher forms of teacher evaluation, and school technology. The receptive audience included current and former officeholders, business and philanthropic officials, state schools chiefs, and others.

The former governor depicted the need to improve the United States' education system in stark terms, arguing that dismal school performance in too many of the nation's districts leads to increased crime and squandered economic opportunities, hurts families, and threatens the country's standing in the world. Of the principle that individuals can improve their standing and rise from poverty through education, Bush said: "It's going away. It's leaving us."

Many in the GOP had hoped Bush, 59, would run for president in 2012. He declined, but some party loyalists now hope to lure him into the race in 2016, when Barack Obama will be leaving office.

Bush made no mention of that chatter during his speech. He repeatedly warned elected officials and others against settling for politically popular education policies—at one point invoking the work of a Democrat, former President Lyndon Johnson, in promoting civil rights and other policies, as an example of leadership in the face of broad opposition.

"There will be pushbacks galore, going forward," he said. He cited controversial efforts by states to move away from paying teachers based mostly on longevity to systems in which educators are evaluated on student improvement.

"There are tire marks on a whole lot of people's foreheads in this room that have challenged this notion," Bush said.

The Floridian specifically singled out Indiana state schools chief Tony Bennett, a conference attendee, who along with Gov. Mitch Daniels successfully shepherded policies on vouchers, teacher evaluation, charter schools, and other areas in their state, an agenda influenced by Bush's work in Florida. Bennett lost his bid for re-election earlier this month.

"Doing what's right is not necessarily politically rewarded all the time," Bush said of Bennett, to applause from the audience.

Bush also praised states that he said are standing firm on creating strong standards and tests, despite public pressure to back down. When test scores are low, opponents vilify the tests, or "kill the messenger," Bush said, rather than looking inward.

He credited Kentucky officials for creating new tests based on the Common Core State Standard—standards that Bush supports, despite opposition among some conservatives. Test scores in Kentucky have plummeted, but Bush said the state is wisely shining a light on students' academic weaknesses.

It's not as if the students in Kentucky are suddenly collapsing academically, Bush said. "Far from getting dumber, the students in Kentucky are on their way to getting smarter," he said, because more is being demanded of them. "It will take some adjustment, but our kids will rise to the challenge of the new standards, if we give them the opportunity and schools to do it."

As Florida governor, Bush's voucher policies were challenged in the courts, and similar court battles are underway in many states.

A Louisiana court yesterday ruled that a sweeping, newly created voucher program created this year is unconstitutional. That decision will be appealed, said Louisiana state Sen. Conrad Appel, a Republican who backs the program and who spoke at a panel discussion on tax credit voucher programs.

In New Hampshire, a similar, Republican-backed tax-credit program was recently approved over a veto by Gov. John Lynch, a Democrat. But because of opponents' gains in the November election, that measure is now in peril, said New Hampshire state Speaker of the House William O'Brien, who spoke on the same panel as Appel.

"Our assumption is it's going to be repealed," O'Brien said. It's "two steps forward, three steps back."

Duncan Sharpens Second-Term Agenda, Stresses Teacher Quality

By Michele McNeil on November 28, 2012 8:38 AM

U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan continued to lay out his priorities for the next four years in a speech today, emphasizing that he thinks teacher preparation is broken and that the best educators need to be teaching the highest-need children.

In remarks at the two-day forum in Washington of the Foundation for Excellence in Education, run by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Duncan said he has an "ambitious" second-term agenda that includes holding the line on initiatives he started during his first four years. He cited specifically the tough road ahead for common standards, common tests, and teacher evaluations.

"Do we have the courage to stay the course there?" he asked during his 30 minutes of remarks, which included a question-and-answer session.

As for renewed areas of emphasis, he clearly wants to focus on teacher and principal quality. He said teacher education programs are "part of the problem." Without getting specific, Duncan said there are a "number of things we plan to do," and said the department is looking at some sort of competitive initiative to foster innovation in schools of education. He continued, "We need to push very, very hard in schools of education." (This isn't a new area of concern, as the administration has pushed teacher-prep reform before.)

He also said he was extremely troubled that no schools or districts that he knows of work "systemically" to identify the best teachers and principals, then place them with the children with the highest needs. "We're not even in the game. We're not there yet," he said. So be on the lookout for a new initiative there, too.

Duncan also indicated that early education would get a renewed focus in his second term.

This marks the most widely viewed speech from Duncan since President Barack Obama was re-elected to a second term. Previous speeches to the Education Trust and to the Council of Chief State School Officers were to smaller audiences, and not broadcast online.