The Problem
In recent months, Illinois has been home to an intense debate over school reform. A school voucher bill co-authored by Sen. James Meeks has received a great deal of attention, and for good reason. It would give parents in Chicago’s worst and most overcrowded schools the option to send their children to a private school instead. But beyond his support for school choice, the Reverend Senator has been emphatic on a larger point: lawmakers should be willing to support any reform that improves education for families who for generations have had no choice other than failing public schools.

Our Solution
Those serious in meeting Meeks’s challenge will look to Florida. For decades, teenage illiteracy has plagued southern states, just as in Chicago. Beginning twelve years ago, Florida implemented a series of reforms designed to improve the lives of disadvantaged and minority students. School choice has been a cornerstone policy of the plan. But Florida has also:

• expanded online learning;
• ended social promotion for 3rd graders who cannot read;
• diversified its teaching ranks through more modern teacher certification programs;
• and created an “A through F” system of grading schools that parents and taxpayers can easily understand.

Why This Works
At first, these reforms were disquieting to those who were part of the status quo, but the results are astounding. Over a twelve year period in which the nation’s and Illinois’s fourth grade reading scores have remained flat or barely improved, Florida’s elementary school performance has climbed dramatically.

In 1998, the year in which Florida began introducing its bold school reforms, the state’s test scores were some of the lowest in the country. Florida now ranks sixth in the country on the Nation’s Report Card for 4th grade reading, published by the U.S. Department of Education.

Florida’s improvement is almost entirely due to an incredible increase in the scores of their low-income and minority students. A new Illinois Policy Institute report, “Success from the Sunshine State,” contains the data to prove this point.

In 1998, Florida’s low-income student scores ranked 33rd out of 40 states that were graded on the Nation’s Report Card. By 2009, federal education officials were ranking all fifty states—and Florida’s low-income student test scores were the best in the country. Illinois ranked 42nd.

In fact, Florida’s low-income students’ reading scores are almost in line with those of Illinois students of all income groups combined. If Illinois’s low-income students scored as well as Florida’s in 2009, our state’s overall ranking in 4th grade reading could potentially leap from 30th place into the top five.

Florida now does a better job than any state in teaching its low-income youngsters how to read, and thus provides a road map for Illinois. Anyone serious about improving the lives of our state’s poor and minority children should follow it.