Florida students excelling in reading, math

Florida's schools should be proud of their accomplishments. A series of national education reports and assessments have ranked Florida near the top of the nation in the performance of its students and the quality of their education.

The most recent of these successes is the announcement of a ninth-place ranking of our eighth-grade students writing at or above the proficient level on the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress writing assessment. Known as the "Nation's Report Card," the NAEP assessments monitor the knowledge and skills of the nation's children. Nationally, Florida has the second greatest number of Hispanic students and fourth greatest number of African-American students scoring at or above the proficient level.

Last fall, the NAEP results for reading and math reported equally good news. Florida is one of only four states in the nation to improve significantly in both fourth- and eighth-grade reading. Only a handful of states showed greater gains than Florida in fourth- and eighth-grade math.

Florida also scored very well in the 2008 Quality Counts report, a respected national report published annually by Education Week that compares state education systems. In just one year, Florida jumped 17 places, from 31st to 14th, in its ranking among all states. The chief catalyst of this advancement was the hard work of our students who propelled Florida to a seventh-place ranking in the K-12 Student Achievement section of the report.

Our high ranking in Quality Counts can also be attributed to the success our students are experiencing in Advanced Placement courses. According to a recently released report from the College Board, Florida leads all other states in the number of African-American and Hispanic students passing AP exams and has eliminated the disparity between Hispanic students and their counterparts. Overall, our state ranks an impressive fourth in the nation in the percentage of 2007 public high school graduates who passed an AP exam.

The state's achievements also extend to our community colleges. For the fifth year in a row, Florida's community colleges rank as the nation's most successful producer of associate degrees while continuing to lead in a number of associate-degree categories.

This kind of progress does not happen by accident. It happens when individuals dedicate themselves to building a culture of success. AT&T has just launched "AT&T Aspire," a $100 million national commitment over four years that will support the great work already under way in schools and nonprofit organizations and fund research and community "dropout prevention summits" run by America's Promise Alliance, a coalition of nonprofits and corporations that was founded by Colin Powell. AT&T will also give 100,000 students the opportunity to "shadow" AT&T employees on the job, to give them a firsthand look at the skills they will need to succeed. The cost of the 400,000 AT&T employee hours to be devoted to this program is not included in the $100 million pledge.

I encourage all Floridians to join me in congratulating our students, parents, teachers and schools on these incredible results. Their efforts have truly distinguished Florida as a national leader in education. I also encourage Florida's policy and business leaders to continue to work together to develop and ensure an education system that provides both our students and our work force with the ability to achieve success in life.

By: Marshall Criser III Pres. of AT&T Florida
Posted in the Sun Sentinel