It attempts a comprehensive overhaul using common sense. One of the defining characteristics of modern civilization is that advances in knowledge are often deeply counterintuitive.

Florida has managed to maintain a solid middle of the pack performance spending less than most. Is that enviable? In the meantime, financial rewards go to schools that have selective enrollment. Schools are rewarded with high grades for having fewer special education students. You have the implicit lie – how you spend money is *more* important than how much you spend. The explicit lie – that teaching quality is paramount which fails to acknowledge the truth which is that teacher knowledge is paramount in “study after study.”

And yet, the longitudinal testing we have (ETS) indicates students to be making progress at about the same rate they have over the last thirty years. This is borne out independently by IQ testing trends since it reflects learning gains.

Don’t even go there with that “disruptive innovation” stuff. That’s my field. The state of Florida has no significant commitment to it. The fact is that the state is huge and has several of the nation’s largest school districts with huge special needs populations. If you look at Maine, you can see where Florida is in relation to reality. I guess to the extent Florida will get disruptive innovation, just about anything would disrupt it. A loud belch maybe.