Educators, administrators, politicians, and lobbyists recently convened in the nation’s capital for a two-day summit in order to share ideas and discuss important education issues. The annual conference, the National Summit on Education Reform, was hosted by former Florida governor Jeb Bush’s Foundation for Excellence in Education. Attendees aimed to show that national education reform, one of the hottest and most debated topics in politics today, is imperative for the overall success of the country.
Topics at the forefront of the discussion included the No Child Left Behind Act and how the act should be revised and re-authorized, charter schools, and the use of innovative technology and online tools for teaching.
Both Bush and Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, agreed that the act needs to be re-authorized. But, noted Duncan, the inflexibility of the current No Child Left Behind Act has led to the narrowing of many public school’s curricula and the lowering of academic standards and because of this-should be revised. Charter schools have highlighted discussions of school reform for some time and the success of many charter schools and successful charter’s best practices were highlighted and analyzed.
Additionally, many of the attendees, including Jeb Bush, advocated for increased digital and online learning solutions – especially in order to help struggling school districts across the nation, underrepresented students and increase overall education accessibility. Jeb Bush called for collaborative efforts in the fight to reform the United State’s entire education system through the use of technology.
