Icon Preparatory School in Tampa, open to any student in the state of Florida, is committed to closing the achievement gap among its scholars and their more affluent peers. The school demonstrates a shift to an increasingly choice-driven education landscape for Black students that has been driven by Black parents.
Editor’s note: This opinion piece from Denisha Merriweather, director of public relations and content marketing at the American Federation for Children, appeared Thursday on Florida Politics. It provides context for a special report accessible here on reimaginED.
The days of just accepting the zoned school are over.
A funny thing happened over the past 20 years while critics were condemning education choice in Florida as a right-wing plot: Hundreds of thousands of Black families flocked to embrace it.
Then another funny thing happened: Not only did the expansion of options and opportunity improve academic outcomes for Black students in Florida choice schools, but the competition also improved outcomes for Black students who remained in district schools.
All of this should be common knowledge – and cause for celebration. Yet the great migration of Black families to choice schools in Florida is a story that remains oddly overlooked.
A new report that my colleagues and I put together seeks to change that.
“Controlling the Narrative: Parental Choice, Black Empowerment & Lessons from Florida” is a joint effort between Black Minds Matter, the American Federation for Children, and Step Up For Students. It seeks to inform a wide range of audiences, from policymakers to the press to the general public, about Florida’s increasingly choice-driven education system and how it has helped Black families and educators.
To read more, click here.
