Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is defending new achievement standards for students around the nation while calling for an expansion of school-choice initiatives in states.
Bush spoke Friday at a conference of conservative lawmakers and business executives hosted in Chicago by the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Bush is one the leading potential contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. But he made no mention of political aspirations Friday while outlining his education priorities.
Bush backed new "common core" education standards for states and said students should be held back in third grade if they cannot read well.
He encouraged an end to tenure systems that pay teachers based on experience rather than student performance. And he said parents should have more options to enroll children in digital classrooms.
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