A major debate among education reformers over how best to reduce the achievement gap broke out during the 2008 presidential campaign. Most advocates on both sides backed Barack Obama, but they urged him to pursue different policies. The Education Equality Project (EEP) supported a continuation of accountability and other school-focused reforms. The coalition for "A Broader, Bolder Approach to Education" claimed that the greatest gains could be achieved by addressing health, housing, and other social ills. A close look at recent changes in education in Florida sheds light on that debate. One finds in this southern state a closing of the achievement gap that has eluded allegedly more progressive states. And its success has come in spite of a challenging student demographic profile and relatively modest resources. Over the past decade, Florida has introduced a comprehensive program of reform that has five main points: school accountability, literacy enhancement, student accountability, teacher quality, and school choice. This article describes these five main points. Identifying the cause of the rise in Florida student performance cannot be done with perfect certainty. Exactly which reforms were key to success may never be known, but the reform package offers other states--and the nation as a whole--a clear path on which they, too, can move forward.