If It Were Singularly up to You, How Would You Change US Public Education?

I think they need to get back to basics. In many schools life skills are no longer taught. Classes such as Home Ec, which included cooking, sewing, child rearing, menu planning, etc are gone. Basic classes in car care are gone.

Also classes in art, music, theater, dance are gone.

Schools are focusing on higher math, science, and computer classes. Kids do need some of that but they also need life skills and the arts.

I teach high school and know that some of my frustration comes from the state that I live (not Texas) and the number of legislators here that are openly anti-public education. But my main priorities for fixing education would be.
1. English and Social Sciences should be blocked together. Students should be researching and learning and writing all together, not in a vacuum. There should be more of a focus on what is going on in the world today and problem solving.
2. My class sizes are at 40. This is malpractice and I don't meet the needs of 200 students every day. Classes should be capped at 25 for high school. Then I could actually check in with every student every day and grade their work in a timely manner.
3. Kids should go to their local school and their local school should be smaller, properly funded and excellent. Public schools spend so much time "competing" for students so they can be funded that we offer too many programs. Sports should be club sports. No need for schools to maintain so many facilities, pay coaches etc.
4. Teachers should be paid a professional salary. After 10 years I make 32K a year. I would like to be paid a proper salary. Along with that salary there should be high expectations. Teachers should be paid to work all summer on site with their colleagues designing curriculum, having meetings, preparing for the year. Not while they are in the midst of a semester.
5. Parents and teachers work together to ensure student success.
6. High school focuses on what comes next for each student with each student exploring real career options and the training they need to get there.
7. More challenging classes all the way through especially starting in middle school.

I would add one thing. I don't think it's the responsibility of schools to teach things like sewing and cooking but I have been thinking a short course on the "cost of living" might be a good thing in HS. I was raised by very frugal parents and I have been lucky enough to end up very well off financially and even I am constantly blown away by how much it costs to raise children and keep a reasonably nice home. Obviously some things we spend on are not absolute necessities but I bet a lot of teens think they are... So a class to really outline the cost of children and cars and homes might be helpful. All the "one time expenses" that come up every month in a different form.. Overall I think parental involvement in their child's education a huge key to success and parents should be teaching financial responsibility to their kids as well but given the debt load of many households, not sure all parents really have a handle on it themselves...

I've sat on this very intriguing question all morning. Theresa, thank you, first of all, for asking it so democratically. That was actually a beautifully written question. Some of the answers have given me pause, and one in particular I found to be wonderfully solution-oriented:Momma W's answer had a lot of concrete suggestions, which are often lacking in discussions about social justice and education issues.

My son goes to public school. I felt it was important that he go-- and that we support-- our neighborhood school. I'll also say that as far as schools go, it's an excellent place for kids to learn and grow. Being in the school myself, I see teachers extremely committed to creating an engaging education and using their talents and skills as teachers to draw the children into wanting to do the activities presented. Not everything at school is 'fun', nor do I labor under the impression that we may all do what we please through every minute of life; therefore, it is not helpful to my son to not require him to do things which he would consider work and not play. Part of life is work, and work in itself is not inherently bad; the suggestions of teaching stewardship within the schools through service and care-taking is an excellent one. This provides children who may not have much to care for at home to experience making positive differences in their immediate community. When we let our children take care of things, they become proud of them.

Because I have seen so many great ideas thrown out, I don't want to take up too much space here, but will say this: I think a very great deal of our children's educational experience depends far more on how we as parents-- individually and collectively-- present and participate in their learning. When we talk about "the problems with schools" we often tend to leave out the fact that the children, teachers, admin and school are not the total extent of the community: we parents should be an enormous part of our children's learning. I am not talking about helicoptering, but I am talking about actively making choices which help our kids at school. This can be anything from ensuring they get to school on time with a good breakfast to creating a quiet study space at home and being available during homework times (not to do the work for them, but to make sure the kids do understand the work when they get stuck, for a parental ear to bounce ideas off of). Volunteering at the school, donating of time and/or resources/talents, making sure we attend teacher/parent conferences and stay in communication with the teachers when necessary.

As parents, we have the opportunities to teach our kids some of the basic life skills people are mentioning. Some of the things mentioned should be supplemental and the responsibility of the parent. It is NOT the job of the school to teach your child basic life skills; it is the job of PARENTS to make sure their kids know how to sew, balance a checkbook, read a map, be able to navigate public transport, know how to mend a friendship, know how to apologize, know how to be on time for things-- these are all life skills that parents can teach best, by their own example and their own expectations.

I am so tired of the idea that the schools are responsible for so many social ills. I support public schools because I want every kid, regardless of the economic or intellectual abilities of their parents, to have a decent shot. Public school has to be all things to a great many comers; we are fortunate, our experience has been a good one. But I'd also like to think it's because my husband and I worked to make it so instead of expecting the school to do it all for us.

(Oh, and son is 7, first grade, and we are in Portland, OR.)

This is a great question. This year we decided to homeschool because of the experience we had with our neighborhood public school. My girls just finished 4th and 6th grades, and I feel that they're now catching up to where they really should have been all along. We live in Northern California.

Obviously I can only speak to the issues we experienced, but my short list of suggested changes would be:

* Group kids into classrooms by ability - advanced kids in one room, kids who need additional help in another room. At our school there was a definite "everyone gets a trophy" mentality where academically advanced kids were in the classroom with kids who needed major remediation, and while it might (?) have been beneficial for the kids who needed more help, it was awful for the kids who needed more of a challenge. We do not have a gifted and talented program in our district any longer due to budget cuts, nor is there a special education program - so all of these children are in the same classroom now. If we hope to become the best educational system on earth again, we need to push the kids who are capable of being pushed, and allow them to go as fast and as far as they can. Right now, the system is set up so that good enough is good enough, and if you meet the basic standards, you're basically ignored in favor of getting the kids who are below-standard up to the minimum standard.

* Enough with the standardized testing already. When I was a kid, a few days a year, you'd show up and they'd have you take a standardized test. I don't remember any preparation for this. You'd just show up, take out your pencil, and take the darned test. No big deal. Now, the relentless focus is on taking these tests and preparing for them. My kids would come home with bubble answer sheets and sample test pages and would have to do those for homework. Kids with learning disabilities were asked to stay home the week of the test. (I mean, really?) Look, I get it. The way the system is set up now, everything from school funding to teacher raises hinges on these tests. But this focus gets in the way of learning, and takes away time that could be used for more interesting things.

* Speaking of more interesting things, kids need the arts. Music, dance, and the visual arts. Studies have shown that kids who are proficient in the arts are better students. And well-rounded people make better citizens.

There has been some hoopla lately about the SAT test having to be dumbed down. I believe it. From what I experienced watching my kids muddle through public school for three years, there's no doubt in my mind that public education in America does need an overhaul. I don't think Common Core is necessarily the way to go about it, but that's another post entirely. Recently, my college's alumni bulletin had an article about grade inflation at the Ivy Leagues. They were saying that at this point, it's pretty much expected that students will get an A in every course. Professors were on record saying that the classes they teach now have to be much more leniently graded than ever before. The kids are simply not as prepared now as they were twenty or thirty years ago, and with college tuition being what it is, parents won't tolerate poor grades - so universities grade to the level of the incoming students. Essentially, our poor public education system is trickling up into the college system. Frankly, I think this is why there's been such a huge increase in homeschooling in the past ten years. I'm grateful to have this option for my own children, but let's face it, this is not an option for everyone, nor should it have to be.

You and I must be kindred spirits. I was just having this thought while laying in bed this morning. The end of the school year is upon us and I was reflecting upon the good,the bad and the ugly of this school year. I'd have to say majority of it was the good.

We live in a very progressive area of California, near San Francisco. My kids are in 2nd,6th and 8th grade. (The older two are in Middle School.)

I wish I had more time to address all the things I would change. But, I have to say we have really been happy with the experiences our kids have had in the public school system. It has not been all rosy. But, with disappointment, failures and set backs come a greater good: adaptation,trial and error and humility.

I taught Kindergarten before having kids. I saw kids that had been in daycare and then a couple years of preschool and Pre-K. Guess what? They didn't fair any better by the end of the year than the kids just thrown into Kindergarten as their first institutionalized learning experience. This has caused me to do much reflection and reading.

I personally like the Common Core movement, although I don't think it is perfect. It has some flaws but then again, what government program doesn't :) I think it is a step in the right direction.

I would like to see college LESS stressed. Yes, I said it. I would like to see preschool LESS stressed. I would like to see extra curricular activities and tutoring LESS stressed. Kid were better equipped to adapt to new environments, change in life and life on the playground in decades prior to all this push for perfection in all areas on an imagined resume kids were acquiring from birth.

I like what I am seeing my kids doing in school with Common Core. They are doing projects by themselves, projects with groups, debates, Power Point presentations, discussions and hands on learning. I would like less testing at the Federal level. Let teachers teach. I personally don't even care about the standardized test scores my kids get each year. I look at what skills they are learning daily, their love for learning and how they work with others.

I would love to see trade schools encouraged more. I would like to see the Arts become an integral part of everyday learning. My kids are soooo inspired when they do art, music or dance. They learn, they retain, they are inspired when that part of the brain is sparked.

I would like more opportunities for the kids to serve at their school. Our oldest, this year in 8th grade, was selected to represent our city in a student exchange program in Japan. It was an amazing experience. Two things that stuck out to me about the difference between the schools in the U.S. and Japan is dress code and service at school.

In Japan, the students all wear the same uniform. I love it! It breaks down the class system and makes them more unified. They also have one class period each day for cleaning the school. They mopped the floors by hand, picked weeds, washed desks and windows etc. Our son loved working with his Japanese peers cleaning the school. I think this teaching moment each day instills more into the hearts and minds of students than many programs that cost millions of our tax dollars. I also like that the teachers were required to dress professionally. Let's have our teachers in the U.S. dress like the professionals they are instead of shorts,t-shirts and sandals.

I could go on and on. I read a book recently titled, How Children Succeed- Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character. It is a fabulously written book. It has become a foundation for how we are raising our kids.(Also the book Free Range Parenting) We allow them to explore new things without us hovering over them, we allow them to make decisions on their own and allow them to make mistakes without fear of mom and dad's backlash.

We give them the nurturing, love and tools to be able to make choices everyday on their own. From what they put in their lunch to if they do their homework or not. We allow the school to punish them for what happens at school and not intervene. It has worked so well for us and we see such growth and maturity from NOT hovering and fighting their battles for them. I see way too much over scheduling of kids today. Kids are told what to do, when to do it, how to do it. Kids are not thinking for themselves or learning instinct. They wait to be told to do the most basic things. I see it in my middle school kids's friends...so sad.

On that note, we received a Common Core for Parents helpful hints note from school. I loved it. It gave examples of how to implement the critical thinking skills in the home. Johnny asks a question. Don't automatically answer it. Ask him what he thinks. Duh!! Common Core to me is trying to teach kids Common Sense! A child at home struggles with something, don't rush in to help. Ask the child how they could solve the issue. It also talked about letting your kids have a voice at home with what is for dinner, what they can put in their lunch, what would be a good time to set apart as "Homework Time". Let kids think out the situation with pros and cons.

Another area that I think that needs some attention is the home and family. Kids that have a strong foundation at home do better at school. Many kids struggle at school because their hearts are broken..their homes are broken. I have seen this in my own classroom as well as my kids' classrooms. I came from a broken home...I know the pain. It was hard to focus at school when my home life was a wreck and an emotional roller coaster. Divorce, unwed pregnancy are the root of of much of the poverty and other ill behavior statistics. School cannot remedy this nor all the tax dollars in the world. Let's work on improving our homes no matter the situation or background. Let's think of the kids and what is best for them. ( I am not advocating staying in a horrible and abusive marriage to keep your kids' test scores up. That won't help.) You get the gist, let's spend some time to think how we can raise the positive feeling in our family.

Ok..I gotta go. I have a laundry list of things to do. But, your question leaped out at me. I love our public school system. I think things could be better and many of the changes wouldn't cost a dime. I have loved all of my kids' teachers and many still keep in touch. There are soooo many wonderful teachers out there but their hands are tied at what they can or cannot teach.

I think the educators out there should think more about how to get these students ready for LIFE and not just college. Let's not focus so much on the Math that most of us will NEVER use but instead basic math skills. Sure we all get through Algebra 2, statistics and Calculus. But, how many adults are up to their eyeballs in debt and can't balance their checkbook. Let's teach common sense economics and home economics.

Ok..I could go off on so many tangents. I am outta here! Thanks for the reflection time, time on my soapbox and the opportunity to read other opinions.

++Oh, I had one more thought as I was switching out laundry. Not sure you will even see this. Tenure! Let's make it easier to get rid of bad teachers instead of moving them around from school to school. Did you ever see the movies Waiting for Superman and Race to Nowhere? Such great insight into the pros and cons of our current school system. I highly recommend them. Race to Nowhere was shown at our High School and the principal is trying to implement many things. I can' wait for our son to start High School there in the Fall+++

Overall, I am happy with my child's school (elementary). He's had good teachers in a safe environment. He has an IEP that the school has been fully on-board with. He has a fantastic math teacher this year. So, no major complaints from me.

If I could change 2 things though:
1) healthier lunches. I love the new movement to use local fresh foods in school cafeterias - which studies have shown can be cost effective. I wish our school would embrace it. Our taxes are subsidizing school lunches, and I hate that it mostly goes towards various shapes of chicken nuggets and fries. (yes, I pack my kid's lunch, but there are a lot of kids in my district on free/reduced lunch plans, and this is the only real meal they get. I'm helping to pay for it, and I think they deserve better).

2) exposure to foreign language. Our world gets smaller every day. In other countries, kids routinely learn multiple languages starting very young. I wish my elementary could have a full-time foreign language teacher, and just like kids go to a special class and special teacher for art, music, and gym at least once a week, they could go to a foreign language teacher at least once a week too.

My kids are 12 and 15. We are in Olathe KS with a great school district.

The one thing I would change is Tenure. I do not think teachers should earn tenure and be allowed to become "comfortable" in their jobs. Every other industry requires annual evaluations and if expectations are not met that person is let go. Once a teacher earns their tenure they can't be touched, or at least the school district doesn't try. The district just hopes and prays that teacher will retire as soon as they are able and they won't have to deal with that person any more.

M

I am overall happy with our elementary school.

I'd eliminate bubble tests, stop doing teacher evaluation in a void, bring everything back to the real, physical community level...and I'd lift the nearly decade long freeze on teacher pay increases.

I can't help thinking that many folks who think the system is broken - that teacher's unions are somehow bullying anyone, that think schools waste $, or that teachers have it super easy - do not actually have a child a public school - or are completely uninvolved. I am pretty sure they don't realize that's an image being sold by people who would want to dismantle public schools completely so they can profit from "privatizing".

My kids are 7, 9, and 10 and we live in the mid-atlantic. I am not unhappy overall with their education. I have 3 very bright students who are challenged fairly well. What I do not like is Common Core. I have a B.S. in Economics and Finance, an MBA with a concentration in International Business, and work as a Business Financial Manager, I have more trouble helping them with their math homework than should be allowed.

It's just new and I don't get it, but I don't like it either. Common Core needs to go and then I will be much more satisified with the overall experince and education they are getting. With your kids being older, I expect they missed a lot of this Common Core nonsense.

I would add Drama class to the curriculum. It teaches life long skills (public speaking) and gives kids confidence that will serve them well throughout their life.

My kid is 3, we have him in a private pre-nursery right now.

I am a product of public school, and it served me well. That said, I was lucky to start out bright, enthusiastic, ahead of the curve (reading b/f kindergarden), and with involved parents. I can't speak to public schools and curriculum nowadays, but I think kids would benefit from some of the following-

some basic self care and life skills - darning a sock, ironing a shirt, baking some pizza, planning and executing a meal, balancing a checkbook, planting and maintaining a garden.

some ongoing care and maintenance responsibility- cleaning the school, re-stocking the supplies, weeding a community garden, etc.

some 19th century education- how to navigate using the stars, orienteering, oration, composition, spelling, grammar and diction, some comparative religion, foreign language and literature.

some sweat equity and innovation- build a wood dinghy, see if it is seaworthy.

some recognition of success, failure, mediocrity, and recognition of resillience and resolve.

some civics, possibly wedded with lessons on stewardship

finally, a look to and understanding of the world beyond our borders.

Best,
F. B.

We're on a good district.
I like the idea of Common Core in that ALL kids in the US will leave a grade with the same knowledge.
I think all districts should get equal resources per child and that teachers salaries should be a national scale.
Then we might get (ahem) better teachers in the poorer districts.
I think teacher retention should be based on meeting goals (re class grades) after throwing out the top & bottom 3-5% result.
I do believe a child CAN learn & achieve in the grimmest of circumstances IF they are motivated to do so, but I also know there are kids out there that don't eat dinner each night and can't afford pencils.

Unfortunately I believe that there are no simple fixes for this. No amount of money thrown at schools, no amount of teacher training and evaluation and no one best "system" will solve the underlying problems of our schools: a society that is profoundly unequal.

If you look at the highest scoring countries (usually Scandinavian countries and some Asian countries) you will also notice that their societies do not have a great divide in terms of social and economic inequality. The amount and degree of poverty that we have in this country is virtually unheard of in these countries. They also have a pretty much non-existent drop-out rate.

When you are saying that your kids had a good experience in school and you don't quite see the need to fix things you are forgetting that these assessment of our education system are based on averages across all schools.
There is no doubt that there are some schools or school districts that do an excellent job and they will have students who will do very well once off to college and the workforce. They are also most often located in high income areas were parents have the time and/or means to support their kids' education.

On the other hand the lowest performing schools are most often located in areas were poverty is prevalent and parents do not have the means (be they financial, time) to support their kids' education.

How is a school supposed to fix that gap? They can't. There is no doubt that for the past couple of decades the trend has been for more people to have less and for less people to have more. Unless we address the inequalities in our society we will continue (on average) to slowly and steadily fall behind - not only in education, but it will also start happening in science, technology and economy.

Everything is interconnected, we know it, politicians and policy makers know it... doing something about it would require some very unpopular steps that nobody is willing to take and it would require sacrifice from those of us who are better off - and who is up for that?

BTW: I live in a "good school district" in an upper middle class suburb of a pretty affluent city. We have those "good schools" because we can afford to live here. I have a kid in elementary and she has music classes, art and recess...I don't think our particular school needs any "fixing". But I know that we are fortunate because we lived in a less affluent area before and we moved particularly because we wanted better school options for our children.

My kids range in age from 8 to 16 (grades 2 through 10) and we are in a suburb of Boston that has a reputation for very good schools.

By and large I am satisfied with the quality of education that my children receive. As you said, there are always things to improve but there is nothing in my school district that is terribly broken. One of my kids is a high performer, one really struggles with school and has ADHD and learning disabilities, one is bright but has behavior issues and one is just where he should be. All receive the education that they each need. My LD/ADHD is on an IEP and gets adequate accommodations and support, my high achiever has access to AP classes and academic teams, we have great music, art, athletic and extra-curricular programs, high parent involvement, and high community support. When the school budget doesn't cover something, we go to the community for funding and if something is worth doing, people start writing checks.

I am a big fan of standards in both curriculum and testing. We can't possibly know which schools and teachers are getting it right without seeing how the kids do when measured on the same material. I truly believe that the education reform passed in Massachusetts in the 1990's, which created our standardized testing system (MCAS) has helped make Massachusetts schools among the top in the nation and in some cases, compete on a global scale. You can't make changes without data to measure the success or failure of programs and initiatives. Standardized testing provides data that can be measured

My issue with public education is in knowing that what my kids get isn't the norm. That in neighboring communities with poorer families, higher immigration rates, higher rates of homelessness, etc. we are throwing more money per student at each school and it doesn't get the same results because the demographics are so different. The per-pupil spending in my district is actually one of the lowest in the state, because families here have the money to spend supporting foundations that close the funding gap. For example, there is a private technology foundation that has purchased over $1M in technology for schools in the past 10+ years. The single mom working 2 jobs to keep a roof over her head in the neighboring city can't fork over $100 for tickets to a dinner dance and silent auction to support these kinds of private foundations. She probably also can't take time off from work to help out in the classroom or attend a parent-teacher conference.

So to me, it's the gaping inequality from school district to school district (and from state to state) that bothers me so much. I don't know that it's a school problem per se or if schools are just another arena where the differences between the haves and have-nots is clear.

Public education should be the one level playing field that we have. It just seems to wrong to me that some school districts have the best of everything while others have maps on the wall that still display the USSR because spending $20 on a new world map for each classroom isn't in a district's budget. I hear of schools where there are no text books, just copies of pages from workbooks. Where teachers have to pay for their own photo copies and parents send in reams of copy paper because the teachers have to buy that too. That's just appalling.

I would make training teachers a priority in colleges and pay them much better. I would do away with student teachers and instead have the colleges work with inner city schools as a work/study portion of regular teacher training. I would not have tenured teachers.Teachers who don't care anymore and don't take their jobs seriously shouldn't be protected from being let go. My kids had a couple teachers who were just clocking time and because of teacher's unions there's nothing you can do about it.

I would require school uniforms in all schools and longer school days with more breaks during the day between classes so the kids could run around a little before having to focus on lessons again. I would put everything on the computer so that parents could access the lessons and see what's going on.

I am up in the pacific northwest. I have two kids in elementary school, one in 2nd and one in 5th.
My children do great in school. They are capable wonderful kids. I am blessed.
That being said......
I would put BACK into schools recess, music, PE, library, ect. My boys only get one recess a day. By the time they get home they are so ANTSY!! I believe that children will concentrate more if they are up and moving more. My kids get one 20 minute recess, that's it! Back when I was in school we got 3. 2, 15 minutes and 1 30 minute. Studies show that kids that play a musical intrument or sing, or are just musically inclined actually do BETTER in school. The fact that those things are being taken out of school probably hurts our children more than helps them.
Here in Seattle the elementary teachers make anywhere between $37,000-$77,000. With the average being $57,000. http://swz.salary.com/SalaryWizard/Teacher-Elementary-Sch...
I wouldn't pay teachers in our area more, BUT I would make sure that each teacher got a stipend at the beginning of the year. I don't like that teachers are using their own money to purchase supplies and things the classroom needs.
Our special needs (ALL special needs) is in desperate need of an overhaul. My good friend's son has been diagnosed with Autism and his school has failed him SO tremendously that mom is pulling him out and homeschooling him.
Punishment for bullying would be swift and harsh. BOTH students AND teachers.
Overall I am satisfied with the education my children are receiving....I hope to continue to be as the enter into Jr. High and High School!
L.

In short, less standardized testing.

Our son's in 9th grade in a public school STEM program, south eastern Virginia.
Our elementary school was small and we liked it a lot - there were 3 classrooms of about 22 students of each grade k through 5th (our son's whole 5th grade had a total of 65 students in it).
Middle school (grades 6 though 8) was larger - they split the grades into teams of about 125 students each and there were a total of about 5 teams (some were gifted groups) so any given grade had about 485 students with 3 grades in middle school there were about 1436 students in all.
For 7th grade out son spent the whole year in portable classrooms - they weren't allowed in the main building except for bathrooms and lunch and band and although they had some freedoms the other classes didn't have (if you finished your work you could be outside) - I wasn't thrilled but our son was ok with it.
Now he's in high school - it's a new school building (opened in 2007) that has no portable classrooms so far and it is HUGE (2038 students attend) - I've seen a few college campuses that are smaller.
Our son enjoys it but I feel the class sizes and the school in general is too large.
A high school grade size should be no more than 300 students per grade so a school with grades 9 through 12 would top out with a total of 1200 students attending one facility.
I want neighborhood schools where we're not busing them all over hell's half acre.

I think No Child Left Behind was a disaster for gifted students.
No child got left behind because no child could get ahead - every class travels at the pace of the slowest student and the smart kids are bored Border BORED.
The kids that need extra help mastering the basics need to be in smaller classes where they get more individual attention - and the gifted students need to be in groups where the class travels at a faster pace and they SHOULDN'T be kept locked stepped into a slower curriculum to match a basic grade standard.
If they can cover 4th and 5th grade material in one year - fine!
I think we need to get over the notion that all kids are college material - they aren't - and for those who are not there needs to be more vocational training and trade schools.
I'm all for public education not stopping at 12th grade but continuing through a bachelors degree - community colleges should be part of public education.
So many high schools offer programs where kids graduate and earn their diploma along with an associates degree already they might as well take it to the next step and go on to a bachelors degree.

I'm on the fence about school lunches.
Overall I think they do a pretty good job but when it comes to collecting money from dead beat parents who can't seem to manage keeping tabs on a school lunch account I have to wonder how education got into the food service business.
In my Mom's day (she started school in the 1940's) kids at first were sent home for lunch - the school didn't feed them at all (granted her parents didn't feed her lunch either - she sometimes could go beg a lunch at her grandmothers house).
When schools did start serving lunch, sometimes the teachers would sneak an extra milk to my Mom because she always looked like she was on the verge of starving to death.

I would have schools fully funded either via the State or the US. None of this property tax bs. None of this PTA-funded bs. Each school in each state would receive comparable resources. It is immoral how wealthy areas get all of the resources and poor areas get so few.

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ETA: I would like to add that my kiddo goes to a reasonably well-funded public school with great resources. Added to that is the PTA raises a LOT of money and funds some extra really cool things. I'm grateful that my daughter has access to these materials and opportunities. But I know that many kids in disadvantaged neighborhoods will never receive the same level of educational resources, and it really bothers me. The lack of equity in the system is appalling.

Oklahoma, 2 kids, one with ADHD and behavioral issues the other one is 10 and doing fine.

I think that we are really silly sometimes when it comes to stressing out over schools.

Seriously, when they get to college anyone with a C average or better can go to college. Maybe not Ivy League but still, college. I got into 3 colleges at high school graduation and made a 7 on my math scores on the ACT. I have a learning disability in math that wasn't diagnosed until I was in college.

I had a basic public school education and didn't study or make a lot of effort. A lot went right over my head. I still got into 3 colleges. The only one I applied to that I didn't get in to was OBU in Shawnee OK. Almost all my friends went there. We lost contact for many years but have reconnected.

I think that public school is fine. I do understand that some parents push their kids a lot harder than others so they can get ahead of other kids but in the end they all have the same opportunities. Some people who've made millions by the time they're 20 didn't even graduate high school or college.

I will say though that so much has changed now. My grand kids that I am raising do have a hard time. They don't do science fairs, they don't do fair entries, they don't even learn penmanship/cursive writing.

My granddaughter is in 4th grade right now, going to 5th in the fall. She didn't learn much in 3rd grade. The teacher flat out said the only thing she could teach was what was on the standardized testing. She had to have kids that pass that test or she was out of a job, if they flunked or didn't do well, she would be fired.

So all she taught was that. She had the opportunity to do other stuff but she didn't. She sent homework home every day and the kids in her class consistently tested low and normal but not better. My granddaughter had tested in the 97% for reading and in the 92% for math in 2nd grade. So her 3rd grade teacher, even though she was sending homework home every day, couldn't teach.

This past year my granddaughter's teacher cared. She spent several days per week after school tutoring the kids in her class that were behind. She brought my granddaughter up a whole 2 grades this past year.

She spent her afternoons working with kids outside of work, not getting a penny for that extra time, and got every student in her class beyond the 4th grade level.

She did NOT send homework home with the kids at all. So far she's my granddaughter's favorite teacher. She is amazing. I wish she could move up with her all the way through this school.

So, if I were to make changes in our education system I'd make it more fun. Kids in elementary school age learn so much more by doing, doing science experiments, doing math games, playing games with spelling words, and they don't learn very much by sitting down, being still, and shutting up. They are kids and they learn by doing.

I have to have structure so I wouldn't do Montessori. But I do think that a lot more fun should be part of our school system.

Wouldn't you have learned at the same time and you were having fun? I hated staying at home when I was sick. I begged to go to school every day when I had chicken pox. I wanted to go to school because we were playing games with the multiplication tables.

we are in SC, attend catholic school.
i'm foreign born so I can point out a few things that I believe would help the educational system:
-grades K-4, should attend school for 4 hours. Children are still young, and have difficulties concentrating for 6+ hours. plus, it's insane.
-grades 5 through high school should attend school for 7 hrs.
-foreign language should be introduced in first grade, not just spanish. actually, I wouldn't offer spanish, instead I would choose a few like chinese mandarin or cantonese (let's face it, china is taking over everything), japanese, german, modern arabic, or a romance language like italian (which would help with spanish too for those who were interested in learning spanish).
-testing-my kids have 8+ tests a week. overkill. kids should be tested one each subject after a unit is finished. math a bit more frequently. most subjects should have discussion (and have this as part of grading), where each kid is called (at some point) to discuss/relate, answer etc (helps with public speaking).
-cursive-absolutely, starting 3rd grade.
sit down with ministers of education from countries that are way better than us and get their curriculum, and then stop changing it.
-no more than 25 kids per class.
and so on

Go back to teaching kids in a way that's common sense.

Common Core is stressing out kids and parents alike because it makes no sense. I know the need for analytical skills in the workforce, but having people do things a cumbersome way doesn't fly in the workplace. Employers want people who can think quickly and take action quickly. They want people who use analytical skills when they're necessary, not for every single task they perform. They want strong communication skills. I'm pretty sure the designers of Common Core have never worked in the corporate sector before to know what's really needed. In my career, if I did basic math the crazy way my kids do, I'd be in for a talk with my manager about my slow performance.

I was happy with our kids' education before Common Core. Now, I'm constantly thinking, "WTH is this???" I have a college degree and can't make sense of it much of the time; I wonder how in the world parents with less education figure it out.

ETA: My kids are 11 and 8, and we're in California. And I tip my hat to teachers everywhere. What a tough job for low pay! I don't blame them one bit for Common Core; they don't have a choice.

My kids attended schools all over the world. They were homeschooled in Italy, attended large public and tiny public schools in the states, one private school and they attended an elite private school on a small Caribbean island (my husband was stationed there and there were no American facilities and no other school where the teachers spoke English).

I had one child who progressed normally (whatever "normal" means, but by that I mean went through the normal curriculum, got good grades, never had disciplinary problems, etc).

My other child developed multiple medical issues, and couldn't handle public high school. Her diagnoses are rare and the school did not understand. She eventually finished high school at an online school.

What I would change: I would eliminate the 2 week state testing period and the state assessment tests. I would instead grade schools based on 5 criteria.

Those would be: enrollment (whether they had actively enrolled all students, given vision and hearing screenings, set up early interventions); attendance (addressing issues that contribute to missing school such as hunger, transportation issues, language barriers, poverty, apathy); achievement (grades and passing to the next level at the appropriate time, student individual achievements, academic competition performances); retention (staying in school and graduating); and post-graduate success (entering the military, gainful employment, going on to college). The schools would be allowed to address their specific issues that students in their specific areas face. We don't need standardized testing, because we don't have standardized schools and we sure don't have standardized students.

I would also have some sort of national consultant that school nurses could access when faced with students with rare disorders or unusual diagnoses. My child was belittled and accused of faking her fatigue, which was debilitating. Although I brought doctors' letters, the nurse was way too overburdened with so many students to have the time to look up my daughter's illnesses. If the nurse could have had access to a national medical consultant with the time to research this, maybe things would have been different.

I would start serious second language learning in kindergarten like other countries. At the latest 3rd grade like Germany. And not a "few words of Spanish" like here, but REAL foreign language immersion for part of the day. High school is way too late to learn it and Americans have no excuse walking around speaking only one language if we think we're so smart-it's just our ridiculous school system.

I would want much more advanced curriculums to be "the average". Not more time consuming, but more difficult. Kids are not being challenged at the levels they used to be at the same age or equally to other countries except in highly superior (often private) schools in wealthy areas with more educated parenting bases. I homeschooled up until recently and my 2nd graders work at school is MUCH more simplistic than her 1st grade homeschool work was.

I would put cursive writing back in school (nixed in most PA schools). Kids CAN LEARN two types of handwriting PLUS keyboarding. They're not dumber than when we were kids. We can all type, use computers AND write. It's sad to see kids who totally lack the hand eye coordination for good writing due simply to lack of practice.

I would have more serious music classes available in earlier grades. I would start the "structured" art classes later. The art teacher at our school is "directing" young artists into "crafts" and "drawing rules" way too much for early years and not letting them embrace this fleeting uninhibited phase.

I would have longer recess. And healthier lunches. And smaller classes. And firmer discipline. And creative activities would be equal in importance to sports.

I have no problem with testing if only the tests weren't "the bare minimum of what's being taught to the peril of all other aspects of learning". People are chasing the wrong demon by being obsessed with "the tests" being the problem. It's the entire system behind the tests.

I would gear the classes to the more advanced students, and get special separate help for kids that are behind rather than holding back entire class to slowest levels. My daughter is ignored most of day because she's ahead and has good behavior.

We live in a small town in central PA. My kids are 8, 6 and 4. We are actively trying to move to France for the fall school year. If we can't swing it, I will homeschool again next year.

My kids are 6,4 and 1. We homeschool. As I see it, the dominate problem with American schools is that they are very successful at doing what they were set up to do: to indoctrinate and to socialize. They provide our kids with schooling. They do not, however, really concern themselves with education. There is a big difference, and while the schools serve a vital role in society, what they mostly do is reinforce class differences and stratify society even further. Our schools are very undemocratic, and since they don't even utilize good quality philosophy of education as their foundation, I would blow them up and start all over.

I had quality schooling as a kid, and it did serve me well. Schools serve many kids well, but we are falling behind as a country because we have allowed bureaucrats to make decisions rather than educators. We have cases of amazing schools all across the country that took at risk kids and turned them into Harvard graduates. We know what it takes, but as a society, what it takes sounds too scary: we throw out tests, we let kids roam around buildings without official classes, we let them explore and follow their own curiosity. We make them responsible for their own education, cause really, no one can make someone else learn, so it's silly to think you can.

The long and the short of it is that we will continue to lag behind as a society as long as we believe we need more schooling, rather than less. And we need less classification and diagnosis. If schools were more natural, our kids wouldn't be so messed up. But instead of going with nature, and how kids naturally learn, we work against it.

So, I'd blow them up and start all over. The serve a very select group well, while making sure everyone else buys into their place in society.

Nowadays, many public schools adopt other curriculum.
Such as: STEM programs or the I.B. curriculum and accreditation. (I.B. is the International Baccalaureate program).
At least in my State, many public schools are doing this.
But well who knows if this makes "education" better for the students.

Many of the public schools that have these other programs, are just a confusing mess! The Teachers/school, has to comply with the I.B. requirements & to maintain accreditation, BUT yet, the public school has to comply with the State Dept. Of Education curriculum requirements & standards. ALSO. BUT, Teachers are not compensated in any way, to operate as a Teacher for 2 different educational systems. They are teachers and employees for the State Dept. of Education. But yet they have to attend tons of meetings for I.B. compliance and meet continual requirements for it. And changes to the curriculum. ALL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR. And with grading and report cards, it is 2 different systems as well. And the schools/Teachers has to produce & design a curriculum & criteria that satisfies BOTH education systems & requirements. But yet grading systems for both systems are different. It is apples and oranges. And it is very confusing for the students and the parents. And the Teachers too.

But well, these are attempts by some public schools, to "improve" education.
But does it?

Then, you have some kids in other parts of the world, that have such menial educational resources. But they are very educated and in terms of life and world views. And they are successful.

My kids go to public school.
We also teach them things at home. That is how I grew up too.
We also have friends who's kids go to private school.
In comparison, what my daughter learned in 6th grade, and what her other friends learned in 6th grade at private school, my daughter learned more.

is the public education system broken ? sure it is, when more and more children are going to school hungry only to have the teacher think they have the right to take the childs home packed lunch away from them because the teacher decides it not healthy enough ,sure, the system is broken..when the schools do school wide fundraisers, only to spend "the new roof fund" on wall to wall carpeting in the teachers lounge, the system is broken. when the teachers and school counsellors decide what they "think" a child good at, without any parent or student input, the system is broken. when a childs teacher and/or counsellor violates the students parents right to privacy by asking the child a personal question about the parent, without their knowledge or consent , the system is broken.. K. h.

I have two grown stepkids who are either in or have completed college and taken AP courses (and received passing 3s - 5s) via a public education. My sister and I were mostly public school kids. I'm overall OK with the local public education. Admittedly, my child attends a Title 1 school, in large part due to the local population. There are striking differences between our school and some of the ones in the ritzier part of town and we are by no means in a "poor" county. I don't know what would fill the gap but I'd love to know and love to be able to implement it.

My magic wand would allow teachers to have more freedom, especially if their classes show that their methods work. Don't hamstring good, seasoned teachers with stupid ideas from non-educators. Don't tie their "success" or the success of a school to only a test, especially if you are then going to compare apples and oranges. Schools with a lot of ESL kids aren't going to test as well if they can't read the test! Look for ways to resolve problems instead of punishing a school. Got a lot of ESL kids? Start a new language program that's a win-win for everybody. And give the schools the funds to do that! Give teachers incentive to stay in a school more than 1 year, and to get more education.

Which is not to say that there should be no data taken, but look at effective districts and their testing vs the ones that end up teaching half the year to a test vs really teaching the kids and then testing on that knowledge.

I would also want to vastly increase funding, including for salaries. These people aren't just teachers - they are social workers, therapists, lunch monitors, special activity coordinators...pay them! Paying them for all the overtime they do voluntarily might be a start. I don't know any teacher who only truly works 7AM-3PM.

Several of DD's teachers have gone above and beyond and I wish I could give them raises for all the little things they do. Their care and attention has been so very beneficial for my DD's growth educationally as well as as person. Teachers should have a manageable "case load" and not feel like they are scrambling to get to each child in a class of 30. I am grateful my DD's classes are smaller, but I know other schools have larger classes. Schools should be able to provide supplies, maintain buildings and rebuild when necessary. There should be no leaky schools in our country. I would also provide funding for schools to serve better, healthier, real food. Not the ick that comes out of so many cafeteria kitchens.

If other schools no longer offer PE, Art, Music and similar as standard, they should, and should have funding for it. My DD has a STEM class once a week, as well as PE, Art, Music (instruments start in 3rd or 4th grade) and library and computer lab time. Kids exposed to music do better in math, so it seems illogical to me to cut that out.

There has been much gnashing of teeth about Common Core, and I'm not going to debate that here. What I would like to see (magic wand time) is for there to be a unified progression in schools, so that if my friend's military kids move from TN to TX, they aren't lost because the first school didn't teach algebra first. My sister was victim of this when learning to read and had to be tutored only because the schools had different reading expectations.

I would also like more polytech programs offered. Some kids are not going to college and shouldn't only have options that lead to to that end. My nephew is great with cars, and I wish he'd had a mechanics program in HS. It would have motivated him overall, I think, to have something he loved to augment the reading, writing, etc.

I see some talk about tenure. Some sort of way to rate a teacher and get him/her out of a school would not necessarily be a bad thing. My SD had two horrible teachers and one only left because she retired and the other is STILL teaching, even after the VP had to sit in her class to verify what SD reported. She was caught giving SD an F on a final...and is STILL employed!

ETA: My DD is in a dual language classroom. It helps the Spanish speaking kids learn faster AND it gives DD immersion PT into another language, which fills my desire for her to learn a language early. It's a program they bought into from California and I feel it's well-run. For the record, kids may be bilingual when they enter the program, but may also test in as a native Spanish speaker. It has not hindered her English reading and writing or her math or other skills. They also do this program in French and Chinese in other schools.

We also have a new ES that was built to be a very green school - solar panels, composting (DD's school has a worm bin), etc. I think more schools should have gardens the kids can work in, compost bins, recycle, use alternative energy, etc. After all, it is their future. My magic wand would like it to be a better place.

One of the schools here is just like other people mentioned - everyone benefits from William and Mary, not just a few kids. The non-magnet kids still get exposed to all the magnet activities and programs but the magnet kids get to excel with more of their same-level peers. My child did not qualify, but I know some people who moved into that neighborhood because their child would then be assigned that school by default and not have to test in. The gifted program I was in as a child benefited me by allowing me to be with my peers - not only so I was challenged, but so I didn't have to deal with the kids who just wanted to skate by and harassed the smart kids.

I live in a small community north of Spokane, WA. Our school is only K - 4th grade then the kids are bussed to a larger school farther north. I love our tiny school and things there are done "old school". They still have morning recess, lunch recess and afternoon recess. Music 2x a week and p.e. 2x a week. Free breakfast is served to every single student who wants it and no child is ever turned away at lunch. If they do not have $ in their lunch account they get a sack lunch with a sandwich, fruit and other items but they never go hungry. Their Christmas program is still referred to as just that and they even sing Christmas carols and say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. For all of that I am grateful.
The ONE thing I would absolutely change is the implementation of Common Core. I detest it. My boys are in K and 4th.

Get ride of the stupid state testing. Let the teachers teach. Cut down on the hours at school and the homework.

I am in the Mid-Atlantic region. I have two boys in the Fairfax County Public school system. We have art and music as well as drama in our elementary schools. Children are allowed to choose an instrument - brass, percussion or strings in the 3rd grade.

We have a Grace Arts program that teaches the kids about artists. It is sponsored by our PTA and parents that volunteer to teach the kids.

Thank GOD it's NOT Common Core. People were pushing for it, but so far, we've managed to stave it off.

Our county has German, French, Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, and several others. We have schools that are immersion programs, where the kids learn the other language for 1/2 of the day.

What would I change?

Education needs to be at the STATE level, not the FEDERAL level.

Ensure Common Core is NOT introduced into the school system. While I understand that people want each student in every state to leave that grade with the same knowledge - it's not going to happen. And if you've ever taken a look at how they want to TEACH Common Core??? OH MY GOD!! A mess!!

Then get rid of the unions.

I am very happy with my kids' public school experiences, and like you, my kids are thriving. So I know that a good public education is available.

But I am currently trying to figure out this conundrum, and I think that one of the big problems is that many kids don't read and/or their parents don't read to them at a young age, and their language acquisition suffers because of it. Lack of academic language snowballs and affects all subjects, as kids are lost and feel defeated and fall further and further behind, (in addition to acting up in class).

I don't know how to fix this, because it starts and continues in the home, and is really hard to overcome. Read the Hart Risley study.

There are good teachers and bad teachers, but a good student can still learn plenty from even the worst teacher.

I will be interested to read your responses.

p.s. And I like the idea of Common Core, but I don't like a lot of the details. However, it's still too new for some of the backlash it's receiving. But I agree that I've seen some pretty dumb CC math assignments. Making math more complicated vs. doing it the tried and true way makes no sense.

Let the education $$$ follow the child instead of the other way around.

I would get rid of every, single zero-tolerance rule on the books and reduce the number of national/state/standardized tests. I think our public school system is full of wonderful, caring teachers, trained professionals who need to be given back control of their classrooms.
And on the parenting end: We need to get back to seeing ourselves as allies, as partners working with teachers for the benefit of every child in the classroom. Some seems to think we are adversaries - that we have to 'fight' to get the best for our kids. Fight the system maybe, if it's broken. But support the teachers.

My kids are in elementary and so far so good. But I'd like to see smaller class sizes and that's a matter of money... Also, I'm no expert but I believe the "Socrates" method of teaching which is very discussion based vs lecturing works best but is hard to do with large classes. I would like to see that explored more. Otherwise, I'm glad to see you're overall happy. I thought you were going to slam the schools and I don't believe that's warranted. I'm sure school doesn't work for all kids but we have to tailor it to the majority. I do believe a path for kids who are not so "book" focused would be great. The trade school idea instead of college for everyone as the goal when it's just not a good fit for everyone. I wouldn't mind more leeway for discipline in the classrooms too like in the good old days :) I don't like my kids' time wasted bc two kids can never behave. But I feel our school goes way above and beyond trying to make everyone happy and offer diverse programs. Not sure my school did so much when I was a kid and I was in what was supposed to be one of the best school systems... Oh - I'd like to see PE every day again. Maybe some schools have it but we don't have the funds any more for every day.

ETA: Can't believe I forgot to say do away with tenure. Also, we are in a wealthy district and have some children come from a low income area. Say 1 or 2 kids per classroom. I'm not being critical when I say it's typically those students who perform the worst. Same classroom. Same teacher as my kids but probably very little support at home. I've been looking at SAT scores across the country and CA has some of the lowest spend per pupil yet some of the highest SAT scores on average at its HS's. Higher than the best in Texas if Plano is the best or I guess Highland is and CA still has higher. Silicon Valley has very involved parents I'm sure. Translates to high test scores. So it's not all up to the schools at all. Parents make a huge difference.

Such interesting timing, given the fact that FB owner Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Chan, Pediatrician, just infused $120 Million into the Bay area schools. And they both consider that a mere drop in the bucket. And Bay area schools are well funded already. Imagine what the rest of the US needs.

Here's the announcement:

http://time.com/2797142/mark-zuckerberg-donation-schools/

Personally, I would highly recommend the following:

1. High School math classes about real life finances: banking, balancing check books, how to save, simple investing tools, how to apply for a mortgage, how to manage credit, etc. Not everyone has financially savvy enough parents to teach them the ropes. I was on my own, and thank goodness did well enough in math to follow the 'how to' section of the bank statement.

2. Equal the playing field and pay our teachers more. We should be attracting bright, young people into teaching, and we do, but we don't pay them enough. There are pockets in the US that pay their teachers more. Here in Canada, the starting teacher salary is $45-50k/yr and quickly increases to $75-90k/yr.

3. Uniforms - yes

4. All year school - yes

5. Music, art, performing arts, dance, home economics - a big yes.

6. Ditto everything Nervy Girl says, except that unfortunately, there are too many fractured families in our society, and many parents are unable (if in the picture even) to teach simple tasks like home economics. Those classes are life savers for neglected or poor children. They can learn a skill early on that can be useful for them. Even though my mother was an excellent seamstress, I never learned one sewing tip from her in Jr. High school. My mom was a horrid teacher of her own children. She fed us and kept a roof over our head. Otherwise, we were on our own to figure out school and life.

7. More Corporate or small business involvement with the curriculum. Period. Start that like yesterday.

8. Given our dependency upon electronics and computers, I think basic computer programming should be mandatory, much like we learned to type on old typewriters.

My kids:
25 yo daughter, went to public schools in Seattle, WA, Irvine / Corona del Mar, California and Portland, OR. Graduated with honors from ASU, The Barret Honors College, and is working on a Masters at UWA, Seattle. Her tuition is paid for as she is an RA with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

15 yo son, attended private Lutheran school, K-4th when we decided to support public schools. He'll be attending our local public HS next year, grade 10. It's considered one of the top 3 high school's in our province.

12 yo daughter, similar, attended private Lutheran school, K-1st, then switched to public schools, 2nd - 6th. She'll be in a public Jr. High school next year, but probably only for 1 or 2 more years, as she'll attend a National Sport School more than likely,depending upon how she competes at Nationals this year.

I am in Plano TX, a northern burb about 30 minutes from downtown Dallas (depending on traffic!) When we moved here 25 yrs ago, we moved to the DFW area due to the potential economic growth. It was at the end of the boom and Dallas was in recovery mode. Now it is one of the best places to have a business, economy is booming, our housing market did not drastically drop like some other areas that were just ruined. Several of the burbs in the area are on the top 10 places to raise a family, top 10 places to live, top 10 places for business and more.

We moved to the Plano area because of this school system and how highly regarded it is. Of course not every school in the district is exemplary or blue ribbon but my daughter 19, was fortunate enough (due to our planning) to live in the area where the best schools in Plano are located.

I am very pleased with the curriculum and system we have. It is not Common Core (I would hate that). Her high school graduating class last June had around 1200 students and 99% of them go on to further education, many at Ivy league schools. All 3 of the Sr. High schools (grades 11-12) are in the top 100 public schools according to US News and World Report and have been coming up the list yearly.

She graduated with honors and just completed her freshman year of college with a 4.0. Kids around here are focused, motivated and determined to achieve their goals.

If Plano public schools and our location was not an option, we would have opted for a private school in Dallas. NO WAY, would I send my child to a Dallas public school.. they are in shambles right now.

Of course, there are some other good districts in the DFW area.... I know several moms here from Keller, Southlake, Mansfield etc that have children in good schools.

Our children do have PE, library, art and music.

I've been substitute teaching for 13 years now and I love being in the classroom and being with the children. I think it is important to engage the children and make it so they love to learn and not make it a chore for them. I enjoy finding new ways to engage those who are struggling and my favorite grade level to teach is first grade. They are so sweet!! As for recess.... I LOVE it when they are able to get out and run around. First grade has 30 minutes recess and 45 minutes active PE daily.

I wouldn't change anything particular to how my daughter's education turned out. We have been quite pleased.

ETA: after reading other responses, I guess we are lucky. All elementary has PE, Music, Art and Library. When children start middle school at 6th grade, 1 year of music is required (orchestra, band or choir), The also introduce the "wheel" in 6th grade which involves 6 weeks on each... home ec with cooking and sewing, drama, language, and I forget the others... Anyway, they are exposed to other areas so they can look further into those options later if they choose to add them as electives. it is in 6th grade when they start dressing out for PE which is stressful for so many of the pre-teens.

I am of mixed views about our public school. It is ranked high and has a great reputation.

We are in Texas, 9 and 7 years olds...just finished third and first grades.

I do not like immersion classrooms. This year I feel my son just kinda slipped though the cracks. He is not a behavioral problem and he learns things well. He kept saying how much he hated school. His grades actually lowered because he was forced to repeat the same material over and over again to bring those that were behind up to speed. He would just stop trying after the material was taught and tested once. He would race though and make silly mistakes not because he couldn't do the work but he didn't want to do it AGAIN. Also, he had two students in his class that will never grow beyond the social maturity of a four to five year old. They did not have all day aides and were a constant drain on the teachers time and energy to just keep them on task.

I really wish he was in a classroom with other students on his level where he could learn and then move on to something new...keeping the material fresh.

I would get rid of state testing...just a basic test of their reading levels and math levels to see where they are academically.

I have to go and I have more to say...but that is a start.