Blog Comment

The information below comes from an education blog.  I don't necessarily agree with the comments. While we can all use improvement, it needs to be said that public education  is doing more things today, and doing them better today, than ever before.  One of the biggest problems today is we've taken accountability away from the student and placed it squarely on the teacher/administrator. Never-the-less, read the comments and form your own conclusion.

 http://roysblog.edin08.com/2008/03/traditional-sch.html
Traditional School Structure Needs Improvement and Innovation
Today, Ted Kolderie, a senior associate at the Center for Policy Studies, commented about the increased need for innovation in education. He says that, "To meet its goals, this country must next undertake a serious effort to develop new forms of school and schooling. It is time to redirect k-12 policy toward innovation." I happen to agree.

America's schools are not keeping pace with the demands of today's world. Our schools are failing to prepare all students for college, for careers, and for life. And they are failing to prepare our nation to compete in today's high-tech global economy. As I've mentioned previously, we need to move beyond the traditional schooling method that was instituted over a hundred years ago to a system that will do more to increase and inspire children's learning potential.

We've seen great examples of moving beyond the traditional schooling format demonstrated in the KIPP Program and Achievement First schools. The additional learning time that is factored into these programs has helped students better prepare for high school and college. Further, charter schools around the country have been able to offer longer days, Saturday classes, and mandatory summer programs for remediation and acceleration.

We've seen three other important benefits from these programs. First, they have the ability to create their own schedules giving them a distinct advantage over public schools who must deal with the traditional system. Second, because charter schools are built from the ground up they can incorporate longer schedules into their inception. Finally, the lessons learned by charter schools on how to use additional time, how to fund it, and how to incorporate additional teacher and student support into an expanded schedule will be very instructive to traditional schools. In fact, the use of time may be the first area in which charters have a significant impact on the operation of district-based public schools.

Remember, if we increase more time and support for learning, if we have effective teachers in every classroom and if we have higher education standards, I believe we'll be able to solve our education crisis.