Well for one, I would like to see the rigorous discipline return to the schools. Students would learn to not only respect authority, but to have a reverent fear of that authority. This translates into more people becoming productive law-abiding citizens. Those who chronically misbehave were either expelled or were sent to Job Corps (which I am told is a lot like juvy).
Once students begin to respect their teachers and school staff, we will begin to have fewer class room disruptions thus more students will begin to learn more.
I would also like to see year-round schooling. Why? Because there are very few real world jobs and occupations out there that will give you a three month vacation. I understand that our current academic calendar was set up primarily to accommodate farmers who needed their children help with the summer harvesting. Plus, the economy is so bad, many business are no longer hiring summer help for students. This leaves many students vegging out on the couch or on the computer playing video games. They will likely not retain much of what they learned and much of the first semester is spent reviewing skills from the previous year - especially when it comes to multi-step skills and processes such as long division and multiplication. Many parents simply don't help their kids on these skills in the summer and they just allow their kids to do whatever. Then you have the ESL learners who may have 'mastered' a level of English proficiency at school, but they return to an all Spanish-speaking environment for those three months they are out of school and when they return they have forgotten a lot of the English vocabulary they have learned simply because they have not used it in three months.
If we had year-round schooling, a lot of these issues would be resolved. Instead of being out for a complete three months, they would be out for only 2-3 weeks at most and the year would be broken into 'quarters' with Christmas vacation being at the end of the 4th quarter and summer vacation being at the end of the 2nd quarter. Students would also be out for a week at the end of the 1st and 3rd quarters. There would be far less need to review previous skills after a three month break, students would be retaining more information and skills and would build on them better and more quickly.
Students should also be grouped together based upon mastered skill sets rather than age. Instead of having K-12 grade, we would have a 'Year one group' and a 'Year two group' and so on. Once a student has mastered a certain skill set and can show it on an annual 'promotions/review exam' then they would be promoted from 'Year one' to 'Year two'. This exam should be given at the end of the 2nd quarter before the two week summer holiday. When they are promoted, they will begin with using the skills they have mastered and will begin building on those skills almost immediately. If a student cannot show he/she has mastered these skills, they are retained in their current group and will be given a second 'promotions/review exam' at the end of the 4th quarter before the two week Christmas holiday. If they pass they will be promoted as normal and begin building on those skill sets almost immediately when they are placed in 'year two', they will be given the regular promotions/review exams at the end of the 2nd quarter with the other students. With this kind of system, kids who are at the same learning level will be learning together. Those who need remediation won't be remediated for an entire year and those who are advanced will advance as needed. Also, students may be in a class with various ages ranging from 5-7 and from 6-8 for example. All the students in the same group will be working on the same skill sets instead of having students of various skill sets but of the same age trying to slog their way through a curriculum together, which is difficult at best for educators as well as students.
I would also like to see athletic and extracurricular activities taking a back seat to education. This doesn't mean I don't support school sports and clubs, but I just wish less importance would be placed on it. For example, instead of having one class period designated for athletics, why not assign that class period for a mandatory study all and all athletics and extra-curriculars take place AFTER school, or at least outside of school 'learning hours'. The gymnasiums, fields, and tracks would be used strictly for structured physical education classes during school learning hours, meaning EVERY student regardless of whether or not they are on an athletic team MUST take a physical education course each semester. This will give the coaches something to do during the day besides sitting in their offices and shooting the breeze with each other. Athletic practices can take place BEFORE or AFTER school, but not during school. This means class schedules and availability will no longer be dictated by ones extra-curricular activities, because that block will now be used for study hall. This means students who need help on homework will have access to it, and those who need to work on projects will no longer have the excuse of 'not having time' to do it.
I think teachers pay should not be based on NCLB criteria but rather as any other job would be - based on work performance. Teachers are reviewed annually in the class room, if they do well teaching the students, then they will be paid well. Those idiots on the board of education mean well but they have no idea of what really goes on in a class room. They don't realize that in a school district that is 52% Hispanic and many are low proficiency in English or do not speak English at all, the district is bound to have low test scores if the standardized tests are given in *gasp!* English! This is why it is crucial to place students together based upon mastered skill sets, this includes English reading,writing, and speaking proficiency. Once the ESL learners are proficient in English, then we can begin teaching them the skill sets in other areas such as math, science, history, and so forth. Remember, language is the foundation for all other learning!
I know this is lengthy, but it's just my long-winded opinion of things. So in short here's what I would like to see:
1. The return of rigorous discipline to the classrooms.
2. A year round school year.
3. Group students together based upon mastered skill sets rather than by age or grade level.
