Ideas for K-12 Education Reform

By Bob Tucker

A collection of ideas to implement change in public education

All public education employee salaries and school district budgets should be posted on the district website.

Collaborate with local Workforce Investment Boards and Chambers of Commerce to help support our students career paths.

Constantly refine a singular goal that students must meet or exceed state standards in core academic subjects, and that English language learners must gain a certain amount of proficiency in the language.

Passing students on to the next grade level regardless whether or not essential skills are mastered is a disservice and a perpetuation of a terrible farce.

Socioeconomic levels of students must be considered as well as test scores. Community resources must be available to help struggling students and their families.

Students need to enjoy life at school and not just be test taking automatons. Allow time for social interaction, arts, and physical exercise and play.

Maintain funding for after school and summer programs to provide a "safe harbor" for students who may be exposed to gangs in their neighborhoods with a focus on students in middle school or younger.

History classes should include the recent local history of the diverse populations within each school district.

Add to curriculum, courses related to the preparation for the work force so that students will understand how to navigate workplace "rules of the road."

There should be financial incentives to all staff to improve their skills related to their actual work.

Match student needs to teacher strengths. Cultivate a collaborative working environment.

Teaching to the test does not work if students are not well versed in subject matter. Standardized tests do not determine a teacher's mettle.

Teacher evaluations need to be revamped to include peer review. Peers should include other teachers, union reps, parents, administrators, and former students.

"Value added" system of evaluating teachers (LAUSD) should only be one piece of evaluating teachers.

Class Size Reduction (CSR) has been proven not to aid student improvement. CSR, if used at all, should only be applied where there is the greatest immediate need.

All school districts should be "Merit System" school districts when it comes to hiring classified employees in order to prevent the rampant cronyism in the hiring process that exists in non-merit school districts. Our students deserve the most qualified employees to serve them.

Recognize the partnership classified employees (support staff) provide with our teachers and management to improve the lives of our students and community.

Partner with local farmers markets to provide the freshest and healthiest food for our students. You cannot force students to learn about healthy food by legislative mandate; they must learn to do so.

School libraries must not be closed. Studies show that library quality is related to higher scores on reading tests.

Establish standard employee contracts with fair trigger mechanisms/formulas regarding compensation regardless of economic times.

Utilize new technologies in the classroom that promote greater interaction from ALL the students.

Bullying on campus must not be tolerated and immediately addressed by staff when it occurs.

Students who frequently disrupt classrooms with bad behavior to the detriment of the rest of the class should be removed from classrooms immediately by site administration and given over to professionally trained counselors and therapists either on or off campus to try and get them back on track with compassion.

All stake holders should convene and create a true definition of what student learning is.