What do you think is needed to get America’s young students back on track?

"Instead of being able to foster the love of reading, teachers are forced to put their energy on the standardized testing. Don't get me wrong, there is a time and a place for standardized testing, and data is good. However, when elementary school teachers need to mold their entire curriculum around the test, that's such a red flag. Students get better at reading by READING. Instead, teachers are focusing on teaching students to interpret poorly worded test questions that do not measure ability or comprehension."

• "As a mother of a 5th grader my biggest frustration has been the school iPad. It's a challenge in my every day to set parameters and control the amount of usage. In all honesty, I hate that thing. My daughter has been required to have and use an iPad since Kindergarten. It must be taken home in the event of an emergency e-learning day. From infancy to the early age of 5, my daughter did not have access to any computerized toys. Only educational, enriching, and imaginative play inspiring. We have also always encouraged reading real books and set that example ourselves. I 100% believe the amount of e-learning, screen time and other virtual options have lead this generation astray and stunted their development of strong book and reading skills. What's personally more sad to me, is the love of reading books for this generation, is almost nonexistent."

"It starts at home! Parents are distracted with phones and social media and need to give more uninterrupted attention to their kids. Kids are yearning for connection and structure. Misbehaviors happen at school as a way to get adults attention since it’s lacking from parents. Behavior continues to be a big issue and it impacts the learning of all students in that classroom. Teachers aren’t getting support they need, getting new curriculum with little training, high demands for student growth, so burnout and turnover is at an all time high. The whole idea of education is incredibly disrespected in this country. We don’t value our teachers, we don’t value reading with or to our kids, and we don’t make school a priority. We also have created a world where anxiety is at an all time high for adults, but also for kids. The standards that teachers are expected to teach are incredibly developmentally inappropriate which leads to first grade being the new third grade. It’s a tough time in education right now and I pray it can get back on track for the academic and mental success of our children."

• "Parents need to be engaged with their children's learning. If parents were reading with their kids each day during the pandemic, we would not be behind. As a new teacher, who is over 40, I am amazed at how poor my 8th graders read. This causes me to have to do extra work in preparing lessons, because I cannot give them the same material in the same fashion."

"Money and resources to properly train and keep highly qualified teachers to support early literacy and math skills and continue this support throughout middle and high school. We allowed for years of passing kids through the system without supporting those who in need of intervention to help them grow as readers. Then on top of that we had a pandemic where everyone passed, which made sense at the time due to the traumatic state of society, but when do we go back to having expectations? Holding students, parents, teachers AND those in power responsible?"

• "We need parents and students who value the free education that is offered our students. As a HS teacher, having students come with the attitude that they would rather be doing something else (even if its being glued to their phone) and how dare us try to keep them on track is very frustrating. There are times when I think students should test "into" HS because, then, parents would be forced to deal with the apathy so many students have. It may be messy to begin with, but the overall attitude of how "free school" is looked at needs to change. And some students would do well, to test into a trade school or another type of learning environment. If there are no real consequences or discipline avenues other than going to 'In-school-suspension", which some students prefer than being in class, then there has to be higher stakes somehow for students to be motivated to respect "free school" and take it seriously."

"Learning needs to be made pleasurable again. Notice I did not say fun. Not everything one has to learn and do is "fun," but the idea of learning new things, wanting to learn new things should be pleasurable more often than not. This means lessening the tedium that has crept into early learning experiences and alleviating the pressure of over-testing. Learning should be done more often for learning's sake, not for grades or test scores. Brain science tells us that it is important to find the sweet spot where students are challenged just enough—too easy and they disengage from boredom, too hard and they give up the struggle. When they are challenged just the right amount, their curiosity is piqued and they want to learn more. Our brains resist productive struggle, even the right amount, so I also think it's important to set students up for success by limiting the distraction of cell phones in the classroom. It's far easier to zone out scrolling though social media than it is to read a grade-level text."

• "I worked at an inner city school for 16 yrs. Discipline is lacking. We need to teach children how to act. Good behavior is rewarded. Bad behavior is not. We need to teach manners, expectations and respect for intelligence and making the right choices. We need to teach each individual choice reverberates and affects the group as a whole. We need to teach skills like budgeting, banking, economics and life skills. We need therapy available in EVERY school starting at Kindergarten level to stem the tide of violence. Life is hard teach it."