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

"The problem has to be attacked on multiple fronts. The dependence on short-hit pieces of information (phones, news stories, book excerpts, etc) needs to be limited or removed from the learning environment. Focus within the classroom should return to broad spectrum with areas of study balanced throughout language, sciences, math, AND the arts to encourage growth and expansion of the developing mind. Finally, the growing movement of homeschooling shouldn’t be encouraged due to removing key components from the learning process (highly trained and dedicated teachers along with key groups of students away from the demographic within classrooms)."

• "I know this is impossible now in the world we live in , but I wish I could snap my fingers and cellphones would disappear! Cellphones are one of the greatest inventions and one of the worst! Cellphones should definitely be banned in all schools immediately . They are a distraction that keeps kids from focusing on school and their surroundings."

"The best way to raise scores and awareness is to have parents start being responsible parents again. Taking the time to teach basic social skills to their children would go a long way to letting educators do their jobs to educate instead of dealing with students who don't know how to dress, take care of themselves, and be around others in a positive manner."

• "A new and innovative way to invest in our teachers. It’s time for this profession to be highly compensated and highly respected. Our kids spend the vast majority of their time with our educators. So, making sure they are motivated, have the resources they need, get continued training and can live their own lives comfortably by working in this profession will enable our kids to learn from people who are well equipped, influential and highly passionate."

"Schools each year are forced to try some new initiatives before even having an opportunity to see if the latest new initiative is working. This makes it difficult to assess what is working. Also, you have teachers in data meetings looking at the kids who tested in previous years instead of looking at the data for previous years of the students they’re working with. Covid has certainly made things more difficult, but screen time, poor attendance, and decreasing attention spans are also a factor. Some consistency and districts leaders who understand how to utilize data efficiently would be helpful."

• "There seems to be an excessive amount of testing which takes away time to actually teach and learn. Also concentrate on fundamentals of reading, writing, and math. Once this is instilled, the more difficult problems are easier. The brain is a muscle, learning is its exercise."

"Teacher’s unions need to be abolished. Schools and educators should be monitored and tested more stringently than students. Of course parents need to be involved. And social and political indoctrination of any kind should be outlawed. Back to the basics. Do what you want at home, but in school there are two genders. You’re either a boy or a girl. Not a cat. Consequences for insubordination should be swift and harsh. Social, emotional, and psychological softness have proven to fail not only our educational system, but then in turn society itself. We need to toughen up while we can. If not, the downward spiral will continue."

• "To begin, I am a secondary/post-secondary business/technology teacher. I am in my 47th year of teaching, and I have seen many ideas come and go with new names. The advent of the Internet and social media has certainly impacted education in both positive and negative ways. However, it is my belief after experiencing with technology, and with only limited technology, that we need to bring textbooks back into the classroom. Students need to be reading non-fiction information once again. In fact, reading non-fiction, technical information use to be required. Many of our students today have become at-risk students, and research tells us these students need to actually feel and turn pages when reading. There is a satisfaction from finishing a page and turning a page. Even a satisfaction from counting the number of pages to the end of a reading assignment or chapter. Reduce screen time in the classroom. Computers and textbooks should be blended. Students once again need to develop the skill to memorize! Do you want a doctor to have a laptop open telling him or her what the next cut/step is during a surgery? Or a lawyer in the courtroom needing to google an answer for each response. Our students today are losing more and more of the ability to do critical thinking because less and less information is being stored in their brain. Most schools have resorted to projects to grade, or a slide presentation. School is becoming all about easy. So much grade inflation is happening in our classrooms today."

"In elementary school, in particular the class moves ahead at the speed of the bottom third of the group. Advanced students and others become bored. Much of the learning time is wasted in repetition and remedial work. Public schools cannot match private schools in test results for a host of reasons, but splitting classes into three achievement level tracks would eliminate the drag of those who are intellectually limited (through no fault of their own) on the advance of the other two thirds."

• "As an English teacher in High School, I think screen time needs to be limited across all ages. We need to teach students and children how to be bored. Being "bored" allows kids to think and learn and grow. Stop giving kids tablets at restaurants, let them talk with the adults, or draw, or read. Parents should read to their kids at night, take them to the library, check out books. Model reduced screen time and reading. ALSO our principal has tried to get us to do shortened reading but we refuse. In fact we added independent reading. Reading is a skill and needs to be practiced like everything else. Kids need to find pleasure in reading without academic tasks added to it."