Guidelines for Improving Education

In the recent edition of The New York Times Magazine, five education reform experts were asked how the nation can remake education to better serve U.S. students in the 21st century. The following is a summary of their responses:

Think beyond standardized tests
In the wake of No Child Left Behind, educators put a lot of emphasis on test scores in math and reading. But these scores do not define good education because students can get "higher scores in reading and mathematics yet remain completely ignorant of science, the arts, civics, history, literature and foreign languages," wrote Diane Ravitch, a historian whose book ‘‘The Death and Life of the Great American School System’’ comes out next year. Ravitch added that teachers should focus on making sure students have knowledge in all of these areas.

Utilize technology
Technology gives schools new and more efficient ways for educators to teach and students to learn. But many obstacles have slowed the progress of technology adoption, including broadband limitations and limited expertise in some areas. Tom Vander Ark, a blogger at EdReformer.com, wrote that it is critical for schools to utilize the high-tech tools of today in a way that meets the needs of students. He cited the example of School of One, a New York City pilot program where "each student has a daily 'playlist' tailored to their instructional level, interests and learning style." He also said he believes that by 2020, most high school students will do most of their learning online.

Discredit bachelor's degrees
The bachelor's degree "serves as rough and unreliable evidence of a degree of intelligence and perseverance," wrote Charles Murray, the W. H. Brady scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of ‘‘Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality.’’ It doesn't accurately reflect somebody's aptitude. Therefore, Murray wrote, the degree should be done away with, which could open the door for community and online colleges to demonstrate the worth of their undergraduate programs, without any reference to the bachelor's degree.

Start young
Disadvantaged students have a harder time catching up in school. To close the achievement gap, Susie Buffett, chairwoman of the Buffett Early Childhood Fund, said she supports early education programs such as Educare, in which "kids facing the worst odds find, beginning at birth, a full-day, full-year oasis." She wrote that highly trained teachers sit on the floor with the kids and talk, sing and motivate them, and that students in such programs get on track by the time they reach kindergarten.

Extend school hours
In this day and age, students need the type of education that prepares them for the 21st-century workforce. As it stands, the nation has about 180 school days, but that doesn't compare to Japan and Germany, which have about 240 school days. Geoffrey Canada, president and chief executive of Harlem's Children's Zone, wrote that for U.S. students to compete in a global economy, schools should have longer hours or a longer school year, and teachers should be paid salaries on par with doctors and lawyers and work the same hours that most professions demand.

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