To: President Donald Trump, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Real Education Reform
1. Decrease the emphasis on standardized testing as it relates to student AND teacher assessment and evaluation.
2. Provided truly enriching primary school experiences for at-risk kids--smaller classes, grand conversations, exploratory activities that mimic what the best parents do for their kids before they ever set foot in a schoolhouse--and fund true year round schooling for at risk kids from pre-k through third grade.
3. Demand arts education be consistently available to all kids, regardless of need for remediation in basic skills.
4. Provide technical school options EARLIER, especially for at risk youth. They need skills they can support themselves legitimately with, even if they're not "college-bound."
Why is this important?
It's about providing a sensible, appropriate, accessible, RELEVANT education for ALL kids, regardless of socioeconomic background. You should care because testing kids to death and using test scores as a major determinant of teacher effectiveness is creating disenfranchisement in the youth and is causing good teachers to leave the profession.