Improvement by subtraction: here are three things education would be better off without. (Understanding The Times).

Improvement by subtraction: here are three things education would be better off without. (Understanding The Times). Whoever came up with the phrase "No Child Left Behind"deserves a promotion. Marketers everywhere have played off the name.From "No teacher left behind" to "No superintendent leftbehind" and "No board member left behind," there'sno end to the people and programs that shouldn't be left behind.Yet, amidst all this ambition to keep everyone on board, I'minspired to name three things in public education that should be leftbehind. State-level Textbook Adoption Policies State regulated textbookadoption policies are detrimental to educational progress because theyinhibit publishers, limit curriculum choices and vest authority in stateboards state boardsExaminations administered by a US state board of medical examiners to license a physician in a particular state; these examinations play an ever-decreasing role in state medical licensure, as these bodies now rely on standardized national examinations over local boards to decide what's best for students. More than 20 states have textbook adoption regulations, but mosttextbook decisions are really made by a handful of bureaucrats inCalifornia, Texas and Florida. These people are able to micro-managetextbook content because they command more than 30 percent of themulti-billion dollar textbook market. Far removed from any classroom,these textbook adoption committees have remarkable power to determinethe resources available to teachers, reinforcing the problematic notionthat the textbook is the curriculum. Worse, the process of "approving" just a handful of textsto meet the needs of all learners yields a sanitized san��i��tize?tr.v. san��i��tized, san��i��tiz��ing, san��i��tiz��es1. To make sanitary, as by cleaning or disinfecting.2. de facto [Latin, In fact.] In fact, in deed, actually.This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. nationalcurriculum that stifles creative teaching and limits studentachievement. Consider, for example, the 1992 National Assessment of EducationalProgress The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as "the Nation's Report Card," is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. report in which only one of the top 10 states on theachievement measure had a textbook adoption policy. Of the bottom 10states, nine had state-level textbook adoption policies. Eliminatingstate-regulated textbook adoptions will spur curriculum innovation,reduce unnecessary bureaucracy, and most important, better serve theacademic needs of children. The Agricultural Calendar The thought of no summer vacation Summer vacation (also called summer holidays or summer break) is a vacation in the summertime between school years in which students are off for 3 months, depending on the country and district. seemsalmost un-American, but year-round schooling Year-Round School is the operation of educational institutions on a calendar-system that tracks students into class schedules throughout the entire calendar year. A primary motivation is that higher student throughput is accomplished via more effective scheduling of school doesn't mean norecess. For example, school districts can achieve a modest increase inthe number of school days by having four 10-week sessions with two-weekbreaks after sessions one, two and three, and a generous six-week"summer" break at the end of session four. Districts can get even more school in and still have ample breaksby having two 23-week semesters, with two weeks off during each semesterand a three-week break between semesters. The point is that the standardconfiguration of the traditional 180-day school year is neithersacrosanct sac��ro��sanct?adj.Regarded as sacred and inviolable.[Latin sacrs nor a societal necessity. Big Schools There's simply no justification for big schools.The old argument that big schools enable more electives is easily leftbehind by today's technologies, which make it easier forgeographically dispersed students and teachers to meet and interact. Andthe Internet lets even the smallest schools have access to the librariesof the world. These advances, combined with the increased safety,security and sense of community inherent to smaller schools, make bigschools untenable. But this country is full of big schools. Of course districtscan't just build new schools everywhere, but they can ensure thatall new schools are designed as small schools. Where new constructionisn't viable, districts can pursue creative and cost-efficientretrofits that enable administrators to effectively house several"schools" in the same physical plant. The big schools challenge reminds me of the man who called hisstate senator Noun 1. state senator - a member of a state senatesenator - a member of a senate to advocate the widening of an old highway. The senatoragreed, but said it would take 20 years to complete the job. The manresponded, "Then shouldn't we get started now?" Apparently, Bill Gates (person) Bill Gates - William Henry Gates III, Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft, which he co-founded in 1975 with Paul Allen. In 1994 Gates is a billionaire, worth $9.35b and Microsoft is worth about $27b. thinks so. America's largestphilanthropic organization, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,philanthropic institution founded in 1994 by Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to improve the lives of the poor throughout the world, primarily through grants for projects relating to global health care, , hasvowed billions to turn big, poor performing schools into small,academically rigorous ones. By getting started now, this organizationthinks that by the end of the decade the country can quadruple quad��ru��ple?adj.1. Consisting of four parts or members.2. Four times as much in size, strength, number, or amount.3. Music Having four beats to the measure.n. thenumber of inner-city students prepared for college. And that's justthe beginning; the sooner we leave big schools behind, the better. Daniel E. Kinnaman, dkinnaman@ promediagrp.com, is publisher.