1. A Crisis in American Schools By Laura Ahles

2. The call for a change in American education What all those parents who are so complacent about the alleged excellence of their local schools need to remember is: It was our best and brightest students that ranked 24 th in global competition. No matter how good you may think your local school is, it still doesn’t stack-up against the rest of the world. – Brennan Kingsland of Set Our Teachers Free

5. Unprepared for the changing global economy Percentage of public high school-level teachers who reported a major and a certification in their main assignment, by selected main assignments: 2003-04 National Center for Education Statistics 11.1% 16.4% 70.7% 83.6% 81.8% Social Science 8.3% 12.8% 71.7% 87.2% 80.0% Science 12.7% 24.0% 64.5% 76.0% 77.2% Mathematics 9.1% 15.5% 71.1% 84.5% 80.2% English Certified in main assignment No major in main assignment Certified in main assignment Major in main assignment Total Certified Selected main assignment

10. We cannot fix American education alone in our one classroom.

11. We need to work together to solve our problems! It Takes Teamwork!

12. How can we be on the same page with 50 different education systems?

13. But why should we change?

17. We added too many programs onto our teacher’s plates…

18. Without adding one single day to the school year!

19. How can we compete with less practice? National Center for Education Statistics 193 International Average 180 USA 188 Canada 190 England 195 Russia 210 Italy 207 Switzerland 215 Israel 222 Taiwan 223 Japan 225 Korea 251 China Days of School Country

31. We need a new vision