Elementary education is suffering from a rash of “improvements” that don’t meet the needs of our students. Whole language is not whole because it doesn’t include a phonics component that is needed by many of our “learning to read” students.

Having students sit at tables rather than at desks makes it next to impossible to effectively utilize either the black board or the smart board as a teaching tool.

Requiring that kindergarten students tackle the curriculum that used to be required of first grade students is neither age appropriate or necessary. In Europe reading instruction doesn’t begin until age 7.

And, yes, class size does matter for both academic and social reasons. Just as a mother of seven cannot pay as much attention to each child as a mother of three, a teacher of 29 cannot pay as much attention to each student as a teacher of 20.