It focuses on results, not red tape. The federal government should encourage local schools to use categorical programs to supplement learning time for target students. They should support after- school, weekend, and summer programs. It is at the school district and local board level that we find the major possibilities for freeing schools of red tape in favor of accountability. A large number of promising experiments are underway around the country to free schools of burdensome district regulation.
Higher education needs to get involved.
Colleges and universities, as institutions, have been bystanders for the most part in the school reform debate. It is time they got involved. They can help in at least four ways. First, higher education already offers a model that holds learning fixed and makes time a variable. Second, the school reform movement cannot succeed unless academic institutions honor the results of new standards and assessments.