Blocks of time and textbook utilization to improve test scores dampens the spirit of innovation and change. A future policy must certainly take into account that accountability and standardized testing will be a reality for the 21st century teacher. Consequently, any policy advice must move from this reality to offering useful advice. First and foremost, teachers must realize that the Internet offers students the opportunity to learn at their own pace. If states continue to make standardized tests mandatory then teachers will be required to introduce a require a certain curriculum to be learned.
Students can supplement textbooks through accessing the World Wide Web.
Furthermore, this shift from teacher as an all-knowing disseminator of knowledge to a participant in the learning process makes students more responsible for their own learning. Consequently, They will learn how to learn - which is what will be truly necessary in the next millennium. Students who know how to learn will be those who are adaptive and thus always employable. If educators can buy into this idea then the concepts of democracy and empowerment will follow. Without consensus on this fundamental paradigm, Internet for schools initiatives are doomed.