Still, there are some outmoded ideas which our educational system still uses because they are the way things have been done for hundreds of years. The biggest area that, in my opinion, needs to be changed is the age-based progression of most educational programs. Rather than allowing students to progress based off of their understanding, they are often held back or pushed forward simply due to their age. Even at the high school level, large groups of not-necessarily-related standards are lumped together in classes like English 10 or Algebra II. Students are often moved up to the next level even when it is clear that they do not understand the previous one.
A solution to this is to break up the school year into even smaller components, perhaps only three to four weeks long. These segments hold fewer changes in curriculum. For example, instead of going through six different subjects in a day, the student only goes through three or four. A good portion of this added time is given over to supervised practice. Pretests determine whether the student needs to go through a class at all or can be moved up to the next level. Formative evaluations are given throughout with summative evaluations at the halfway and end points to determine if the student has mastered the standards taught and can move on or will need to need to retake the mini-course.
This would be a scheduling nightmare, but the rewards could be substantial. Currently, students who are behind often stay behind with little chance of correction until at least a quarter of the way through the school year (sometimes a semester, sometimes an entire year). Meanwhile, students who are far advanced currently find themselves being dragged down, held in classes filled with other students who cannot grasp the concepts that they themselves have already mastered.
Currently, teachers are trying to provide this type of differentiated learning in classes of 20-30 (or, unfortunately, much more) students, each with various needs and abilities, only to have them all grouped together and moved on at the next school year. By having clear standards met, students, teachers, and parents would know where the student stood and what skills they had demonstrated. They could build a pathway through the student's education that moved the student at the pace best suited for that individual's needs.
Public education is doing well despite the deplorable circumstances forced upon it, but it could do even better.