As U.S. and California students’ test scores fall behind in the world, the education reform debate has heated up. The public school system was established as a crucial part of our nation’s democracy, which granted all children the same opportunity to learn and succeed. In this sense, public education is the great equalizer, but not all schools are created equal. Are poverty and other social factors to blame? Or is it that our standards are too low? While there may be disagreement on the cause of the k-12 problems, everyone agrees that it needs improvement.

In the third part of our three part series on k-12 education in California, Michelle Rhee, CEO of Students First and former chancellor of Washington, D.C. Public Schools, Dean Vogel, President of the CA Teacher’s Assoc., and Carol Kocivar, President of the CA State PTA, discuss what should be done to address the challenges faced by CA schools.

ORIGINAL AIR DATE: JUNE 19, 2012