I have all the faith in the world in Teachers but I have no faith in the things they cannot control, home life, nutrition etc. Somehow some where we began to blame all of that on schools and teachers and we shouldn't. As to big ideas we have all the examples in the world we juts need to copy some of what they do to move the needle. Finland, Korea, Singapore.  This state and this nation does not have the will to do that, year round school, actually paying teachers a worthy salary, less testing, less homework.