Despite efforts to improve America's public school system, students continue to fall behind in areas such as math and science in comparison with other international students. As The Hill explains in a recent article, "Our economic prosperity, national security, and quality of life for all American's depend upon the ability of our students to compete successfully in the global economy, which places high value on knowledge and innovation in math, science, technology and engineering."

Chiefs for Change, a coalition of leaders in five states, suggest one approach towards education reform, which includes five fundamental elements.

1. Rigorous and relevant academic standards for all schools.

2. Establish a federal accountability system of learning, which would include and maintain annual testing of student achievement. This accountability system would hold every school to high expectations, rather than lowering standards based on ethnicity or family income. Schools would also be evaluated using a distinct and clear grading system, such as A, B, C, D or F.

3. Federal law should provide incentives for the accountability program. For the schools that are successfully reforming and maintaining high evaluative marks, they should be rewarded with the ability to target federal funding and/or be given freedom from federal governance.

4. Tie student success with federal funding. The coalition suggests that when states and school districts fail to turnaround a low-performing school, the federal government should allow parents to choose another educational option for their child.

5. The goal of all reforms is to have a student-centered education, just as the ?No Child Left Behind' program advocated.

Different children have different needs, and they should, therefore, be given the opportunity to choose the school that best fits those needs, whether that is a charter school, virtual school, dual college enrollment, brick and mortar public school.