Curriculum  Systematic explicit phonics  High standards for all students

My campaign is based on concepts as easy as the A B Cs.

     The third concept in my campaign is Curriculum.  It is the bottom line.  We can have great accountability and orderly classrooms, but if we do not provide the right curriculum, children will not learn the skills that they need to achieve their dreams.  Those skills must start with the basics.  My civil engineering degree at Duke University taught me that when you build anything, you should start with a firm foundation.  The foundations of education have not changed from ages past.  They are still reading, writing and arithmetic.  With these basic skills, one can learn almost anything.  Without them, a student faces an almost insurmountable barrier.