Goyal paints a fairly clear picture as to what his ideal educational experience looks like, calling for a number of changes, including:

Abolishing standardized tests and grades, to be replaced by more comprehensive performance assessments, such as the College and Work Readiness Assessment;

Reinventing the classroom, to shift towards grouping children by ability (not age), teaching through experiences (not lectures), and incorporating 21st century skills, which he defines as critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, curiosity, risk-taking, and overcoming failure; and

Transforming the teaching profession by paying teachers more, eliminating tenure and merit based pay, creating a “West Point for teachers,” and ending the “witch-hunt” for teachers that began with evaluating them based on their students’ performance on tests.

I wish I could teach more people these things: critical thinking, creative thinking, collaboration, communication, curiosity, risk-taking, and overcoming failure...

Amen.

Think she has a chance?

Maybe. A combination of federal will power and states' focus. It takes a political willpower that currently no politician has; right now Gates, Pearson and others are the ones leading the charge for Education Reform. Basically, they will re-write the policy agenda ...

Nothing happens quickly if governments need to change things.