I believe that the most important thing that K-12 education needs is more dedicated teachers.  Just as i saw in the movie Waiting for Superman , statistics show that good teachers that teach up to 150% of the required cariculum produce students with higher learning levels.   In any other company, small business or workplace employees are promoted for working hard and doing their job to the best of their ability, and those who don't are let go.  Unfortunately for students across the country, this is not the way that careers in teaching are set up.  There are thousands of teachers who barely even teach 50% of the cariculum, yet they have no penalties due to regulations and laws protecting their jobs.  Because of these laws,  many teachers are able to teach nearly nothing and still keep their jobs.  I think that changes need to be made in the school systems so that teachers are rewarded and promoted for doing their job well, and fired or disciplined for skating their way through the system and doing the bare minimum for their students.  Better teachers make better schools, better schools make better students, and better students move on to be successful and make a difference in their community and the country.