Our public schools are failing because they are run under an antiquated system. Most are giants, bureaucratic bastions of inefficiency for which no one seems to be held accountable. It's top-down management at its worst. The people who have the most contact with students in this overburdened and underfunded system – the teachers – have the least input when it comes to “corporate” politics. This makes this system similar to a widget factory where management has worked out all the defects, so they think, and dictates to the workers on the production line how to produce a “good” product. But is our public education product really that good? Are most of today's high school graduates – if a college degree is indeed in the cards – truly ready for college or do they have the skills necessary to succeed in the real world of work and responsibility? What you need is a system that runs like a successful business, and I don't even mean a widget factory. I mean a business such as a medical or law office in which the professionals – doctors and lawyers – carry out their professional activities and leave the operation of the office to hired helpers. But who has ever heard of teachers running a school? How would this work and who would supervise them to make sure they are doing a good job? It may be surprising to know, but that's exactly what's happening in some progressive public schools across the country. Teachers are responsible and held accountable for their school's educational program and the academic and behavioral outcomes of its students. There are three main factors in this new teaching/learning model that distinguishes it from the traditional public education system. These factors are: 1) Consulting…half of paper…don't employ an administrator. Some schools currently using this model have no administrators. In these schools, the duties of a traditional administrator, such as a principal, are shared among the school's counselors on a rotational basis. All other administrative and sometimes clerical duties are shared equally among the Directors. Although this new public school model is radically different from the traditional public school model and many school districts and teachers organizations are inclined to oppose it, as the public becomes increasingly aware that it is available through the creation of charter schools, parent groups , business professionals and political leaders, among others, are starting to support it. And who knows, maybe one day all public schools will be like this while the "traditional" public school as we know it will be nothing but a distant memory of the past.