The Status of Educational Reform

Have you ever wondered why all of the sudden there are more computers in K-12 classrooms across the U.S? For over ten years now, reformers have attempted to revolutionize the way schools operate, and this includes how students learn. There have been a number of top-to-bottom and bottom-to-top changes in areas including administration, curriculum and even outreach. The result of many of these reforms, is that technology is now playing a bigger role in education.

When you look back, education reform appeared in 1983 when a report called A Nation at Risk was published, outlining the poor state of affairs within the K-12 environment. It highlighted low basic comprehension rates to high dropout rates, and was what made administrators and policy makers pay attention to the fact that educational reform was needed.

After that, one of the changes was in the area of standardization of testing among students. A number of states began to legislate merit pay programs for educators, so by 1986, there were 46 states that offered merit pay plans, an increase from 28 states in 1983. Teachers were evaluated on their educating ability and knowledge of their subjects in order to determine not only raises but also their bonuses.

Today research now suggests that the initial focus on standardization did little to affect student learning and comprehension, and that the studies suggested that changes in professionalism and administration did not indicate an effective education strategy implementation - with teaching guidelines becoming more complex but less coherent. What was missing? One of the core issues was teacher empowerment.

Which brings me to the question, which I have covered on my own website, http://www.roccobasile.org/, what motivates kids to learn from their teachers? During this reform movement, educators were interested in a number of new education theories offering insights into the way students learn. One of the theories includes something called "constructivism," where students learn by doing rather than observing.

One of the biggest complaints about the American education system has been its top-down approach with the states governing schools. Today, schools and teachers are asserting more control over education management decisions. Non-profit charter schools and for-profit education management programs are offering students public school learning environments that break away from the traditional state-run system.

Children of the City, for example, has been wildly successful with its after school and summertime programs. By personally connecting with each child and youth in their environment, the non-profit fosters strong relationships to teach, inform and counsel on various life issues and skills through programs such as its Create Success, where parents have seen dramatic increases in student’s reading and math levels, healthy study habits, communications, and improved peer relationships.

All in all, parents today now have more choices. They can actually choose to take their students out of poorly run schools and place them into parochial schools for example, or as with an increasing number of families, parents and their offspring can get out of the classroom and do homeschooling instead.