Saturday, September 19, 2009


The tree waves of educational reform continue to influence the education system in America. These waves of reform came during times where schools were not living up to the standards of what was being demanded by society.

The first wave of reforms which came during the early eighties, came from complaints from corporations and the military. This first wave was focused on the strength of the country as a world superpower. Students were not achieving high scores on international tests and were not considered prepared to use newly sophisticated equipment in the military. This first wave of reform gave way to the beginnings of standardized tests to identify the different performances of students and teachers.

The second wave of reform came in the late eighties and was focused on the nature of curriculums in the schools. The reformists were concerned with oppressive school climates and the poor academic performances that resulted from bureaucratic systems. This wave of reform focused on building professional teachers and empowering them along with administrators to implement professional teaching methods that would apply to different settings.

The third wave of reform in the early nineties gave way to what is called “full service schools.” In full service schools, the acknowledgement that many families did not posses the ability to fully raise their children is realized. Children’s boards replaced school boards. The needs of children became the responsibility of schools along with education. School policies where changed and extra curriculum activities where implemented to provide students with a vast arrange of social activities.

Our school system will always be a system that tries to achieve the perfect goals that society requires. The need for our schools to be able to compete with international standards continues to be one of the goals. As the US aspires to be a major superpower in the world, the pressure is put on the schools to produce students that will compete internationally and will contribute to the nation. I believe that reform is a natural part of the process of growing and without proper reform every once in a while, the system becomes old and will eventually fail.

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