Reforming America's Schools

Focus Questions:
America's schools have a few goals in mind:
-Vocational
-Personal
-Social, civic
-Academic
These goals all provide the student to be well-rounded

It is hard to say which one of these school goals is most important to me. I would have to say the academic piece has to be the most important to me. The other three goals can all be learned through things outside of school. academics are really the one thing that needs to be learned in the school setting.
Reform is defined as "an improvement to fix what is wrong"
Change is defined as "to make or become different"
There are many factors that would be influencers of change. One of those factors will always be the willingness to change or the desire to try something that has never been tried before. If you do not have these factors, then there really will be no change.
School reform has become a top national priority because education is the core of our society. We are always looking for ways to raise our student's test scores, ways to get more kids involved in science, how we can make them better readers, etc. All of these goals are reasons why reforming schools is so important to us.
It is because of this desire to change that we now have other education outlets replacing the traditional public school setting. These are done through:

  • Charter Schools
  • Knowledge is Power Programs
  • Homeschooling 
  • Private and non-for profit schools
Many people ask what can the teachers and students do in regards to reforming our schools? As teachers, we should be making our curriculum interesting yet challenging, work together with our staff, install effective rules and procedures, and put in place a strong school-home cooperation. As students, they can trust their teachers, use themselves as representatives of change, and be open to learning.
Effective schools have all of these qualities from both teachers and students.

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