Education reform refers to a series of initiatives and activities designed to improve educational outcomes. These include curriculum standards, teacher training, school choice and accountability and assessment and technology integration. Education reform is a complex process that requires the cooperation of all stakeholders involved in the field. Competing interests, unwillingness to learn from past mistakes, and larger societal changes are all factors that contribute to the failure of many educational reforms to have large-scale impact.
The use of corporate management models as the primary driver of educational improvement is another major contributor to the lack of success in a great number of education reform initiatives. This faith in innovations brought and sold from outside the educational system undermines both the role of national policy development and enhancement of an education system’s own capabilities to maintain its renewal. It also limits the role of teachers and schools as leaders in a system’s efforts to define, debate, and implement policy.
One of the main issues in educational reform is the existence of a widening gap between the policies enacted at a national, state or even district level and what actually takes place inside classrooms. In order to address this issue, there needs to be a greater emphasis on developing strong leadership at the local level.
This can be accomplished by encouraging the formation of regional networks based on practical proven models and providing funding to enable schools to continuously assess their needs and seek out new solutions. Additionally, education systems need to develop diagnostic assessments that provide a clear and coherent picture of students’ strengths and weaknesses. A comprehensive approach to reform should focus on all aspects of the educational system: defining learning aims; enabling benchmarking systems; supporting teacher quality; and fostering an environment where students can achieve their potential.