Reflection #8 EDF1005 The Three Wave of Education Reform

Samantha Clarke

Reflection #8 EDF1005

The Three Wave of Education Reform

Education has been through many stages of development throughout the years. This is due to the increased innovative development and societal development. There have also been many critics to this process and still yet, a perfect system has not emerged. It is said that education is the backbone of any nation but so often the issue of education have been put on the back burner. Low and behold, a comparison was made proving that American students have been doing very poorly in comparison to other underdeveloped or industrialized countries. Not only are they scoring far less on nation test but way below average when it comes to science and mathematics.

The first wave came around in that schools are being viewed as national defense and economic competition. Also there were increased demanded for employees to have basic reading and mathematics skills and for the military to have well trained personnel in the field of technology to combat the increasing sophisticated equipment. Hence the urgent need for the raising of standardized testing and national standards. Students were put through rigorous training and the demand for regular testing for both teachers and students became the center focus. In this first stage many important factor got overlooked and the main issue was the pointing out low performing students, teachers and schools.

After recognizing the unrealistic effort of the new curriculum, around 1980 educators attempt to make basic changes to the curriculum; stating that students should cover fewer topics but study them more in dept. Improvement for qualified teachers and better pay was also an issue that was on the agenda and the strengthening of the role of the principal. Teacher had little control over school and poor academic performance was still alarming.

The third wave introduces a complete package towards education. It was discussed that unfortunate families were unable to produce a conducive learning experience for their kids when some vital issues are not been taken care of. These include health care, transportation, and social services. This approach was to help the child transition into successful adults. These comprehensive services were to be seen as a one stop shop for education and other services.

The first wave continues to be dominant due to the increased competition with other nation. It is also more dominant because globalization has called for more innovative and sophisticated services. As new inventions emerge one need to stay ahead of the game or else they will eventually be left behind. This is rather potentially dangerous to any countries survival and economic growth.