Reflection Paper #8

The three waves of educational reform which have emerged have been:
Wave #1 was to raise educational quality by having more courses and more testing of students and improving teacher performance. Corporate America struggled to recruit skilled workers and the military could not recruit technically skilled personnel due to low reading and math skills. Therefore, they imposed State testing like the FCAT. This test is a standard test and must be passed by all students in order to receive a High School diploma. If the student does not pass the FCAT they will received a certificate of attending High School for four years.
Wave #2 was started by educators Theodore Sizer, John Goodland and Ernest Boyer rather then by politicians and business leaders but State governors promoted this wave. They promoted improvement and accountability. They thought that the students should cover fewer topics by studying those topics more in depth. Principals and Teachers were given more power and control over their schools as well as giving them better salaries and giving them more training. The decision making was left to the locals and leaving the bureaucracy out of the classrooms.
Wave #3 is like a full service one stop shop for students and families. They think that schools should be seen as more then a place to learn but seen as a place that gives families that don’t have the financial resources a full service school; which offers them a network of social services, nutrition, medical care, transportation, counseling and parent education. This concept would be governed by a Children’s Board which would be made up of professionals and Community Members that would work for needs of the children this Children’s Board would replace the School Board.
In my opinion and because of my personal experience wave #1 in which the quality of education being raised is the wave that has been the most dominant because many States have implemented State mandated tests. I had the stress of having to pass the FCAT with only two years of FCAT experience. I attended private school for my elementary and middle school years, therefore I didn’t have the testing experience that other students which attended Public school for there entire school career. I was fortunate to have passed it on my second try.