I have an administrator who understands that educators are facing more uphill battles than ever, as well as encourages us to look past them when making students' needs priority. Recently, my administrator made a bold statement that poverty is not the cause of our problems in the classroom, as much as we want to blame it (paraphrase). I wholeheartedly disagree and, in juxtaposition, believe poverty is the cause of many challenges in education. However, while reading research about the effects of poverty on education, I decided to take a different approach and reviewed research and articles discussing solutions, rather than causes, for faults in education. Enter the Education Policy Research Unit at Arizona State University.
Because there is such emphasis on quick reform, research has yet to catch up and become available to lawmakers, therefore "School reform is, therefore, frequently debated in an environment that is long on emotion and short on hard data". These policymaker meetings because emotional and reactionary. Focusing not on our reactions, but on what is working in successful schools is what needs to guide new policies for reform. I note that when comparing successful and underperforming schools, poverty will expose itself. Research that may guide policymakers' reform ideas include, but are not limited to, early education, poverty, teacher effectiveness (taking into factors outside of student test results in relation to teacher performance), and class size.
Bottom line, our approach to thinking about what reform is needs to be reformed. Reform is not a cookie-cutter solution and will not work for every district, or even every school. That is precisely why education is not (yet) a corporation. Students are individuals and they come with varying experiences which affect their educational motivation and progress. Schools attempt to intervene positively. So when reviewing reform strategies, whatever reform considerations taken into account, I wish to see those involved also take "(h)eeding about proposals that seem certain to waste funds". By accepting that many factors weigh in and recognizing that reform is not a quick fix, but ongoing process, policymakers and educators can be more prepared to choose better reform routes and resources.
To read further discussion as well as specific research related to the above topics, please visit the article HERE.
To read further discussion as well as specific research related to the above topics, please visit the article HERE.
