School Reform

In School Reform the voices of all stakeholders should be heard, especially the voices of those closet to the day to day interactions within the schools. When thinking of impact that each stakeholder has on school reforms the answers will range from major impact to no impact at all. State and Federal officials are stakeholders and their level of impact may vary with their political aspirations. Some leaders differ to the whims of the local board to figure out what is best in terms of school reform. While others impact decisions on funding that flows to and from most school systems. The stakeholders that control or have connection to the purse strings have a giant impact on what happens in school reform.

Local board members impact school reform, because they are charged with interpreting any decision(financial or educational) made at the State and Federal levels. This impacts the approval of staffing  needs and monies dedicated to funding for programs, books, and technology. Students, teachers, and community members may have the smallest amount of impact on school reform, because they do not have direct impact of decisions over school structure, curriculum, and funding. This group of people may voice their concerns at the local, state, and federal level, but school reform will be mainly up to the people that influence the politicians on what they feel School Reform should encompass.

I believe that the impact of the stakeholders should begin with the teachers and educational leaders, then move down to the other stakeholders involved. This is my belief simply because the teachers and educational leaders are the experts on schools. We are not working off of our idealistic or warped memories of our own school experiences. We are aware of the current needs of students in our communities. School Reform, if needed would have a better impact if it was more dependent on the local level with heavy guidance of teachers and educational leaders.

The moral, philosophical, and social ramifications are lost in the current format of school reform created at the Federal level. The moral, social, and philosophical ramifications are more attuned at the State and Local levels. Many states feel a that their curriculum should contain certain materials and be implemented in a certain manner to the students in their area. Giving School reform to these groups of people fare better than a balloon decision for all.

Recently, the Tea Party called for School Reform to send control of schools and education back to the parents. This Political party maintained that parents are the best determiners of the education their children should receive. The Democratic Party believes reform in schools is needed, but will not go as far as giving control of this decision to the parents or local entities. The Republican Party is the base of the current School Reform push, the most notable of our time being No Child Left Behind, which only included political gain to impact schools across America; with little thought to moral or social issues.

School Reform and The David School

The David School is the perfect example of School Reform at the local level. you have a school that is only interested in guiding students to an education that they may not receive otherwise. The students are in charge of implementing things into their curriculum that are of interest to them. The teachers and students are able to discuss religion, because that is a big part of their community. They are not bound by fear of offending someone who has differing opinions. The decisions of the David School are made in conjunction with the school's director, principal, teachers, students, and parents. In reality, there are the only opinions that should matter in terms of School Reform. The David School is a successful model of how School Reform should look and operate.