Ideas for Reform in Public Schooling

Educational Reform While there are many ideas about how schools should look to reform themselves -- from arming teachers with guns (Koonce, 2016, p. 163) to simply closing failing schools with the hope that charter schools fill the void (Koonce, 2016, p. 137) -- there is really no easy or simple solution to how to reform schools in general. Schools are essentially all unique -- with each one different because each one has its own culture, its own set of teachers, its own special qualities and its own special challenges.

Ascribing a one-size fits all method of reform to schools is not likely to provide any kind of real solution. With this in mind, I think that reform must take place on an individual level -- and it can start in the simplest of ways, with teachers, for instance, simply taking the time to reduce the amount of stress that they encounter in the classroom and in their lives (Curwin, Mendler, 2008, p. 125).

Taking stock of one's own environment and what oneself has to do to make it better is really where reform should start -- on the individual level with the individual teacher or administrator taking responsibility for him or herself.

Accountability should definitely be something that happens on a more localized scale, which is an idea that is in keeping with the opinion of Diane Ravitch who "feels that a movement of control to the state level or to the mayor's office will undermine democratic deliberation and move toward a top-down business model" (Koonce, 2016, p. 150).

Educational reform should therefore simply address the needs of teachers on an individual level, by giving them access to the tools they may need to perform at a high-quality level -- such as access to educational tools, counseling, support groups -- things of this nature. The behavioral standards in school settings should be somewhat different than they are now: I feel that many schools are lax about some things and strict about others.

It is difficult to say how important structure is or why dress codes are better than no dress codes; how much freedom of language a young student should have, or where to draw the line on subject matter and specific word usage. The behavioral standards should be based on cultural cues and directives -- but as society is in need of defining these itself expecting a school to be able to do it is almost impossible.

So a lot of time can be spent harping on petty matters while more significant matters may be ignored. This is like what Marzano and Pickering (2003) observe when they note that "research in classroom behavior indicates that cueing and questioning might account for as much as 80% of what occurs in a given classroom on a given day" (p. 113).

What this indicates is that teachers are hardly aware of how their time is being used -- how ineffectively it is being applied, and how much interaction with students they are actually squandering. All of this gives a bad impression to students who feel like their time is being wasted. Teachers have a duty to set a good example of behavioral standards for students -- and part of setting the standard is realizing how much everything that one does is important.

If one cannot use time wisely or respect others enough to not endlessly quiz them on material they have already learned, what other areas are likely being underperformed? For this reason behavioral standards should be based on factors that include what Marzano (2003) calls collegiality and professionalism. Teachers should be able to express both to students -- after all,.