School Reform

School reform is funny thing.  The changes that are made due to school reform will mostly affect students; however, seldom are students consulted in the reform process.  School reform should be a function of all constituents.  Currently, teachers and teacher organizations, community members, and local school board members and school board organizations get a voice in school reform.  The decisions are ultimately made by state and/or federal politicians, but the voice of each of these groups get their time to make their opinions and ideas known.  It is the voice of the student that is continually overlooked and they are the ones that will ultimately have the most effect.  When considering school reform, it is important to consult experts in the field and for politicians not make decisions based on what sounds good in theory.  Practice and theory are not always harmonious.  Teachers, students, and local administrators should be a major part of school reform efforts. 

The impact a particular group has seems to diminish as you go down the proverbial educational ladder.  Politicians have the most impact because they have the greatest decision making power.  Teacher organizations and school board organizations speaking on behalf of their members make the next greatest impact.  This is the closest most educators get to making an impact on school reform.  Finally, community members, individual teachers and students have the least amount of impact on school reform.  This is unfortunate because these are the very people that will implement and have the greatest effect from school reform. 

The level of power each of these voices has is not a new thing.  Teachers feel like their thoughts and ideas do not matter, while politicians feel important and powerful.  I think politicians think they have the student’s best interest at heart, but many times putting their reforms into practice is not as easy as it is made out to be.  Students know they have no say in how schools should be reformed.  They voice their opinions to their teachers, principals, parents and sometimes to their school boards, but in most cases, they know they are not going to be heard. 

At the David School, the students seem to have more of a voice than their parents.  In the videos, parents are rarely a part of the decisions regarding their student’s educational requirements, expectations, and problems.  Only administrators, teachers, and students have a voice to make change or decisions regarding the students’ education while at David School.  This could be in part that it was left out of the film, or it could be the age of some of the students.  Regardless, the students at this campus have a much more powerful voice at this campus than most. 

School reform is a long and tedious process in which many groups have a voice.  It would be nice for students to have a “louder” voice in the process; I do not see this as an immediate option.