Chapter 12 Reflection

Post a reflection on this chapter, How Should Education Be Reformed? - 2-3 paragraphs

The authors of the text book maintains: “Some educators and politicians argue that much more needs to be done to improve U.S. schools, given that the reforms implemented to date have not led to significant gains in academic achievement. Others disagree, stating that U.S. schools are a great social achievement, educating more children to higher levels than the schools supported by any other society in the world. A number of skeptics believe that the schools-and particularly the public schools-are incapable of being reformed.” I personally disagree with the skeptics, for the simple reason that I myself needed intervention to equalize my chances for academic success. Were it not for that intervention, that being, differentiated learning, I would not have achieved the level of academic success I am now enjoying.

Accordingly, from my past experiences and vantage point, I believe differentiated learning should be mandatory for failing students. Presently, only a handful of schools are using this concept and they are experiencing greater success in comparison with standardized methods.

Ultimately, it is worth noting what a leading expert on school reform, David Kerbow, concluded in his book entitled Patterns of Urban Student Mobility and Local School Reform:  “As students transfer, and mobile students forfeit the benefit of continuity of school services ... it has deep (though often hidden) consequences for the schools these students attend and for the systemic changes intended by local school reform” (Kerbow 147-169).

Work Cited

Kerbow, David. "Patterns of Urban Student Mobility and Local School Reform." Journal of  Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR) . 1.2 (2009): 147-169. Print. <http://www.tandfonline.com/>.