Editing Education reform (section)

== Motivations for education reform ==
Education reform, in general, implies a continual effort to modify and improve the institution of education.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Definition of REFORM|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reform|access-date=2021-04-11|website=www.merriam-webster.com|language=en}}</ref> Over time, as the needs and values of society change, attitudes towards public education also change.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=LIEBERMAN|first=CARL|date=1977|title=Education and Social Change|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41063162|journal=American Secondary Education|volume=7|issue=3|pages=42–48|issn=0003-1003|jstor=41063162}}</ref> As a [[Institution|social institution]], [[Sociology of education|education]] plays an integral role in the process of [[socialization]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Agents of Socialization {{!}} Introduction to Sociology|url=https://courses.lumenlearning.com/sociology/chapter/agents-of-socialization/|access-date=2021-04-11|website=courses.lumenlearning.com}}</ref> "Socialization is broadly composed of distinct inter- and intra-generational processes. Both involve the harmonization of an individual's attitudes and behaviors with that of their socio-cultural milieu.<ref>{{Cite journal|author1-link=Archana Singh-Manoux|last1=Singh-Manoux|first1=Archana|last2=Marmot|first2=Michael|date=2021-11-04|title=Role of socialization in explaining social inequalities in health|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.070|journal=Social Science & Medicine|volume=60|issue=9|pages=2129–2133|doi=10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.08.070|issn=0277-9536|pmid=15743660|s2cid=2473016 }}</ref>" Educational matrices aim to reinforce those socially acceptable [[Social norm|informal and formal norms]], [[Value (ethics)|values]], and [[Dramaturgy (sociology)|beliefs]] that individuals need to learn in order to be accepted as good, functioning, and productive members of their society.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chapter 16 Education|url=http://opentextbc.com/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter16-education/|url-status=live|access-date=2021-04-04|website=opentextbc.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415065241/http://opentextbc.com/introductiontosociology/chapter/chapter16-education/ |archive-date=2021-04-15 }}</ref> Education reform is the process of constantly renegotiating and restructuring the educational standards to reflect the ever-evolving contemporary ideals of social, economic, and political culture.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Education policy in the United States|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Education_policy_in_the_United_States|access-date=2021-03-28|website=Ballotpedia|language=en}}</ref> Reforms can be based on bringing education into alignment with a society's core values.<ref name="School1970">{{cite book|author=Sudbury Valley School|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MAqxzEss8k4C|title=The crisis in American education: an analysis and a proposal|date=1 January 1970|publisher=The Sudbury Valley School|isbn=978-1-888947-05-2|chapter=The American Dream|access-date=30 May 2013}}</ref><ref name="Gutmann1999">{{cite book|author=Amy Gutmann|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BZf7R6k4WHAC|title=Democratic Education|date=29 March 1999|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2291-1|access-date=30 May 2013}}</ref> Reforms that attempt to change a society's core values can connect alternative education initiatives with a network of other alternative institutions.<ref>{{cite book|author=Paula Polk Lillard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WHo6zlV1j8MC|title=Montessori Today: A Comprehensive Approach to Education from Birth to Adulthood|date=7 September 2011|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-76132-3|page=22|access-date=30 May 2013}}, quoted in {{cite book|author=Mitchell Stevens|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lOOH21vRQRgC|title=Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement|date=9 February 2009|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-2480-9|page=183|access-date=30 May 2013}}</ref>

Education reform has been pursued for a variety of specific reasons, but generally most reforms aim at redressing some societal ills, such as [[poverty]]-, [[gender]]-, or [[Social class|class]]-based inequities, or perceived ineffectiveness. Current education trends in the United States represent multiple achievement gaps across ethnicities, income levels, and geographies. As McKinsey and Company reported in a 2009 analysis, "These educational gaps impose on the United States the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession."<ref>McKinsey and Company, "The Economic Impact of the Achievement Gap on America's Schools." April 2009.</ref> Reforms are usually proposed by thinkers who aim to redress societal ills or institute societal changes, most often through a change in the education of the members of a class of people—the preparation of a ruling class to rule or a working class to work, the social hygiene of a lower or immigrant class, the preparation of citizens in a democracy or republic, etc. The idea that all children should be provided with a high level of education is a relatively recent idea, and has arisen largely in the context of Western [[democracy]] in the 20th century.

The "beliefs" of school districts are optimistic that quite literally "all students will succeed", which in the context of [[high school graduation examination in the United States]], all students in all groups, regardless of heritage or income will pass tests typically fall beyond the ability of all but the top 20 to 30 percent of students. The claims clearly renounce historical research that shows that all ethnic and income groups score differently on all [[standardized test]]s and [[standards based assessment]]s and that students will achieve on a [[Normal distribution|bell curve]]. Instead, education officials across the world believe that by setting clear, achievable, higher standards, aligning the curriculum, and assessing outcomes, learning can be increased for all students, and more students can succeed than the 50 percent who are defined to be above or below grade level by norm referenced standards.

[[Sovereign state|States]] have tried to use [[state school]]s to increase state power, especially to make better [[soldier]]s and workers, and increase [[nationalism]]. This strategy was first adopted to unify related linguistic groups in [[Europe]], including [[France]], [[Germany]] and [[Italy]]. Exact mechanisms are unclear, but it often fails in areas where populations are culturally segregated, as when the U.S. Indian school service failed to suppress [[Lakota language|Lakota]] and [[Navajo people|Navaho]], or when a culture has widely respected autonomous cultural institutions, as when the [[Spain|Spanish]] failed to suppress [[Catalonia|Catalan]].

Many students of democracy have desired to improve education in order to improve the quality of governance in democratic societies; the necessity of good public education follows logically if one believes that the quality of democratic governance depends on the ability of citizens to make informed, intelligent choices, and that education can improve these abilities.

Politically motivated educational reforms of the democratic type are recorded as far back as [[Plato]] in ''[[Plato's Republic|The Republic]]''. In the United States, this lineage of democratic education reform was continued by [[Thomas Jefferson]], who advocated ambitious reforms partly along Platonic lines for [[public education|public schooling]] in [[Virginia]].

Another motivation for reform is the desire to address socio-economic problems, which many people see as having significant roots in lack of education. Starting in the 20th century, people have attempted to argue that small improvements in education can have large returns in such areas as health, wealth and well-being. For example, in [[Kerala]], India in the 1950s, increases in women's health were correlated with increases in female literacy rates. In [[Iran]], increased primary education was correlated with increased farming efficiencies and income. In both cases some researchers have concluded these correlations as representing an underlying causal relationship: education causes socio-economic benefits. In the case of Iran, researchers concluded that the improvements were due to farmers gaining reliable access to national crop prices and scientific farming information.