Educational Reform

Educational reform seeks to improve the performance of students through changes to the curriculum, instructional practices, school [Page 608]operations, or other elements that affect the running of public schools. Although school reform movements have been in existence practically as long as public schools have existed, they have intensified since the 1980s. All educational reform efforts claim to benefit students and parents through making changes in the way schools and classrooms are run. Some educational reform movements, however, have been criticized as seeking to divert funding from classrooms to enrich individuals and organizations ostensibly formed to manage schools or to sell certain goods and services to them.