Tradeoffs, Societal Values, and School Reform

Abstract

Ms. Rotberg looks at a constant of education reform: for every new approach, tradeoffs must be made. She reports on the choices that educators in various countries, often dealing with similar issues, have made in their efforts to bring about school improvement. THE POLITICAL rhetoric about school reform makes it sound easy. Apparently, whatever the proposed reform -- testing, reduced class size, vouchers -- there are no tradeoffs or costs to consider. Or the tradeoffs are judged to be so insignificant that they do not merit discussion. There is also an unspoken premise that countries with effective education systems (i.e., high test scores) have gotten it right without ever having had to make difficult choices or cope with negative consequences. The rest of us could do the same if we would only adopt some other country's system. Finally, the societal context of school reform is often ignored, despite the fact that a country's priorities, values, and economic status ultimately play a major role in determining whether reforms can be implemented as planned. Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform, a book I recently edited on current education reforms in 16 countries, analyzes the trends in school reform and the fact that all countries' reforms require policy makers to choose among conflicting goals.1 In every country, there are examples of tradeoffs, painful costs, and ironies. There are several benefits of knowing those tradeoffs. * First, after identifying tradeoffs, policy makers may reconsider, or temper, the reform as not worth the negative consequences. * Second, even if the reform is judged worthwhile, those negative consequences may be ameliorated by paying attention in advance to those disadvantaged by the change. * Third, the very process of evaluating the reform and its probable consequences will help strengthen the implementation of the reform, even if some of the negative consequences remain. * Fourth, we will be less likely to spin our wheels trying to implement a reform that is fundamentally at odds with deeply held value systems, financial capacity, or political structures. * Finally, understanding the broader implications of education policies will help us make more realistic assessments of both the reforms proposed in the U.S. and the educational practices in other countries. In this article, I focus on several key trends in global education reform: 1) strengthening educational equity, 2) reducing central control of education, 3) holding teachers accountable for student performance, 4) increasing the flexibility of learning environments, and 5) increasing access to education. I examine the tradeoffs countries faced as they attempted to implement each of these reforms, and I conclude with a discussion of the societal factors that both facilitate and constrain reform. Trends and Tradeoffs Strengthening educational equity. The most dramatic increases in educational equity in recent years have occurred in South Africa, where political and ideological changes in the past decade have led to a redistribution of educational resources that is among the most significant ever attempted. Under apartheid, per-pupil expenditures for whites were 10 times greater than those for blacks, who attended schools designed to perpetuate apartheid by providing students with only a minimal education and by employing a curriculum that advocated separatist policies. That system was considered intolerable; as a result, the education system has been transformed into one that distributes resources according to student enrollment rather than according to race and also provides additional funding to schools in high-poverty areas. But the redistribution, in turn, required the withdrawal of funds from affluent communities and schools -- an action that many feared would cause middle-class families (now increasingly both black and white) to leave the public school system. …