Running

head: CHAPTER 12 1

Chapter 12
Steven Davis
EDU-1010
November 4, 2015

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Educational reform is something that teachers will have to go through in one form or

another. Understanding the changes and why administration is wanting to implement them is
going to weigh greatly on how you will perform your job. You need to understand the changes
that are to come because it will be a determining factor to what and how you are going to
teach. You need to understand what is expected of you to be an effective teacher.

Reform is always going to be thought about by the administration because they are

looking for the best way to improve learning and how to help the teachers improve the way
they teach. This will affect what kind of technology is used in the school or the newest text
books that have been recently released.

Teacher evaluation is another part of reform and is going to have a major effect on your

employment and what is going to be expected of you. Teachers will evaluate you in collage and
assess how well you are able to teach. You will also go through a student teaching program
where you will have a mentor teacher that will work with you and have to evaluate your
progress during that semester. After you make it through that you will have to be evaluated by
potential school districts that are interested in hiring you. They will evaluate what you have
accomplished, assess what they think of your skills, and determine if they think you are even
worth hiring. Reform will be a part in what schools are required to look at in a teacher and that
is going to affect if you are even able to get a job. After that you could be employed by a school
but will still have to go through many more evaluations throughout your whole teaching career.

Teacher reform will also include how much money you will make throughout your

career. Reform affects the school budget and how it is spent. Recently some school districts
will include a pay-for-performance plan that will offer teachers higher salaries and bonuses by

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taking on extra responsibilities and working in a high needs area (Kauchak & Eggen, 2014, p.
389). There is also merit pay which is a salary that is used to reward exemplary performance
from a teacher (Kauchak & Eggen, 2014).

Reform has also made an impact on the curriculum by creating the standards that every

teacher should know and understand throughout any given year. Teachers of old where able to
teach pretty much whatever they wanted as long as it was age and grade appropriate. Now
days it has been changed so the whole country is teaching the same thing at the same time. I
can understand why this reform was implemented. I feel that it makes sense that a child could
move from one state to another and not fall behind because the place that the student moves
to is teaching the same curriculum. I believe that this makes it easier for teachers to work with
new students and not have to play catch up with them on multiple subjects. I also believe that
this makes it easier for the student that has had to pick up their whole life and move to
somewhere new. A student that does not understand what is going on in school can cause
them to become less engaged with the learning process and risk falling behind.

I completely understand that reform is going to affect me as a teacher. It will have

effects on my pay, the size of my class, the school I teach in, and even what I will be teaching. I
feel that reform is for the most part a good thing and will help better the students, the
teachers, and the education system as a whole.

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References
Kauchak, D., & Eggen, P. (2014). Introduction to teaching: Becoming a professional (5th ed.). Upper
saddle river: Pearson Education.