ch distributes a national report card, presents the drastic decline of unfavorable test scores up until 1983. It also shows that the current reform movement is making significant progress and better tests scores are being achieved. Although the standards in U.S. education are below average, many organizations on the federal and local level are making changes that will improve those standards over time. With a few modifications, the current education reform movement is the best way to improve the education system for the future.
             The government has released many programs following the 1983 "A Nation at Risk" report. The programs that began the current school reform movement came in a series of
             "waves," that were intended to correct the poor skills of U.S. over a period of several years.
             The first wave of school reform concentrated on the poor achievements of graduating high school seniors. In an international achievement test, the seniors of the U.S. ranked 19 among 21 countries in science and mathematics (A Nation Still, 1998). The illiteracy rate among American children and adults were also at unsatisfactory levels. To rectify these problems the Excellence Commission suggests:
             Strengthening high school graduation requirements and admission to college, increasing standards and expectations for student performance, lengthening the school day and the school year, raising teachers' salaries, and generally holding students and educators more accountable" (Lunenburg, 1992, p.3).
             All of the aforementioned are a very good beginning towards bettering our education standards. However, these concepts are only the foreground to the second wave of education reform.
             Around 1986, the second surge of educational reform took place. The idea that the schools should be completely restructured became the main focus in public school systems. " In school districts across the country, scho...