Transferring Underlying Principles of Effective Agronomic Reforms to Educational Reforms.

Students’ performance on standardized tests in science continues to be a cause for concern with most of the blames for the low performance attributed to teachers’ performance in teaching.  Educational reforms like ‘No Child Left Behind’ and its reauthorization, ‘Race to the Top’ have focused on accountability strategies in an attempt to increase students’ test scores.  Strategies like school transformation have resulted in the dismissal of teachers in some school districts, which have presented counter effects to the intended goals of such reforms.  There is a dire need for educational reforms that consider the voices of teachers in implementing reforms that are feasible to implement and that will enhance students’ performances in science.  Here I discuss some underlying principles in the transformation of agronomic practices that involve, observing, listening and understanding farmers’ traditional practices, which have enhanced farmers’ productivity.  I further discuss how educational reformers can learn from these principles in conceiving educational reforms that will enhance teachers’ performances and students’ test scores in science based on a field study in which  10 high school science teachers’ shared their perspectives about their practices.