ABSTRACT
The aim of most educational reforms is to better prepare students for their political, economic, and social roles in society. The most controversial reforms generally are responses to conflicting values and conceptions about the role of school in society. Reforms influence student learning when they are linked directly to the learning process. If a school reform facilitates or promotes student learning, it is likely, in the long-run, to have a positive impact on more global functions of education. To evaluate the potential of a reform to increase student learning, the links between the conditions of the reform and student outcomes should be made explicit. If a reform expands a student's ability or capacity to learn, or motivates a student to expend more effort in studying, then it has a positive impact on the primary determinants of learning. If a reform improves pedagogy, the curriculum, or the organization of students for instruction, then it increases students' opportunities to learn.
