Experienced teachers’ reactions to mandated reform and nongraded primary school programs

Experienced teachers sometimes have been viewed as oppositional to education reform and as representing the problems that necessitated reform. The purpose of this study was to describe reactions from highly experienced primary-level teachers to the significant changes mandated in early elementary education by the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA). Two groups of teachers received questionnaires: those who retired the year after KERA was enacted and those who were eligible to retire but chose to remain in primary classrooms. The teachers’ responses address several beliefs regarding reform and experienced teachers; the teachers also convey strong messages about reform in general and nongraded primary programs in particular. Finally, the teachers remind us of why they chose to work with young children across their careers.