Sentence:  ...over the past two years, my administration has made education a top priority. We've launched a competition called “Race to the Top” – a <WSD>reform</WSD> that is lifting academic standards and getting results; not because Washington dictated the answers, but because states and local schools pursued innovative solutions. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  The change of something that is defective, broken, inefficient or otherwise negative, in order to correct or improve it