I wrote about this topic because education interests me and it’s a huge part of my life and the life of most people in the United States. Many people take their education for granted and I wanted to write about Education Policy because it shows the changes that have been made to the education system to try to better it, and how they actually turned out. I wanted to explain to my readers that education is important and that there are many different things that factor into making it effective or beneficial to one’s life. There are many problems with the education system in today’s world but the main problem would have to be the ineffectiveness of teachers. This problem is important because an ineffective or bad teacher can ruin your education. They can be the cause of why you’re not succeeding, and let’s face it, everyone has had at least one bad teacher throughout their school years.The problem hasn’t been completely resolved, and probably never will be, but there are many steps in order to minimize the problem and improve the education system. Getting rid of teacher unions is one step, and substituting standardized testing with an assessment of teachers and students in their “natural state” in school is another option. By setting these plans into action, it will allow fairness whiles improving the way teachers teach and engage their students. If teachers took their job more seriously and dedicated their time to engaging and helping the students, the educational achievements would increase drastically. Also, the government could introduce a new education policy which touches up on some things to help the teachers and students.
Monday, March 17, 2014
Rationale
I begin the paper by announcing my topic and the issue (which education policy is more effective) and explain why I am writing the essay. To clarify this, I added a sentence for each policy explaining what they consist of. Throughout the paper I find facts to support my statements. I use direction quotations from scholarly sources about each education policy to ensure that I have credible information while supporting my argument. Providing background information helps the reader understand the paper (in my case, understand what each policy is and consists of) in order to keep wanting to read it without getting confused. I state my thesis at the end of the introduction to give reader expectations of my essay.
The next section in my paper will focus further on the description of both education policies. I go further in depth of the policies and what the main points to each one are. I include critiques on both of the education policies which describes the viewpoints and the bad and good sides to each. By comparing the policies to each other, it allows the reader to see how the education policies have changed over time and how their rules are similar but a little tweak can make a huge difference in the education system. Describing the policies in this order will keep the reader on track and help them understand the point of this research paper.
The next section I go on to describe creationism vs. evolution. I begin with explaining what they are and I go on to describe the conflicts of creationism and evolution being taught in schools. I explain that creationism and evolution have been a major conflict since the late 18th century. I later explain how some schools don’t typically allow both to be taught in the school because they contradict each other and cause problems. I include examples of the conflicts that have happened throughout the United States and what has happened due to teaching either creationism or evolution. By explaining these theories it shows the reader that there are any underlying problems in the schools district and kids are getting punished for it.
In the next paragraph I explain what an effective teacher is and how important it is in the education system. I begin with describing low achieving schools and how they typically have less qualified teachers which plays a big part on why they perform so low. I go on to describe tenure and what it is. I then give examples of how tenure has protected teachers even when they were actually really ineffective and made no positive impact on a student’s education. I explain everything about tenure because it is important that the reader understands how it effects the students and that it’s actually a really crucial problem when the kids performance is suffering due to bad teachers.
In the next paragraph I explain the current qualifications that most companies require for their employees, and the main point of this paragraph is to question if students are actually ready to move on from high school into the workforce and/or college. I describe the necessary skills for these changes in life and how they can help. Another question that comes up is if teachers engage their students enough, which goes back to being effective or ineffective in their teaching methods. I show facts describing how high school students have failed to demonstrate that they’re ready to go into higher levels of education after high school. I talk about engaging students because it ties in with the last paragraph of “what an effective teacher is and how important it is in the education system.” This shows the reader that ineffective teachers are a huge problem in public schools throughout the country and both policies fail to fix that.
Moving on to another important aspect in the school system; standardized testing. I go on to ask if standardized testing is effective and I back it up with evidence from scholarly journals, giving credible proof to the reader. I explain how standardized testing is a huge part of the policies which brings negative consequences for both. I explain the negative consequences to show how much of an impact these tests can make on students. I include ways to improve or change testing methods which could allow for a better policy, showing the reader how this could help schooling.
In the next paragraph I differentiate public schools and charter schools and describe what they are and what makes them different. I give evidence from articles and authors which goes into depth describing that there isn’t a huge difference in public/charter overall school rating. I include this because it shows the audience that it doesn’t really make a huge difference on where you go to school, but how effective your teachers are and how much you get engaged. I go on to further explain teacher unions and which school has them and which doesn’t. Teacher unions make a huge difference in the education system because they can prevent bad teachers from being replaced which not only effects them, but their students too, ruining their education because they don’t get the education they deserve. The reader should know this information because most students don’t and suffer from having ineffective teachers.
I then give examples of underfunding of schools across the country. Students are suffering because of the underfunding of schools; less resources, fewer classes, less teachers. It doesn’t sound like much but it makes a huge impact and limits the student’s education. I explain the consequences when schools are underfunded then further explain how you can improve schooling. I describe how RTT policy plans to improve teacher effectiveness, turning around low achieving schools. I then compare NCLB and how it failed to improve school achievements.
My conclusion consists of the different aspects of the education policies and I thoroughly describe them both. I explain flaws in both policies to show the difference in them and how they are effective. I will end it with stating which policy has overall been more effective in improving the school system. Doing this will show the reader all of the aspects in the policies, doing what they can to understand or improve the school system.
Literature Review
Education is one of the most important things in our nation. In our fast paced society it is important to know the basic fundamentals of math, science, and English so that you can keep up. Education affects our futures drastically and without it we may end up on the street. Sources for this project came primarily from online database JSTOR and Proquest. Sources tend to fall out along certain lines, which are basically policies, evolution, creationism, effective, money, and attention.
Many of the sources I have include policies. These policies include Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind, which are the two most recent and widely known education policies. In one source, Ravitch, Diane. "Los Angeles Times: A Wise Editorial about NCLB and Race to Top." In this article, the author somewhat explains the difference between the Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind education policies. “Instead of confronting root causes, our elites confront the failure of the NCLB regime of high-stakes testing by demanding more of the same and making the stakes higher for teachers and principals.” The author talks about the underlying issues in the policies and that the government doesn’t dig deep enough to fix the problems in education. This information was published in 2013 on a blog.
In many sources, I found information on evolution. Evolution is a very controversial issue and it has been around for centuries. In one source, "Evolution Resources from the National Academies," describes the difference between creationism and evolution in schools. “Many teachers are under considerable pressure from policy makers, school administrators, parents, and students to downplay or eliminate the teaching of evolution.” It goes to show that students lack certain information because some teachers are against evolution so they refuse to teach it. It also describes that technology and society are becoming faster paced and it’s necessary to learn about evolution and science in order to keep up. This information was published by National Academy of Sciences on the web. In another source, I found more information on evolution. This article further explains the problems with evolution and creationism taught in public schools. One teacher was forced to quit because he taught evolution while the school preferred creationism. “The former science teacher at the Cape Town school worried about the students and the lack of “competent science education,” fearing that it will hamper the students’ learning of science. The parents, who the school told about the teacher's lesson plans, apparently told their children to dismiss anything the science teacher said about evolution in favor of creationism.” This was a huge problem and led to many questions regarding how students should be taught. This information was published by God Discussion in 2012 on the web.
Another source I have includes the belief of creationism. Creationism is the belief that the universe and living organisms originate from specific acts of divine creation, as in the biblical account, rather than by natural processes such as evolution. In one source, Schehl, Pam. "Ohio Court Spars on Science Teacher's Creationist Lessons," This article talks about a public school science teacher who kept a bible on his desk and was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class. This was a very controversial topic because people didn’t know whether they should allow their kids to learn about evolution or creationism. The teacher who got fired was accused of burning crosses into their students’ arms and he tried forcing his beliefs on them. This information was published in 2013 on an online news article.
Another popular topic in my sources is attention. Attention is a very important thing when it comes to school. If you don’t have a student’s attention, then you’re doing your job poorly. In one source, Bowie, Liz. "Class Size Grows in High Schools after Cuts to Teaching Positions." This article describes the effects due to cutting down teaching positions in schools. “We must make sure that all students are challenged and given the opportunity and support they need; whether that is a gifted and talented student at one high school or a student who is academically struggling at another.” This describes that cutting down class sizes can negatively affect the students because some may need more attention and help from the teacher, and with larger class sizes, it would be more difficult to receive that help. This information was published in 2014 in the Baltimore Sun. In the article, "Does Class Size Count?" Mosle, Sara goes into more depth talking about the attention of students and how important it is. This article also describes what would happen if class sizes increased. It goes into depth explaining what could happen. “To many educators, the answer seems obvious: Teachers who have fewer students can give each child more attention and tailored instruction.” It is apparent that cutting teachers will impact the students and the way of learning. Loss of attention is a huge issue. This information was published in 2013 in The New York Times.
Many of my sources deal with money. Money is a huge issue all around the world, and in the United States these vary from low income families to under budget schools that can’t afford to give their students enough resources to properly educate them. In one source, Lecker, Wendy, Jonathan Pelto, and Valerie Strauss’s "How Grossly Underfunded Are Public Schools?" describes how public schools are underfunded a lot of the time but it also explains that money isn’t the only cause in poor education. “Despite vast differences among states, courts enumerated a remarkably consistent list of necessary inputs, including: high quality preschool, small class size, additional services for at-risk students, supports for teachers such as professional development, curriculum supports, supplies, equipment, adequate facilities, and adequate books and other learning tools.” All of these factors need to be improved and money can fix most of them. This information was published in 2012 in The Washington Post. In the article, "World Socialist Web Site," Khara Sikhan also describes the issues of money in the education system around the country. This article explains the risk low income students have of dropping out of high school. The author describes that the escalating attacks on the public school system, hundreds of thousands of teachers have been laid off, thousands of schools closed, and millions of students pushed into overcapacity classrooms and overbearing requirements. These circumstances bear down hardest on teenagers in the poorest families, and many are compelled to join the workforce to supplement the household budgets. It’s very common that high school students get jobs which can create a lot of stress on them and urge them to drop out of high school. They need money to survive and feel the need to focus on work rather than school. This information was published in 2013 on the web.
The remainders of my sources associate with teachers and how effective they are. It’s hard to find a teacher that actually makes an impact on a student’s life. It takes a lot for a teacher to be dedicated to do their job well and make a difference in kids’ lives. In one source, "The Effective Teacher versus the Ineffective Teacher?" describes what makes an effective teacher and what teachers can do to become more effective in giving a student a good education. “Research indicates that teacher preparation/knowledge of teaching and learning, subject matter knowledge, experience, and the combined set of qualifications measured by teacher licensure are all leading factors in teacher effectiveness” There are many aspects on what makes a good teacher and I believe this article explains them pretty well. This article was published in 2010 on the Examiner. Another article, "Protecting Bad Teachers, " describes teacher unions in more depth and how they can be unfair because students get stuck with bad teachers and there may be nothing they can do about it. Only one out of 1000 teachers is fired, due to tenure. Many argue that it is unfair because ineffective teachers are guaranteed a job even if they don’t deserve one. In Chicago, one in four students nearing graduation could read and do math, but those teachers didn’t get fired because they had tenure. If teachers didn’t have their job guaranteed, it would probably force them to be more effective in their ways of teaching. This information was published on the web.
Outline Paragraphs
My topic is about the two education policies known as No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. NCLB was put into law by a Republican administration and RTT was ratified by a Democratic administration. This has an obvious effect on the different policies. Race to the Top has an advantage over No Child Left Behind; it was established eight years later and has numerous improvements over its predecessor. However, Race to the Top has areas where it is lacking such as actually materializing its goals.
My topic of education policy is important because education is the foundation of everyone’s lives throughout the world, especially in the United States because it is necessary to have an education. Educational policies are rules that are used in schools to effectively and efficiently teach students and keep them safe. These rules determine how students are taught, what they are taught and how schools manage students and school personnel. The policies can also affect the equality of an education in an area. Educational policies are important because effective policies can help keep students in school.
There are many things I know about education. Being less educated can drastically limit your future earnings and jobs in the workplace, making it difficult to live and get by day by day. Education can benefit individuals and society. In the school system, good teachers are very important, giving the education to students. Many schools around the country struggle due to low staff or low budgets. There have been many education cuts and resources have been reduced which lessens the way teachers teach, therefore making students’ educations not as effective.
Final Draft
Education Policy
In recent years, the United States has come across many changes in the education policy. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted in 2001 and Race To The Top (RTT) is its current successor. NCLB was put into law by a Republican administration and RTT was ratified by a Democratic administration. This has an obvious effect on the different policies. Race to the Top has an advantage over No Child Left Behind; it was established eight years later and has numerous improvements over its predecessor. However, Race to the Top has areas where it is lacking such as actually materializing its goals. There are many problems with the education system in today’s society, but the most crucial problem is the ineffectiveness of teachers and their failure to successfully engage students.
In the No Child Left Behind Act, four main points were established; to have academic standards, make annual progress towards having every student achieve the standards and closing gaps between all students and certain subgroups of students, test students to see if they are learning, and collect data on how they are doing. On the other hand, Race to the Top improved the education system by enhancing standards and assessments, improving collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution, and turning around low-achieving schools. Diane Ravitch states, “The federal government was wrong to make scores on standardized tests the measure of all things. It was a colossal error. We didn’t need NCLB to tell us that poor and minority kids were not getting the same test scores as their advantaged peers.” Critics such as Ravitch believe that the NCLB act was unnecessary and the problems it faced should have been solved from the root causes such as poverty, segregation, and schools with limited resources. Like Ravitch, the author of the article "Criticism of No Child Left Behind,” believes that NCLB allows the government to change the traditional ways of teaching, creates financial problems from the federal government to state and local governments, and places too much emphasis on standardized testing while putting strict qualifications on the teachers. Ravitch also found cons in the Race to the Top education plan which included more frequent punishments to the students and there was more blame put on the teachers due to low exam scores. There have been many instances in which critics disagreed with both policies. Critics such as Joy Resmovits believe that Race to the Top caused states going through recession to compete for hundreds of millions of dollars each, forcing the states to promise to do things such as initiate higher academic standards, allow more charter schools, and evaluate teachers in accordance with students' standardized test scores. “States jumped at the opportunity to get more money, and some dramatically changed the way they deliver education,” (Resmovits 1). In this economy, having enough money to get by is a huge challenge. When it comes to education, schools need enough money to provide resources such as computers and books, while having enough money to provide beneficial classes for the students and a sufficient staff.
Ever since the late 18th century, there has been major conflict between creationism and evolution theories. Over time, many states started denying the rights to teach evolution in schools, such as the Butler Act in Tennessee. Up until this day, many teachers are under pressure from policy makers, school administrators, parents, and students to reduce or eliminate the teaching of evolution. For example, one teacher in a Cape Town school stated, “One kid told me that his dad had already told him that he was to ignore everything that I said about evolution because it was a load of nonsense. The parents are preparing them to reject it.” By reducing or eliminating the teaching of evolution, students will lack information of modern science and the necessary knowledge required for making informed, evidence-based decisions about their own lives or how to judge the world based around them. “Teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses what constitutes science and what does not. It compromises the objectives of public education and the goal of a high-quality science education” (NAS 1). In today’s technologically advanced society, it is crucial to know as much as you can about science or else you won’t succeed. A recent case of controversy occurred in Columbus, Ohio when Freshwater, a science teacher, constantly pushed his religious beliefs on his students to the point where he got fired. It started off with reading from the bible, to handing out religious pamphlets while preaching creationism in his evolution lessons, and finally, “Freshwater had used a high-frequency generator, which other teachers have used to demonstrate electrical current, to burn a cross onto a student's arm. The cross lasted a few weeks” (Schehl 1). Some teachers go too far when it comes to teaching creationism in the classroom. Randy Moore states, “Biology teachers who teach creationism…present the relationship between modern evolutionary biology and their faith as one of self-evident conflict, assuming (and teaching) that their version of creationism is the only true alternative.” Teaching creationism has no scientific or educational value as science (Moore 1).
What is an effective teacher? Many believe that an effective teacher is one who is able to help you build an education and future for yourself whether you are very intelligent already, or if you’re hardly passing a class, someone who will do anything in their power to help you. “There is little argument that in several of Philadelphia-area schools the students that perform the lowest need the most "effective" teachers. Unfortunately, the lowest performing schools statistically tend to have the less qualified and newest teachers” (Examiner 1). With the help of the Race to the Top plan, low-achieving schools like the ones in Philadelphia will receive a better education because teacher effectiveness will increase. They are starting to hire teachers that are actually passionate about the subject they’re teaching and will be supplied with the resources that are necessary in today’s society to teach the students. Doing so will also increase assessment scores and get the statistics at a better rate. If it wasn’t for Race to the Top, dropout rates would increase because they wouldn’t have had an effective teacher to give them an education that they could be proud of. Tenure is the practice of guaranteeing a teacher their job, and this plays a big role with ineffective teachers. There have been many cases where a teacher has disrespected, harassed, and even abused students and they weren’t fired, instead, it was ignored or they paid to keep it a secret. “Once they have tenure, there’s no getting rid of them. Between 1995 and 2005, only 112 Los Angeles tenured teachers faced termination — eleven per year — out of 43,000. And that’s in a school district where the graduation rate in 2003 was just 51 percent” (Protecting Bad Teachers 1). This fact goes to show that a majority of teachers have protection over their job, even if they aren’t effective. According to the pro-education reform documentary “Waiting for Superman,” 1 out of every 57 doctors loses his or her license to practice medicine and 1 out of 97 lawyers lose their license to practice law. Each year, it becomes more apparent that teachers don’t take their job seriously and will just pass a student because they don’t want to deal with being harassed about having a bad grade in the class. If teachers came to the classroom, willing to teach their students how to think critically, then there would be a drastic change in student behavior and graduation rates.
After years of preparation, some argue that young adults aren’t ready to enter the workforce after they graduate from high school or college. To be successful in life, you must acquire many qualifications which include verbal and written communication skills, the capacity to solve problems/critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate with others and work in teams. Do the schools throughout the United States teach students all of these skills? In the article, AdvancED, the author states, “students are learning to memorize and only what is on the test, rather than gaining a broader knowledge of the subjects they are studying and being able to apply that knowledge.” If students are only being taught facts and how to memorize the answers, they won’t know how to evaluate the question and give it a thorough, intelligent response. In this day and age, young people have become dependent on technology and they are quickly forgetting the skills of verbal communication. If you can not hold a conversation or participate in one because you’re too busy on your phone, then you won’t have a chance of making it in the workplace. Many question if schools throughout the United States have rules strict enough to teach students a lesson and how hard teachers try to challenge them when participating in classroom activities. Another question that arises when asking if students are ready to work is if they’re even ready for college. “Only 31 percent of students demonstrated the level of science expertise needed to succeed in entry-level college courses, and more than half were not prepared for college math courses,” (Sheehy). High school students have failed to demonstrate that they have enough skill to continue onto college level courses after graduating. It’s not only important for students to have the skills to enter the workforce and become successful, it is also important to the economy because it is becoming more challenging for companies to find employees that meet their expectations and have a degree along with a useful set of skills.
A common question brought up among teachers, parents, and even students is if standardized testing is actually necessary in school. There are many pros and cons when it comes to standardized testing. The main point of them is to see where a student belongs in the curriculum and how well they’re doing, but are tests always effective? Standardized testing only tests certain categories and can make students feel like they are not intelligent enough or that the testing is unfair cause it’s typically testing math skills, english, and science. While one student may exceed in those subjects, another could be average but be incredible in a different subject which isn’t being tested. Professor Daniel Koretz from Harvard states that, “What you get credit for under No Child Left Behind is raising test scores, period. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It doesn’t matter what else you do or don’t do” (Koretz). He goes on to explain that standardized testing is a huge part of the NCLB policy and that teachers typically change their teaching methods in order to raise test scores rather than thoroughly teach the curriculum while engaging the students more, helping them understand the subject. In the article “How Standardized Testing Damages Education,” it explains how Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind both put pressure on the use of standardized testing and how they effect students and the school. There are many negative consequences that come along with testing such as narrowing the curriculum, teaching strictly what is going to be on the test, pushing students out of school, causing teachers to quit, and the absence of student engagement. Low income families and minority-group students are most often effected because of testing. They aren’t able to afford the proper tools which are necessary to get the full education experience which eventually causes them to get further behind and placed into “dumbed-down” classes due to the standardized testing. Students shouldn’t be punished for their lack of intelligence when often times it’s the teachers fault for not taking their job seriously, and really focusing on their students’ education and futures. There are other options for examining a students intelligence such as careful observation and documentation of their work. It’s also important to evaluate the teacher to see if they’re challenging their students enough while keeping them engaged. Rather than assessing knowledge based on a multiple-choice test, it would be more useful and accurate to assess the performance of the teacher and students. Although there are numerous negatives that come with standardized testing, there are also some positive aspects such as providing a lot of useful information at a low cost, consuming little class time, a more reliable way of scoring tests rather than a teacher-graded assessment, focusing on the subject, and most parents approve of the testing.
What’s the difference between public schools and charter schools? Many ask this question and wonder if one is more effective than the other. A charter school is a publicly funded independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority. While charter schools have their own school board and take money from public schools, public schools are made up of their own government or union. “More and more charter school students are doing better because they're getting anywhere from three to 10 extra weeks of instruction compared to their public school counterparts,” (Sanchez 1). Charter school students are benefitting from the additional days they have to attend school due to the increase of instruction. Unlike Claudio Sanchez, Suzi Parker believes that a great school is a great school regardless of its classification. “There are effective charters and ineffective charters, and there are effective district schools and ineffective district schools,” (Parker 1). In other words, charter schools have a diminutive success rate in learning over public schools, which solely bases the effectiveness of the school on the teachers and staff. Many are concerned that charter schools are separating the district, creating problems in the levels of schooling which make it less accessible, and weakening the power of the teachers union. This could be a major problem for many teachers in the United States because a majority of teachers rely on their union to protect their job and with a union, they are able to discuss district concerns and policies. “Nationally, charter school teachers are, on average, less experienced, less unionized and less likely to hold state certification than teachers in traditional public schools,” (Karp 1). Due to the fact that charter schools aren’t unionized, the chances that a teacher will quit or be fired are 130 percent higher than those in public schools.
The national average spending pupil is $11,184 in the United States. “Because of the state’s underfunding of public schools, Connecticut’s cities and towns, especially its poorer communities, are forced to deprive their own schools of needed resources” (Lecker 1). The result due to the underfunding of schools is that children and teachers must endure large classes, limited textbooks, computers and other learning tools, unfriendly learning environments, cutbacks of teachers, and the elimination of courses and extracurricular activities. Parents and teachers in the Baltimore County school district were interviewed and many agreed that struggling, insufficiently funded schools deserve lower class sizes so that the students could get the education they deserve. Having fewer students in the classroom would allow the teacher to help more students opposed to having a class with 30 or more students and not being able to get around to each one. As stated in the Race to the Top education plan, stepping up teacher effectiveness will turn around low achieving schools. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Bill Gates have proposed to increase class sizes for the best teachers and use the resulting budgetary savings to pay these best teachers more and to help train educators who need improvement. By doing so, this would give students the chance of getting a more effective teacher while improving the teaching techniques of the whole staff. Not only does insufficient funding lead to ineffective teachers, but it also leads to high school drop outs. According to a recent study done by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), “Low-income students fail to graduate at five times the rate of middle-income families and six times that of higher-income youth” (Sikhan 1). No Child Left Behind failed to bring up low achieving schools, test scores didn’t improve enough to get noticed, and the average grades for low income schools remained low. During No Child Left Behind, class sizes actually increased and test scores went down because many students weren’t able to get the help they needed. One of the main points of NCLB was to “make annual progress towards having every student achieve the standards and closing gaps,” but they failed to do so.
Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind Act deal with many of the same issues and have many of the same goals, but their approaches are quite different. One provides incentives for schools to change while the other mandates it. Race to the Top is a competitive grant program that seeks to give states financial incentives to improve their education systems in certain ways. No Child Left Behind mandated various changes in state and local education systems to pay for education programs for disadvantaged children. While Race to the Top grants that go to states and local school districts receive additional federal funding, No Child Left Behind requires each state to make reforms to continue receiving federal funds. Both the RTT and NCLB acts deal with standards and assessments, data and accountability, effective teachers and staff members, and ways of improving low-performing schools. While both acts were proposed to improve the overall quality of the education system throughout the country, there are many flaws in both. Some of these flaws include the main focus in schools are exams, and your intelligence is based off of them, schools and teachers are forced to teach the exact same curriculum, which allows no creativity, an unbalanced subject focus, and many teachers pass students that shouldn’t have actually been passed. Race to the Top lacks the ability to materialize its goals, but a majority of parents, students, and school staff members can agree that Race To The Top has thrived more than No Child Left Behind, while successfully improving the education system.
Bibliography
Ravitch, Diane. "Los Angeles Times: A Wise Editorial about NCLB and Race to Top." Web log post. Diane Ravitch's Blog. N.p., 21 July 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
"Evolution ResourcesFrom the National Academies." Evolution Resources from the National Academies. National Academy of Sciences, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
Schehl, Pam. "Ohio Court Spars on Science Teacher's Creationist Lessons." News Article. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
"The Effective Teacher versus the Ineffective Teacher?" Examiner.com. Examiner, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
Lecker, Wendy, Jonathan Pelto, and Valerie Strauss. "How Grossly Underfunded Are Public Schools?" Washington Post. N.p., 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
"Protecting Bad Teachers." Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Bowie, Liz. "Class Size Grows in High Schools after Cuts to Teaching Positions." Baltimore Sun. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Mosle, Sara. "Does Class Size Count?" Opinionator Does Class Size Count Comments. The New York Times, 4 May 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
"Science Teacher, Who Teaches Evolution, Forced to Quit Because of School's Preference of Creationism." God Discussion. N.p., 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Sikhan, Khara. "World Socialist Web Site." Low-income Students Six times More Likely to Drop out of High School -. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014.
Resmovits, Joy. "Race To The Top Competition Deemed 'Impossible' In New Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
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Sanchez, Claudio. "The Charter School Vs. Public School Debate Continues." NPR. NPR, 16 July 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.
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Paper Outline
I) Introduction: I give a brief overview of topic followed by my thesis statement.
a) Education policies including NCLB and RTT.
i) No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted in 2001 and Race To The Top (RTT) is its current successor.
ii) NCLB was put into law by a Republican administration and RTT was ratified by a Democratic administration.
1) Because of the failed actions of NCLB, RTT was established eight years later and has many improvements.
II) Description of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top education policies.
a) NCLB: four main points established.
i) To have academic standards, make annual progress towards having every student achieve the standards and closing gaps between all students and certain subgroups of students, test students to see if they are learning, and collect data on how they are doing
b) Race to the Top policy description.
i) enhancing standards and assessments, improving collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution, and turning around low-achieving schools.
c) Critics compare both education policies.
i) Critics believe that the NCLB act was unnecessary. (Ravitch)
III) Creationism vs. Evolution
a) Conflicts of creationism and evolution.
i) Ever since the late 18th century, there has been major conflict between creationism and evolution theories.
ii) Many states started denying the rights to teach evolution in schools.
iii) Problems with reducing teaching of evolution. “Teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses what constitutes science and what does not.” ( NAS 1)
iv) Controversy occurred in Columbus, Ohio when Freshwater, a science teacher, constantly pushed his religious beliefs on his students. (Schehl 1)
IV) What is an effective teacher?
a) Low achieving schools.
i) “Unfortunately, the lowest performing schools statistically tend to have the less qualified and newest teachers” (Examiner 1).
b) Tenure and teachers.
i) Tenure is the practice of guaranteeing a teacher their job.
ii) 1 out of every 57 doctors loses his or her license to practice medicine and 1 out of 97 lawyers lose their license to practice law. (Waiting for Superman).
V) Are students prepared for workforce or college?
a) Skills necessary for the future.
i) “Written communication skills, the capacity to solve problems/critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate with others and work in teams.”
b) Do teachers engage students enough?
i) High school students have failed to demonstrate that they have enough skill to continue onto college level courses after graduating.
VI) Standardized testing in public schools.
a) Are standardized tests actually effective?
i) Standardized testing only tests certain categories and can make students feel like they are not intelligent enough or that the testing is unfair.
ii) Standardized testing is a huge part of the NCLB policy (Koretz).
iii) “How Standardized Testing Damages Education” states that RTT
and NCLB puts pressure on schools conducting standardized testing.
b) Negative consequences that come along with testing.
i) Narrowing the curriculum, teaching strictly what is going to be on the test, pushing students out of school, causing teachers to quit, and the absence of student engagement.
c) Ways to substitute standardized testing.
i) Assess the performance of the teachers and students to get a more accurate result of their knowledge.
VII) Public schools vs. Charter schools.
a) What is the difference between a public school and a charter school.
i) Charter schools have their own school board and take money from public schools, public schools are made up of their own government or union.
b) Is there a drastic difference in school rating?
i) A school is great regardless if it’s public or charter.
ii) “There are effective charters and ineffective charters, and there are effective district schools and ineffective district schools,” (Parker 1).
c) Do these schools effect teacher unions?
i) A majority of teachers rely on their union to protect their job and with a union, they are able to discuss district concerns and policies.
ii) Charter school teachers are less experienced and unionized (Karp 1).
VIII) Underfunding in schools across the country.
a) Because of school’s underfunding, “…deprive their own schools of needed resources” (Lecker 1).
i) Result due to the underfunding of schools is that children and teachers must endure large classes, limited textbooks, computers and other learning tools, unfriendly learning environments, cutbacks of teachers, and the elimination of courses and extracurricular activities.
b) Ways to improve schooling.
i) Stated by the Race to the Top education plan, stepping up teacher effectiveness will turn around low achieving schools.
c) How both policies managed the underfunding of schools.
i) No Child Left Behind failed to bring up low achieving schools, test scores didn’t improve enough to get noticed, and the average grades for low income schools remained low.
IX) Conclusion/ Overview of both policies.
a) Different aspects of the policies.
i) One provides incentives for schools to change while the other mandates it.
b) Flaws in the policies.
i) The main focus in schools are exams, and your intelligence is based off of them, schools and teachers are forced to teach the exact same curriculum, which allows no creativity, an unbalanced subject focus, and many teachers pass students that shouldn’t have actually been passed.
c) Which policy was overall more successful.
Thursday, March 13, 2014
Rough Draft
Education Policy
In recent years, the United States has come across many changes in the education policy. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted in 2001 and Race To The Top (RTT) is its current successor. NCLB was put into law by a Republican administration and RTT was ratified by a Democratic administration. This has an obvious effect on the different policies. Race to the Top has an advantage over No Child Left Behind; it was established eight years later and has numerous improvements over its predecessor. However, Race to the Top has areas where it is lacking such as actually materializing its goals.
In the No Child Left Behind Act, four main points were established; to have academic standards, make annual progress towards having every student achieve the standards and closing gaps between all students and certain subgroups of students, test students to see if they are learning, and collect data on how they are doing. On the other hand, Race to the Top improved the education system by enhancing standards and assessments, improving collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness and achieving equity in teacher distribution, and turning around low-achieving schools. Diane Ravitch states, “The federal government was wrong to make scores on standardized tests the measure of all things. It was a colossal error. We didn’t need NCLB to tell us that poor and minority kids were not getting the same test scores as their advantaged peers.” Critics such as Ravitch believe that the NCLB act was unnecessary and the problems it faced should have been solved from the root causes such as poverty, segregation, and schools with limited resources. Like Ravitch, the author of the article "Criticism of No Child Left Behind,” believes that NCLB allows the government to change the traditional ways of teaching, creates financial problems from the federal government to state and local governments, and places too much emphasis on standardized testing while putting strict qualifications on the teachers. Ravitch also found cons in the Race to the Top education plan which included more frequent punishments to the students and there was more blame put on the teachers due to low exam scores. There have been many instances in which critics disagreed with both policies. Critics such as Joy Resmovits believe that Race to the Top caused states going through recession to compete for hundreds of millions of dollars each, forcing the states to promise to do things such as initiate higher academic standards, allow more charter schools, and evaluate teachers in accordance with students' standardized test scores. “States jumped at the opportunity to get more money, and some dramatically changed the way they deliver education,” (Resmovits 1). In this economy, having enough money to get by is a huge challenge. When it comes to education, schools need enough money to provide resources such as computers and books, while having enough money to provide beneficial classes for the students and a sufficient staff.
Ever since the late 18th century, there has been major conflict between creationism and evolution theories. Over time, many states started denying the rights to teach evolution in schools, such as the Butler Act in Tennessee. Up until this day, many teachers are under pressure from policy makers, school administrators, parents, and students to reduce or eliminate the teaching of evolution. For example, one teacher in a Cape Town school stated, “One kid told me that his dad had already told him that he was to ignore everything that I said about evolution because it was a load of nonsense. The parents are preparing them to reject it.” By reducing or eliminating the teaching of evolution, students will lack information of modern science and the necessary knowledge required for making informed, evidence-based decisions about their own lives or how to judge the world based around them. “Teaching creationist ideas in science classes confuses what constitutes science and what does not. It compromises the objectives of public education and the goal of a high-quality science education” (NAS 1). In today’s technologically advanced society, it is crucial to know as much as you can about science or else you won’t succeed. A recent case of controversy occurred in Columbus, Ohio when Freshwater, a science teacher, constantly pushed his religious beliefs on his students to the point where he got fired. It started off with reading from the bible, to handing out religious pamphlets while preaching creationism in his evolution lessons, and finally, “Freshwater had used a high-frequency generator, which other teachers have used to demonstrate electrical current, to burn a cross onto a student's arm. The cross lasted a few weeks” (Schehl 1). Some teachers go too far when it comes to teaching creationism in the classroom. Randy Moore states, “Biology teachers who teach creationism…present the relationship between modern evolutionary biology and their faith as one of self-evident conflict, assuming (and teaching) that their version of creationism is the only true alternative.” Teaching creationism has no scientific or educational value as science (Moore 1).
What is an effective teacher? Many believe that an effective teacher is one who is able to help you build an education and future for yourself whether you are very intelligent already, or if you’re hardly passing a class, someone who will do anything in their power to help you. “There is little argument that in several of Philadelphia-area schools the students that perform the lowest need the most "effective" teachers. Unfortunately, the lowest performing schools statistically tend to have the less qualified and newest teachers” (Examiner 1). With the help of the Race to the Top plan, low-achieving schools like the ones in Philadelphia will receive a better education because teacher effectiveness will increase. They are starting to hire teachers that are actually passionate about the subject they’re teaching and will be supplied with the resources that are necessary in today’s society to teach the students. Doing so will also increase assessment scores and get the statistics at a better rate. If it wasn’t for Race to the Top, dropout rates would increase because they wouldn’t have had an effective teacher to give them an education that they could be proud of. Tenure is the practice of guaranteeing a teacher their job, and this plays a big role with ineffective teachers. There have been many cases where a teacher has disrespected, harassed, and even abused students and they weren’t fired, instead, it was ignored or they paid to keep it a secret. “Once they have tenure, there’s no getting rid of them. Between 1995 and 2005, only 112 Los Angeles tenured teachers faced termination — eleven per year — out of 43,000. And that’s in a school district where the graduation rate in 2003 was just 51 percent” (Protecting Bad Teachers 1). This fact goes to show that a majority of teachers have protection over their job, even if they aren’t effective. According to the pro-education reform documentary Waiting for Superman, 1 out of every 57 doctors loses his or her license to practice medicine and 1 out of 97 lawyers lose their license to practice law. Each year, it becomes more apparent that teachers don’t take their job seriously and will just pass a student because they don’t want to deal with being harassed about having a bad grade in the class. If teachers came to the classroom, willing to teach their students how to think critically, then there would be a drastic change in student behavior and graduation rates.
After years of preparation, some argue that young adults aren’t ready to enter the workforce after they graduate from high school or college. To be successful in life, you must acquire many qualifications which include verbal and written communication skills, the capacity to solve problems/critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate with others and work in teams. Do the schools throughout the United States teach students all of these skills? In the article, AdvancED, the author states, “students are learning to memorize and only what is on the test, rather than gaining a broader knowledge of the subjects they are studying and being able to apply that knowledge.” If students are only being taught facts and how to memorize the answers, they won’t know how to evaluate the question and give it a thorough, intelligent response. In this day and age, young people have become dependent on technology and they are quickly forgetting the skills of verbal communication. If you can not hold a conversation or participate in one because you’re too busy on your phone, then you won’t have a chance of making it in the workplace. Many question if schools throughout the United States have rules strict enough to teach students a lesson and how hard teachers try to challenge them when participating in classroom activities. Another question that arises when asking if students are ready to work is if they’re even ready for college. “Only 31 percent of students demonstrated the level of science expertise needed to succeed in entry-level college courses, and more than half were not prepared for college math courses,” (Sheehy). High school students have failed to demonstrate that they have enough skill to continue onto college level courses after graduating. It’s not only important for students to have the skills to enter the workforce and become successful, it is also important to the economy because it is becoming more challenging for companies to find employees that meet their expectations and have a degree along with a useful set of skills.
A common question brought up among teachers, parents, and even students is if standardized testing is actually necessary in school. There are many pros and cons when it comes to standardized testing. The main point of them is to see where a student belongs in the curriculum and how well they’re doing, but are tests always effective? Standardized testing only tests certain categories and can make students feel like they are not intelligent enough or that the testing is unfair cause it’s typically testing math skills, english, and science. While one student may exceed in those subjects, another could be average but be incredible in a different subject which isn’t being tested. Professor Daniel Koretz from Harvard states that, “What you get credit for under No Child Left Behind is raising test scores, period. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It doesn’t matter what else you do or don’t do” (Koretz). He goes on to explain that standardized testing is a huge part of the NCLB policy and that teachers typically change their teaching methods in order to raise test scores rather than thoroughly teach the curriculum while engaging the students more, helping them understand the subject. In the article “How Standardized Testing Damages Education,” it explains how Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind both put pressure on the use of standardized testing and how they effect students and the school. There are many negative consequences that come along with testing such as narrowing the curriculum, teaching strictly what is going to be on the test, pushing students out of school, causing teachers to quit, and the absence of student engagement. Low income families and minority-group students are most often effected because of testing. They aren’t able to afford the proper tools which are necessary to get the full education experience which eventually causes them to get further behind and placed into “dumbed-down” classes due to the standardized testing. Students shouldn’t be punished for their lack of intelligence when often times it’s the teachers fault for not taking their job seriously, and really focusing on their students’ education and futures. There are other options for examining a students intelligence such as careful observation and documentation of their work. It’s also important to evaluate the teacher to see if they’re challenging their students enough while keeping them engaged. Rather than assessing knowledge based on a multiple-choice test, it would be more useful and accurate to assess the performance of the teacher and students. Although there are numerous negatives that come with standardized testing, there are also some positive aspects such as providing a lot of useful information at a low cost, consuming little class time, a more reliable way of scoring tests rather than a teacher-graded assessment, focusing on the subject, and most parents approve of the testing.
What’s the difference between public schools and charter schools? Many ask this question and wonder if one is more effective than the other. A charter school is a publicly funded independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority. While charter schools have their own school board and take money from public schools, public schools are made up of their own government or union. “More and more charter school students are doing better because they're getting anywhere from three to 10 extra weeks of instruction compared to their public school counterparts,” (Sanchez 1). Charter school students are benefitting from the additional days they have to attend school due to the increase of instruction. Unlike Claudio Sanchez, Suzi Parker believes that a great school is a great school regardless of its classification. “There are effective charters and ineffective charters, and there are effective district schools and ineffective district schools,” (Parker 1). In other words, charter schools have a diminutive success rate in learning over public schools, which solely bases the effectiveness of the school on the teachers and staff. Many are concerned that charter schools are separating the district, creating problems in the levels of schooling which make it less accessible, and weakening the power of the teachers union. This could be a major problem for many teachers in the United States because a majority of teachers rely on their union to protect their job and with a union, they are able to discuss district concerns and policies. “Nationally, charter school teachers are, on average, less experienced, less unionized and less likely to hold state certification than teachers in traditional public schools,” (Karp 1). Due to the fact that charter schools aren’t unionized, the chances that a teacher will quit or be fired are 130 percent higher than those in public schools.
The national average spending pupil is $11,184 in the United States. “Because of the state’s underfunding of public schools, Connecticut’s cities and towns, especially its poorer communities, are forced to deprive their own schools of needed resources” (Lecker 1). The result due to the underfunding of schools is that children and teachers must endure large classes, limited textbooks, computers and other learning tools, unfriendly learning environments, cutbacks of teachers, and the elimination of courses and extracurricular activities. Parents and teachers in the Baltimore County school district were interviewed and many agreed that struggling, insufficiently funded schools deserve lower class sizes so that the students could get the education they deserve. Having fewer students in the classroom would allow the teacher to help more students opposed to having a class with 30 or more students and not being able to get around to each one. As stated in the Race to the Top education plan, stepping up teacher effectiveness will turn around low achieving schools. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Bill Gates have proposed to increase class sizes for the best teachers and use the resulting budgetary savings to pay these best teachers more and to help train educators who need improvement. By doing so, this would give students the chance of getting a more effective teacher while improving the teaching techniques of the whole staff. Not only does insufficient funding lead to ineffective teachers, but it also leads to high school drop outs. According to a recent study done by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), “Low-income students fail to graduate at five times the rate of middle-income families and six times that of higher-income youth” (Sikhan 1). No Child Left Behind failed to bring up low achieving schools, test scores didn’t improve enough to get noticed, and the average grades for low income schools remained low. During No Child Left Behind, class sizes actually increased and test scores went down because many students weren’t able to get the help they needed. One of the main points of NCLB was to “make annual progress towards having every student achieve the standards and closing gaps,” but they failed to do so.
Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind Act deal with many of the same issues and have many of the same goals, but their approaches are quite different. One provides incentives for schools to change while the other mandates it. Race to the Top is a competitive grant program that seeks to give states financial incentives to improve their education systems in certain ways. No Child Left Behind mandated various changes in state and local education systems to pay for education programs for disadvantaged children. While Race to the Top grants that go to states and local school districts receive additional federal funding, No Child Left Behind requires each state to make reforms to continue receiving federal funds. Both the RTT and NCLB acts deal with standards and assessments, data and accountability, effective teachers and staff members, and ways of improving low-performing schools. While both acts were proposed to improve the overall quality of the education system throughout the country, there are many flaws in both. Some of these flaws include the main focus in schools are exams, and your intelligence is based off of them, schools and teachers are forced to teach the exact same curriculum, which allows no creativity, an unbalanced subject focus, and many teachers pass students that shouldn’t have actually been passed. Race to the Top lacks the ability to materialize its goals, but a majority of parents, students, and school staff members can agree that Race To The Top has thrived more than No Child Left Behind, while successfully improving the education system.
Annotated Bibliography
Ravitch, Diane. "Los Angeles Times: A Wise Editorial about NCLB and Race to Top." Web log post. Diane Ravitch's Blog. N.p., 21 July 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://dianeravitch.net/2013/07/21/los-angeles-times-a-wise-editorial-about-nclb-and-race-to-top/>.
"Evolution ResourcesFrom the National Academies." Evolution Resources from the National Academies. National Academy of Sciences, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nas.edu/evolution/InSchools.html>.
Schehl, Pam. "Ohio Court Spars on Science Teacher's Creationist Lessons." News Article. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-court-spars-on-science-teachers-creationist-lessons/>.
"The Effective Teacher versus the Ineffective Teacher?" Examiner.com. Examiner, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/the-effective-teacher-versus-the-ineffective-teacher>.
Lecker, Wendy, Jonathan Pelto, and Valerie Strauss. "How Grossly Underfunded Are Public Schools?" Washington Post. N.p., 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/25/how-grossly-underfunded-are-public-schools/>.
"Protecting Bad Teachers." Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.php>.
Bowie, Liz. "Class Size Grows in High Schools after Cuts to Teaching Positions." Baltimore Sun. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-05-11/news/bal-class-size-grows-in-high-schools-after-cuts-to-teaching-positions-20120511_1_class-sizes-large-classes-196teaching>.
Mosle, Sara. "Does Class Size Count?" Opinionator Does Class Size Count Comments. The New York Times, 4 May 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/does-class-size-count/?_r=0>.
"Science Teacher, Who Teaches Evolution, Forced to Quit Because of School's Preference of Creationism." God Discussion. N.p., 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.goddiscussion.com/93673/science-teacher-who-teaches-evolution-forced-to-quit-because-of-schools-preference-of-creationism/>.
Sikhan, Khara. "World Socialist Web Site." Low-income Students Six times More Likely to Drop out of High School -. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/10/hsdo-a10.html>.
Resmovits, Joy. "Race To The Top Competition Deemed 'Impossible' In New Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. RTTT had recession-addled states compete for hundreds of millions of dollars each. In exchange, states had to promise to do things like institute higher academic standards; lift the ceiling on the number of charter schools allowed; and -- perhaps most controversially -- evaluate teachers in accordance with students' standardized test scores. States jumped at the opportunity to get more money, and some dramatically changed the way they deliver education.
"Criticism of No Child Left Behind." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. First, as with ESEA, critics charge that NCLBA causes the federal government to intrude too much into what has traditionally been the domain of the states. Second, opponents contend that NCLBA has resulted in unfunded federal mandates, which essentially passes financial problems from the federal government to state and local governments. Finally, detractors allege that the law places too much emphasis on standardized testing and stringent teacher qualifications.
Sanchez, Claudio. "The Charter School Vs. Public School Debate Continues." NPR. NPR, 16 July 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. More and more charter school students are doing better, Raymond says, because they're getting anywhere from three to 10 extra weeks of instruction compared to their public school counterparts.
Karp, Stan. "Charter Schools and the Future of Public Education." NJEA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. Shanker grew concerned that the charters and small specialty schools were fragmenting the district, creating tiers of schools serving decidedly different populations with unequal access. He also feared they were weakening the collective power of the teachers union to negotiate over district-wide concerns and policies. So he pulled back his support for charters, at a time when there were still very few, and focused on the standards movement, which became the primary reform framework for many teacher union leaders. The report showed that 70 percent of the New Jersey charters studied had the same or lower math scores as the traditional public schools they were compared to; 60 percent scored the same or lower on language arts.
Parker, Suzi. "Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other?" TakePart. N.p., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. He says that a great school is a great school regardless of its classification. “There are effective charters and ineffective charters, and there are effective district schools and ineffective district schools.
Moore, Randy, and Sehoya Cotner. "Evolution and Creationism in America's Biology Classrooms." BioLogos.org. N.p., 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.Students who were taught creationism in high school know significantly less about evolution when they enter college than do students who were taught evolution in high school. Relatively few biology teachers who teach creationism present it as religious idea, philosophical idea, or as part of a survey of several religions (Moore, 2008). They do not “teach the controversy,” in other words, but present the relationship between modern evolutionary biology and their faith as one of self-evident conflict, assuming (and teaching) that their version of creationism is the only true alternative.
"Preparing Students for Success in the Work Place." AdvancED |. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. Interviewees agreed that beyond the knowledge students gain in school, there are key skills and qualifications they must attain to be successful – verbal and written communication skills, the capacity to solve problems/critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate with others and work in teams. Too often, they shared, students are learning to memorize and only what is on the test, rather than gaining a broader knowledge of the subjects they are studying and being able to apply that knowledge. “If we are only teaching facts, what is missing is giving students a set of facts and allowing them to assess those facts and make an evaluative decision,”
Sheehy, Kelsey. "High School Students Not Prepared for College, Career." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. More than a quarter of 2012 graduates fell short of college readiness benchmarks that ACT sets for all four subjects, and 60 percent of students tested missed the mark in at least two of the four subjects, the report states. Only 31 percent of students demonstrated the level of science expertise needed to succeed in entry-level college courses, and more than half were not prepared for college math courses. particularly minority students, are prepared to enter the workforce is critical not only to the students' success, but to economic success, as many companies struggle to find graduates with the requisite skill set.
Koretz, Daniel. "Usable Knowledge: Measure for Measures: What Do Standardized Tests Really Tell Us about Students and Schools?" Usable Knowledge: Measure for Measures: What Do Standardized Tests Really Tell Us about Students and Schools? Harvard, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. What you get credit for under No Child Left Behind is raising test scores, period. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It doesn’t matter what else you do or don’t do. So if the question is, should you as a teacher choose something that will raise scores very rapidly or something that might raise them a little more slowly, but really get kids engaged, what would you do?
"How Standardized Testing Damages Education." The National Center for Fair & Open Testing. N.p., 28 Aug. 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. NCLB and related state and federal policies, such as Race to the Top (RTTT) and the NCLB waivers, have pressured schools to use tests to measure student learning, achievement gaps, and teacher and school quality, and to impose sanctions based on test scores. This is on top of using tests to determine if children are ready for school; track them into instructional levels; diagnose learning disabilities, retardation and other handicaps; and decide whether to promote, retain in grade, or graduate. NCLB demonstrated what happens when tests are misused. Negative consequences include narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, pushing students out of school, driving teachers out of the profession, and undermining student engagement and school climate.
"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.On Mar. 13, 2010, Obama proposed an overhaul of NCLB, promising further incentives to states if they develop improved assessments tied more closely to state standards, and emphasizing other indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate in addition to test scores.
"Evolution ResourcesFrom the National Academies." Evolution Resources from the National Academies. National Academy of Sciences, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nas.edu/evolution/InSchools.html>.
Schehl, Pam. "Ohio Court Spars on Science Teacher's Creationist Lessons." News Article. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-court-spars-on-science-teachers-creationist-lessons/>.
"The Effective Teacher versus the Ineffective Teacher?" Examiner.com. Examiner, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/the-effective-teacher-versus-the-ineffective-teacher>.
Lecker, Wendy, Jonathan Pelto, and Valerie Strauss. "How Grossly Underfunded Are Public Schools?" Washington Post. N.p., 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/25/how-grossly-underfunded-are-public-schools/>.
"Protecting Bad Teachers." Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.php>.
Bowie, Liz. "Class Size Grows in High Schools after Cuts to Teaching Positions." Baltimore Sun. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-05-11/news/bal-class-size-grows-in-high-schools-after-cuts-to-teaching-positions-20120511_1_class-sizes-large-classes-196teaching>.
Mosle, Sara. "Does Class Size Count?" Opinionator Does Class Size Count Comments. The New York Times, 4 May 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/does-class-size-count/?_r=0>.
"Science Teacher, Who Teaches Evolution, Forced to Quit Because of School's Preference of Creationism." God Discussion. N.p., 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.goddiscussion.com/93673/science-teacher-who-teaches-evolution-forced-to-quit-because-of-schools-preference-of-creationism/>.
Sikhan, Khara. "World Socialist Web Site." Low-income Students Six times More Likely to Drop out of High School -. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/10/hsdo-a10.html>.
Resmovits, Joy. "Race To The Top Competition Deemed 'Impossible' In New Report." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 12 Sept. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. RTTT had recession-addled states compete for hundreds of millions of dollars each. In exchange, states had to promise to do things like institute higher academic standards; lift the ceiling on the number of charter schools allowed; and -- perhaps most controversially -- evaluate teachers in accordance with students' standardized test scores. States jumped at the opportunity to get more money, and some dramatically changed the way they deliver education.
"Criticism of No Child Left Behind." Findlaw. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Mar. 2014. First, as with ESEA, critics charge that NCLBA causes the federal government to intrude too much into what has traditionally been the domain of the states. Second, opponents contend that NCLBA has resulted in unfunded federal mandates, which essentially passes financial problems from the federal government to state and local governments. Finally, detractors allege that the law places too much emphasis on standardized testing and stringent teacher qualifications.
Sanchez, Claudio. "The Charter School Vs. Public School Debate Continues." NPR. NPR, 16 July 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. More and more charter school students are doing better, Raymond says, because they're getting anywhere from three to 10 extra weeks of instruction compared to their public school counterparts.
Karp, Stan. "Charter Schools and the Future of Public Education." NJEA.org. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. Shanker grew concerned that the charters and small specialty schools were fragmenting the district, creating tiers of schools serving decidedly different populations with unequal access. He also feared they were weakening the collective power of the teachers union to negotiate over district-wide concerns and policies. So he pulled back his support for charters, at a time when there were still very few, and focused on the standards movement, which became the primary reform framework for many teacher union leaders. The report showed that 70 percent of the New Jersey charters studied had the same or lower math scores as the traditional public schools they were compared to; 60 percent scored the same or lower on language arts.
Parker, Suzi. "Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other?" TakePart. N.p., 25 Apr. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. He says that a great school is a great school regardless of its classification. “There are effective charters and ineffective charters, and there are effective district schools and ineffective district schools.
Moore, Randy, and Sehoya Cotner. "Evolution and Creationism in America's Biology Classrooms." BioLogos.org. N.p., 22 Jan. 2013. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.Students who were taught creationism in high school know significantly less about evolution when they enter college than do students who were taught evolution in high school. Relatively few biology teachers who teach creationism present it as religious idea, philosophical idea, or as part of a survey of several religions (Moore, 2008). They do not “teach the controversy,” in other words, but present the relationship between modern evolutionary biology and their faith as one of self-evident conflict, assuming (and teaching) that their version of creationism is the only true alternative.
"Preparing Students for Success in the Work Place." AdvancED |. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. Interviewees agreed that beyond the knowledge students gain in school, there are key skills and qualifications they must attain to be successful – verbal and written communication skills, the capacity to solve problems/critical thinking skills, the ability to cooperate with others and work in teams. Too often, they shared, students are learning to memorize and only what is on the test, rather than gaining a broader knowledge of the subjects they are studying and being able to apply that knowledge. “If we are only teaching facts, what is missing is giving students a set of facts and allowing them to assess those facts and make an evaluative decision,”
Sheehy, Kelsey. "High School Students Not Prepared for College, Career." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 22 Aug. 2012. Web. 08 Feb. 2014. More than a quarter of 2012 graduates fell short of college readiness benchmarks that ACT sets for all four subjects, and 60 percent of students tested missed the mark in at least two of the four subjects, the report states. Only 31 percent of students demonstrated the level of science expertise needed to succeed in entry-level college courses, and more than half were not prepared for college math courses. particularly minority students, are prepared to enter the workforce is critical not only to the students' success, but to economic success, as many companies struggle to find graduates with the requisite skill set.
Koretz, Daniel. "Usable Knowledge: Measure for Measures: What Do Standardized Tests Really Tell Us about Students and Schools?" Usable Knowledge: Measure for Measures: What Do Standardized Tests Really Tell Us about Students and Schools? Harvard, n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. What you get credit for under No Child Left Behind is raising test scores, period. It doesn’t matter how you do it. It doesn’t matter what else you do or don’t do. So if the question is, should you as a teacher choose something that will raise scores very rapidly or something that might raise them a little more slowly, but really get kids engaged, what would you do?
"How Standardized Testing Damages Education." The National Center for Fair & Open Testing. N.p., 28 Aug. 2007. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. NCLB and related state and federal policies, such as Race to the Top (RTTT) and the NCLB waivers, have pressured schools to use tests to measure student learning, achievement gaps, and teacher and school quality, and to impose sanctions based on test scores. This is on top of using tests to determine if children are ready for school; track them into instructional levels; diagnose learning disabilities, retardation and other handicaps; and decide whether to promote, retain in grade, or graduate. NCLB demonstrated what happens when tests are misused. Negative consequences include narrowing the curriculum, teaching to the test, pushing students out of school, driving teachers out of the profession, and undermining student engagement and school climate.
"Standardized Tests - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.On Mar. 13, 2010, Obama proposed an overhaul of NCLB, promising further incentives to states if they develop improved assessments tied more closely to state standards, and emphasizing other indicators like pupil attendance, graduation rates and learning climate in addition to test scores.
Thursday, February 20, 2014
Research Propsal
Education
Policy
In recent years, the United States has come across many
changes in the education policy. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) was enacted in
2001 and Race To The Top (RTT) is its current successor. NCLB was put into law
by a Republican administration and RTT was ratified by a Democratic
administration. This has an obvious effect on the different policies. Race to
the Top has an advantage over No Child Left Behind; it was established eight
years later and has numerous improvements over its predecessor. However, Race to
the Top has areas where it is lacking such as actually materializing its goals.
Do we have an effective education policy in this nation?
Are public schools suffering? What should we do to improve the education in
this country to ensure the lives of young people and give them a good future?
The main objective of this paper is to explain how important education is and
what you can do to ensure that students will have a successful future. I hope
to get my readers to understand the importance of education, and how it should
be taken seriously. We are lucky enough to get the chance to learn so we should
take advantage of it and use learning techniques to full potential, and see
what education policy will be most effective.
I will collect information from previous teachers I have
had, any subjects because it will be nice to get different point of views. I
will also research online articles, books, blogs, scholarly journals and
databases to find as much credible information as I can to help me write my
research paper. I will have four weeks from now to complete my research paper,
but I am aiming to get it done by March 10th. I plan on compiling a
works cited page including 20 credible sources by February 22nd. I
need to work on my outline which I plan on finishing by February 22nd,
and I will do further research to ensure I have good information in my essay.
By February 28th I will have my rough draft done and get it peer
reviewed so that I will have about a week to complete the final draft. After I
complete peer review and all of the little tweaks, I plan on having the essay
completed and turned in by the due date.
I feel that the interviews will be one of the most
challenging parts of this essay because it is difficult to find teachers in
their free time to ask them questions. Another challenging thing is finding 8+
pages of scholarly articles to include in my essay to show as credible
information. Other than that I am feeling fairly confident about this research
paper and I’m excited to finish so that other people can read it too.
Working Bibliography
In this article, the author somewhat explains the difference between the Race to the Top and No Child Left Behind education policies. “Instead of confronting root causes, our elites confront the failure of the NCLB regime of high-stakes testing by demanding more of the same and making the stakes higher for teachers and principals.”The author talks about the underlying issues in the policies and that the government doesn’t dig deep enough to fix the problems in education.
2. "Evolution Resources from the National Academies." Evolution Resources from the National Academies. National Academy of Sciences, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.nas.edu/evolution/InSchools.html>.
This article describes the difference between creationism and evolution in schools. “Many teachers are under considerable pressure from policy makers, school administrators, parents, and students to downplay or eliminate the teaching of evolution.” It goes to show that students lack certain information because some teachers are against evolution so they refuse to teach it. It also describes that technology and society are becoming faster paced and it’s necessary to learn about evolution and science in order to keep up.
3. Schehl, Pam. "Ohio Court Spars on Science Teacher's Creationist Lessons." News Article. CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 27 Feb. 2013. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ohio-court-spars-on-science-teachers-creationist-lessons/>.
This article talks about a public school science teacher who kept a bible on his desk and was accused of preaching religious beliefs in class. This was a very controversial topic because people didn’t know whether they should allow their kids to learn about evolution or creationism. The teacher who got fired was accused of burning crosses into their students’ arms and he tried forcing his beliefs on them.
4. "The Effective Teacher versus the Ineffective Teacher?" Examiner.com. Examiner, 19 Sept. 2010. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.examiner.com/article/the-effective-teacher-versus-the-ineffective-teacher>.
This article describes what makes an effective teacher and what teachers can do to become more effective in giving a student a good education. “Research indicates that teacher preparation/knowledge of teaching and learning, subject matter knowledge, experience, and the combined set of qualifications measured by teacher licensure are all leading factors in teacher effectiveness” There are many aspects on what makes a good teacher and I believe this article explains them pretty well.
5. Lecker, Wendy, Jonathan Pelto, and Valerie Strauss. "How Grossly Underfunded Are Public Schools?" Washington Post. N.p., 25 Nov. 2012. Web. 05 Feb. 2014. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2012/11/25/how-grossly-underfunded-are-public-schools/>.
This article describes how public schools are underfunded a lot of the time but it also explains that money isn’t the only cause in poor education. “Despite vast differences among states, courts enumerated a remarkably consistent list of necessary inputs, including: high quality preschool, small class size, additional services for at-risk students, supports for teachers such as professional development, curriculum supports, supplies, equipment, adequate facilities, and adequate books and other learning tools.” All of these factors need to be improved and money can fix most of them.
6. "Protecting Bad Teachers." Keeping Bad Teachers in Front of Students. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Feb. 2014. <http://teachersunionexposed.com/protecting.php>.
This article describes teacher unions and how they can be unfair because students get stuck with bad teachers and there may be nothing they can do about it. Only one out of 1000 teachers is fired, due to tenure. Many argue that it is unfair because ineffective teachers are guaranteed a job even if they don’t deserve one. In Chicago, one in four students nearing graduation could read and do math, but those teachers didn’t get fired because they had tenure.
7. Bowie, Liz. "Class Size Grows in High Schools after Cuts to Teaching Positions." Baltimore Sun. N.p., 11 May 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-05-11/news/bal-class-size-grows-in-high-schools-after-cuts-to-teaching-positions-20120511_1_class-sizes-large-classes-196teaching>.
This article describes the effects due to cutting down teaching positions in schools. “We must make sure that all students are challenged and given the opportunity and support they need; whether that is a gifted and talented student at one high school or a student who is academically struggling at another.” This describes that cutting down class sizes can negatively affect the students because some may need more attention and help from the teacher, and with larger class sizes, it would be more difficult to receive that help.
8. Mosle, Sara. "Does Class Size Count?" Opinionator Does Class Size Count Comments. The New York Times, 4 May 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/04/does-class-size-count/?_r=0>.
This article also describes what would happen if class sizes increased. It goes into depth explaining what could happen. “To many educators, the answer seems obvious: Teachers who have fewer students can give each child more attention and tailored instruction.” It is apparent that cutting teachers will impact the students and the way of learning.
9. "Science Teacher, Who Teaches Evolution, Forced to Quit Because of School's Preference of Creationism." God Discussion. N.p., 11 Mar. 2012. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.goddiscussion.com/93673/science-teacher-who-teaches-evolution-forced-to-quit-because-of-schools-preference-of-creationism/>.
This article describes the problems with evolution and creationism taught in public schools. One teacher was forced to quit because he taught evolution while the school preferred creationism. “The former science teacher at the Cape Town school worried about the students and the lack of “competent science education,” fearing that it will hamper the students’ learning of science. The parents, who the school told about the teacher's lesson plans, apparently told their children to dismiss anything the science teacher said about evolution in favor of creationism.” This was a huge problem and led to many questions regarding how students should be taught.
10. Sikhan, Khara. "World Socialist Web Site." Low-income Students Six times More Likely to Drop out of High School -. N.p., 10 Apr. 2013. Web. 06 Feb. 2014. <http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/04/10/hsdo-a10.html>.
This article explains the risk low income students have of dropping out of high school. “With the escalating attacks on the public school system, hundreds of thousands of teachers have been laid off, thousands of schools closed, and millions of students pushed into overcapacity classrooms and overbearing requirements. These circumstances bear down hardest on teenagers in the poorest families, and many are compelled to join the workforce to supplement the household budgets.” It’s very common that high school students get jobs which can create a lot of stress on them and urge them to drop out of high school.
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