In America, education Is available to all, no matter ability or disability or socioeconomic status. The public education system in the united States allows people of diverse backgrounds to come together. However, the educational system in America also suffers many problems, and some believe the quality of education is declining. It is difficult to maintain classrooms conducive to learning. The federal government and state governments both attempt to alleviate some of the issues faced In education.
These problems must first be Identified In order to be Improved. Three critical issues that currently exist in education include high stakes testing, common core curriculum, and the use of social media. High Stakes Testing Standardized tests are used throughout the country to measure student learning. High stakes tests are those used to measure students’ successes and failures. In the United States, high stakes tests are used for accountability purposes. These tests measure ten success or Taller AT a cocoons as a wangle.
Hall s takes tests nave Eden a concern for America’s educational system for over a decade. Because teacher and student accountability is based on these tests, it is important that they measure what they are supposed to measure. Tests should be carefully built and implemented for pacific purposes. The board of education should not consider the results of only one test to determine whether or not a student has achieved mastery of the standards. Tests also should be aligned to the state’s core curriculum (Carpenter, 2001).
The government has implemented several policies to address the concerns of high stakes testing. In 2001, President Bush introduced the No Child Left Behind Act, which encouraged states to have all students performing on grade level by the year 2014, no matter their ability. However, this placed more strain on the schools to show exults on high stakes tests that may not be representative of every student’s true ability (Carpenter, 2001). Also, high stakes testing encourages inequalities among gender, socioeconomic status, and gender (Cooper, 2010).
In order to attempt to alleviate inequalities, the federal government created a system to explore the relationship between stress students experience when testing and actual student achievement. This Accountability Pressure Index is known as the National Assessment for Education Progress (NAPE), and is given in reading and math for grades four and eight. State governments consider the resulting data when forming ewe educational policies (Nichols, Glass, and Berliner, 2012). Because high stakes testing realizes the gap among socioeconomic status, the effect it has on students in poverty is clear.
The No Child Left Behind Act failed students living in poverty. Although it called for all students to be performing on grade level, the law actually caused gaps in achievement between those in poverty and those not in poverty to grow. The law caused many schools who service mostly low-income student to simply become test preparation schools. Because of accountability, schools were pressured to raise test scores, and they simply tried to repaper students for high stakes testing so they would not be considered failing schools.
Even then, students in high poverty areas did not perform as well on the tests as other students (Gibbons, 2012). In order to alleviate the bad consequences of No Child Left Behind, the federal and state departments of education implemented a new set of standards, and a new means of high stakes testing through the use of technology in hopes of motivating the global learner. Common Core Standards When the failure of No Child Left Behind became apparent, policymakers established a new method of improving student achievement.
High stakes testing is still utilized based on standards taught, but the curriculum is aligned throughout the United States, knows as the Common Core Standards. The Common Core standards are based on continuous improvement practices designed to meet more rigorous expectations through meaningful learning (Darling-Hammond, Willowy, and Pattering, 2014). The government has hopes that the failures of high stakes testing in the past will be replaced with high quality assessments aligned to the common core curriculum.
These assessments not only include state-designed tests for achievement, but also rejects Ana performance assessments In ten classroom tonguing ten cocoons year. Student learning is infused with technology in performance assessments, and these assessments are used to drive instruction through the year. Because performance assessments are embedded in technology and require students to perform tasks rather than Just take a test, the pressure of high stakes testing is somewhat alleviated (Darling-Hammond, Willowy, and Pattering, 2014).
The Common Core curriculum also has a set of standards for educators to follow. These standards set the bar for lesson preparation, delivery, and student support. Teachers facilitate the guided learning of students so that they become deeper thinkers achieving more than simply memorizing knowledge based facts. Because the focus is on meaningful learning, the Common Core curriculum recognizes that all children learn differently. Therefore, learning progression is no longer based on grade levels with cut-off benchmark scores.
The benchmark scores still exist, but learning is tracked as a student progresses. State and district levels create tools through the use of technology to track progress in different skill areas. The ultimate AOL of the common core standards is to graduate students who are ready to attend college or begin their career, and to be successful at it (Darling-Hammond, Willowy, and Pattering, 2014). Because learning is based on progression rather than a comparison of all students, the achievement gap among students in poverty and those not in poverty is not as noticeable.
Students are able to demonstrate their knowledge and skills on performance based assessments, and teachers are to adjust their instruction based on the students’ demonstration of understanding (Darling-Hammond, Willowy, and Pattering, 2014). Because students are living in a global world, the use of technology to complete these tasks and be assessed is on the rise. Social Media Students today live in a global society. Many students rely on multiple forms of technology in school, as well as at home. Most of their technology use is based on social interaction.
It is the position of the schools, through the common core standards, to create meaning for students through the use of technology for learning. Additionally, when students are provided access to technology through the school system, it further closes the gap between students living in poverty and students not vying in poverty. Social media is a growing phenomenon in the United States. What a person posts through social media can help him get a Job, or it can help him get fired. Potential college admission teams browse social media pages before awarding scholarships.
Students who learn the proper way to use social media in school are more likely to be college and career ready by the time they graduate (Manual, Sings, and Guarding, 2010). While the use of social media must be carefully monitored in the classroom, it is still beneficial to teach students how to be responsible online. It also makes the classroom more engaging for students. They are able to demonstrate their learning and understanding using tools they are familiar with. To help monitor and maintain the use of social media in the classroom, the federal government created standards much like the Common Core standards for subject matter.
Federal and state governments require an acceptable use policy in an effort to keep students safe online, and this policy must be distributed to parents so that they are aware of their censure’s online actively at cocoons . Nine use AT social meal In ten classroom Is becoming more and more popular as its success grows (Manual, Sings, and Guarding, 010). Conclusion When researching these critical issues in education, it is important for a researcher to find material on both sides of any issue in order to take a stance based on facts according to student success factors.
Researchers must also keep in mind that the goal is to graduate global life-long learners ready to be successful at college or in a career once exiting high school. A study of any current issues in education will help researchers see which critical issues are beneficial to students and which are harmful. When learning is at its maximum learning potential, and the achievement AP is closing among diverse populations of students, then improvements are being made. Researchers must ensure that all privacy and legal matters are being followed as well (Kong, et. Al. , 2014).
