Today, there are many opportunities for students to learn and get an education. In most schools, Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and Dual Enrollment classes are offered. There are many problems with this system. Because these courses are essentially taken by students to later get a college credit, which they must receive a certain grade on a test for, teachers are forced to teach to a test. This is no longer a system where kids can ask questions, and have the answer. Classes are pressured with the limited time so that most classes run bell to bell. This causes a lot of tutoring sessions and more teachers’ time. Unfortunately, our economy does not really give us an excess of money to help support these programs. Some programs, such as advanced English classes, are primarily focused on writing essays, which is hard to do without computers to work on. Teaching in this way is leading students to failure, not in school, but in life. They are not prepared for the real world with the way they are being taught to just “pass the test”, something I have heard from my teachers too often. Advanced classes tend to have problems because of the final test, lack of money being funded to these programs, as well as time restraints within the classroom.
Teaching to the Test
From elementary school to high school, students have to pass an exam at the end of the year and this determines whether they pass the class or not. This really diminishes the students’ drive to learn. Students are graded in a tense testing environment on a standard test that includes broad topics advanced courses may skim over, or details general classes miss. Classes students seem to enjoy the most are the ones where they are learning skills in ...
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...gton Post. Web. December 17, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/28/AR200701
Mathews, J. (2013, September 16). Daring Arlington County public school requires AP or IB courses for all students.Washington Post. Web. December 17, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/daring-public-school-requires-ap-or-ib-for-all/2013/09/15/4360dc72-1a45-11e3-8685-5021e0c41964_story.html
Melamed, S. (2013, October 1). District to teachers: AP and IB funding hinges on union concessions. City Paper. Web. December 17, 2014, from http://citypaper.net/article.php?District-to-teachers-AP-and-IB-funding-hinges-on-union-concessions-16355
Schwartz, K. (2012, August 8). Is it Time to Reconsider AP Classes?. MindShift. Web. December 17, 2014, from http://blogs.kqed.org/mindshift/2012/08/is-it-time-to-reconsider-ap-classes/
From the beginning of high school, students strap on their seatbelts and prepare for one of the most vigorous races of their lives – becoming successful. With the rare occurrence of a break, kids are expected to keep on driving as fast and as powerfully as they can in order to get into a “great” college, which would be followed by graduate school and then an actual job that would make a lot of money. In American society, common values include working hard, determination, and being so productive that free time is not even a question. However, this philosophy is taking a major toll on American college and high school students. For at least 40 years, America’s future has been steadily growing unmotivated, tired, and hopeless due to the overemphasis on performing well in school. This phenomenon is appropriately expounded in William Zinsser’s “College Pressures”, which takes a look at the top four sources of tension that cause these feelings of dejection and agitation. After reading this article, I came up with a few solutions to this national problem. It is time to switch the harsh, over-encouraging green light of education to a comfortable yellow one. In order to make this ideal transition, directors of education across the country need to primarily reduce the amount of out-of-class assignments, lighten the grading system, and incorporate days in the school year that allow students to express their thoughts about school and provide useful feedback.
Students should communicate with their counselors to select a manageable course load based on their own aptitude and interests. Certain combinations of the most difficult AP classes may be difficult to handle for all but the most brilliant students. However by making smart informed decisions, students can challenge themselves by taking appropriate AP classes.
... a tedious process, but the change can have immense, positive effects for the future college student. The ACT and SAT that supposedly measure a student's learning potential through multiple-choice questions should be replaced by a test of a student's desire to learn determined through the analysis of essays, recommendation letters, and school or community involvement. This change can result in a more academically motivated freshman class. Standardized testing in its current form does not accurately measure most students' learning potential. It does not allow for diversity and creates a huge hurdle for many potential academic achievers. An adjustment to a diverse, open testing format of the ACT or SAT and a stress on the student's other academic accomplishments can accurately measure the student's desire to learn, therefore measuring the student's learning potential.
How does the grading system and learning go together? What makes learning something gradable? How can the grading system determines a child 's knowledge based on a test alone? These questions have popped up in educators ' minds for years. These are the thoughts that motivated people like Liz Mandrell, Jerry Farber and Steven Vogel rectify the grading system in their own views. These authors give valid reasons for understanding why students are affected by the grading system.
Students spend most of the year preparing to take one or two big tests at the end. The amount of pressure put on students to succeed on these tests is astronomical, making it impossible to focus on the actual goal of assessing their knowledge. A student in Florida spoke to her school board about the absurd expectations from these tests, “Every year I do well in school, but I get low test scores on the FCAP and it feels like a punch in the stomach. This is unfair and I don't want to lose my opportunity to take my advanced classes or get a better education because of this one test.” (Locker)
Coy, Peter. "What's Holding American Students Back? The SAT." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Apr. 2014
Stiggins, R., & Chappuis, J. (2008). Enhancing Student Learning. Retrieved from July 2009 from, http://www.districtadministration.com/viewarticlepf.aspx?articleid=1362.
Current interests in reducing high dropout rates and closing the achievement gap across many United States high schools have resulted in a major education reform. According to Durden (2008), with the passing of the No Child Left Behind legislation in 2002, national officials authorized the Comprehensive School Reform program to support low performing schools as they struggled to improve student achievement. As a result, a wide range of approaches have been considered to help solve this nation-wide concern. Durden (2008) discussed as a result of this national effort, an increase in implementation of comprehensive school reforms is occurring in schools serving predominantly diverse student populations in urban areas. Kemple et al., (2006) stated that while many different targeted programs and comprehensive reform strategies have been proposed as strategies to counter these problems, small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies have been incorporated. . Freshman academies or small learning communities (SLCs) are defined as small self-contained groups of students who take classes together from interdisciplinary teacher teams. (SLCs) have emerged as among the most common and potentially effective response. With the incorporation of small learning communities (SLCs) or freshman academies, there are other areas of importance needing change in addressing the problems of high dropout rates and the achievement gap. Important areas in need of change includes how we assess our students, preparation of America’s teachers, and development of appropriate curricular materials, policies, and practices for diverse students.
College readiness is the main focus point for high school students. Becoming that person that is able to achieve the highest potential in a certain area and obtain a degree is what each student aims for. However, for all that to occur one should be able to have the opportunities to help him or her reach the goals that have been set. The lack of AP classes that our school does not offer interferes with that. Our school offers eleven out of the forty AP classes that are available. In addition, some of the AP classes do not end up running because of the school policy of having a certain amount of students placed in it. The importance of AP classes is increasing when one fills out an application for his or her desired university. Having AP classes listed down on an application for a university enhances a student 's application. Colleges want to see that you have challenged yourself to the best of your ability, and that you were able to handle the college level coursework (hubpages).
One of the practical and advantageous counters to the grade level system is the non-traditional standards-based curriculum. This reform disbands grade levels in its entirety (i.e. 3rd grade reading or 7th grade math), but keeps a level corresponding to the difficulty of each course. These 10 different levels are measured by the student when he or she chooses proficiency out of the following four categories: “I need help”,”I think I can”,”I know I can”, and “I can teach it” (Carpenter). This would allow students to progress not only when they are viewed as competent by teachers and administrators, but also when the student himself believes that he is competent. A student would ide...
Students are being tested on elements that were seen on their pre-test. More specifically, the students are being tested on elements of the pre-test that they did not score well on. After more than four weeks of instruction on these elements, this assessment will project the evidence of student learning in regard to five specific learning goals. I will collect this data by having students complete the test with their answers for this assessment. By using a multiple choice test, students can receive immediate feedback on their assessment because a machine automatically tabulates correct and incorrect answers as the test is fed through the machine. My rationale for this data-collection method is based on the fact that it provides immediate feedback to the students and myself. Quick turnaround is essential when evaluating the evidence of student
Landsberg, Mitchell. "Budget Cuts Push Some Classrooms Way over Capacity." Los Angeles Times [Los Angeles] 20 Sept. 2009. Web
Standardized tests are used to evaluate a student’s performance, however, tests do not take external factors into account. This already means that tests are often inaccurate methods of measuring a students academic potential. Also, the tests do a disservice to students as they evaluate their proficiency at a time of testing, rather than their growth and improvement over the course of the year. The tests have become an outdated method of challenging students and only have negative impacts at this point. The tests develop high levels of stress in students, which is not healthy for an individual during the most important development years of their lives. Eliminating these tests will assist students in the long run as they can accommodate more time towards learning information rather than stressing over a single test. By replacing tests with more in-class lessons students will be free of constant stress and still learn the curriculum. Research shows that students are unable to remember information on standardized tests in the long run, therefore, by spending more time learning and understanding information, students are able to have a better understanding of topics. Therefore, by removing standardized tests students will be provided with a better, more effective, and fair educational
Imagine sitting in a class, completely bored out of your mind. This is not difficult considering everyone has taken a class like this somewhere along the road of their education. Not every class can be exciting and we should know that. Now imagine every class is of this level, with no “break”, or elective, classes incorporated into your day. Although this may not apply to all private schools, there are many that focus on specific topics. So even though the...
Going to school and getting a great education is important for a successful future in today’s world. Years ago, many children did not go to school and many young adults opted to work instead of attending college. In today’s society, gaining a high level of education is almost always mandatory for many jobs. There are many changes being done to the education system along with new items and ways of teaching in the classroom. There is a growing amount of changes in the classroom such as technology, teaching time, teaching styles, and freedom of space.