Critiquing Common Core: A Closer Look at Education Reform

1197 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Reforms and changes in the education system

Education reform has been a highly debated topic over the past decade and now especially with the upcoming Presidential Election. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has been the most recent system that has been shut down by the nation and the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) has been put in its place. But as always with new education reform, there are problems and people heavily criticize it. While Common Core does have positive attributes about it, there are more downfalls than anything. It restricts what is done in the classroom to only certain things nationally, the standards are confusing to parents, and the testing that comes along with it takes away from valuable class time as well as frustrate teachers, students and parents. Common Core was
No Child Left behind was created by the Bush Administration to help bring test scores in the nation up because the country was falling behind. With this, by 2014, one hundred percent of students in public schools were required to be at least proficient in all subjects tested on state tests. The creators of Common Core knew that this was impossible so in 2009 state leaders started the process of the standards. The makers decided that the standards should help students become more prepared for the “real world” no matter where they were from all across the country. Thus the creation of equaling the playing field for all students by giving them the same things to learn in all parts of the country. It gave kids from inner city schools the chance to learn the same thing as kids in suburban schools, and it allows students that live in families that move a lot to learn the same thing no matter where they are, but it does not always work that way.
One of the best things about it is that the standards would be the same everywhere, making it much easier for families that move around constantly like Military families and witness protection program families, it allows children to stay on the track for college or careers no matter where they are, and it does not bring the classroom levels down the teach to the “lowest common denominator.” The standards were created to make it challenging for students but still give them the chance to learn, and to be better prepared for college or a career right out of high school.

Show More
Related

  • Manifest and Latent Functions of the The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

    875 Words  | 2 Pages

    The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001’s main purpose was to enhance the education system and hold schools accountable in its attempt to bring equality in the fight against poverty for poor and minority groups. Once this Act was signed into law the American public expected an overhaul of the education system with only good outcomes. The public assumed our children would be receiving the best education available and the economic issues that plagued schools would no longer be a problem. In the beginning of its implementation No Child Left Behind was expected to bring America up to standards with other nations, this was something that America has struggled to do for many years. Our children were now being put first according to Act and the public and many political figures were ecstatic over the possibilities.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of No Child Left Behind

    1020 Words  | 3 Pages

    The policy “No Child Left Behind (NCLB)” is a policy where Federal legislation has mandated that children be tested, and where there is compliance with standards. Simply means, that all children must meet standards. The standards are defined by the states, and all children will be subject to testing, starting from as early as third grade. The students will be tested annually, in order to ensure that they are getting the type of education that they are entitled to, as determined by their performance on standardized tests.

    Read More

  • Education Revolution: Why the No Child Left Behind Act Didn't Work

    1710 Words  | 4 Pages

    Education is the foundation of American society. It empowers the youth of America to become the successful leaders this country needs for the future. Education has been one of America’s top priorities since 1965, when the Elementary and Secondary Education Act was passed. Now, education is controlled by the No Child Left Behind Act, which was launched in January 8, 2002. This act was passed with intentions from the government to provide Americans with a more superior education system. However, The No Child Left Behind Act carried many flaws which were left unseen to a vast majority of the public. This act limited American students by not allowing them to demonstrate their full academic potentials while proceeding in school. While the act was still fairly fresh, there was already evidence to prove that it had already gotten off to a bad beginning. For the crucial math and science courses, statistics showed minimal improvements which had begun around the time period in which the No Child Left Behind Act was passed. The act was also supported by a number of educators who voiced themselves by testifying against having the right to teach at their own free will. Teachers across America claimed that because of this new act, they felt a constant heaviness upon their shoulders from the state government to “Teach the test.”

    Read More

  • Analyzing the No Child Left Behind Act

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    No Child Left Behind (NCLB) created a national curriculum that would be taught in every school in America. The No Child Left Behind Act plays an enormous role in the education system. It touches on a broad variety of issues relating to public education, including the dispersal of federal funds and parental choice in the case of failing schools and for the learning disabled.

    Read More

  • No Child Left Behind: An Analysis of U.S Educational Policy

    705 Words  | 2 Pages

    No Child Left Behind (NCLB) is currently the educational policy in the United States. Prior to NCLB the educational policies in effect were “A Nation at Risk, in 1987 America 2000, and a few years later with Goals 2000” (Eisner, 2001, p.21). No Child Left Behind is a test based accountability system used in schools to measure their performance holding the districts, administrators and teachers liable and accountable for the outcomes. Supovitz (2009) States that No Child Left Behind was a major reform initiative intended to bring about widespread improvements in student performance and reduce inequities between ethnic groups and other traditionally under-served populations like economically disadvantaged students, students from major racial

    Read More

  • The Debate Over the No Child Left Behind Act

    1030 Words  | 3 Pages

    The current debates surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 are both positive and negative. Many politicians and people that previously supported the Act are now standing against it. In the beginning many supported the new Act because everyone was aware that a change needed to happen in the education system and the proposal of No Child Left Behind seemed like the answer we were looking for. As the No Child Left Behind requirements began to be felt in the school systems across America and the assessments results started coming in, everyone took a step back and really began to look at the new law. The results were not what everyone expected, what was once considered an answer was now becoming the problem.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay On Common Core

    1112 Words  | 3 Pages

    These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade Anya Kamenetz author of "Tough Week for the Common Core" writes that “[t]he Common Core [is] not, strictly speaking, national standards. They were developed independently of the federal government, and states are not under a mandate to adopt them,” but then goes on to say that the “standards received a big boost in the form of funding incentives from the Obama administration” (1). These “big boost[s]” are what concerns many like Bobby Jindal. “A few years ago, Jindal was one of the Common Core 's biggest proponents. But he has since had a change of heart” (3). Bobby Jindal, along with many other opposers, question what would happen if state who had implemented common core in their schools suddenly dropped the plan? Anya Kamenetz furthers her article by stating that the three states who have already done this “now face spending tens of millions of dollars to create new standards, adopt new materials to go with them and retrain teachers” (1). Some might say that this decrease in funding is expected because the federal government had agreed to fund a specific program and although schools don 't have to use that program, those who don 't have to find the funding for their programs themselves. But how is this

    Read More

  • No Child Left Behind

    964 Words  | 2 Pages

    As students in a Structure & Philosophy class, one of the main components has been to introduce and familiarize us with the No Child Left Behind Act. President Bush passed this legislation on January 8, 2002. The NCLB Act was designed to ensure each and every student the right to a fair education, to give parents more options in their child’s education, and to guarantee all teachers are highly qualified. By highly qualified, the act means teachers must have at least a bachelor’s degree, have full state certification or licensure, and have demonstrated competence in their subject areas (US Dept. of Education).

    Read More

  • Common Core Standards Essay

    1742 Words  | 4 Pages

    “To ensure all students are ready for success after high school, the Common Core State Standards establish clear, consistent guidelines for what every student should know and be able to do in math and English language arts from kindergarten through 12th grade” (What Parents Should Know, n.d.). Children are entering a world that is requiring more and more than before. Society is changing meaning education must change to keep up with society. “The standards were drafted by experts and teachers from across the country and are designed to ensure students are prepared for today’s entry-level careers, freshman-level college courses, and workforce training programs” (What Parents Should Know, n.d.). The focus is to allow students to think critically and be able to problem solve; skills needed in life. The Common Core State Standards are also providing ways for teachers to track each student’s progress as they grow and learn throughout the year. Common Core has many good qualities, but nothing is perfect. There will always be issues no matter the

    Read More

  • The Madness: On No Child Left Behind By Diane Ravitch

    1346 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Common Cores are set of guidelines that each teacher must meet during each school year. These guidelines are met during exams and other types of testing. In Stop The Madness: On “No Child Left Behind” by Diane Ravitch she begins her argument against the NCLB-No Child Left Behind- saying that it worthless for it forces the school to focus only making test requirements instead of students actually getting the main reason why students that go to school, it is to receive knowledge. “One of the unintended consequences of NCLB was the shrinkage of time available to teach anything other than reading and math...Test scores became an obsession” ( Paragraph 7 Ravitch). The “test scores” are wrecking and straying away from true purpose of the schools around the country. The obsession made many educators focus on more test taking skills then the actual knowledge of the subject in order to reach the stranders that the administration have given them . Despite the test scores, the United States are not high rank in math according to the U.S Math Performance in Global Perspective by the Harvard University and Stanford University. In the US itself, the percentage of students that are taking advanced classes are 11.4% in Massachusetts. This is the highest percentage in the US that students are taking high scores. Yes, not every student has the ability to do the

    Read More

  • The Importance Of The Common Core Standards

    1110 Words  | 3 Pages

    ● The children who were receiving a high quality education before the national curriculum is being used to work out the bends in this new system. If we were going to have national standards, there should have been some effort to design a baseline curriculum to be used in the first design of textbooks and testing materials. But I would guess a mix of things, but mostly political pressure and the threat that standardized testing would use common core as its guide and those tests could affect educational funding.

    Read More

  • Solutions to Problems with the No Child Left Behind Act

    523 Words  | 2 Pages

    The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA) deals with student achievement standards by holding schools accountable for the achievement of their students (Implementation 11). The NCLBA uses standardized tests to chart the success of students. If students are not meeting standards, the school is required to offer tutoring, which is funded by the state with Title I, the education mandate passed in which granted all public schools access to federal grants, money (No Subject 7). The Act itself is not the problem; the problem is that the Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) standard which is a big part of the NCLBA is not being met. The AYP standard is not being met because schools are not changing their methods quickly enough. It was said in the NCLBA that schools nationwide were to have 100% proficiency of the AYP standard within 12 years (Implementation 9). Since the passing of the NCLBA in 2001, most public schools, nationwide have not improved at all.

    Read More

  • The Decline of Education Standards in the United States

    1664 Words  | 4 Pages

    The No Child Left Behind Act, standardized testing, and the large use of technology are some of the reasons why the United States is falling behind in educational rankings. The No Child Left Behind Act was set into place with the goal to improve student performance in school, and close the achievement gap between students; as Stecher, Vernez, and Steinburg state, “When Congress passed the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), it established an ambitious goal for the nation’s states, districts, and schools: All children will be proficient in reading and mathematics by the 2013-2014 school year” (1). While the No Child Left Behind Act was implemented with good intentions, the act itself is one of the main reasons the United States is falling behind in educational rankings. One of the most common complaints from parents surrounding the No Child Left Behind Act is the weakest link factor: the weakest student sets the pace in the classroom. The weakest student takes attention away from children whose learning level is above theirs....

    Read More

  • Critique of No Child Left Behind

    2843 Words  | 6 Pages

    As Rodney Paige, former Secretary of Education, said, “We have an educational emergency in the United States of America” (Hursh, 2007). The American ideal of egalitarianism essentially states that individuals should have an equal opportunity to pursue their dreams, and an important part of being able to achieve this is attaining a quality education. Students of differing racial, cultural, socioeconomic, and ability levels should all have the same opportunities in receiving a high-quality education. Unfortunately, this is not the case. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is seeking to change this. The NCLB is the current authorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) (Houston, 2007), which was passed during President Lyndon B. Johnson’s administration. Every five years the ESEA is renewed. It is currently due for renewal in 2014.

    Read More

  • Causes And Effects Of No Child Left Behind

    900 Words  | 2 Pages

    For years, the No Child Left Behind program and parents have gone head to head. Some parents believe that their children are not ready to advance, while the NCLB believes the students are ready to progress. The law does not care if the students does not understand the curriculum, just as long the child is meeting deadlines and passing the states standardized tests. This type of learning system only causes stress for teachers, students, and can be very unreliable.

    Read More

More about Critiquing Common Core: A Closer Look at Education Reform

Open Document