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Changes in the education system
Reforms and changes in the education system
The importance of teaching English language
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Over the last twenty years, America’s Public Educational system has changed their teaching policy directions to focus more on standards-based instruction. Laturnau (2001) states, “Standards-based instruction (SBI) is at the forefront of education reform because it presents a way to ensure that all students are exposed to challenging curricula and prepared to contribute positively to an increasingly complex world.” During the Clinton administration in the year 1994, there was a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) which begun this strong move towards SBI. The SBI idea was then continued on under the Bush administration through the passing of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001. Shepard, Hannaway, & Baker (2009) write “In a recent survey of policy makers, standards were acknowledged as the central framework guiding state education policy.” The standards-based instruction idea is one that requires states to exclude no particular student and also includes guidelines for evaluating the educators that the American people trust to teach our future generations to be sure that no child is left behind and every student academically succeeds. Arizona’s English learner standards can be used as a guide for differentiating instruction by incorporating English language learner (ELL) activities and manipulating lesson planning to include ELL learning components that are equivalent to the English learner components. On the Arizona’s department of education website (www.azed.gov), they do a great job of breaking down the standards for each academic area by grade levels. For example… If I were a kindergarten teacher interested in educating my students about the art of dance, I would download ... ... middle of paper ... ... did not matter to them how each teacher taught or what tools they used to teach SBI. As long as their students met their academic goals and stayed on task towards achieving their promotion to the next grade, this is all that mattered to them at the end of their work day. Works Cited Laturnau, J. (2001). Standards-Based Instruction for English Language Learners. Pacific Resources for Education and Learning. Retrieved on March 18, 2012 from: http://www.prel.org/products/pc_/standards-based.htm Shepard, L. & Hannaway, J. & Baker, E. (2009). Standards, Assessments, and Accountability: Education Policy White Paper. National Academy of Education. Retrieved on March 18, 2012 from: http://www.naeducation.org/Standards_Assessments_Accountability_White_Paper.pdf Web Links www.azed.gov www.smilemakers.com www.pbs.org www.thirteen.org www.teachingtips.com
Much research was completed for the making of this article. It was found that ELL’s need time to develop oral English proficiency, teachers need to use ongoing authentic formative assessments throughout the year due to
After viewing the panel discussion about how our local school districts have implemented English Language Learning in their school, I am very intrigued. From what I gathered the field of ELL is a growing industry in education, especially in Colorado Springs. We have ELL’s students coming from all over the world. Here in Colorado Springs alone, school districts have to accommodate for over fifty different languages spoken by ELL’s. I can only imagine the challenge that comes with such a diverse group of non- English speakers in our community schools.
Another major criticism of the “No Child Left Behind” deals with the implications of using a standardized test as means of assessing achievement.
Due to the rise in immigration and the demographics of classrooms in America are changing. As a result, English Language Learners are becoming more common in schools. English Language Learners make up one of the largest demographics in the American Classroom (Flynn & Hill, 2005). These students have been observed to have a major achievement gap because many of these students are placed in mainstream classrooms with basic literacy skills. Many English Language Learners are born in the United States (Goldenberg, 2008). These students have only attended the school system in America. However, the achievement levels are nowhere near the level of their peers. According to Calderon, Slavin, and Sanchez (2011) “these students, who have been in U.S. schools since kindergarten, are still classified as limited English proficient when they reach middle or high school— suggesting strongly that preschool and elementary programs are not adequately addressing the needs of English learners.” The achievement gap between English Language Learners and native English speaking students is extremely high. English Language Learners tests scores are low. According to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, “fourth grade ELLs scored 36 points lower than their peers on the reading section of the test and 25 points below their peers in math. The results in eighth grade were worse with a difference of 42 points in reading and 37 points in math” (Goldenberg, 2008). The gap between ELLs and non-ELLs are three to eighteen points larger then students from low-income households.
The proposed Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act identifies key factors for college and career-ready students. The act asks that states adopt rigorous college and career ready standards in English/language arts and mathematics along with assessments aligned to these standards. In June of 2010, the NGA Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released the Common Core State Standards which 45 out of 50 states have currently adopted. Additionally, states are required to develop a system of accountability that rewards successful schools, requires interventions for the lowest-perfor...
In Arizona, high schools require their students to take the AIMS (Arizona’s Instrument to Measure Standards) tests and pass them in order in progress out of high school. Arizonan students must now pass reading, writing, and math and science tests. Many schools have integrated an extra class for students to prepare for taking the tests. Students in these classes can receive either a pass or fail for the course. The original reason and importance for having these tests was to ensure that all students are meeting the standards of education in those tested subjects by the time they graduate. Having more research done about statistics and percentages on opposition and stances on proficiency testing would make an impact in the way schools would continue standardized testing, not only in high schools, but elementary schools as well. Since there is little investigation and research that has been done, there is not a strong voice from the teachers, parents, or students on this subject.
Thomas, Wayne P., and Virginia P. Collier. "Accelerated Schooling for English Language Learners." Educational Leadership (Apr.99): 46-49.
Current educational policy and practice asserts that increased standardized student testing is the key to improving student learning and is the most appropriate means for holding individual schools and teachers accountable for student learning. Instead, it has become a tool solely for summarizing what students have learned and for ranking students and schools. The problem is standardized tests cannot provide the information about student achievement that teachers and students need day-to-day. Classroom assessment can provide this kind of information.
In 2002, President George W. Bush passed the “No Child Left Behind Act” which tied in schools’ public funding to standardized tests and enforced the tests in elementary and high schools every year by state education departments. This law also began to put more emphasize on standardized tests which has diminished our level of education and the law “made standardized test scores the primary measure of school quality” (Diane Ravitch 28). Bush hoped this law motivated more students to do well on these exams and teachers to help them prepare better, but it ended up hurting many schools in the process. These exams like the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) should not play such a prominent role in schooling and the government should not make tests the main focal point.
Politicians claim that Accountability is needed. Dylan Wiliam wrote that “The logic of accountability is deceptively simple”(110) He goes on to say that “students attending higher quality schools will (by definition) have higher achievement than those attending lower quality schools, so that the differences in quality of schools will result in systematic differences in achievement between schools”(110). Yes indeed accountability is needed. It is needed for those who pay for education (tax payers) and the people who are educated (the students). The institutions that regulate education should be held accountable for the policies they enact as well as the government that approved those actions. “Of the total variance in mathematics achievement of 15-year-olds in the United States in 2004 only 8% was attributable to the actual quality of the education provided by the school, the results in science are similar” (111). This is an indictment of the American school system, it points out that standardized testing is in fact inaccurate and unnecessary.
Tchudi, Susan J, and Stephen Tchudi. The English Language Arts Handbook: Classroom Strategies for Teachers. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook, 1999. Print.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is bringing down the American education system for the sake of academic competition with other countries that use better methods. This country hasn’t changed its methods in decades. By addressing different aspects of the problem, it can be solved more efficiently and quickly. Three different aspects will be addressed here: what the American education system already does, what other countries are doing (as well as cultural differences), and what we should be doing. What we should be doing is a general combination of what other successful countries are doing, taking advice from experienced educators, and abolishing stressful, unnecessary practices.
TESOL International Association. (2013a). Implementing the Common Core State Standards for ELS: The Changing Role of the ESL Teacher. Alexandria, VA: Author
Wiley, T.G., & Rolstad, K. (2014). The Common Core State Standards and The Great Divide. International Multilingual Research Journal, 8(1),
Education is a vital tool for lifelong success but there are many areas of concern in the current system of public education. Education reform has been a constant occurrence since the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Every year, specialists develop