Education

You Can Make A Difference

Every day, all across our nation, there are children struggling with many issues. They may be living in deplorable, poverty-stricken conditions or they may be facing a serious, life-threatening illness. They may be struggling in school trying hard to get a better education.

There are many ways that we can help these children. You can help through donations to reputable charities to volunteer efforts. Realize that no matter what you do, no matter how insignificant you may think it is, it will make a difference.

For instance, donating your old car to Kars 4 Kids will help children attain some of their educational goals. Kars for Kids provides children who may be struggling with education mentorship opportunities.

Other ways you can help include volunteer your time and services to youth organizations. While these organizations may differ in areas such as activities and programs, they all share the desire to help children succeed. You can do a little research and find an organization in your community that you can help. You may be able to help with an after-school literacy program, or coach a youth athletic team.

Start a literacy program or book club for children. You can approach your local school, library or even a bookstore for a facility where you can hold these meetings. Because these types of locations are child friendly you’ll have no problem convincing parents to let their children participate.

You can also help by simply writing letters. Write letters to the editor of your local newspaper. Become an advocate for the causes you believe in and bring them to other people’s attentions, getting them involved. Make sure your letters are factual, yet emotional. This way you can help educate people about the issues as well as getting them to help by volunteering or donating time and money.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement Tagged With: Education

Applause for Education Reform

Democrats recently applauded ESEA leaders for their efforts in education reform. According to Democrats, the central goal of focusing on students and identifying the country’s most effective teachers is a good start to reform. In the past, ESEA has not presented a concentrated report on what it plans to do about the achievement gap and other educational barriers present in the system. The recent report, however, has not only managed to offer a solution to education problems, but has also suggested strategies for funding. According to a letter written by Democrats applauding the program, ESEA has suggested that there be more transparency in budget plans. Instead of leaving society in the dark while money is being spent on goods, ESEA has proposed that public school administrations inform taxpayers of what their money is being used for.

Although the success of the program depends on academic improvement, providing more insight into the financial scheme of education will move plans forward. Many taxpayers would be willing to pay higher taxes to educate children if they knew exactly what the money was being spent on. Since the economy has suffered much heartache because of the housing market and employment decline, it is no longer satisfying for an individual to ask for billions of dollars and say “It’s for the children.” In the current economic recovery, people want to know the facts of the matter. Most taxpayers find it necessary to know how the increased finances will be helping the children, and of the amount asked for is absolutely vital. School administrators and political advocates for education will not get far without addressing these two issues.

While it is not certain that the new changes to ESEA will be permanent, it is definite that politicians working with the program are trying to make the system better.

Differentiated Teaching Methods Important for Higher Test Scores

While the No Child Left Behind legislation sought to assure the government that all schools were preforming well and those that were not were being brought up to standards. All students are given the same test, with the same questions, the same four answers to choose from for each test question. All students are held to the same standards.

When it is time to teach children the information that is on the tests however, in course of daily classwork, they can not be all taught the same way. Each and every child in a classroom learns differently than the others. While a majority of them may be able to get the information one way, that does not mean that the bet way for each child was used.

Three basic ways of learning a piece of information are hearing it, reading it, and writing it. While some students will be completely frustrated when it comes to having to write out pages of information, others will soak it up better as they put the pencil to paper.

In addition to that, some children learn more slowly than others. This doesn’t mean these children have learning problems. It just means that they do not always pick up the same types of material as quickly as other children. In fact, while some children breeze through math class, they are slower in reading. It happens the other way around as well. It is not as often that one find a child who excels in both areas of study.

Children need to be given time to learn at their own pace without slowing down those who are learning at a faster pace than they are. This can be difficult to do in a classroom of 25 children, but is possible. Besides time constraints, students need to know how they best learn so that they can incorporate it intot heir lessons.

Helping children understand their own differentiated learning styles is one way to give them the power to push themselves towards excellence.

Filed Under: Teacher Rights Tagged With: Education, No Child Left Behind Act, Student

Choices Save Schools

There is no question that our public education system needs help. There is no question that the United States is quickly falling behind other countries when it comes to test scores. Unfortunately, there is a major division within the halls of the US government buildings when anyone brings up the topic of education. This is especially true if the person who is approaching the subject, is also talking about freedom of choice when it comes to schools.

Many people who are against choice start with the problem of religious schools. They believe that government funded education should not have any sort of religious ties due to the separation of church and state. They also believe that school choice could give certain parts of the population advantages by allowing them to choose whichever school they wanted, therefor possibly segregating themselves.

Those who are for having the ability to choose their child’s school make the case that schools who are competing against each other for higher enrollment numbers and more tax dollars will likely be more careful in choosing their curriculum and their teachers. Teachers who have under-preforming classrooms year after year will be dismissed so that more successful teachers can be hired to take their places.

Another reason that school choice can be a popular option, is that it gives the schools a chance to diversify interests. One school could focus on art and music as another focuses on math and science. As the schools promote these areas of interest, more students will be attracted with similar interests. This gives the school a large of pool of students from with to draw out a certain number for an interesting program. One example of this would be the math team. At the same time, while the art themed school has math and science, they work on holding art shows and developing more creatively.

Nobody knows if school choice will actually be an option in the United States, but the results look promising for those who wish it was.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: Education, School choice, State school

Mediocrity On The Rise

It should come as no surprise that the school system in the United States is failing. In the 1980′s the Reagan Administration released their report, “A Nation At Risk.” Contained within the report where a variety of statistics and recommendation aimed at stemming what President Reagan termed the “rising tide of mediocrity.”As we move forward into the next generation of school reforms, we should take time to reflect on the original five recommendations made by the National Commission on Excellence in Education.

1.Content: It is no secret that our nations schools are seriously lagging behind other schools on a global level. Reagan’s team recommended changing the content for students with the aim of better preparing our students for college.
2.Standards and Expectations: Somewhere along the line, teaching to the lowest common denominator became accepted. Reagan’s committee urged schools and administrators to focus on higher expectations and standards.
3.Time: Simply put, our students need more education”face time” in order to be competitive. The committee urged schools to lengthen not only the school day but also the school year.
4.Teaching: In order for our students to be truly successful, our teachers must be more adequately prepared.
5.Leadership: Leadership isn’t just found at the government level. Involving parents and community groups in the effort to hold our schools, our teachers and our government responsible for improving the education system for our students is critical.

When these recommendations were written our K- 12 systems was in serious need of reform. Some of the recommendations were implemented while others were virtually ignored.

Maybe it is time to revisit Reagan’s recommendations and see if we cannot stem the tide of mediocrity in the K – 12 education system in The United States. Our schools and our students must be better prepared so we can be successful on a global level.

Filed Under: Government Rulings Tagged With: Education, Student, United States

The Pulse of Education in America

As a parent or educator, you may be concerned about the state of the education system. Thinking your concerns relate only to your child or your particular district may be easy until you look at the state of home schooling in America. You may say that the number of students participating in home schooling programs is a good way to measure the health or “pulse” of the public education system.

Alternative forms of education, primarily home schooling, have grown in popularity and visibility over the past decade. While critics of the home schooling program claim that home schooled students are the children of religious fanatics, this isn’t the case. Recognize that a portion of the families who rely on home schooling or other alternative education forms do so because of religious views but that many have chosen alternative education to address the lack of adequate education in our public school system.

Whatever the reason for enrolling a student in an alternative education program, many parents and students are finding that the programs offer them the chance to challenge themselves, provide them with a strong basis for further education and allow for greater flexibility.

Unfortunately, some parents are turning to alternative education instead of working within their local community to hold schools and educators responsible for the education of their children.

When parents feel their best chance at educating their children is through a system other than the public system, there is a problem. Failing to address the underlying problem of our education system and to reform them may eventually lead to a country where only the wealthy have access to a “real” education.

Whether you are a parent, educator or administrator, the time has come to take an honest look at the health of our education system and to make the needed changes.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: Education, Homeschooling, Student, United States

Framing Our Children’s Future

It seems like everyone has a solution to one of the biggest problems our nation faces: our decaying education system. From changing class content to lengthening the school day, one thing that nearly all parents, educators and administrators agree on is that our education system is in serious need of reform. One of the most encouraging concepts is that of curriculum framework.

At its core, curriculum framework is simply a set of standards or guidelines that are used to define the curriculum and content for a group of students. The goal of this framework is a pre-defined outcome. In other words, curriculum framework is designed to be outcome specific.

Educators, administrators and parents could work together to create a list of clearly defined outcomes for their students. The standard should be set high and the ensuing curriculum and content should be developed to allow students to meet these goals. This system is drastically different from our current educational system that focuses primarily on the content as opposed to the outcome.

Under this system, all students would be held to the same standards. This means no group of students will have an advantage. All students will need to perform equally well. While opponents of this system believe it does not take disabilities into consideration, proponents drive home the fact that students that met these high goals are better prepared to compete on a global scale.

It is equally important to note that a framework concept has been adapted by some states, but not in the truest sense. States have used the framework concept to meet academic standards instead of other, more constructive, objectives.

Developing a curriculum framework that sets high, but achievable, objectives for our students may be the most effective way to prepare our children for competition on the global scale and change the face of our education system.

Filed Under: Parental Involvement Tagged With: Curriculum, Education, Student

Education That Is HOTS

Think for minute about how we learn. The easiest way to learn is studying facts – rote memorization. Unfortunately, this form of learning does nothing to help our students develop critical thinking skills, problem solving skills or creative thinking skills. Instead this simplified method of learning, called simple thinking skills, teaches our students only about the subject matter at hand.

Higher order thinking skills, or HOTS, is a teaching methodology that educates students to not simply memorize facts, but to develop plans, think creatively, solve problems and more. Still, many of our K -12 learning institutions do not focus on HOTS, focusing instead on teaching the information only.

In order for HOTS to be taught and for our children to reap the benefits of this advanced thinking methodology, educators must learn to focus on the following critical areas of education:

Remembering: The simple act of memory and recall is vitally importing. Students should understand how to recognize, list, describe, retrieve, name and find information, data and facts.
Creating: In order for our students to be successful, the must understand the process of generating new products, ideas, viewpoints, designs and more. Including in this skill is planning, production and inventing.
Understanding: The ability to clearly explain ideas to others is vital.
Analyzing: Students should be taught to analyze problems and objects and break them into component parts in order to more fully understand the underlying structure or issue.

Other critical thinking skills should be taught as well with the end result being students who can look at problems objectively and use their skills to solve them, create new and exciting ideas and better function in the world.

HOTS should be at the forefront of the K – 12-reform movement. This method of thinking, when compared to simple thinking skill, is simply better for students hoping for success.

Filed Under: Education History Tagged With: Critical thinking, Education, Student

Math Wars

Math Wars-a funny phrase for a pretty serious issue facing today’s educators. Broken down, the Math Wars amount to a difference in teaching philosophy: should we teach our children math skills based on fixed processes or formulas or should we teach them via an inquiry approach utilizing real life problems? Both sides make strong arguments, making Math Wars one of the leading education reform issues.

Reform supporters often cite the growing research that seems to indicate that students who utilize problem solving skills or inquiry based solving for mathematics excel in conceptual understanding of mathematic principals as well as calculations. They believe that their reform methodology only fails when ill prepared educators teach it. These reformers believe that standard or traditional math education should be completely abandoned.

The other side is equally adamant about sticking to traditional mathematics. They believe that without first providing students with a strong basis in computational math (addition, subtractions and so on), students will be unable to understand more advanced mathematics. They stress practice exercises and memorization first.

Perhaps the strongest argument for not reforming today’s mathematics curriculum is how wide spread it is. The process of math education has not seen any big changes. The way today’s students learns math is much like the way previous generations have been taught. Still, simply because traditional math education is the norm doesn’t mean it is the best method. Today’s educators are still faced with the dilemma originally presented by 1989′s Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. The Math Wars the publication started is likely to remain an ongoing concern for educators and parents.

Unfortunately this issue is one that is unlikely to be solved by compromise. The two opposing are too different. The Math Wars are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, leaving parents and educators with little choice in their method of teaching mathematics.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: Curriculum, Education, Mathematics

End Of Course? Pass A Test!

If you are the parent of a school-aged child or have been paying attention to the debate over school reform, you have probably heard the cry “Teaching to the test.” The concept, under which some people believe that teachers have begun to devote their instruction time solely to teaching materials covered by state mandated standardized tests has caused a huge divide among those hoping to reform our current education system. While nearly everyone agrees that our education system needs adjusting, not everyone can agree on which reform to implement. One such reform that deserves consideration is end of course exams.

End of course exams are just that: test that occur at the end of a given class. The concept applies primarily to math, science and English, but is viable for nearly every subject. In theory, students would take a test that covers the material taught during the class. A passing grade must be achieved in order for the student to move on to the next level.

This test would be in addition to the standard tests that are already administered at regularly intervals during a child school career. Proponents believe that end of course testing would force teacher to cover all material in a given curriculum, not simply the material that will be covered on the next standardized test. This would lead to better-educated students.

There is a down side as well. Opponents believe that our students already have enough to worry about â€“ especially our high school students who must also prepare for SAT’s or ACT’s. Placing the additional stress of end of course classes might simply be too much.

Like all education reform issues, this one deserves careful consideration. It may be possible to implement a system under which our students are held more accountable for their class material without placing additional stress on them.

Filed Under: Student Rights Tagged With: Education, Standardized test, Student