At age 16 my aunty dropped out of high school and her life has been a living hell ever since. The age requirement to drop out of high school should remain the same because at 16 the part of the brain, called the Frontal Lobe, which controls decision making, isn’t completely developed. “Students who receive poor grades, who repeat a grade, or who are over-age for their class are more than likely to drop out.” (Do Something) Students who receive poor grades are likely to not care, get upset, or do something about it. Getting bad grades really affects you when you put so much time in that subject. If you don’t do the work, how do you expect to get good grades?
Roxana Useda ENC 1101 Professor Cash November 30, 2012 Why Trust the FCAT? Have you ever felt when taking the FCAT you are wasting your time? Over the years students have been required to take a test that will evaluate them on how well they do. The FCAT is given to obtain an insight on how much students are learning on three main subjects, science, reading, and math every year. Despite the benefits teachers and schools obtain, standardized testing like the FCAT is not effective in evaluating student’s performance because not all students learn at the same level, they fall under pressure, and they are being taught just for the test which prevents from learning skills that are yet to be learned.
“Many states and school districts are finding it increasingly difficult to implement performance pay programs. Mounting budgetary constraints and research that has shown that these programs have little or no impact on student performance.” (Blazer & MDCPS, 2011) No teacher will take less pay and work just as hard or harder to educate students. Teachers will flock to higher performing schools to get paid. I viewed it as the school system might as well open “Gladiatorial Games” outside achieving and over achieving schools. I have witnessed 20-year teachers either leaving the same school they have been at for years to go to a new achieving schools or retiring to avoid dealing with the Merit pay system.
Everything academic revolves around the year-end state testing to the point that other subjects are usually neglected. Reading, math and writing are the main thrusts of schools, and are obviously important. However, critics state that children are not receiving well-rounded educations because of the emphasis on these subjects
Early education programs such as, the Head Start program was on top of the list for budget cuts. That would affect the kick start to learning that has been around for generations of young learners to take advantage of. Most American families are in favor of having an early learning program in their community. Studies show that kids the kids that participate in an early learning program develop a greater aptitude for learning and are accepted to better universities. Seems like the GOP does not understand that even though the average family can’t afford to send their kids to a top tier university does not mean they do not want to take advantage of early learning.
In the article Stop the Madness, written by Diane Ravitch, she elaborates on the issue of exceptionally high test taking. Teachers teach towards their test and as a result, are lazy. These faculty members, especially the teachers, worry more about the final test scores their students receive than if their students are grasping and fully understanding the educational topics. This is because the test grades that the students earn is how teachers are judged and ranked in the system. Therefore, in order to achieve these ideal scores, they are using the same tests and classwork every year.
Dear Principal, Would it be fair if an A student, were to receive the same grade as, a D student? If you were to change the grading policy this would make parents and students frustrated. The grading policy should not be changed because students would not know their exact grades, their GPA, and high performers would earn the same grade as low performers. I don’t agree that you should consider a new grading policy that replaces letter or number grades because it will not benefit the school community. The first reason the grading policy should not be changed is students/parents would not know their exact grade.
Creating this bigger gap in funding only hinders a school from achieving academic excellence and eventually causes teachers to lose jobs and schools to shut down. Furthermore to cover shortfalls at least 22 states have scaled back K-12 funding and at least 24 have made cuts in higher education for fiscal year 2012 including reducing, or eliminating, personnel and programs vital to the most vulnerable populations: lower-income and minority students (Ceasar., Watanabe., T., & Times, L. A., 2011). Students are being pushed through a system that allows them to chose their electives such as, the time spent learning how to cook and drive, which counts as much toward a high school diploma as the time spent studying mathematics, English,
Kids are no longer pushed to excel in schools. The school system tries to convince children that they are all doing well when it is not true. When schools allow students to retake all their tests for better grades, students will not strive for perfection on their first attempt. If they do not have letter grades or finals, it is difficult to evaluate student success. These policies will keep children’s feelings from being hurt, but if Eunice cannot do poorly, she has no motivation to do better.
(“States Seeks to Block ‘No Child Left Behind’”). Even gym and recess are being reduced in schools around the United States due to teaching being pointed towards the test. This has only caused a negative effect as the number of obese children has risen. Standardized test and the NCLB Act are only harming the health of children- mentally and physically. Furthermore, United States needs to follow the following guidelines that countries more advanced in education than the United States have been following.