Labour government has also tried to promote greater choice and diversity by trying to become a post-comprehensive educational era. To do this the new labour introduced a policy to encourage schools to become specialist skills schools. By 2007 85% of all secondary schools had become specialist skill schools, so that children could go to a secondary school based on the specialist skill they required, they had a greater choice about what they wanted to learn. New labour also tried to promote greater choice and diversity by using ideas put forward by postmodernists. Such as Kenneth thompson, who believes education has changed to become more pro-choice and has broken free from the ‘oppressive uniformity’ of the ‘one size fits all’ ideology that government of the time had schools in.
The parents of children from wealthy middle class backgrounds (bourgeoisie) could afford to send their child to public and grammar schools to receive an academic education. Whereas, children of poor working class parents could only receive a very basic level of education in elementary schools. Though they did receive some education, this was not to help them climb the social ladder, but rather to teach them the basic skills required for work and to obey authority. The Education Act (1944) replaced the old class based system with the Tripartite System. The Tripartite System was put into place after the Second World War and it introduced secondary education to pupils.
The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), for example, aimed to “close the achievement gap with accountability, flexibility, and choice so that no child is left behind” (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). A provision of this act, known as Choices for Parents, allows low-income parents to choose another public school for their child if the school that they currently attend has been labeled as “in need for improvement” for two or more consecutive years” (U.S. Department of Education, 2001). This provision may sound promising in the sense that it provides an alternative option for students who may not be receiving an adequate education but it does have its shortcomings. While the parents were given the option to move their children from one school to another, they were only permitted to move to a school within their district. This provision is ineffective because the majority of the schools under the same district suffer from the same inadequacies.
In the last 25 years the government have introduced many policies which have both created an education market such as streaming and setting, competition and selection and policies to create equal opportunity for more deprived areas for example compensatory education it can be argued wether their main priority is to create an education market as well as helping the lower classes and those struggling in the system The education market has been created by many policies such as competition and selection, open enrolement, league tables and streaming which all contribute to schools having to compete for the best students so they can increase funding. Schools today have open enrolment which means parents have more of a choice as to where they can send there child and so the school must try and appeal to the consumer which increases there standards, league tables also have a similar effect as the higher the school is in the league table the better pass rate it has and increased funding is received however there comes problems with this as the school tends to concentrate on those students who have the best chance of passing known as the educational triage, this may help those students who do well at school but leaves those struggling in a worse position as they are seen as “no hopers” . Education market has also created things such as streaming which also allows the school to concentrate on the pupils who can help them gain a better league position by focusing on there grades more than those in lower streams. The introduction of the 1988 education reform act also helped to create the education market which emphasisesd standards, diversity and choice by reducing state control over education and increasing both competition between schools and parental choice of school they argued that state control leads to low standards, lack of choice for parents and and efficiency
The Merchant Shipping Act of 1876 also improved conditions on ships for seamen. This remains one of the great landmarks of State intervention in helping to secure the safety of a particular group of workers. Sandon’s Education Act attempted to improve school attendance by setting up school attendance committees, but stopped short of compulsory attendance in the fear of alienating the lower class. But this was important because for children to get a job they must have an attendance certificate. There was an underlying reason for this Act which was that forcing children to attend local school was a way of propping up Anglican schools and stopping the spread of non-conformist school boards.
With the purpose of the surveys for the Shelby County School students discussing how each student feels about their past, present and future learning experience(s), as well as how the students feel they could grasp an overall greater education if the correct adjustments were made. As for questions pertaining to the SCS research, students will be asked to cooperate regarding how they feel when in school. Are the students treated as equal individuals, do they believe the teachers and faculty are properly trained. An alternate and a null hypothesis will pertain to the SCS graduation rate declination and how it can be properly administered. The alternate hypothesis: A difference in graduation rates can be seen for those at risk seniors if students participate in intensive study programs.
The introduction of SATS every few years throughout the education tenure, so progress of all schools could be made. A national curriculum was also introduced; forcing schools to teach certain topics for the first time. Ofsted reports were created, so schools and teachers were monitored yearly to make sure they met national standards. The major argument that marketisation created inequality is that because of it, a parentocracy was created. This means that parents have the choice of where their children go, and it meant for the first time parents could become governors on the school board.
According to a USA Today editorial, “ Fine-tuning provisions to increase federal support and remove unreasonable demands could prompt more schools to strive to reach the law’s goals.” Some examples of these fine-tunings would be making tutoring available to students before they could transfer to a school that is not failing. Another example would be to revisit special education rules. The current law sets a goal of making sure that 90% of special education students learn at the same level as other students, which may be unrealistic. The opposition believes that the U.S. department of Education is making some accommodations but has failed to smooth out most of the bumps along the way which could help the nation reach its’ goal of a better
English 1301 May 3, 2014 Common Core; for the Greater Good or a Bad Decision The Common Core State Standards Initiative, a program conceived in 2009 sponsored by the National Governors Association (NGA) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSO), is quite the topic of discussion in our country. It aims to standardize English Language Arts and mathematics for school age children to better prepare high school graduates to pursue further education at a credit bearing two or four year college, or to help them when they enter the workforce. While this program aims to better our nations education system, arguments can be made for either side of the issue. I intend to discuss both arguments and answer the question; Is Common Core good for our children and the future leaders of this country? Forty four states initially adopted Common Core standards into their education systems.
Therefore, instead of squandering federal money into programs that have ceased to end homelessness for the past 23 years, it would serve best to commence funding elsewhere, mainly educational programs and homeless awareness programs. If children learn of homeless prevention and the benefits of secondary education from an early age, they will be much more likely to reap the rewards of such education. Serious reform must take place within “The No Child Left Behind Act”, however. It is imperative that the United States break away from the traditional standardized test focused curriculum, shift focus their curriculums to critical thinking, and problem solving, using exams that require students to conduct research and scientific investigations, solve complex real-world problems and defend their ideas orally and in writing. Changes in education are directly tied in to how successful a child will be in school and thus out of school.