Archive for April, 2009
Unintended Consequences of Standardized Testing for Special Education
Standardized testing has grown increasingly popular since No Child Left Behind was developed, but it seams that with all of their good intentions, the developers of NCLB failed to think about the unintended consequences of implementing the program for special needs students and their teachers. As a future teacher, I am in support of holding teachers accountable and making sure that students are learning necessary content, but I feel that standardized testing fails to accurately measure the current levels of performance and academic strides that students with special needs make. If teachers are going to be held accountable for their students’ performance on standardized tests, then I feel that it [Read more...]
School Funding
The one major difficulty I see with our public school system centers on the financial problems of many districts and funding inequities among many of them. I am concerned with the financial status of my school because the students in my classroom need to feel that they are important and that they are worthwhile. In today’s society we tell children that they must attend school and that we value them. Yet, we do not necessarily show them that we value them if you look at the funding levels of the public school. We spend annually $8,560 per student in Oregon, $5,300 annually per student in Florida, and $5,734 annually per [Read more...]
Merit Pay
I am currently a junior in the elementary education program at Western Illinois University. I am in an educational law and policy course in which we have been learning about merit pay. In this course we have talked about President Obama’s speech on merit pay and how it could help schools. I agree that we can’t base teacher’s performance solely on the standardized test scores of their students. You can have one teacher whose students are learning a lot and seem be at a higher-level but don’t do well on tests, when at the same time, the teacher down the hall drags his or her feet [Read more...]
Highly Qualified Teachers in the Classroom
The advice that I have for President Obama is to get highly qualified teachers in the school system and weed out the bad teachers. I went through a public school system and saw first hand teachers that should not be in the system. Although it is hard to find a good way to evaluate teachers, I feel it is something that should be given more interest in the current administration. The United States is dropping in its ranking of education against other countries in the world. According to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United States was 18th among the 36 nations that were examined in 2008. The [Read more...]
Vouchers
Dear President Obama,
I’m currently an Art Education student at Western Illinois University, and thought my schooling there have been many issues that have struck a cord with me. Vouchers specifically are something that I strongly believe would improve the lives of young Americans everywhere. I believe that the choice to attend any school you wish is an important step in creating intelligent productive members of our society. Having a child’s educational funds “attached” to them no matter what school they attend will help created a positive competitiveness between schools. Vouchers will help give school administrators the push to make their schools the best that they can be. [Read more...]
Cyberbullying - Create a National Policy
Dear Mr. President,
I am a Senior Elementary Education major at Western Illinois University. During this last semester before student teaching, my peers and I are enrolled in an Educational Law and Policy class in which we have learned about the different sides of the many issues that face teachers today. One issue that I feel strongly about is Cyberbullying. We all know that the attack of another is wrong so why is nothing happening on the national level to stop this. Some States are acting on the issue and requiring their state schools to create policy for students who are bullied and those who are the [Read more...]
English Language Learners and Unanswered Questions
Dear President Obama,
Over the past four years as an undergraduate English Education major, I have learned a great deal about education as well as laws, policies, and various educational systems. While it seems that the majority of laws and policies have the best interests of students in mind, the largest problem among students and educational policy that I have encountered does not come as the result of a current policy, but from the lack thereof.
From my experiences in the classroom, the greatest issue I have encountered, one that has affected teachers, administrators, and students, is the lack of policy regarding English Language Learners. Although there may [Read more...]
Standardized Tests for Special Education Students
As a pre-service teacher, studying in special education, I have some sincere concerns about the future of our schools in America, as well as for my future students. I began my course of studies, believing that I had chosen one of the most important careers one can choose. I thought this career would be a chance to promote positive thinking and learning, but after a recent experience with the Illinois State Achievement Tests, my goal as become unclear.
While I do not suggest the dismissal of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), I do suggest taking a look at the law, and making some radical changes. As a pre-service [Read more...]
Classroom Discipline and Management
One area of educational policy that has been lacking over the years is classroom discipline and management. As a college student and future teacher I believe it would be in the best interest of our educational system to require coursework in classroom discipline and management. This topic is “touched on” in many courses but is never examined or practiced “in depth” until a person begins student teaching.
This semester I have been taking a course in educational law. While the course has pointed out very important concepts and skills it has not prepared me to know exactly what I can and cannot do in the classroom. I [Read more...]
Early Childhood Programs
As a future educator, I strongly encourage your administration to make a commitment to improving education policies that support educators as well as students and communities. Specifically, I endorse your plan to invest in zero to five early childhood education. Research states that early experiences shape whether a child’s brain develops strong skills for learning, behavior, and success. Thus, I believe investing in early childhood education will improve the achievement gap as every child will have a “good start”.
Investing in early childhood programs during the infant and toddler years is particularly important. Without a strong foundation for learning, children will be behind before they reach kindergarten. Thus, the time [Read more...]
