When the federal government sticks its foot in the
educational world, things can get a little out of hand. For instance, thanks to
the NCLB Act, in today’s educational setting, teachers worry more about their
students passing standardized tests, and students worry about failing the assessment
tests and not being able to continue to the next grade. Although I agree that
it is important to decrease and eliminate the achievement gap, it is not
something that should be expected to happen in just a few years.
In my opinion, I think that the standardized test scores should not determine a person’s (the teacher’s) salary. I like how in the Race to the Top Fund the state gets rewarded for having “enhancing standards and assessments, improving the collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness, and achieving equity in teacher distribution, and turning around struggling schools” (Race to the Top Program Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions). It is probably hard to distribute the funding evenly or fairly to all of the schools in the state, but I think that rewarding the school instead of the teacher gives the students and staff more pride in the school. So I like how the federal government plays a role in the funding that might be put towards technology.
I also liked how the federal government enacted the Children’s Internet Protection Act for the protection and safety of material accessible to children in schools. The Internet is so widely used in today’s classrooms, and there are so many inappropriate things for minors to see. So I like that Congress decided to take a charge in filtering the Internet and creating Internet safety policies. Reading about the FCC’s E-Rate for schools was interesting to read about too. It is nice to know that the federal government is looking out for the cost that the schools have to pay for the use of Internet services.
So although I feel a little bitter with the federal government and its too high of expectations and pressure for standardized test scores, I was pleased to read and learn that they are trying to help schools as much as the can will little involvement, and the federal government really seems to take an interest in the student’s learning and achievement.
Below are the links for my source:
Race to the Top Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions-
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/faq.pdf
Children's Internet Protection Act-
http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act
FCC's E-Rate-
http://transition.fcc.gov/learnnet/
In my opinion, I think that the standardized test scores should not determine a person’s (the teacher’s) salary. I like how in the Race to the Top Fund the state gets rewarded for having “enhancing standards and assessments, improving the collection and use of data, increasing teacher effectiveness, and achieving equity in teacher distribution, and turning around struggling schools” (Race to the Top Program Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions). It is probably hard to distribute the funding evenly or fairly to all of the schools in the state, but I think that rewarding the school instead of the teacher gives the students and staff more pride in the school. So I like how the federal government plays a role in the funding that might be put towards technology.
I also liked how the federal government enacted the Children’s Internet Protection Act for the protection and safety of material accessible to children in schools. The Internet is so widely used in today’s classrooms, and there are so many inappropriate things for minors to see. So I like that Congress decided to take a charge in filtering the Internet and creating Internet safety policies. Reading about the FCC’s E-Rate for schools was interesting to read about too. It is nice to know that the federal government is looking out for the cost that the schools have to pay for the use of Internet services.
So although I feel a little bitter with the federal government and its too high of expectations and pressure for standardized test scores, I was pleased to read and learn that they are trying to help schools as much as the can will little involvement, and the federal government really seems to take an interest in the student’s learning and achievement.
Below are the links for my source:
Race to the Top Guidance and Frequently Asked Questions-
http://www2.ed.gov/programs/racetothetop/faq.pdf
Children's Internet Protection Act-
http://www.fcc.gov/guides/childrens-internet-protection-act
FCC's E-Rate-
http://transition.fcc.gov/learnnet/
I couldn't agree more with you about the good and bad of the federal government policy. The good comes with the situalations that the government puts on what are students can access on the web, but do you think this in any way limits what our students can learn? When we limit things for our students to access, do you think that sometimes we limit even the good things they can access, but because they aren't on a "approved" website list?
ReplyDeleteGoing along with what Samanatha was talking about, I too am questioning whether blocking students from so many things can be detrimental to their education. When they block all of these things that are "dangerous" for the students, then we could also be blocking something that could benefit their educational experience. Slightly switching topics, I too am pleased to hear and read about the things that the fed gov is doing what they can to help schools as much as they can without interfering to much. That being said, with every involvement of some sort there are going to be some expectations from the government and there is just no way around that in any way. Sad as it may be, the fed gov will always have some sort of direct involvement with education.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that NCLB might not have been the best program, but I think that it got the US going in the right direction with education. I disagree with you about teachers getting paid on how well their students do on test. It is a teachers job to educate the students, therefore the students should do well on a test. If a student does bad on a test then the were not prepared well enough. I also feel that a teachers effort goes with this. A lot of teacher stick to old methods and do not keep up to date on teaching methods. If a teacher is not performing well then they don't deserve more pay. I like the race to the top program, but I wish more schools would get money. I think the money should be space out evenly. Although, the program does push for schools and teachers to do better to improve students scores, should we be doing that no meter what. The point of teachers and schools is to educate the student, therefore they should already be doing great on test. There is no need for a competition to push schools and teachers to do better, they shold already be doing great.
ReplyDelete