Critical Project 4
Dropout Rates Among Minorities
By Kendra Bristol
There are many reasons why the dropout rate among minority groups group are high at such an alarming rate. Lack of parents involvement, language, and teachers, are some of the reasons that contributes to the dropout rates among many students in public schools. Parents plays a very important role in a child's life.
A parent’s duty is to protect, love, and nurture their child, so that a child can function in society. When it comes to education a parent should stress the importance of obtaining a good education and make sure they establish a firm foundation. If the parents do not believe in education how will the students believe. Also playing a major role in the dropout rate is the parent's income. Parents income too play a major role in the dropout rate.
Linver, Fuligni and Brooks- Gunn (2004) stated that one of the major related issues is disparity between test scores of African American and European American children, which still persists, though diminished, after accounting for income and other family background differences (pg 25). This occurs because a parent might be poor which causes discrimination. This discrimination can be based on race, nationality, and class. However, this is one of the major reasons in relationship with parents that cause the dropout rates among minorities groups in public schools.
Gollnick and Chinn (2008) described language as a system of vocal sound and/ or non verbal system by which members communicate with one another (pg 200). Acceptable language or should I say Standard English is what the public schools in America base their rules and regulations. Many of the minority students have some type of dialect because English was not their first language and there are many that do not speak English at all. So this pose a big problem in public schools. Communication between student to student might not be a problem because many of them understands and communicate with each other because they are speak non standard English, bilingual, or ebonics. With this said socializing with peers is not the issue. The issue here is what the public schools accept as being acceptable. This is where the teachers plays the important role of teaching the students what are needed to meet these acceptable standards.
On the path on of becoming a Teacher I believe that the number one goal should be willing to commit and make a change in a student's life. However, According to the National Center for Education Statistics nearly half of all teachers quit during their first five years. If the teachers are quitting at such a rapid rate how will the students build trust in their teachers and learn. Some teachers are just in it for the pay, not for the best interest of these students. So as a result there will be poor grades, language that are not acceptable and high dropout rate.
Minority students in public schools are faced with numerous problems that helps contributes to the high dropout rate. But if parents, teachers and the community come together to tackle this problem; I believe the outcome for minority students would be different. I am aware that there is research being done and programs that are in place to help minority students, but, however, from my point of view, this process is very slow and dropout rates are getting higher. I propose that a parent should take the time out and look into their child's performance by attending parent meetings, and requesting a monthly progress report from the child's teacher. Furthermore, parents should take time out of their busy schedule to sit, talk and prepare activities that will help in better communication; also help to convey information to their child where the teacher was not able to.
Teachers should also be willing to invest their time in students and not quit when thing seems tough. This will help build a relationship of trust. Because this shows the students that someone cares and there is someone that they can count on. Teachers should create activities and have patients to sit and explain to students what are expected of them. Also try to build a relationship with parents at the beginning of the term.
Students should also be willing to learn and show respect to both parents and teachers. So that it will help motivate them to teach and invest in them. It should not be a one way path where student are the only one who benefit; but a continuous path where communication, agreement, diversity and learning can grow.
Reference
Gollnick, D. M. & Chinn, P. C. (2008). Multicultural education in a pluralistic society (8th ed). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill / Pearson
Kaufman, P., Kwon, J. Y., Klein, S., Chapman, C. D. (1999). Fast Facts: Dropout Rates. Retrieved October 11th 2009 from The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) website: http://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/
Linver, M. R., Fuligni, A. S., & Brooks-Gunn, J. (2004). How do parents matter? Income, interactions, and intervention during early childhood. In D. Conley & K. Albright (Eds.), After the bell: Family background, public policy and educational success, (pp. 25-50). New York, NY: Routledge.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
Critical #4
No Child Left Behind Act NCLB and the effects is has on the U.S education system
By Jennifer Pitt
In America we are constantly trying to improve the education system. Over the decades, many laws have been created to do just this. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) is one example of new legislation designed to enhance the learning of our students. It was signed into law by President Bush in January of 2002. Since then NCLB has had people both praise it and criticizes it.
NCLB has been called “the most significant and controversial change in federal education policy” in that past 40 years (Kellough, 2007, p. 17). That is because it reaches almost every aspect of education. It requires that schools do a number of things which include having annual testing that show progress, highly qualified teachers in core content areas, dialogue between schools and families, and many other specifications. In order to receive federal funding schools have to comply with all the specifications and even more importantly make yearly progress. When the law was signed in 2002 some schools gave up the federal funding, believing that the program required too much.
The Act recognizes that students from different groups (racial, social, etc) will have different experiences. This is because schools in higher-income locations tend to have more money for educational expenses. This results in students who perform better on standardized tests. NCLB expect schools to “ensure that all students achieve standards and perform at grade level in reading, mathematics, and science regardless of their race, socioeconomic status, native language, and disability” (Johnson, 2008, p. 45). It holds schools accountable for this and there are penalties for schools who do not achieve this.
Yet while the goal of this act is very noble, a better education system that has its roots in equal education, the delivery of it is much harder. For example, schools in Westchester NY receive money from the taxes people pay on their land. Schools in New York City do not have this luxury, which means that even with federal money there is still a potentially huge gap in funding. While schools in suburban areas receive new textbooks, can pay for those highly qualified teachers, and can afford special programs, schools in the urban setting are struggling to buy a classroom set of textbooks and send their teachers out for further training. This of course affects the kind of education the students receive.
Other complaints about NCLB are that standardized tests are not the best way to measure a student’s performance and that you cannot hold the school fully accountable because of outside factors. I believe that while the bill did make efforts to improve education, it over looked a few aspects of education. People who had a hand in the bill may have never set foot in a classroom before, let alone fully understand what it is like to be a teacher in big cities, farm towns, and suburban areas all at one time. The bill has been detrimental in that it puts pressure on our students, some of them would rather drop out than take a test a second, third or fourth time. I believe that reforms are needed to address the many different issues brought into light by this bill.
Reference:
Johnson, J. (2008) Foundations of American education. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc.
Kellough, R. D. & Kellough, N. G. (2007). Secondary school teaching: A guide to methods and resources (3rd ed). Upper Saddle River: Merrill Prentices Hall
Critical Project #4
Critical Project #4
Standardized Testing
Karen Y. Carter
It seems the nation is test crazy. Everywhere you turn, there’s a test for something. If you want to qualify for or get promoted on some civil service positions, there’s a test. To get into some graduate schools and college, there’s a test. In some states, such as North Carolina, in order to graduate from high school, there’s an exit exam. Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) signed by George W. Bush in 2001, you and your children can look forward to the anxiety causing, nerve racking test taking rituals which begin as early as first grade and reach all the way through the twelfth grade.
You would think with all the tests students are being given, they are being better educated. However, according to some experts and educators, this is not the case. Are we as a nation forsaking the thirst and accumulation of knowledge and information in favor of high stakes testing? As a parent of several children and one who has sat on various curriculum meetings such as the School Leadership Team, I have to agree with the critics who say that high stakes testing is not and should not be the only determining factor that shows what a student has learned.
Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized testing is being used as THE way to measure student achievement and school accountability. “The legislation requires schools to produce proof that each school’s students and each sub group of students within each school are making annual achievement test gains – measured as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) – toward full proficiency in math and reading”. (Johnson, p. 40) Subgroups of students include but are not limited to students with disabilities (special education), African-American, Latino or Hispanic and English Language learners. If schools fail to demonstrate that any of these sub groups of students can achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), they are subjected to penalties and punishment such as loss of funds and/or school closure.
This, most critics say, is part of the problem with the emphasis on standardized testing. In addition, standardized testing does not take into consideration other factors that influence how well a student does. Factors such as poverty, cultural attitude towards testing, language barriers particularly for non-native English speakers, lack of resources within a school, etc. can have an effect on a student’s performance. Standardized testing is also used to determine whether or not a child is promoted to the next grade, graduates from high school or enters college. All of this puts undue stress and pressure on schools and students to pass them, sometimes to the point where teachers are teaching to the test and parents are spending a small fortune on test prep classes and materials. Students can suffer negative consequences such as test anxiety where sometimes students will stay home to avoid taking a test, students in middle and high school may drop out because their scores were not high enough to move on to the next level or get them into the school of their choice or allowed to graduate even though they may have done well during the course of the year. Tracking and labeling students based upon test scores have resulted in students, especially minorities, being placed in slower or special education classes.
In her article, “Standardized Test Aren’t Like T-shirts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All”, Michele Phillips asserts that:
“High stakes testing may give us a slight measure of a child’s intellect, but they also measure a child’s culture and language. Standardized test are biased. Bias takes place when the test scores are influenced by irrelevant characteristics of the test taker such as race, sex, family, wealth, religion and so forth (Strenio, 1981). For the most part, standardized multiple choice tests are culturally biased in favor of the culture toward which the test is directed – the mainstream White culture (Elford, 2002). Current methods of making standardized tests must be abandoned (Bormuth, 1970)”.
Many parents and some educators are asking that when Congress revisits the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), legislators consider revising the testing mandates within the bill to include other items which can be used to measure student achievement such as portfolio assessments. Colleges and universities such as Drew University, Franklin and Marshall College, Hamilton and Bart College are among a growing number who are making the SAT optional instead of mandatory. Non-profit organizations such as Fair Test and the National Center for Fair and Open Testing are working to help insure that standardized tests are less bias. All of these efforts together will help ensure that students are given the tools to succeed and that no child is truly left behind.
References
(2006). Standardized Tests Aren’t Life T-Shirts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All. Multicultural Education, 14(1), 52-55. http://search.ebscohost.com.aveoserv.library.fordham.edu.
Copenhaver-Johnson, J. (2007). Part III: CREATING MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOMS, Rolling Back Advances in Multicultural Education: No Child Left Behind and “Highly Qualified Teachers”. Multicultural Perspectives, 9(4), 40-47. http://search.ebscohost.com.aveoserv.library.fordham.edu.
Standardized Testing
Karen Y. Carter
It seems the nation is test crazy. Everywhere you turn, there’s a test for something. If you want to qualify for or get promoted on some civil service positions, there’s a test. To get into some graduate schools and college, there’s a test. In some states, such as North Carolina, in order to graduate from high school, there’s an exit exam. Thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) signed by George W. Bush in 2001, you and your children can look forward to the anxiety causing, nerve racking test taking rituals which begin as early as first grade and reach all the way through the twelfth grade.
You would think with all the tests students are being given, they are being better educated. However, according to some experts and educators, this is not the case. Are we as a nation forsaking the thirst and accumulation of knowledge and information in favor of high stakes testing? As a parent of several children and one who has sat on various curriculum meetings such as the School Leadership Team, I have to agree with the critics who say that high stakes testing is not and should not be the only determining factor that shows what a student has learned.
Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), standardized testing is being used as THE way to measure student achievement and school accountability. “The legislation requires schools to produce proof that each school’s students and each sub group of students within each school are making annual achievement test gains – measured as Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) – toward full proficiency in math and reading”. (Johnson, p. 40) Subgroups of students include but are not limited to students with disabilities (special education), African-American, Latino or Hispanic and English Language learners. If schools fail to demonstrate that any of these sub groups of students can achieve Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), they are subjected to penalties and punishment such as loss of funds and/or school closure.
This, most critics say, is part of the problem with the emphasis on standardized testing. In addition, standardized testing does not take into consideration other factors that influence how well a student does. Factors such as poverty, cultural attitude towards testing, language barriers particularly for non-native English speakers, lack of resources within a school, etc. can have an effect on a student’s performance. Standardized testing is also used to determine whether or not a child is promoted to the next grade, graduates from high school or enters college. All of this puts undue stress and pressure on schools and students to pass them, sometimes to the point where teachers are teaching to the test and parents are spending a small fortune on test prep classes and materials. Students can suffer negative consequences such as test anxiety where sometimes students will stay home to avoid taking a test, students in middle and high school may drop out because their scores were not high enough to move on to the next level or get them into the school of their choice or allowed to graduate even though they may have done well during the course of the year. Tracking and labeling students based upon test scores have resulted in students, especially minorities, being placed in slower or special education classes.
In her article, “Standardized Test Aren’t Like T-shirts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All”, Michele Phillips asserts that:
“High stakes testing may give us a slight measure of a child’s intellect, but they also measure a child’s culture and language. Standardized test are biased. Bias takes place when the test scores are influenced by irrelevant characteristics of the test taker such as race, sex, family, wealth, religion and so forth (Strenio, 1981). For the most part, standardized multiple choice tests are culturally biased in favor of the culture toward which the test is directed – the mainstream White culture (Elford, 2002). Current methods of making standardized tests must be abandoned (Bormuth, 1970)”.
Many parents and some educators are asking that when Congress revisits the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), legislators consider revising the testing mandates within the bill to include other items which can be used to measure student achievement such as portfolio assessments. Colleges and universities such as Drew University, Franklin and Marshall College, Hamilton and Bart College are among a growing number who are making the SAT optional instead of mandatory. Non-profit organizations such as Fair Test and the National Center for Fair and Open Testing are working to help insure that standardized tests are less bias. All of these efforts together will help ensure that students are given the tools to succeed and that no child is truly left behind.
References
(2006). Standardized Tests Aren’t Life T-Shirts: One Size Doesn’t Fit All. Multicultural Education, 14(1), 52-55. http://search.ebscohost.com.aveoserv.library.fordham.edu.
Copenhaver-Johnson, J. (2007). Part III: CREATING MULTICULTURAL CLASSROOMS, Rolling Back Advances in Multicultural Education: No Child Left Behind and “Highly Qualified Teachers”. Multicultural Perspectives, 9(4), 40-47. http://search.ebscohost.com.aveoserv.library.fordham.edu.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)