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46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards
According to the article 46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards in the Washington Post By Maria Glod Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 1, 2009, forty-six states and the District of Columbia want to set a standard for all schools nationwide for each grade from kindergarten to high school senior year. This would mean common standards that can be compared to students all over the country so that it can be used as a judgement for students in countries all over the world at a time of global competition. This change is said to be “…an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American Schools.” This change would affect the teachers, the school board, the students and their parents as well.
According to the article 46 States, D.C. Plan to Draft Common Education Standards in the Washington Post By Maria Glod Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, June 1, 2009, forty-six states and the District of Columbia want to set a standard for all schools nationwide for each grade from kindergarten to high school senior year. This would mean common standards that can be compared to students all over the country so that it can be used as a judgement for students in countries all over the world at a time of global competition. This change is said to be “…an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American Schools.” This change would affect the teachers, the school board, the students and their parents as well.
This would affect students needing to meet nationwide standards. In our present standards, students can learn at the pace they need in order to successfully comprehend all the material but with this new system, the students would have to catch up with the others. “This is a giant step,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who has been pushing states to adopt common, rigorous standards. “It would have been unimaginable, …”.Also, students would have to learn the standard way that the rest of the nation is learning meaning that there would not be any other way that the students could get to better understand the classwork. Standardized teaching is usually difficult for the students to relate to. According to U.S. Department of Education data, in states such as Mississippi, Maryland, and Virginia, students have not succeeded as well in the nationwide tests as much as they have in similar classroom tests for the same subjects; this can easily be the fault of teaching methods.
The paper discusses the plan to a common standard. Many people have opposed the idea. Some of the supported believed that having a common standard would mean having a unified curriculum and a unified knowledge for all students in the country. It will make the quality of work the same and it will be a more effective way of comparing school district all over the country. It will involve modifying curriculum, those modifications will likely include changing state testing-- a process that can take quite a long time. My guess is that no mandatory requirements will filter to the states for at least 3 years. -Dr. Petrosino
This change in the teaching system will affects the teachers. In today’s system of teaching, the teachers have a little power as to what their students will be learning and when. If the class needs more time to work on specific material then the teacher can personalize the classwork depending on what the students need further work on. Although this new system could mean less work for teachers having to prepare special agendas for their classes, they must use special methods now to help their students learn. According to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "A lot of hard work is ahead of us. But this is a huge step in a direction that would have been unimaginable just a year or two ago."There will be no prescription for how teachers get there, avoiding nettlesome discussions about whether phonics or whole language is a better method of teaching reading; whether students should be drilled in math facts; or whether eighth-graders should read "The Great Gatsby" or "To Kill a Mockingbird.
Many Education experts say there will still be plenty to argue about."All the groups, the math educators and the English professors and the liberals and the Conservatives will want to weigh in," said Michael J. Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the nonprofit Thomas B. Fordham Institution. "There are fundamental disagreements in our society about what kids should learn." Such as hands-on, special programs on the computer, collaborative activities etc.But with the new system, the case will be different done because the teachers would be forced to use the standard way of teaching that the other teachers nationwide are using.
This move is lead by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the states, including Maryland and Virginia. They are aiming to define a framework of content and skills that meet an overarching goal. With this new system when students get their high school diplomas, as they said they should be ready to tackle college or a job any where in the world, they will be able to compete in the job market in USA ,if not internationally. The benchmarks would be "internationally competitive."
This would also affect the parents of the students. If this change were raising the bar into higher and stricter education for students then the parents would have to work harder at motivating their children. This new system is talked about as the way the system should be. According to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, “today’s patchwork system amounts to lying to children and their parents, because states have dumbed down their standards.” This could also in turn hurt the parents because they had the idea their child was doing well in school when in fact the curriculum may be behind the others. Also, If the curriculum gets revamped this could mean acquiring new textbooks and material for the students which would cost their parents more money out of their pockets.
Another party that will be affected is the school board itself. Not only would the school board have to create a brand new curriculum for each grade K-12, but also they would have to monitor the new change to make sure they would want to keep this new change and that all schools would adopt it. This will take lots of work, time, effort and money. The board is also aware that many may not like the change and are keeping their research and people participating in it, a secret to avoid bombardment by reporters and interest groups.
As the District of Columbia and forty-six other states are debating and planning on future plans for the nations educational system, and on setting certain nationwide standards. There are many things to keep in mind, this change could help to improve both the students’ education and the way the nations education is compared to by other nations in global competition and most importantly how this will affect the school board, the teachers, the students and the parents alike.
The paper discusses the plan to a common standard. Many people have opposed the idea. Some of the supported believed that having a common standard would mean having a unified curriculum and a unified knowledge for all students in the country. It will make the quality of work the same and it will be a more effective way of comparing school district all over the country. It will involve modifying curriculum, those modifications will likely include changing state testing-- a process that can take quite a long time. My guess is that no mandatory requirements will filter to the states for at least 3 years. -Dr. Petrosino
This change in the teaching system will affects the teachers. In today’s system of teaching, the teachers have a little power as to what their students will be learning and when. If the class needs more time to work on specific material then the teacher can personalize the classwork depending on what the students need further work on. Although this new system could mean less work for teachers having to prepare special agendas for their classes, they must use special methods now to help their students learn. According to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan said. "A lot of hard work is ahead of us. But this is a huge step in a direction that would have been unimaginable just a year or two ago."There will be no prescription for how teachers get there, avoiding nettlesome discussions about whether phonics or whole language is a better method of teaching reading; whether students should be drilled in math facts; or whether eighth-graders should read "The Great Gatsby" or "To Kill a Mockingbird.
Many Education experts say there will still be plenty to argue about."All the groups, the math educators and the English professors and the liberals and the Conservatives will want to weigh in," said Michael J. Petrilli, vice president for national programs and policy at the nonprofit Thomas B. Fordham Institution. "There are fundamental disagreements in our society about what kids should learn." Such as hands-on, special programs on the computer, collaborative activities etc.But with the new system, the case will be different done because the teachers would be forced to use the standard way of teaching that the other teachers nationwide are using.
This move is lead by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the states, including Maryland and Virginia. They are aiming to define a framework of content and skills that meet an overarching goal. With this new system when students get their high school diplomas, as they said they should be ready to tackle college or a job any where in the world, they will be able to compete in the job market in USA ,if not internationally. The benchmarks would be "internationally competitive."
This would also affect the parents of the students. If this change were raising the bar into higher and stricter education for students then the parents would have to work harder at motivating their children. This new system is talked about as the way the system should be. According to U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, “today’s patchwork system amounts to lying to children and their parents, because states have dumbed down their standards.” This could also in turn hurt the parents because they had the idea their child was doing well in school when in fact the curriculum may be behind the others. Also, If the curriculum gets revamped this could mean acquiring new textbooks and material for the students which would cost their parents more money out of their pockets.
Another party that will be affected is the school board itself. Not only would the school board have to create a brand new curriculum for each grade K-12, but also they would have to monitor the new change to make sure they would want to keep this new change and that all schools would adopt it. This will take lots of work, time, effort and money. The board is also aware that many may not like the change and are keeping their research and people participating in it, a secret to avoid bombardment by reporters and interest groups.
As the District of Columbia and forty-six other states are debating and planning on future plans for the nations educational system, and on setting certain nationwide standards. There are many things to keep in mind, this change could help to improve both the students’ education and the way the nations education is compared to by other nations in global competition and most importantly how this will affect the school board, the teachers, the students and the parents alike.
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