...I grew up Loudoun County, one of the richest counties, where education was extremely important. My education was centered around being the best we could be, which often meant getting good grades and passing standardized exams. Throughout my schooling, we took approximately thirty-four standardized exams beginning in 3rd grade. At the time, I never thought anything of it, it was the usual. After taking this course, I began to reflect upon my education and realized how much the accountability movement impacted my education, specificity high-stakes testing. The goal of the accountability movement was to create equitable education for students, specifically set by the No Child Left Behind Act. High-stakes testing is the main element of the accountability movement because...
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...Should public schools continue standardized testing? The United States government implemented the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLBA), signed into law on January 8, 2002 by President George W. Bush (US Government Printing Office, 2002). This Act requires states to develop assessments in basic skills. In order to receive federal school funding, states must give these assessments to all students at select grade levels. The Act does not assert a national achievement standard. Each state develops its own standards (US Government Printing Office, 2002). Since the creation of this act, various debates challenge the practical use of the standardized tests. The debate presented for this paper is an argument, “Should public schools continue standardized testing?” The favorable arguments are that the standardized tests are fair, backed by parents, improves the quality of the curriculum, and the usage of standardized tests outside of the public education system. The arguments against standardized testing are stereotyping poor performing students, testing anxiety, low morale with teachers, and basing teacher evaluations on student performance. Additionally, ethical, moral and legal issues are identified in relation to standardized testing and their effects on high-stakes testing. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the given arguments, both for and against standardized testing from different sources and to conclude with a consensus of the arguments with the authors of this...
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...George W. Bush said in 1999, “I don’t believe in national testing. I believe that local folks ought to develop their own tests and their own standards because I strongly believe in local control of schools.”(website) With the passage of the bill No Child Left Behind in 2002, the Bush administration committed to making children’s education a priority in the new millennium. A standardize test is any examination that’s administered and scored in a predetermined way. With the examination of standardized testing in local schools, the main objective is to see how the national government implemented No Child Left Behind and how it changed education. In 2001, the arrival of George W. Bush administration brought a new education act called No Child Left Behind or NCLB. In NCLB, mandated that each state had until 2005-2006 to develop and...
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...A Position Against Standardized Testing I am a mother of two elementary school age kids, Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) board member, and actively involved in my children’s education. I have often asked why there is so much emphasis on standardized tests. Growing up, we took standardized tests but there was no real preparation work or stress over the test. We didn’t even know until the week prior that we had testing coming up. Back then teachers taught and engaged their students in learning all subjects because they loved teaching. We learned not only what was minimally acceptable to pass a standardized test, but much more beyond the testing requirements. I am very interested about high stake standardized testing in our public school system because it seems my children’s curriculum is solely based on concepts they need to learn to pass their standardized test. Rather than teaching to our children who are eager to learn how to be higher-level thinkers, we seem to be teaching them to accept a minimal standard and simply learn how to pass a test. Today, I see our children being given pretests and benchmark tests to see how well they will do on the standardized test. I witness teachers under pressure to make sure they get the curriculum in prior to the test and students being drilled repeatedly for the standardized tests. Our children come home stressed and concerned because in some states, these tests can determine if you are from moving to the next grade level,...
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...Rishi Desai Section 13A ComInTec Case Study a. What strengths and shortcomings do you see in new system? The new recruiting system had its strengths and shortcomings. Their decision on using a two-tiered system to make a final decision on the selection of personnel was a strength because it allowed them to filter candidates better. The first tier consisted of viewing the applicants’ documents, a telephone conference in an unstructured manner with the applicants, and obtaining three references from former employers. These three modules were related to background research of the applicant. The Second Tier included a panel interview, a biography oriented in-depth interview, a simulated group exercise, and testing. They used the 6-eye method to view the application documents for each candidate. This method involved the use of a 3 person team evaluating the applicants’ documentation. This gave the company a broad perspective on each candidate. This also allowed them to screen out candidates that were obvious mismatches in relation to the job. This was followed by interviewing the candidates via telephone with the attendees being the candidate and a two person team that consisted the Supervisor at the APAC site and one person from the German headquarters. The purpose of this was to verify the candidate’s suitability for the position, his/her motivation for the position, and to gain an overall impression of the candidate. If a consensus was reached that the candidate...
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...over the United States, students prepare for standardized tests that can potentially determine which university they attend. Standardized tests are designed to evaluate students on specific skills and knowledge they should have acquired throughout their educational career. Schools are beginning to focus all their attention on making sure students get their desired scores on these standardized tests, that they have stopped teaching them to actually learn and comprehend the information. These exams don’t accurately determine how smart or how ready these students are for college. Colleges look at scores and consider it a major factor to getting into the perspective school. Some schools also look at the students GPA and extracurricular...
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...been the case in fact many schools are worse off now than they were before this law was passed (Smyth, 2008). The NCLB was intended to increase the funding that government funded schools received through incentives. This law made it so that schools are required to use standardized testing in order to determine what students will move on to the next grade and determine how the school is doing as a whole. There are three major areas in which the NLCB addresses: 1) all states are required to create a standard to test students with, 2) develop test to ensure that the students are at the level that is required, and 3) create measure so that the state can determine if the all students attain the prescribed levels (Dillon, 2011). All of this looks good on paper once there is an attempt to implement these standards in the real world is where the NCLB begins to fail. Schools quickly learned that in order to receive the most amount of money they had to ensure that a high percentage of their students needed to have met the standard. Of course schools are able to exclude up to 2% of their student population from the reports. For schools that have 100% of their population as special needs or other limiting abilities they will not be able to meet these goals or standards (Smyth, 2008). Schools have also begun to change their curriculum to suit the test. Instead of...
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...What role should standardized testing play in Texas' public education system? The methods by which children are educated and academically measured in Texas have evolved over the past few decades, due to federal and state directed education policies. In an effort to establish accountability and improve the nation's competitiveness on a global scale, standardized testing has become a driving component of curricula nationwide. Almost every state, including Texas, governs its public schools under a national policy directive known as the "No Child Left Behind Act" (NCLB). The NCLB requires all states to utilize assessments to determine and report if a school has made adequate yearly progress (AYP) in the proficiency levels of all students. This is a relatively recent shift from local control of schools to centralized governance which is intended to improve education and eliminate harmful disparities in education quality (Ricci 342). Instead of school districts determining education standards, the state and federal governments provide the policy direction. One method to assess education performance and compliance with the centralized policy is the use of accountability measures - i.e., standardized tests. The NCLB, coupled with state policy, is intended to decrease inequality and set an objective measurement in place where school districts, schools, teachers, and even students can be held accountable for their progress or lack thereof. However, there are arguments from opponents...
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...laboratories throughout North America are successfully using “Lean” methods based on the Toyota Production System to win against multiple competitive threats. Some hospitals have used Lean to help eliminate point-of-care testing for the emergency department (ED). Other hospitals have used Lean to “insource” testing that had previously been done in outside reference laboratories. Lean can defend and protect employment for the laboratory, while also improving turnaround times and service for patients and reducing costs for the hospital. Hospital laboratories have also used freed up capacity to increase their reference laboratory work, bringing additional revenue to the hospital. an improvement of 37%, as shown in Figure 1. The laboratory was also better satisfying physicians who ordered tests for morning rounds, as the percent of tests on the charts by 7 am improved from 65% to more than 90%, as shown in Figure 2. After laboratory professionals demonstrated that they could dramatically reduce turnaround times, the ED discontinued the point-of-care trials. Since Lean implementation, Dr. Decker said, turnaround times “are definitely faster. All the docs agree,” adding, “the lab is no longer the rate-limiting step in the process.” Lean Instead of Point-of-Care Testing Before Lean, Riverside Medical Center, in Kankakee, IL, faced many challenges. Hospital CEO Phil Kambic explained, “Lab costs were skyrocketing, supply chain costs were increasing, performance was degrading in terms...
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...An Act that is Lowering Moral The No Child Left behind Act (NCLB) was put into effect by George W. Bush in 2001. The purpose of this act is to improve education and allow for all children to have equal opportunity to advance in their careers post high school. Early in this transgression there are several negative consequences already. The creators incorporate too many regulations, which cause inefficiency and counter-productiveness. Improvement is based on standardized tests that cannot measure intelligence wholly. Treating children as if they learn at the same rate does not help all students use their critical thinking skills. The act aims to close the achievement gap and allows for “no child to be left behind”, but it is not simply a one size fits all ordeal. Everyone has different experiences of learning at their fullest potential. America is failing with this provision and it will greatly affect the future of the country. Every state is directly involved with the make-up of the test; in which case some states make their exams significantly easier. The NCLB founders are advocates for transporting children who reach qualifying test exams to different schools with hopes of better teachers. Students that are better test takers get the opportunity to have free transportation to non-failing schools, but they are not supporting their local communities. Legislation is overbearing in their influence with this act and it affects the amount of resources spent on limited subjects and...
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...1. The “no head gear” policy has become outdated since people do not wear hats as part of their normal everyday attire. As stated by the ‘code of conduct’ from the school website, “to reflect that school is a place where we do things differently and to be respectful of the learning environment, hats and other headgear (other than religious apparel) are not to be worn in school.” Respect for their learning environment is shown in many different ways and not just by clothes and accessories. A student’s attitude, willingness to learn and behaviour towards peers and elders are the ways to show respect. Instead of banning hats completely, we should improve this rule by limiting them, to outside of the class rooms. As in today’s modern times hats have become a fashion statement for teens and banning it would be a method for oppressing them. 2. The cost of the food at cafeteria is very expensive and is not at par with what is available in the market for example, a freshly made, hot medium cheese or pepperoni pizza costs 5$ and a junior chicken burger from Mc Donald’s costs 1.50$. Whereas a slice of cold pizza costs 3.75$ and a ham burger costs 2.45$. The school should allow commercial vendors to sell their food at the school cafeteria while strictly adhering to food guidelines as it is done in post-secondary. 3. The course,” Mathematics for Work and Everyday Life” should be taught as a mandatory course and not as an alternative to academic or applied math. It teaches you math skills...
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...DATE \@ "MMMM d, y" August 31, 2015 Cultural Lag An example of cultural lag is in terms of Educational tools and lessons. As the advancement of technology continually grows, some lessons taught in class seem inapplicable towards teenagers and younger kids nowadays. “Why was I being taught how to use a typewriter instead of a word processor? Why was I learning shorthand when we have tape recorders?” (“What Will a 21st Century Education Look Like?”, 2012). Students as of today always ask themselves why they have to learn how to plot points on a graph, when they can use an online graphing calculator when they’re out of school. Students right now question why they have to study certain long-established or traditional subjects or lessons, when they find no use for it in the future due to the technological advancements of today. “Throughout my own education I saw a rapidly changing world that wasn’t matching up to the textbook-driven, passive learning of facts I was being exposed to in my classrooms. Fast forward to today and the rapid changes I witnessed back in the late 80s and early 90s are nothing compared to what I’ve seen in the last ten years. The fact we can look up anything at anytime on our smartphones is itself a game changer in education.” (“What Will a 21st Century Education Look Like?”, 2012) We are starting to see the gap and relationship between our traditional textbooks and technological advancements. Of course, when the authors of our textbooks first published...
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...Mixed models qualitative and/or quantitative methods may be employed, as I did both questionnaires and observation. Methods are matched to the specific questions and purpose of the research. It may include tools from both positivist and interpretivist paradigms, such as interviews, observations, testing or experiments. Following the principles of pragmatism and contextualism, the pragmatic paradigm focuses on getting projects and programs to “work” within a particular real-world...
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...School Choice: Private vs. Public Schools School choice is a hot topic concerning education, especially when it comes to public vs. private schools. How parents choose to educate their children is highly debated, though there are several advantages and disadvantages of the two. Therefore it is very important that both options be explored and the choice must be based on what is right for each particular child. Topics to research include tuition fees, admission protocol, academic curriculum, test scores, and teacher qualifications. Let’s take a look at several factors that may direct your decision in the right path. Fortunately, enrolling a child into a public school does not include tuition fees. Public schools are funded through federal, state and local taxes. When employed residents of a city pay taxes, they are providing the expenses needed to fund children’s education and costs of public schools in their community. Leaving the only sensible option, to take advantage of the money already invested into the school system through taxes and make use of it towards your child’s education. Though this is not the case with private schools, parents are responsible for public school tax, along with additional tuition fees charged for enrollment by their independent school of choice. Private schools do not receive tax revenues, but instead are funded through tuition, fundraising, donations and private grants. According to the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS),...
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...Dear Mrs. Simmons: I am sending you the following paper. “Microsoft Active Directory: How to effectively manage corporate network environments with cost savings” while adhering to the requirements for the final research paper for English 235: Technical Writing. Throughout my report I will show examples of per computer cost savings that can be achieved by using Microsoft Active Directory. These savings can be leveraged on any size corporate network to help make IT services more effective and enhance productivity. I will also explain how Active Directory makes IT management easier in regards to implementing large scale changes while securing the corporate network. The report will show different levels of Microsoft’s Infrastructure Optimization Model, along with options and cost savings. The report will further investigate how each optimization option can save money per PC each year by implementing one of these models. The audience of this report includes Chief Information Officers (CIO) and other leadership personnel from corporations large and small. The report will show how each company can independently profit from taking advantage from one or more of the strategies included. The report will explain the different strategies of the Infrastructure Optimization Model, how they can be implemented and the cost benefit for each. After reading through this report readers should have a greater understanding of how Active Directory secures a network and also how it can...
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