A country that was once the leading educators is now below the top 20 of 65 countries in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) of 2012 (Chappell, 2013) . The PISA, which occurs every three years, tests students in reading, math and science. "In mathematics, 29 nations and other jurisdictions outperformed the United States by a statistically significant margin, up from 23 three years ago. In science, 22 education systems scored above the U.S. average, up from 18 in 2009." (Reports Education Week Chappell, 2013) Since the last testing in 2009, scores have significantly increased in Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Macao and Japan. According to the study Shanghai students surpassed Massachusetts, one of the …show more content…
United States leading states in math, by two years of school teaching. (Chappell, 2013) These results are the lowest that they have ever been for the United States.
Though they have been the same since 2003, other countries that were once lower are now exceeding goals set by the U.S. Department of education. The test, which was given to student’s ages 15 years and 3 months to 16 years and 2 months, also found that students are less interested in math and science than in the past and other countries. In the years leading up to these results, the United States Educational System underwent many modifications that transformed the way students and teachers viewed their education or the lack there of. This term paper will briefly examine the many changes that the Educational system has endured including: funding, bullying, No Child Left Behind, Dropout rates, college tuition, classroom size, teacher salaries, and the local Portsmouth Public School …show more content…
system. Funding The United States spends more annually on education than any other country in the world. 1/4th of state taxes go towards school funding. Only 12% of funding comes for m the federal government. In a graph by the ASA, 47.6% of funding comes from the state, 43.9% from the local government and only 8.5% from the federal. After the recession in 2008, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was signed in 2009 and granted states over $100 billion collectively for education aid (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011). But, by 2012 the government aid began to dwindle and states reduced annual spending on education by $2.5 billion than they did during the 2011 fiscal year (National Governors Association & National Association of State Budget Officers, 2012). School systems have a number of ways to figure which district and school receives money each fiscal year. The most common is by determining which school has the most students but it is largely based on the districts taxes because they determine the starting value on which states can divide funding (Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, 2011). Bullying The United States Department of Education has released a free two-part kit for teachers and administrators to reduce the amount of bullying within the school instructional day and school sponsored activities.
No Child left behind NCLB an extension of the Elementary and Secondary Education act requires states to test students in reading and mathematics annually in grades 3-8 and once in grades 10-12. States must test students in science once in grades 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12. Each year states must set a goal and achieve it for further state funding. After two years of not meeting standards, the school must offer student the choice to attend a different school that has met their standards, free tutoring, and/or the ability to attend after school programs. Dropout rates Dropout rates amongst the minority have historically always been lower than those of Asians and non-Hispanic Whites. These rates were especially low in low-income and rural areas. But, current dropout rates are fairly low in the United States for Hispanics, Whites and African Americans. Although Hispanics still have the highest dropout rates, they reached an all time low with 14% in 2013 where the highest was 32% in 2000. Dropout rates are also low among African American students now at 8%. (Fry,
2014) “In many states, one-third of students from low-income families did not graduate. Black students had a 69 percent graduation rate and Hispanic students had a 73 percent rate, while 86 percent of white students and 88 percent of Asian students earned high school diplomas. English-language learners and special-education students had below-average rates of 59 and 61 percent, respectively” (Layton L. , 2014) Here are just a few facts about dropouts in the United States. In 2010, 38 states had higher graduation rates. Vermont had the highest rate, with 91.4% graduating and Nevada had the lowest with 57.8% of students graduating (Layton L. ) . Then, in 2012 there was an 80% graduation rate (Layton L. , 2014) . Although the countries average is rather high, we are ranked 22nd out of 27 in high school graduation rates worldwide (Banchero, 2014). Every year about 7,000 students drop out of high school each day (Miller) and about 75% of crimes are committed by those dropouts. (Smiley)
While overall college enrollment and graduation rates have risen for all minority groups, there continues to be concerns for this segment of the population, particularly for African American students. Even though there have been significant increases in enrollment and graduation figures over the past several decades, issues concerning retention persist. About 30 percent of African Americans who enroll in college drop out prior to degree completion (Rye, 2009). This is further documented by Museus (2011) who reports that less than one-half of minority students who begin college at a 4-year institution achieve a degree within 6 years. This is significant since college retention has been linked with both self-efficacy and future academic success (Brittain, Sy, & Stokes, 2009).
“Students are taking between ten and twenty standardized tests, depending on the grade. A total average of one hundred thirteen different ones by graduation.”(Locker) A few years ago the United States, along with other nations, was given a test to assess the academic strengths and weaknesses of each nation and rank them accordingly. When the results were released and the United States was ranked near the bottom, it was decided to start incorporating more testing through school. Between benchmark, TLI, PARCC, and common core standards, teaching technique was forced to change. Standardized testing has had a negative effect on teachers and students, implementing inadequate grading standards and the common core curriculum, such testing has made
The United States of America has placed low on the educational ladder throughout the years. The cause of such a low ranking is due to such heavy emphasis on standardized testing and not individual student achievement. Although the United States uses standardized testing as a crutch, it is not an effective measure of a student’s ability, a teacher’s competency, or a school’s proficiency.
It is apparent to everyone living in the United States, that we are the most diverse country in the world. Everywhere we go we encounter people of different backgrounds. However, it is also apparent that one race in particular is seen more than others. One of the fastest growing races in the United States in today’s day and age is the Hispanic one. Research has shown that Hispanics are among the fastest growing cultures in our country. This is obvious to just about everyone in the United States. As a Hispanic woman living in the U.S., it has come to my attention that along with being the fastest growing culture, we are also the culture with some of the highest high school dropout rates. This has become a major problem in our country and more predominately in states such as: California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is crucial now more than ever that as the Hispanic population increases in the United States; we educate the children growing up in our country. However, as stated before, it is apparent that Hispanics have had the greatest numbers of high school dropouts. While not many people think of it to be so, the dropout rates among young Hispanic adults is one of the biggest problems our community faces. If there is nothing done about this problem, our entire country will suffer in many ways. Therefor, we must come up with some solutions to lower these dropout rates before it is too late. A few solutions that have surfaced are; programs in schools to prevent dropouts, educating parents about what an education will do for their children, and making a change in what is being taught in schools.
Annu using test results from each country on how they score, turns out the United States isn’t even close on the ranking in the list. She uses sources from test scores, to college financial problems, examples on how the system teaches their students. It’s quite convincing because as a student who use to attend high school here in the U.S., I can stand by what she says as in she’s right. We are terribly taught and need to be looked as equally regardless who we are, or where we come from
Hispanics have the lowest graduation rates and are drop out…that is a lie. More hispanics are graduating today than any other point in history. Even though the media portrays that education is horrendous, the graduation rate among Hispanics increased in the last few decades in the by educational improvement.
Looking at the American educational system today, it can seem incredibly discouraging. Between reports of failing test scores, increase in dropout rates, and unmotivated teachers, it often seems as if our educational system is breaking down. Whether it be due to the terrible social circumstance that we had been placed in or the lack of effort to fix it, the future of many schools do not seem very bright. In the novel, Among the Schoolchildren, Tracy Kidder tries to offer a image of a broken system and how one good teacher can make a small but significant difference. ''
White, black, Mexican, Asian; no matter what the ethnicity, students will drop out of school. Yet when the term dropout is mentioned, Hispanic often comes to mind. Why is this? Schools all over the United States are affected by the Hispanic school dropouts. Many questions need to be answered on this topic: What is a dropout? What is causing these students to dropout? How many are actually dropping out? What is the future like for the dropouts? And what can be done to help lower the dropout rate?
SAT participation among Montgomery County schools' 2010 minority graduates drops. Retrieved from: http://www.cds.org/item/cds http://www.gazette.net/stories/09222010/montsch231827_32535.php The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. (2006).Black Student College Graduation Rates Remain Low, But Modest Progress Begins to Show. Retrieved from: http://www.jbhe.com/features/50_blackstudent_gradrates.html.
Under No Child Left Behind Act, in school report cards, it is seen that Asian American’s performance is better than any other minority groups (Zhao & Qiu, 2009). In addition, several studies have mentioned that some elite universities including Harvard, Yale and Princeton were overrepresented with Asian Americans. It was also noted that many American universities promote special programs for minority members to boost their enrollment number, and it was mentioned that these special programs do not apply to Asian Americans students, as they are not considered to be at a
The United States places 17th in education. Finland and South Korea are first place, while Japan and Singapore are right behind t...
Over time, the passing of knowledge became more organized and societies developed what is known today as the school. In the school, people of all ages are able to learn from the experiences of others. Today, America’s system has been neglected to a point that students of other nations are testing higher academically than that of American students (Duncan, 2010). Because of this, many government officials, school reformers, and concerned citizens are faced with the challenge of finding a solution. However daunting and intimidating this may be, we must remember that this is not the first time that America has faced a need for change in the school. History is full of such events calling for changes to be made; unfortunately many of these changes were never fully implemented into the school system. Therefore, by studying the past we can build upon and complete the changes started. Unleashing the full potential of the American public school, giving each student a chance to be their greatest, regardless of who they are, and/or where they came from.
How to deliver best education to students is a question that has been debated for decades. The definition of having a “good” education may differ for many—is it receiving a satisfactory report card? Is it being accepted into an appraised university? Or is it achieving an adequate score on a nationwide standardized exam? These exams are becoming more and more popular in various nations. Colleges in the United States are gradually increasing the emphasis of the importance of the ACT and the SAT; South Korea is continuing to pressure its students to excel on its Scholastic Aptitude Test; but Finland, on the other hand, rejects the idea of pushing these exams. Tests are used to compare students and schools to others and maintain a consistent way of measuring education levels throughout a country, but they are mainly used to roughly gauge a student’s competence. At times, a student’s future could be reliant on a single test score. This type of testing may be doing more harm than good, proving that this is not really necessary for students to be fully educated. Standardized tests, instead of promoting the achievement of an education, are in fact doing the opposite by limiting learning and deemphasizing the significance of characteristics such as individuality and creativity, ultimately having a harmful effect on students.
their ideas, "without this they will not really be able to think or believe in
Philippines welcomes trials to become important part of the global community, and education is one of the aspects to consider since it is still a top priority in the countries context. The Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) deliberate plan of 2011-2016 stated that ““Philippine has a declining quality of education”” (Barlongo 2015). Accomplishment scores highlight Filipino understudies ' poor execution in national examinations. The National Achievement Test (NAT) results for grade 6 in SY 2009-2010 indicated just a 69.21% passing rate while the NAT results for secondary school is at a low 46.38. In addition, the Philippines positioned the most minimal in 2008 even with just the science secondary schools joining the Advanced Mathematics.