Proposing a solution - Research Paper Example

Proposing a Solution Proposing a Solution Introduction The importance of education in the contemporary society cannot be gainsaid.It has been seen by many people as the fundamental route through which individuals can safeguard future success and high quality of life. In almost every part of the world, schools use exams to determine the suitability of students to advance to the next level. Unfortunately, this system of short-listing candidates has not escaped criticism. This is especially in the case of students who fail to pass exams due to their lack of language proficiency.

In essence, many schools choose to push such students to the next grade even in the instance when they have not met grade-level requirements.This may appear to wash away all the essentials of competition in education. In essence, questions would emerge as to the importance of exams anyway as individuals who have not met passing grades will still proceed to the next level. Nevertheless, varied strategies may be devised to curb against this problem. It is noteworthy that this problem would only be solved through a state or federal policy (Kelly, 2006).

In solving this problem, students should be taken through English proficiency courses. These courses would not only aim at increasing the proficiency of students in English but also categorize them into either proficient or non-proficient. In essence, the non-proficient students would continue with English lessons even when they are moved to other grade levels while proficient students would stop taking English-proficiency classes. However, it should be clear to the non-proficient students that they cannot go past a certain grade without a certain level of proficiency.

Such proficiency programs may resemble ESOL program. ESOL, an acronym for English for Speakers of Other Languages, is offered to individuals whose main language is not English as a way of improving their language. The course covers vocabularies, reading and writing, speaking and listening, as well as punctuation and grammar. Unfortunately, most ESOL have been subjected to FCAT programs, which essentially resemble the proposed solution, only that if the students do not attain the required grades.

FCAT, an acronym for Traditionally, ESOL students have Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, is almost reasonably tied to an individual’s success in high school, as well as achievement in life. In the State of Florida, students and public schools are evaluated every year on their performance. They are routinely sanctioned if they do not show sufficient progress (Kelly, 2006).In essence, the schools that do not meet the expectations of the state lose their students who transfer to private and public schools that have better results than them.

In such an instance, the school from which students transfer lose part of their funding (Kelly, 2006). In most cases, students transfer to religious or private schools as these do not have to conform to accountability or academic standards. In essence, it would be highly difficult to determine the number of students held in the system at any given time. According to the Florida Department of Education (2011), there are 13,456 students in the State of Florida. In 2010, more than 4000 students in this program did not achieve the necessary requirements to continue to the next grade-level.

In the proposed system, such students would not have to worry about repeating certain classes as they would be doing customized papers to cater for their lack of proficiency.ConclusionWhile education is of utmost importance, it is imperative that students have their exams and studies customized to allow for competition on the same platform irrespective of their proficiencies in English. While FCAT seemed to achieve this goal, it has been seen as unfair by many people. This is because students would have to repeat certain grades if they do not attain predetermined criteria.

ReferencesKelly, B. (2006). Barrons Grade 8 FCAT in Reading and Writing. New York: Barrons Educational Series.Florida Department of Education. (2011).Understanding FCAT 2.0 Reports Spring 2011. Retrieved from http://fcat.fldoe.org/fcat2/pdf/11ufrfinal.pdf