Debates about Education - Essay Example

Assessment, thus, has many functions. It is only as good as its instruments, and it is defensible only to the extent that it actively forwards and enhances a child’s learning.” Theodore Sizer, Boston College Many current debates about education concern its purposes and content. Most educators believe that education should serve (1) the acquisition of knowledge, (2) intellectual discipline, (3) individual development, (4) vocational training, and (5) character education’s purposes but some people feel that education should serve one purpose more than another thus; people then generally adopt either a traditional view or a non traditional view. With these in mind, education then became an organized process with measurable results if the traditional view is employed, stressing that the acquisition of knowledge and skills are education’s main goals. Many who hold this view oppose the informal methods and discipline of progressive educators. They still employ competency testing to establish minimum competency standards for graduation or promotion to the next grade to show for improvement. In some states even, the law requires that students pass tests in reading, math skills and other academic areas to show they can perform daily tasks. For those who hold non-traditional values at heart, emphasizing the acquisition of knowledge and personal development through informal means is encouraged. Involvement in social issues outside the school curriculum is deemed to be the best way to garner an education stressing that it is in the students’ best interest to respond to what the student’s need and want to study. Most of the schools that employ these methods allow the students to participate in the decision-making activities of the schools. Only then can we fully appreciate the extent to which equitable assessment can be used to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to demonstrate their abilities and achievement. Teachers also are able to make inferences about student performance and how they must refine their instruction to increase or maintain high performance without calling into question the technical adequacy of the assessment (Jones, 1990). However, when schools that give high-stakes consequences (such as student retention, promotion, or graduation), the importance of understanding ways to maximize equity while not compromising the technical quality of alternative assessments should be looked into. The validity of inferences made affects the technical adequacy of the assessment made regarding the performance of all students (Jones, 1990). It is then when alternative tests are used for high-stakes purposes, schools--in addition to being concerned about equity when selecting or developing assessments--must take advantage of methods for maximizing fairness in administering and scoring them. Of utmost importance is ensuring that students have had adequate opportunity to learn the material on which they are being tested. These assessments, authentic, traditional and equitable, are just tools themselves and are just as responsible as the curriculum and the educators. Regardless of the level of the assessment effort, equity will never be achieved as long as everyone involved in educating children sees these assessment tools as responsible for ensuring fairness. It is not just the tools, but also the curriculum, instruction, professional development, parent and community involvement, and leadership practices that affect the fairness of assessments and the inferences based on them. As education is more important today that it was ever before, the choice of whether employing authentic/productive assessment over conventional assessment is becoming more widespread largely because of the power of the internet. Western culture and influence has spread to every part of the world, and the ideal of the free and compulsory education has taken root in almost every country. For much of history, people’s social and vocational status had been largely ascribed – that is, determined by the status of the families into which they were born. People receiving formal education or the proper apprenticeship that their family’s traditional status are the only ones required of them. But today, the worldwide trend has been veering away from the traditional modes of learning and away from the system of ascribed status to a system much known as an achieved status (Ferrara, 1995). Under this system, people can, in theory, select their vocations and so determine their own social position, regardless of their family’s background. As most nations aside from the US support the idea of achieved status, the thrust to use the educational system to provide economic and social opportunities for their citizens opened up a world of endless possibilities. They have used these same schools to promote bonds between people and a common commitment to society. In these same nations therefore, any individual or group that is denied educational and vocational opportunities view instructions in patriotism and loyalty as dishonest (Ferrara, 1995). Interestingly though, most students today that belong to an ethnic or regional group can still find themselves excluded from the most profitable and influential positions in the society. By using productive/authentic assessments, the degree to which a student can understand the differences between races and culture will significantly lessen because by using more comprehensive communications from the students, the barrier set up by ethnicity, race or gender is slowly being removed. When methods of teaching are coupled with the same kind of testing i.e., authentic assessments with non-traditional methods vs. standardized but high-stakes test and traditional ways of teaching, the quality of instruction declines most for those who have the least. Case in point is when standardized test are given containing questions that require a set of knowledge and skill more likely to be possessed by children from a privileged background. Test preparation is better afforded by affluent families, schools and districts that are better able to afford products such as test-prep materials and services further exacerbating the inequity of such testing. When poorer schools or families do manage to scrape together and finance the buying of these materials, more often than not, it is in the expense of much needed books and other educational resources that are needed (Moon, 2003). Using alternative assessment to assess with equity requires the comprehensive inclusion of each of these elements of the equity equation. Without these supporting systems, new forms of assessment are likely to maintain and perhaps magnify educational inequities. In conclusion, the rising costs of education make it more and more difficult for parents to choose an alternate type of school that is neither sexist, racist, segregated against religion or governed by laws that are too strict. Therefore students from disadvantaged background such as having one single parent or physically challenged students even belonging to severely impoverished families can still be educated and enjoy the benefits of learning from almost the same curriculum as their more able counterparts should be the case ideally. Studying reports on student achievements in the context of school poverty is being taken into consideration. The long standing gap in achievements between high-poverty schools and their more advantaged peers is continuously looked into. Unfortunately, high test scores appear to have become a primary criterion against which an educational systems worth is judged. Students in poverty, who are most in need of developing high level skills which could prepare them for future careers, educational advancement, or opportunities needed to overcome the circumstances from which they come, are the most likely to be exposed to increased levels of test preparation activities (Connell,1994) following that they will also be exposed to additional expense logistics. While some will argue that the testing initiatives purpose is to ensure educational equity for all American students, regardless of economical circumstances, the reverse appears to be the reality. Based on this study, students from poverty are less likely to be exposed to challenging curricula and instructional methods and their poverty hinders them from receiving alternative case questions. Results from this study would suggest that accountability through student testing is a vehicle to restrict educational opportunities from those who need opportunities most. The testing then that is currently used in many of these school systems are then designed to better serve the students who are economically capable instead of serving opportunities to the financially challenged students, as opposed to being structured and unbiased in helping the students learn a great deal for a specialized job or career in the future. These assessments show that the thirst for knowledge acquisition far outweighs the various factors that students deal with daily including that of poverty. Works Cited Ascher, C. “Testing Students in Urban Schools: Current Problems and New Directions.” Urban Diversity Series No. 100. New York ERIC Clearinghouse on Urban Education (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED322283) Bernstein, B. “Class and Pedagogies: Visible and Invisible.”1997 Cimbricz, S. “State-mandated Testing and Teacher’s Beliefs and Practice.” Education Policy and Analysis Archives. Retrieved onSeptember 2008 from http://www.epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v10n2.html Connell, R.W. , Johnston, K.M., White, V.M. (1994). “The issue of poverty and educational Assessment.” In E. Hatton (Ed.), Understanding Teaching. Sydney: Harcourt Brace. Reading 14, pp. 203-213. Darling-Hammond, L. “Standards and Assessments:Where we Are and What we Need.” Teachers College Press. Retrieved on September 2008 from http://www.tcrecord.org Ferrara, Steve. “Authentic Assessment and Performance in Inclusive Schools.” 1995. Madison W.I. Research Institute of Secondary Education Reform (RISER) for Youth with Disabilities Jones, Beau Fly. “Multi-Dimensional Assessment: Strategies for the Classroom.” Restructuring to Promote Learning in America’s Schools.1990.North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved on September 2008 on http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/methods/assment/as800.htm Moon, T. R. “Effects of State Testing Programs on Elementary Schools with High Concentrations of Student Poverty-Good News or Bad News.” 2003 April 28. Read More