Education Reform Movements
Dec 2004 | Filed in: Professional
| Decision Point
1
This artifact is a representation that shows that I understand certain INTASC standards. In this particular artifact, I address the issues of education reform movements that forces educators, parents, and students to deal with standards that are imposed upon the educational community as a result of these reform efforts. These movements relate to INTASC Principles 9 and 10. INTASC Principle 9 discusses the educator's ability to constantly reflect on their teaching methods, strategies, and effectiveness in their students' learning. INTASC Principle 10 discusses the educator's ability to develop and nurture relationships with "school colleagues, parents, and agencies in the larger community to support students' learning and well-being."
This artifact demonstrates my growing competence in educational reform. With a broader and deeper understanding of the standards that are being placed upon educational institutions today, I will better know how to implement them into my classroom. I can then effectively teach to the standards and help ensure that I and my students are meeting the standards' requirements. If I am unable to reflect on my own practices and methodologies in my teaching, then I will be unable to improve. And if I cannot foster relationships with the larger community, I am lacking in a very important aspect of teaching.
Some strengths that I have with these standards are my understanding of the basic ideas behind the standards and their purpose. I understand more easily how they can be implemented into my teaching methodologies. And I also understand why it is important to follow the standards. Since these standards are written with the intent of every child receiving the same education, it is important that all teachers understand the standards that are imposed upon them.
Some weaknesses that I have are the ability to create and foster community and professional relationships that will be most beneficial to my students. It is also important for me to build relationships with colleagues and other people to help me in my teaching experiences. Simply because I earn my undergrad degree in English Education, does not mean that I all of the sudden I stop learning. Learning is a life-long process and is constantly influencing our decisions. Developing these relationships will prove to be a challenge.
I believe that standards are very important in education. Standards are a way of providing accountability to the schools, creating a national system of fairness, and ensuring all children are receiving the same education. If there are too many standards imposed on any one school or subject area, they could begin to have to opposite effect, this effect being the standards diminish the quality of education. This is further explained in an answer I gave on Quiz 2. Some would argue that standards are having the desired effects and others would argue in opposition. This is further explained in an article titled, "Is Raising National Educational Standards An Effective Way to Improve Education?" It is my belief that standards should be student specific. And there should be another system in place to gauge students' learning and aptitude based on individual capacities. Not only do standards provide accountability for schools but they also set a minimum for teachers. Teachers entering the field need to be qualified in a minimum of areas and standards help ensure that all teachers are equally qualified for the positions that they are filling.
There have been many educational reform movements in recent years. There are several reasons that these reform movements have occurred. The Ball State University Conceptual Framework addresses some of the most prominent institutions that are imposing these standards in the education system. Some of the most prominent standards in education today are the Interstate New Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (INTASC), No Child Left Behind (NCLB), and the National Council for Accreditation in Teacher Education (NCATE).
However, I am going to focus on the reasons that education is dealing with these standards. The reform movements began in 1983 largely in response to A Nation At Risk: Imperatives for Educational Reform, which brought to light the dark future of education in America. In essence, there has been a call for higher accountability on teachers and schools. In this idea of standards-based education, standards:
- serve as expectations for what teachers should teach
- serve as a foundation for reform and accountability
- are used in efforts to increase accountability for teaching and learning
- exert greater state and federal control of local education
- provide a way of addressing the educational needs of low-achieving students
With INTASC, these ten national standards address what preservice educators should know and be able to teach. NCLB is also a national standards movement that covers the areas of annual testing, academic progress, report cards, teacher qualifications, Reading First, and funding changes. INTASC and NCLB apply to secondary level educational institutions. However, NCATE applies to post-secondary educational institutions. NCATE plays a crucial role in Ball State University's Conceptual Framework. The Conceptual Framework follows a unifying theme of "Expert Engagement in Context." I explain what this phrase means to me in Quiz 1. With these new standards set forth by various committees and bodies, there is higher accountability to schools and teachers. There is also greater control of the state and federal governments over local education. And it provides a way for addressing the educational needs of low-acheiving students.
The INTASC standards that will be most challenging for me to achieve will be: Principle 3 (Diversity), Principle 4 (Instructional Strategies), and Principle 10 (Professional and Community Development). Knowledge of Diversity will be challenging because each student learns different things different ways. And for me to be able to understand how each child will respond and learn a new topic is going to be a major task. Closely related to this same idea that all students learn different things different ways will present a challenge in my Knowledge of Instructional Strategies. As a teacher I will need to use a variety of instructional strategies to appeal to the students. I am not going to be able to use a strategy that is most effective for everybody at the same time. One strategy will help certain students learn very well while others will struggle with it. On the other hand, another strategy may effectively teach other students. As a teacher it will be my responsibility to ensure that all students are learning the material equally. I will most likely need to use several different strategies on the same topic for different students. And then Knowledge of Professional and Community Development will be challenging. I have found it difficult at times to foster relationships with peers. Now as a teacher, I will need to foster relationships with colleagues, parents, and the larger community. It is important that I develop a good relationship with the parents so that we can work together to encourage the student to learn as much as possible and push them beyond their comfort zone to help ensure a high-quality education. Though these three principles present challenges for me, I will work even harder to achieve the minimum requirements set forth by these standards.