Educational Effectiveness Of The Educational System

Ability grouping is the concept of placing students into learning groups within the classroom based on their academic ability level (National Education Association, 2015). This happens more frequently at the primary level when students have only one teacher and one classroom (Loveless, 2013). Ability grouping can be used to teach any subject but is most commonly used in English language arts and mathematics (Loveless, 2013). Ability tracking uses the same concept of grouping students by their academic ability level, but tracking happens at the middle and high school levels (Loveless, 2013). Tracking is the practice of testing students’ ability levels, placing them in groups based on these

With landmark Supreme Court decisions in regards to education such as Brown v Board of Education, which made segregation within schools illegal, one would be inclined to believe that modern schools are void of any inequality. However, at a deeper glance, it is apparent that there is a glaring inequality within public school systems at the national, statewide, and even district-wide level. Such an inequality has drastic results as the education one receives has a high correlation to the college they will attend, and the job they will work. It is in society's best interest that public school systems be improved to equally supplement students with the tools necessary to succeed. While the public school system aims to reduce the inequality within it, they have proven ineffective in guaranteeing children of all races and economic classes an equal education.

How should society handle the perceived differences between races when it comes to education? The goal of both researchers is to narrow the academic gap between white and black students. Both authors attribute the gap between the academic scores of black and white students from opposite sides of racial identity. As Dr. Beverly Daniels Tatum, President of Spelman College and clinical psychologist has written an article entitled “Why are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” Her approach is from the perspective of the student and how they perceive their role and upper limits while maintaining their place in their peer group's expectations of their race. Dr. Diane Ravitch, a research professor of education at New York University, has written an article entitled "The Facts about the Achievement Gap.” Her approach is from the perspective of how schools and society implicitly or explicitly cast students into achievement tracks based on their race. Both approach the same idea about racial identity, but they have different solutions, such as peer groups, the school board, and who is right about the solution.

The (No Child Left Behind Act of 2001), closing achievement gaps among various student groups became a primary focus for the federal education accountability. schools and districts were required to separate student test scores and performance data by student characteristics in order to better understand and make comparisons between the ethnic groups. This created better awareness of racial disparities, and an ever bigger concern about other

“When we can predict how well students will do in school by looking at their zip code, we know we have a serious systemic problem” (Gloria Ladson-Billings 20). When we are able to forecast how a child will perform by where the child resides, then how can we say that every child is receiving quality education. The unsuccessful educational system infused into the United States is affecting the majority of minorities. In the United States students due to their race and social class, suffer from underfunded public schools, inexperienced teachers, and housing segregation, which in turn inhibit their opportunity to succeed through education. These difficulties plaque students from the very beginning of their public school experience and follow them throughout their academic life. There are a few solutions to these issues but they have to be implemented and enforced with a slow integration.

For some students, race is a central part of their identity. The struggles they face with it determines the achievements that they can present to the admissions officers. Despite the current ban on the usage of race in college admissions in Michigan, admissions officers should not ignore any part of a student’s unique circumstances, which may be related to one’s socioeconomic status, race, or both. In the article, “Still Separate, Still Unequal: America’s Educational Apartheid,” Kozol argues that the ongoing racial segregation and the lack of funding in schools consisting primarily of blacks and Hispanics are putting the poor and minority children at an disadvantage by not providing them a chance to have good teachers, classrooms, and other resources. While universities use scores to assess the academic ability of a student, minorities who attend schools segregated based on race or socioeconomic status may excel at what they are given, have the

the term receivement gap is useful because it focuses attention on educational inputs-what the students receive on their educational journey, instead of outputs-their performance on a standardized test. This refocusing also moves attention away from the students as the source of these disparities, and toward the larger structure and forces that play a role in their education and development (p. 417). Venzant-Chambers (2009) asserted the issue of the Black and White achievement gap must be viewed through other lenses opposed to the single view of Black students cannot perform as well as White students. Venzant-Chambers (2009) offered other avenues by which to examine the achievement gap such as school tracking, examining the

Education is a necessity across the globe, from America to Africa to China. Some education systems, however, are more successful than others and hold differing views and approaches to education. Culture greatly impacts education, which in turn impacts further opportunity. As unfair as it may be, a child’s cultural background largely determines their level of success. The American education system is lacking when compared to various other world cultures, and this is causing the socioeconomic gap to grow. Because of this inadequate education, more and more families are dipping beneath the poverty line. This could be due to poor discipline as well as the diversity of students. The diversity of the students results in a wide array of needs that are not being met by the public education system. This issue could be minimized by working to create a more inclusive academic environment to ensure equality and success.

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

The American education system is failing the generations of the future. Society neglects the children born into impoverished areas, while mainly white upper class children participate in superior educational activities. Low-income neighborhoods often produce schools with low scoring students. Therefore the government transitions these schools into impersonal factories. The phrase diversity masquerades the reality of re-segregation of schools. Many schools across the country are utilizing the phrase diversity, yet the statistics reveal that over ninety percent of the students are black or Hispanic. Creating successful environments is extremely difficult and subsequently results in serious consequences for the American education system.

When analyzing the implications a tracking system has on educational outcomes among middle-class students in private schools, Adam Gamoran found that ability grouping is not equitable. This is due to the evidence reflecting that “in the U.S. tracking leads to inequality as students in schools with a tracking system do better than those in general or vocational tracks” (Gamoran, 2000, 235). For example, when students are placed in high tracks, they are more likely to achieve academic success compared to their low track counterparts. Therefore, while high track students are gaining from this system, low track students are at a disadvantage of falling behind (Gamoran, 2000). This ties into the unequal instruction provided to students placed in high tracks versus those placed in low tracks. According to Gamoran, high track students are placed in courses that better prepare them for college and are taught by instructors that spend more time preparing for classes, are more experienced, and inculcate critical thinking skills in their students. On the other hand, low track students are taught through worksheets and recitation and are assigned to instructors that spend more time on behavior management as opposed to actual instruction. However, because

Tracking can lead to segregation based on race. For Example, according to the article “Modern Day Segregation in Public schools” by Sonali Kohli, ¨Black and Latino students represented 16 percent and 21 percent of high school enrollment nationwide, respectively. But they were only 8 percent

“The socioeconomic achievement gap in education refers to the inequality in academic achievement between groups of students. The achievement gap shows up in grades, standardized test scores, course selection, dropout rates, and college-completion rates, among other success measures” (Ansell, 2017). Typically, when discussing the achievement gap, educators are comparing the academic progress of African-American students or Hispanic students to the progress of white students. More-often-than-not the white students will have more educational achievements than their non-white colleagues (Ansell, 2017). The most widely accepted theory as to why students with higher socioeconomic status (SES) do better academically is high parental involvement, access to economic resources and access to highly qualified teachers (Huang, 2015. Pg.6). Students of low socioeconomic status often live in poverty. This means that the student may not have sufficient school supplies or even someone at home to help him with his homework. There are numerous children in the United States’ school systems that are failing due to the achievement gap. These students are at a disadvantage because the school systems and teachers do not notice or even care about their home life and how it comes into play in their education. It is important for our nation to not only understand the achievement gap but take steps toward correcting it.

If someone was to ask you “how do you define student achievement?” what would your answer be? Would you say student achievement is measured by state achievement tests? Or would you say that student achievement is too complex a subject to be objectively measured? There are many important skills students must be taught, and we need a way to effectively measure if they are in fact learning those skills. However, standardized tests cannot effectively show the learning of all students, especially those that are not good test takers. And of those skills that are tested, there are an endless number of arguably more important skills that aren’t being valued because they cannot be calculated. Furthermore,

In 1990, Slavin reported that tracking had only a small impact on academic achievement. Later, in 2000 and 2006 researchers revealed that average learners had no change in knowledge gain but higher-track students showed academic improvement (Ansalone, 2010). While the research to support impressive gains in academic achievement fall short, studies abound with statistics on the negative educational progress the high and low-tracking of students has generated. Throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s Hallinan found that standardized test scores were significantly lower for students tracked into low-ability classes than if they had been placed in inclusive or high-ability groups (Rubin, 2006). Furthermore, a startling 1987 report by Gamoran showed the educational gap between high and low-track students was greater than the gap between high school dropouts and high school