The Importance Of Student Achievement

Student achievement for children is dependent upon the mental processes that are developed and nurtured through educators, culture, and society. Society plays a major role in cognitive human growth and development. It is important for educators to understand that children need opportunities to develop and expand their cognitive abilities. Vygotsky’s theory about mental tools suggest that every child has the ability to develop skills that will enable them to think in complex ways.

Alan Davis a former Vice-President of Athabasca University wrote that there are two essentials on which all instructional systems should focus: “the needs of the intended students and the learning outcomes of the course or program”. (Davis, 2004, p. 98)

Mastery learning is based on the work of Benjamin S. Bloom who “suggested that although students vary widely in their learning rates and modalities, if teachers could provide the necessary time and appropriate learning conditions, nearly all students could reach a high level of achievement” (Gusky, 2010). In mastery learning, students should be given adequate time to demonstrate mastery or complete remedial work. Teachers are responsible for creating units of instruction that directly relate to defined learning objectives. Students move onto the next set of objectives after demonstrating mastery (Huitt, 1996). In order to determine if students have mastered the given learning objectives, teachers monitor student progress through the use of formative assessments throughout the unit of instruction and administer summative assessments at the end of the unit. Formative assessment data is used by the teacher to identify what students have learned well, and what remediation is required. After analyzing the data, teachers use corrective instruction in the form

A college campus is purposefully built to help students succeed. Many campuses include a library, sports fields, computer labs, a gym, among other shops, food vendors, and resources for students. It is safe to make the claim that a college library is the most useful building on a college campus. Everything a student needs to succeed can be found in the library. From the quiet atmosphere, to the useful resources, and helpful staff and students, the library contributes a large part to a student’s academic success at Cumberland County College.

As a student at a high-achieving middle school school where high grades and academic excellence are stressed, I often feel pressure to exceed standards set for my level of education. There are many nights, as an eighth grader, that I have pulled all-nighters not because I wasn’t done with a project, but because I wanted it to stand out. For me, finishing a project isn’t enough, I feel pressure to do better than my classmates. After I finish it I have to proofread it several times and I usually find many things that could be fixed. This leads me to stay up in the wee hours of the morning fixing everything I could possibly get downgraded for. Usually the next day, I am extremely fatigued and it is difficult to pay attention and learn in class. Many other students at my school and worldwide experience similar situations. In today’s society being “good” at something is not enough. We strive to be better than everyone else at what we do. While this is sometimes a good thing, it is having a negative effect on schoolchildren. Parents need to stop putting so much academic pressure on kids because it is damaging their children. Pressure from school can cause depression, lead to cheating, and force kids to grow up too fast.

B.F. Skinner and J. Dewey would like the high student achievement rates that KIPP schools produce, but they would commend this for different reasons. Beyond this similarity, they would diverge in approving different aspects of KIPP schools. Both would also like improvements in different aspects of KIPP schools in line with their distinct educational philosophies.

There are many aspects that go into a student success. Many of the skills learned from Kindergarten through twelfth grade just are not efficient enough to help you achieve your goals after a student enters college. Our primary education has thought us many things, but what our teachers neglected was to prepare us for much upper level thinking. Professors can help support a student through college by focusing on critically thinking, communication and teamwork skills in order support the success of a student.

Do you believe the amount of time spent at school influences how smart you are or how well you do in school? At Anaheim High School if you ask students if they study at home, maybe about 50% of the students will tell you that they do and the other 50% will tell you that they do, but not as often as they should be. Majority of the students do very well on tests and other academic categories, but is all the material they are learning staying in their memory? There is only six hours of school, five days a week. It is most likely that not all of the information we have been told on a daily basis will stay in our memory for the next day. In order to increase student success at Anaheim High School, they should increase the time in class. In the essay “Marita’s Bargain” written by Gladwell, it states that when they increased the amount of time their students spent in each class, it helped them enhance in different academic categories, “I think that extended amount of time gives you the chance as a teacher to explain things, and more time for the kids to sit and digest everything that’s going on - to review, to do things at a much slower pace” (10).  This is clarifying the idea that the more time you have in class it gives you the opportunity to process every bit of information you are given. You do not have to rush throughout your work or feel pressured to finish your assignments on time. This concept should be encouraged in order to improve the consistency in the students GPA’s.

When I received the letter on the 21st informing me of my unsatisfactory academic progress this last semester, I was deeply saddened, and is wishing for you the Examination Board to let me continue completing my degree for next semester. I don’t really mean to make excuses for my poor academic performances, but I did have a very difficult time last semester and my grades suffered as a result even though I’ve repeated that paper twice (Strategic Management). I would like to explain myself and the reason for my unsatisfactory academic result and circumstances.

Academic Resilience is a process which refers to students who face risk factors and succeeds academically where the achievement gap claims they should fail. These students face risk factors such as racism, violence, and low socio-economic status and still manage to excel academically. Resilience Theory addresses that people demonstrate to rise and succeed as long as the risk factors are alleviated. The four factors associated with resilience theory are “risk factors, protective factors, vulnerability areas, and compensatory strategies.” (Page 5) The purpose of the study is to “know something is an essential step toward being able to replicate and spread it” and “the second reason is the ongoing goal of increasing general understanding of the experiences of the students, and giving them a voice.” (Page 6) Also the purpose of the study is to promote the academic achievement in America and give hope to those who belong to an ethnic minority group and low socio-economic status so they could succeed in terms of education.

In today’s society, it is important that all students are provided with the opportunity to receive a quality education. The focus on improved student achievement places pressure on educators to research and find ways for students to acquire needed skills to become academically successful in the classroom setting. One of the biggest challenges for educators is to explore ways for the low performing students to meet the established levels of achievement. This process requires a commitment from all the stakeholders in the education process to work together to create a plan of action to help improve the achievement of low performing students.

The relationship between effective teaching and student achievement is powerful. In fact, effective teaching instruction is the foundation for student success. According to Schmoker (2006), effective instruction plays a stronger role in student achievement than the economic nature of the community and/or the financial situation of a school district. A solid data-based curriculum taught by effective teachers is the key to improving lives and society in general. Teachers who practice elements of effective teaching are capable of helping their students reach their learning goals. In fact, a simple goal is where effective teaching begins.

Metacognition has been described by Soiferman (2015c) as thinking about thinking. To go more in depth than that, metacognition is one’s ability to understand what they know and how to adjust and improve their own learning. This can be done by teaching students to recognize how it is they think and learn and giving them the resources necessary to self-monitor their own progress, thereby allowing them to see improvement and adjust their methods as they see fit to continue improving. The ways in which metacognition can help improve a student’s learning is by allowing students to find out what kind of learning method is best suited to them, how to adapt to different teaching methods, and teaching them how to self-monitor their own learning.

Earning an "A", "B", or even "C" in an educational course shows understanding of the course 's objectives. Even though the three grading scale letters are in different ranks, the one common element they all share is that the student is passing or has passed their course. However, studies have shown that in American colleges grades have dropped progressively in recent years. College students depart from their institutions for different causes and poor academic performance is one of them. Rather it is being worked over time managing, losing interest in their learning priority, or distracting oneself over other non-educational wants, students will most likely fail themselves for losing focus on their learning subjects. Academic performance can be improved by the installation of cash, the concession of allowing students to scrutinize each other 's assignments and exams, and the establishment of diurnal collaborative learning sessions.

Today, neglect runs rampant. Many people and populations of people are forgotten in various areas of society. From the homeless to battered housewife, from the veterans of yesterday to the orphans of tomorrow. In today’s schools, despite all the work to include, make adjustments for and the noise about diversity, students are still forgotten. Among the specific groups are students with IEP’s, 504’s and other special accommodations. Though the state says “remember them” with this program or that, the general education teacher does forget. Other groups include cultures of color like Blacks, Hispanics and English Language Learner populations. The evidence of them being forgotten, is the fact their test scores are below the acceptable achievement level, their attendance rates are not the same as included groups and their discipline data shows a regular struggle with the regular happenings of daily school life.