This study is contextualized in the ever changing landscape of education. Our current times have brought changes that are not only happening faster and with greater importance, but are impacting the futures of our students. Commonly discussed amongst educators dedicated to providing students with a 21st century education is the fact that we need to be preparing our students today for the unknown possibilities of tomorrow. According to Linda Darling-Hammond in The Flat World and Education the school system established at the dawn of the industrial revolution, which is designed to provide the knowledge needed to work in factories, is now antiquated and unable to provide students with the skills they need in order to be successful in the modern world. While other countries, such as Singapore and Finland, have made substantial changes to their education systems in order to better serve their student, the United States continues to use an old system that no longer works. According to The Nation’s Report Card students in 4th grade scored lower on national standardized tests in 2013 than they did in 1990. Students did score 4 points higher in Science in 2015 than they did in 2009, but were unfortunately still on average below proficient. Part of the reasons students are struggling is because there is a nationwide epidemic of disengagement. According the the National Center for Education Statistics in 2015 6.3% of males and 5.4% of females dropped out of high school. These figures become even more alarming when you consider that 9.9 % of males and 8.4% of females who are hispanic dropped out of high school in 2015. This variance between the national average and the performance of hispanic students is perhaps part of why California, which proudly has very high populations of hispanic students, continues to lag behind the rest of the country on standardized tests. On Math standardized tests in 2015 the national average had 19% of students testing at below basic, compared to 28% of students in California. The national average showed 39% of students as testing at proficient or above, where only 30% of Californian students tested at proficient or above. In Science the national average demonstrated that 37% of students were testing at proficient or above, and 63% of students were testing at basic or below. In California students demonstrated that 24% were proficient, while 76% had a basic or below basic understanding of grade appropriate science standards. Finally California also has higher high school dropout rates than the national average. According to the California Department of Education 11.5% of Californian students drop out of highschool, and 12.6% of hispanic or latino Californian students drop out of high school. In light of all this data I believe that California, as well as the United States needs to find a way to simultaneously re-engage the student population in school and learning, and find new strategies of teaching that better prepare our students for their futures.
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AuthorI am a fourth grade teacher in Vacaville, California. Archives
November 2017
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