Music Education Argumentative Essay

“The intent behind closing these gaps is to break the connection between race or family income and achievement while at the same time continuing to improve the performance of the top students. ”(28) Gaps between race and wealth have always been issues in schools. Historically, children living in poverty are more likely to score lower on tests than those

Since the passage of No Child Left Behind Act 12 years ago, teachers are judged based on standardized tests and their students’ scores. The tests are often used as a measure for schools to determine if teachers should keep their jobs. The whole teaching profession is being shamed as inadequate. Joe Nocera, opinion columnist for the New York Times newspaper, by examining a thinker named Marc Tucker, argues for a new way to approach educational reform. To begin with, Nocera addresses reforming and reconstructing our current schools.

Others believe that it will never happen, such as Robert Pondiscio believe that President Obama's statements are “arrant nonsense”. Pondiscio goes on to say “The federal government has virtually no say about how much time schools spend testing. The vast majority of tests that our children take are driven by states and school districts, as well individual schools and teachers, not by Washington.” The author believes that President Obama has no control over the school board and the amount of standardized testing student take in the

Carnoy, Loeb, and Smith (2003) found a weakness in the relationships between TAKS scores and other outcomes such as high school graduation rates and scores on college entrance exams. Other researchers (Klein, Hamilton, McCaffrey, & Steecher, 2000) analyzed increases in scores in Texas on the NAEP, increases that they state political leaders attributed to the accountability system, and found that Texas score improvements in mathematics at grade 8 are not significantly different from those of other states that did not have strong accountability systems in place. In fact their data show evidence that the achievement gap between white students and underrepresented minorities actually increased. Some argue that the data show that the accountability program actually negatively impacts schools that were already academically behind before the implementation of the accountability system (Fassold,

Did you know that marching band members spend so much time putting drill on the field for an entire summer break?The Friday nights, and Saturday afternoons we spend on a football field? The energy, sweat, and pride we put onto a football field or parking lot? All this, but unfortunately, marching band is still known for an “elective”.

Discussion Post- Chapter 7- High stakes testing Claim: High stakes testing is an extremely problematic political issue within the education system because it holds all students to the same standards regardless of disabilities or disadvantages , it encourages educators to teach strictly on information that relates to the tests, and it can have major consequences for schools across the country that are unable to make Adequete Yearly Progress (AYP). Evidence: The Learning to Teach Edition Nine textbook outlines key disadvantages to high stakes testing. Although the textbook does consider some of the advantages, which include a focus of attention on the achievement of students and providing information on areas where students may need to improve,

There are also much better ways to test a student’s capability to learn; a 2006 Center on Education Policy conducted a study and found that a curriculum that follows state standards and uses the test data as feedback led to higher scores than those that prioritized test-taking skills. When teachers are more focused on teaching material rather than test strategies, their students benefit from it (“Do Standardized Tests Show an Accurate View of Students’ Abilities?”). Several alternative methods to state assessments for measuring a student’s academic success include comparing high school graduation rates and the number of dropouts, offering advanced placement courses, and looking at the percentage of the former students that are admitted to colleges. State assessments are more harmful than helpful to students; they are a large cause of test anxiety and a majority of teachers can never fully prepare their students. Although state assessments are an easy way to be able to see the growth of students, that does not mean that they are the best

Standard testing is a very controversial and important subject because it deals with the progression of the American education system. The practice of these assessments has been highly scrutinized not only for the way it has changed the format of classrooms, but also for its accuracy, pressure, and abundance. In 2001, standardized testing became federally mandated through the No Child Left Behind Act by former president George Bush Jr. According to research from the Council of the Great City Schools, students have been taking “an average of 113 tests from pre-kindergarten through 12th grade” (K. Hefling). These numbers have increased to the point where parents have opted for their children to not attend standardized exams.

In my opinion, public educational curriculums and accountability guidelines should be established at the state and local levels where parents/guardians play an integral role in the decision making process. I do not believe standardized tests alone are an accurate measure of a student’s knowledge; their classwork, projects, and literary works also represent a student’s talent and capabilities. In agreement with Robert Schaeffer, a representative for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, that federal mandated programs such as the No Child Left Behind and The Race to The Top high-stakes tests foster the temptation to cheat because they serve as means to both punish and reward students, teachers, and principals based solely upon test scores (Schaeffer,

Levine claims that schools are starting to expand the quality of the student body by the rate of the students standardized test (22). Colleges are not looking to get students who do not apply themselves, but also, colleges are making it harder for the poor students that are trying to better their education. Along the same lines, Graff reminds us of the competition of comparing test scores in school (249). Graff explains, in school scores are made up by one’s reading ability, instead of, like in sports, the actual competition itself or arguing (249). Overall schools are using test scores as a way to compete with education instead of looking out for the best interests of the

In 2009, during Obama’s presidency, Common Core was introduced to the public. According to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, Common Core is “a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA)” created “to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live.” However, the controversy on Common Core arose as many opponents such as Diane Ravitch found faults in the Common Core standards in the design of the standard and its inability to perform what it is designed to do and the purpose of ststandardized testing. Will the students benefit from these standards or will these standards

Standardized testing are giving in many areas of the nation According to a article by “The Washington Post” “The study analyzed tests given in 66 urban districts in the 2014-2015 school year. It did not count quizzes or tests created by classroom teachers, and it did not address the amount of time schools devote to test preparation”(Layton Lyndsey). Teachers are being evaluated by students and how well they do on the standardized test. Several states have tied student performance to teacher evaluation. The National Council on Teacher Quality reported in January 2014 that “about

Music therapy is the clinical use of music to achieve individual goals and improve relationships; it is also considered a form of Psychotherapy (Music Therapy Medicine). Melodies and harmonies are used to transport patients to new and safe places. The sweet rhythms brings peace and relaxation to stressed minds. Self-worth is found between each melodic note, and anxiety and depression are long forgotten. Memories that were once lost are now found, and medication is improved by this one simple healing tool.

These are large pieces of information that show that involvement in the arts can help with far more than just reading music or singing. Another very reliable source, the Department of Education, has also noticed this. “Studies conducted by the DOE [Department of Education] have found a positive correlation between arts involvement and success in other subjects such as mathematics, science, and literature” (Flynn). Clearly, arts have an impact on students, their core education, and even the student’s

In general, I liked the lesson. Most of the children participated during the lesson. The teacher always played attention of all children and gave a chance to all children repeats all day of the week and sing a song together. It seemed to me very good idea to learn new material using the music. Although, the teacher did a great job from the beginning involving all children in the discussion process, I think IEP students did not remember all material at once.