Three Things I Learned

“The law's annual testing requirements in math and reading have led many schools to pump up the amount of time they spend teaching these two staples — often at the expense of other subjects, such as history, art or science.” (Blass, 2007) Another problem is that the assessment doesn’t take individual learning into account. There is no correction for a learning disability in a student, or for students in Special Ed. Rob Andrews put it best by saying, “A school's AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress) should not be based on standardized tests that fail to account for a child's cognitive capacity… in many cases [the standardized test] is beyond the abilities of special education students.”

Members participated on improving the school by supporting the staff and students, and also planning, organizing, and executing school

According to the Truth about Charter Schools, charter schools are required by law to generally accept all students who want to attend, including students with disabilities and english learners, regardless of previous academic performance. However according to Gary Miron, charter schools “nationally serve fewer students with disabilities” - eight to ten percent of their average students in comparison to district schools, which serve thirteen point one percent. Charter schools receive financial funding from the state they are thereby considered to be public schools in the eye of the state.

The No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2001 by the George W. Bush administration is an act that aimed to close the achievement gap in public schools in order to ensure no child is “left behind”. Many people who know about this act criticize its effectiveness and its methods of achieving this unreachable goal. Not everyone is aware of the details and strict requirements that were set once this program was started, so I will explore the pros, the cons, and the outcomes of this program. The No Child Left Behind Act was created to ensure that 100% of students in public school systems reach the same state standards in reading, writing, and mathematics.

This is a chance for the schools to reinforce their ethos and values. The ethos of the school should be felt in the atmosphere of the school environment as it is part of daily practise and activites planned by the teachers. It should prioritise childrens safety and with children at the centre of all

By creating an environment filled with fear and insecurity about the day to day happenings of the school, the principal lost his reputation of authority due to his erratic behavior. Addiction can take a heavy toll on the lives of those affected, and this problem has proven that the principals struggle ultimately cost him his leadership role in the high

The text states, “The superintendent did have enormous power of initiative in virtually all matters concerning the schools: the appointment of staff, the selection of textbooks, plans and contracts for buildings, the determination of the curriculum, and normal decisions about everyday running of the schools” (159). When examining the formal education of our current educational institutions, it is evident that the power structure lies with superintendents, school boards and principals who share expectations on how classrooms should be run as well as decision making for the betterment of the institution and students. Overall, formal education has evolved and will continue to evolve as educators search for their perception of the “one best system” for their students. Throughout the history of education, power structure and social class matters have influenced how educators implement regulations, interact with community members and fellow educators, but most importantly, the education of students so that they may be instilled with the skills and confidence to further themselves as

In order to change the way their students learn for a good way, teachers have to alternate and change the skills they teach. By releasing their total control over students ' opportunities and wishes to learn, teachers as leader of school culture permit students to take more responsibility and obligation for their own learning at schools. There is no doubt that it is easy to say, arduous to do, yet necessary if we are going to change the culture of our schools and classroom for better condition. Therefore, the author would like to point on leaders role at school. Various things depend on principal’s choice.

Today there are more than a hundred public and private schools offering educational services to special children through the Inclusive Education Program or Mainstreaming Program. These Institutions are scattered geographically in the 17 regions of the country. Therefore, employment of special education teachers is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2014 pupil enrollments are expected to grow slowly and additional positions for these workers will be created by continued increases in the number of special education pupils needing services, by legislation emphasizing training and employment for individuals with disabilities, and by educational reforms requiring higher standards for graduation. In addition to job openings will result from the need to replace special education teachers who switch to teaching general education, change careers altogether, or

“The term “inclusion” replaced all previous terminologies, i.e., integrated special education; reverse mainstreaming, previous to the early 1990s in hopes that the word would mean more than placing children with special needs in the regular educational classroom, including a sense of belonging, social relationships, and academic development and learning.” (Odom, Buysse, & Soukakou,

CHAPTER-I INTRODUCTION Many schools in Fiji have experienced on-going educational reform in response to impact of economic political and cultural forces (Limerick) Cunnington, $Crowther, 2012, Rizvi and ligand 2010) due to these few implementation on education reform in x school principals and teacher leaders have been confronted with new challenges and responsibility. A large numbers of researches (eg,Gurr,2008;Muijs &Harris 2008; Crowther, Ferguson, Ham,2009) which highlights on principal leadership and teacher leadership however research indicates that their interrelationship is still lacking. This study aims to explore the roles of leaders and challenges faced with strategies to improve

The failure to implement full inclusion appropriately has numerous detrimental effects on the parties involved. One disadvantage for full inclusion is that the socialization part precedes the academic component, notwithstanding the fact that it should not be the primary goal of education. Inclusion movements aim to make disabled students look normal, overlooking the issue of whether they are undertaking educational programs or not. This can have a negative effect on the academic progress of students with disabilities because important skills are not taught for the sake of the learner making physical presence in a full inclusion classroom. Fox (2013) claims that there is a need for disabled students to reap maximum benefits from this integration.

Thus, they will achieve higher grades. Moreover, they will be greatly engaged in the society as they are building bridges with their peers from several backgrounds. On the long run, teachers, parents, and the society as a whole would develop. Students with learning disabilities should be included in the “normal” classroom because it improves their academic performance, social behavior, and communication language. One reason why students with learning disabilities should be in the normal classroom is that inclusion improves their academic performance.

Throughout the school administration program, I have completed field experiences in which I collaborated with stakeholders both internal to the school organization and those external (within the community). As I reflect on the impact my collaboration with these stakeholders has had on my preparation for building-level school administration, I learned that collaboration in educational settings is the key to effective schools. Collaboration in schools allows school administrators and educators to tap into the knowledge and experiences of a variety of professionals. I have also learned that effective collaboration creates a school culture that ensures positive outcomes for all students requiring an “all hands” approach to meeting the needs

The adopted data collection methods in such research bestows voice to the teachers( Kanno, 2008;Lentolf, 2000; Pelletier, Séguin-Lévesque, &Legault; 2002) and do not restrict what teachers as participants can relate; of course, the researcher’s presence during this procedure will always be a factor that impacts (positively or negatively) what participants are supposed to assert with respect to the issue being discussed. Considering the essence of most modern research (in-depth and small scale) any action that is taken as a result of the research outcomes is more likely to be optimal since it will foster the teachers’ context-specific needs. In addition to the above-mentioned points, there is a growing consciousness of the convolution of teachers’ lives from different stand points. Critically speaking, the results of such socio-cultural studies are highly precious in humanizing and individualizing the profession. In this regard, teacher educators and school principals have sorted out that teachers’ personal lives and socio-cultural context have an overriding impact on their professional identity construction and vice versa.