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Interactive Essay on Analyzing Meaning
Many philosophers and countless others have discussed and debated the meanings of the following concepts: authentic assessments, excellence in education, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), educating the whole child, and education that makes a difference. Educators, at various levels, have defined each term from many different perspectives. Despite these educators’ opinions, parents have challenged the definitions and demand better education for our youth. This writer will present and analyze meanings of each term. This essay will outline definitions from others who have contemplated these terms, and the writer’s point of view as a parent and educator.
This writer, as a tutor, speaks with many parents who have challenged the meaning of the various tests administered to their children: SAT 10, ACT, PSAT, SAT I, etc. Some claim biases in varying degrees, with the most emphasis on the Alabama high school exit examination. These discussions and my own experiences have led this writer to question the sufficiency of the answers that have been given to the parents. Perhaps the parents’ inability to state their concerns in regard to the tests noted above hindered the discussions of authentic assessments that would truly identify their children’s depth and breath of knowledge. In order to edify the discussions with parents, there has to be a full understanding of the term authentic assessments.
The website, dictionary.com, defines authentic as “having the origin supported by unquestionable evidence,” and assessment as “the act of estimating, judging the value, characters of, evaluation.” Further investigation notes that Gutek (2004) states the following in regard to authentic assessments:
Existentialists prefer to use authentic assessment, in which students maintain portfolios or journals that allow them to set their own goals and determine their own achievement of these goals. Their own papers, drawings, essays, and other items help them track their own educational journey (p.96).
Additionally, according to Sweet (1993),
Performance assessment, also known as alternative or authentic assessment, is a form of testing that requires students to perform a task rather than select an answer from a ready-made list… Experienced raters–either teachers or other trained staff–then judge the quality of the student’s work based on an agreed-upon set of criteria. (What is it? section, ¶1)
He further states that performance assessments “require that students actively develop their approaches to the task under defined conditions, knowing that their work will be evaluated according to agreed-upon standards.” (Sweet, 1993, What is it? section, ¶4)
Based on the above definitions, this writer defines authentic assessments as assessment tool which allows the students to demonstrate their acquired knowledge by completing exercises which show how they obtain the answers or solutions. The focus is on assessing how the students arrive at the answers versus only assessing the answers. Also, authentic assessments solicit students’ input to establish the assessment goals and the evaluation criteria. In summary, authentic assessments ensure we assess the students’ ability to acquire, retain and apply the knowledge they obtained via the educational process.
This writer is aware that some colleges are beginning to questioning whether the results of the ACT and SAT scores, etc. are useful tools to predict how successful a student will matriculate through their educational programs. The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (n.d.) notes “Many of these colleges and universities have conducted their own studies which show that standardized tests do little to increase the ability of their admissions officers to predict success at their institutions”(p.1). This writer believes the current assessment tools do not distinguish whether high scores are a result of guessing on a multiple-choice test or are a true measure of the students’ abilities to successfully matriculate through college/university programs. Additionally, this writer questions whether states should use the current assessment tools to rate the quality of education delivered in our local schools.
This writer believes that before we can assess the quality of education given in our local schools, we must investigate the meaning of excellence in education. The first step in discerning the meaning of excellence in education is to first refer back to the definitions of excellence and education. Dictionary.com defines excellence as follows:
1. The state, quality, or condition of excelling; superiority.
2. Something in which one excels.
Gutek (2004) states that the following definitions would be found for the term education in the Webster Dictionary (p.3):
1. The act or process of educating or being educated.
2. The act or process of providing a person with the knowledge, skill, competence, or usually desirable qualities of behavior or character by a formal course of study, instruction, or training.
3. A conditioning, strengthening, or disciplining of the mind or faculties.”
This writer concludes, after reflecting on the above definitions, that excellence in education is growth in our students over thirteen years of study (kindergarten through twelfth grade) such that they reach a defined level of competence upon graduation. As a member of various parents and teachers organizations/associations, this parent has heard many discussions in regard to what is the appropriate amount of growth to attain each year. Each student enters kindergarten with varying degrees of skills. Teachers claim this disparity is the reason all students do not reach the defined levels of competence. Although some students start out ill-prepared, this writer presupposes we can claim excellence in education when we educate students and ensure each has the basic skills necessary to at least matriculate through a technical school, upon graduating from high school.
The NCLB Act of 2001 envisions all children meeting grade level expectations at prescribed points along their educational journey. According the U.S. Department of Education, “No Child Left Behind is based on stronger accountability for results, more freedom for states and communities, proven education methods, and more choices for parents.” This writer believes NCLB is an ideology to create an America where all students learn the established minimum standards of education. The term ideology is used because this writer postulates that the following must occur in order for us to truly achieve NCLB:
1. Development of authentic assessments to ensure the students’ level of knowledge meets or exceeds the appropriate standards, and school districts are given realistic report cards.
2. Fully fund each school district in accordance with the needs of that district.
3. Ensure the curriculum addresses the needs of each student and not based upon generally defined proven methods of education for the average student.
4. Provide for more advanced programs and varied programs for parents to choose from at each level of education.
In summary, this writer conceptualize that the NCLB means first we (the community – academia, industry, government, etc.) admit some students are left behind. Next, we must work together to decrease the drop out rate, and provide more G.E.D. programs for those we missed. With the goal in mind we can help minimize the financial burden of taxpayers paying drop outs welfare or housing them in jails and prisons. The NCLB, to this writer, challenges the American community to collaborate and ensure all students are meeting or exceeding grade level requirements. This huge effort requires us to instill in students the desire to learn.
Instilling the desire in students to do well is a very controversial issue. Some believe students are internally motivated and should come to school ready to learn. This writer believes students can be externally motivated. This writer further believes it’s our jobs, as educators, to instill the desire to accept and over-come challenges of increasing complexity. The highest priority objective is to educate the whole child.
According to Noddings (2005, ¶5),
Some people argue that schools are best organized to accomplish academic goals and that we should charge other institutions with the task of pursuing the physical, moral, social, emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic aims that we associate with the whole child.
She also thinks ‘happiness” should be added to the list.
This writer believes the schools must take into consideration the outside forces and extenuating circumstances that may hinder or prevent a child from learning. Additionally, it is not the job of the schools to take on the task of educating the whole child alone. The classroom teachers and staff can be trained to recognize known signs of problems and recommend students for the additional resources he/she may need. Collaboration by all would extinguish the debate over educating the whole child. This writer also believes it is our responsibility as a nation to pay for the additional resources if the families cannot afford the costs. Educating the whole child means providing all the needed resources to assist the students on their educational journey. The additional resources can include, but not limited to, nurses, doctors, dentists, psychologists, counselors, mentors, and others resources in the community, industry, government, etc. Finally, this writer asserts educating the whole child means a collaborative effort of academia, community and industry to meet the needs (physical, moral, social, emotional, spiritual, and aesthetic) of each individual student.
This writer believes education that makes a difference, not only results in the growth of our students, but also in the improvement of the communities served by the educational systems. The growth and improvement can only occur through the collaborative efforts of community, academia, and industry. John Dewey (as cited in Gutek, 2004) believes
The sole goal of education is growth…Growth means that the person is learning more effective, meaningful, and satisfying ways to live, in order to deal with a changing reality and direct the course of her or his own life.…the school is a multipurpose social institution connected to and related to the society of which it is a part.” (p. 76).
Immanuel Kant (as cited in Cahn, 1997) tells us that “Education is an art which can only become perfect through the practice of many generations. Each generation, provided with the knowledge of the foregoing one, is able more and more to bring about an education which shall develop man’s natural gifts in their due proportion and in relation to their end, and thus advance the whole human race towards its destiny (p. 200).
Kant’s statements assert that if we continually think improvement and reevaluate our efforts, implement the necessary changes, that over time we grow as a human race. This writer believes that if the community continuously improves, then we, as educators, have provided education that makes a difference. Education that makes a difference instills a desire in students to set and attain goals of increasing complexity (e.g. graduate kindergarten, elementary, middle and high schools, etc) to achieve their destinies in this life.
Authentic assessments, excellence in education, no child left behind, educating the whole child, and education that makes a difference, are highly debated issues. But, the debate must go on until we all recognize what is best for the American student. Continuous dialog leads us closer to achieving the goal of students meeting or exceeding established milestones. Helping the students realize success will make our society a better place to live, learn, play, etc.
References
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