Ideology in education and its impacts

Ideology in Education

Over the last several years, the education system has been dealing with conflicting ideologies. This is because student achievement scores are down and many institutions are struggling to address budget cuts. The combination of these factors has created a situation where different approaches are being suggested. To fully determine the best strategy for dealing with these various challenges requires: defining the ideology / its application, examining how it is linked to education and analyzing the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Together, these elements will highlight the educational philosophies that are utilized in this strategy. ("Investing in Our Future," 2012)

Define ideology and ideology in education.

An ideology is a set of beliefs that forms the basis of the education system. These ideas are continually changing based upon the effectiveness of particular policies and procedures for achieving different objectives. What makes them change is when there are setbacks affecting the overall amounts of learning comprehension. (Smith, 2012)

Recently, the public schools have been criticized for their failures to improve quality inside the education system. To address these challenges, there has been a focus on market-based ideology. This is when the free market forces are used to make schools compete against each other for students. The basic idea is that those who are the best performing will be the most popular. To help increase the total amounts of choices there is focus on: charter schools, vouchers and the privatization of facilities. (Smith, 2012)

Briefly explain how ideology is linked to education.

The way that a market-based ideology is linked to education is to create increased competition and improve quality. Over the course of time, these views have led to the development of various market-based tools (in order to deal with critical issues). This is supporting and redesigning the methods that are utilized and the concepts that are taught inside the classroom. (Smith, 2012)

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001

The No Child Left Behind Act is focused on establishing measureable standards that can improve quality. The way that this is achieved is to have all the states set higher benchmarks for students to reach in different subjects. At certain grade levels, they will have to test everyone to see if they are achieving these objectives. These exams must be administered by all schools every year in order to receive federal funding. ("No Child Left Behind Act," 2004)

To reach these goals there is concentration on the annual progress of the school. The way it works is these tests will be used to determine if a school is improving or becoming worse. Those who continue to trend lower in their results must engage in a number of actions to include:

Offering free tutoring and additional services to struggling students in the third year.

Changing the staff, curriculum, the administration and introducing other sweeping reforms during year four.

Turing the facility into a charter school, having the state takeover or hiring a private company to run the institution in the fifth year.

These different elements are showing how the No Child Left Behind Act is focusing on using testing and market forces to deal with the problems inside the education system. ("No Child Left Behind Act," 2004)

Analyze and discuss how the No Child Left Behind Act provides illustration of the connection between ideology and educational philosophy

The market-based ideology is working in conjunction with the No Child Left Behind Act. The way that this is occurring is through having measurable standards (which are higher). Then, they are using various tests to determine the progress and quality of education that is provided by different schools. ("No Child Left Behind Act," 2004)

This is used to decide if a facility needs to make dramatic changes. At first this is taking place, by offering more services and allowing the staff to make adjustments. However, when the fourth and fifth years arise, is the point that the institution could be ran by private entity or change into charter school. ("No Child Left Behind Act," 2004)