Formative assessment, differentiated instruction, and poverty in American schools

Formative assessment is an important part of measuring student outcomes, as Christina notes. There are, however, many ways to measure outcomes and too much time spent on formative assessment can be more constraining than effective -- and Christina highlights this issue as well. This is an important problem overall to address and one source that I can recommend that is helpful for identifying multiple forms of assessment for teachers to use in the classroom is:

Gottlieb, M. (2006). Assessing English language learners: Bridges from language proficiency to academic achievement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

This book focuses only instruction of ELLs but it is helpful in describing multiple ways to use different assessments when measuring the degree to which students are learning lessons and applying them.

Her focus on Differentiated Instruction and Leadership as two other problems that deserve scrutiny are also thought out and well-informed. I think these three issues are good ones to investigate to help improve schools overall.

Edna Garcia

RE: Discussion - Module 4

Poverty in education is a big issue and a main factor in why students test poorly according to a study by Krashen (2014). I would recommend this study for future research because the author focuses on why Common Core is ineffective in improving scores specifically because it does not address the issue of poverty.

Krashen, S. (2014). The common core: A disaster for libraries, a disaster for language arts, a disaster for American education. Knowledge Quest, 42(3): 37-45.

Iffeisha Gordon-Toppin

RE: Discussion - Module 4

The issue of classroom management is an important one but in your problem statement it could be focused on bit more on exactly what the main issue is classroom management. I would suggest focusing on the issue of time and classroom management -- i.e., what is the ideal time for a class based on the literature and surveys and interviews, as you mention you would use. Of course, there are other issues related to classroom management, such as how a teacher might best use a lesson plan, etc. Pick one issue related to the subject and make that the problem that you focus on.

Teacher retention is another important issue and this is a good one to focus on as well. Some reasons why retention might be an issue are discussed by Caldwell (2012) in his study using critical theory. Adopting the right theory in your research can be very helpful, so this study is one you should look into:

Caldwell, P. (2012). Marxist Criticism of Public Education Funding and Social Reproduction. Colgate Academic Review, 2(10): 54-58.

Heather Adams

RE: Discussion - Module 4

The identification of socioeconomic issues as a problem in education is a good one. I might suggest focusing on factors that can alleviate the socioeconomic conditions and provide better social and economic supports in communities. Critical theory can be a good place to start with this kind of assessment. I think it is definitely one that is worth doing and there are many studies that examine how poverty negatively impacts education outcomes.

Elyse Abernathy

RE: Discussion - Module 4

Retention is an excellent issue to discuss and can be a real problem in schools -- especially those that are in poor communities. It can even be related to the quality of education provided and in many ways each of the problems that you identified can relate to the others. The variables that go into impacting retention, education, leadership and graduation rates are interconnected. I think you are definitely on the right track to arriving at some important answers to problems in education.

Kimyatta Harris

RE: Discussion - Module 4

Active learning is a really important topic in education so I am glad to hear that you are interested in it as well. I would like to receive any input you have to offer on how you are going about the issue or what problem specifically you might address related to that topic.

As for the problem of social promotion, it is a real one though it is not often discussed. Some research has been done to analyze the effects of social promotion, such as the study by Jimerson and Renshaw (2012). I would suggest looking over it to understand how it impacts students and educators. Another one is by Lynch (2014) and a new, much longer study by Leighton, Souza, and Straub (2016) is also available.

Jimerson, S., Renshaw, T. (2012). Retention and social promotion. Principal Leadership: 12-16. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Tyler_Renshaw/publication/271652282_Retention_and_Social_Promotion/links/54cf21780cf29ca810fd8eeb.pdf

Leighton, M. A., Souza, P., Straub, S. (2016). Social promotion in primary school: immediate and cumulated effects on attainment. School of Economics and Finance Discussion Paper, no. 1607. University of St. Andrews: 1-92.

Lynch, M. (2014). The true costs of social promotion and retention. International Journal of Progressive Education, 10(3): 6-17.