Argumentative Essay On Education Reform

In the wake of a nation wide epidemic, how will our nation’s schools rehabilitate to provide for our students? Education reform has circulated at our nation’s capitol looking for ways improve the current public education system. The Obama administration has launched its own efforts to contribute to education reform. One of these efforts has been the implementation of national standards known as the Common Core. The Common Core calls for states to adopt common standards. In order to be on track toward career and college readiness, the Common Core sets standards for skills and content at each grade level (Porter-Magee and Stern, 2013). The Common Core works toward repairing America’s schools by providing students access to great school, regardless

Because of Common Core standards, teachers are being forced to follow scripted curriculums, preventing them for to applying their expertise from their professional preparation (Crocco 2007, 521). Teachers are not allowed exert the knowledge and skills they have learned, in their classrooms. This leaves teachers feeling undervalued and unworthy. One teacher remarked: “I am treated as if I do not know how best to attend to the needs of my students. I am handed scripted lessons, as if I lacked the ability to assemble my own” (Crocco, 2007, 520). Not being able to do one’s job leaves teachers feeling like they are being are inadequate. The effort to make sure teachers follow these scripted curriculum has also broken relationships between school officials and teachers. Officials who are supposed to be mentors turn into policing roles, untimely giving misguided mentoring (Crocco 2007, 525). This creates bad relationships between teachers and official leaving teachers under pressure. The immense pressure teachers are put under can lead to negative situations like the Atlanta cheating scandal (Fausset and Blinder, 2015). Common core standards have impacted school environments negatively. Teachers loose their sense as professionals and are put under pressure, creating unhealthy environments that can lead to terrible