Response on Issues Dealing with Education (Essay Sample)

Personal Response on Involvement in Education
Student’s Name
InstitutionalAffiliation

Personal Response on Involvement in Education
During the course, the class had a discussion on the items and topics related to business models involved in education. These topics include success for all, the no child left behind act, standardized testing, charter schools, teachers unions and tenure, and teacher-student accountability. There is a misplaced idea that the quality of education is on the rise because of the introduction of the corporate reforms in the education industry and the commercialization of the industry. The course materials reviewed in class strengthen the position that the introduction of the corporate reforms and the commercialization of education are bad for the industry because they do not improve the quality of education in the country.
Funding schools that perform well has the potential of improving the commitment of teachers in delivering high-quality pedagogy to their students. Stakeholders in the education industry do not dispute this fact. Biddle (2014) asserts that the examination of the priorities of the funding process reveals that it increases the level of accountability of the states in the use of public resources in education. Teachers and students will work hard for the purposes of receiving funds that schools will use to improve the quality of education they offer. Despite the importance of these strategies, there are doubts on whether they really contribute to the development of high-quality education in schools. Education stakeholders argue on the need of incorporating other strategies and motivating factors that can help to improve the performance in schools. In any industry, motivating factors play animportant role in determining the efficiency of the workforce.
Teachers’ tenure is one of the areas that have been the subject of the debate in education reforms. Most critics feel that this notion givesan undue protection to the pedagogues who might be incompetent. However, the tenure system should not be blamed for the problems in the education system. Instead, real reforms should begin with the recruitment process of the teachers. Improving the terms of employment is likely to generate results in the long run. Teachers should be incentivized to ensure that the best possible talent is attracted and retained in the teaching profession (Hassel, Kowal, Ableidinger, & Hassel, 2011). Talented teachers have the capability of identifying weaknesses in students and develop plans on how to satisfy their academic needs.
The corporate modeling of schools is one of the interventions that stakeholders in education use to create the improved performance of the students. This model is evident in the closing of nonperforming schools or turning them into charter schools (Fabricant & Fine, 2012). A charter will detail the performance expected of the school and the strategy that will be applied in its achievement. This model, according to many stakeholders in the education sector, is much better in improving the outcome of students regarding performance (Biddle, 2014). One of the core practices is dealing with each school and its unique situation while increasing the attention of the students by limiting the student-teacher ratio. The ratio should be organized in such a manner that teachers can serve few students in any given class. This is an excellent strategy that makes it possible for teachers to give adequate attention to their students. However, it is pities that most district public schools do not implement this method.
The policies on funding and developing of charter schools are not the solution to the problems that the education sector is facing. Instead, more pragmatic approaches should be adopted and practiced within the public schools. These practices include the abolishment of testing and increasing in the teaching (Tippins, 2010). While standardized testing has been seen as a method of reducing the achievement gap, the teaching process should be increased as means of preparing all students for higher performance (Downey, 2009). An increase in the monitoring of teacher-student accountability would also improve the outcome of the learners.
A decrease in the student teacher-ratio is likely to increase the teacher-student accountability. For the improved results, the seven levels of accountability should be the central focus of the education reformist. This strategy will ensure that the students and the teachers get the best possible result, and everyone within the accountability chain plays their role efficiently.
The No Child Left Behind act is also an important step towards increasing teacher-student accountability. Teachers can only be responsible through the evaluation of their performance. As such, the standardized testing of students ...