When it comes to education, lots of concerns come up, like where will the money come from, where will the teachers come from, what curriculum should be used, or even problems with what books should and should not be allowed. People care about education, and everyone cares about it in different ways; they also care about the different aspects of education. Below are some of the common issues in education. They are issues with standardized testing, inequality in the education system, and adaptive learning, and what they look like.
These issues are all indicative of various controversies that surround all educational practices. As mentioned, these are not the only areas of controversy, as there are many more. Education, as it is known today, is a form of standard-based learning. It is now known that standard-based learning does not work for everyone because people learn in different ways. Learning in different ways means that there cannot be a standard by which one learns. Because of the idea of a standard, the issues that will be discussed occur.
Standardized Tests Issues
Standardized tests are tests like the SAT, ACT, or IQ tests. These tests can be administered to many different individuals, and it is assumed that their results will be able to be calculated and compared with some degree of accuracy. Standardized testing became common in education due to the "No Child Left Behind Act" that was passed in 2002.
This act mandated that all 50 states take part in academic standardized testing so that each child would be taught the information that they needed to learn, and the administration would know, through testing, that they learned the information. The administration stated that this method of testing was objective and therefore a good measurement of the quality of education of those being tested.
There are many issues surrounding the idea of standardized testing. The first of many is that students, while all taking the same test, are not all at the same skill level when it comes to taking tests. Taking tests can cause anxiety and a lot of self-doubt, and students that may not have scored well on standardized tests due to those factors are not being accurately measured in terms of intelligence.
Standardized tests also do not evaluate the quality of the materials being presented. Teachers may have different skill levels and therefore are not necessarily teaching the exact same material to the level that the standardized test would like to see. Lastly, standardized tests do not take into account outside factors, such as the quality of the school district due to low socioeconomic status. It also does not incorporate an understanding of minority pressures on those taking the test or other external factors.
Inequity in Education Issues
For years, minority individuals have been fighting for equality, yet in education, inequity is still a persistent problem. Inequity is the idea of giving people what they need to succeed, not just what they need to be equal with other people. In the rates of education measured by standardized testing as mentioned above, minority students are still falling behind in comparison to white students, which is inequality. This is occurring due to the inequity in education.
Minority students are not receiving the resources that they need. The education that minority students receive lacks many of the same resources that white students have. Due to inequity, minority individuals often leave school earlier with less education, and they do not receive as many certifications as other children.
To explain, majority-minority schools are often underfunded. Almost two-thirds of minority students are in a school that is primarily minority. Because the school is underfunded, it cannot afford a decent salary for its teachers, meaning that the teachers are underpaid. Because the teachers are underpaid, the teachers that they do have either are not as skilled because they will accept a lower salary, or they have less motivation to do their best work because of their lower salary. When teachers are not skilled or have low motivation, the children are not being taught in the best way possible or the best way that they need. Their learning plans are not adapted to their specific goals or needs.
Adaptive Learning Issues
Adaptive learning can be considered a step in the right direction in terms of equity for the classroom. Adaptive learning seeks to create lesson plans and activities that are appropriate for each individual student. It evaluates their needs and their skills to better educate each person. To create adaptive learning lesson plans, software is used that measures each student's intelligence level, performance, and skills.
Adaptive learning, while an attempt to be helpful, comes with its own issues. It is a very specific learning software, that creates an adapted learning plan for each individual student. If the school that the child attends does not have the finances for this software, they will not be able to participate in adaptive learning. This may increase inequity in education more so than it already is. Also, algorithm bias, which is often coded into the software, may hinder minority students more than assist them. Lastly, the software can be flawed, so it may not always work.
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