Policy Issues in Education Article Review

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Policy Issues in Education

Over the past few years state legislatures and some agencies dealing with education issues have tried to reform public education by taking a close look at tests (especially standardized tests), at teacher tenure, and at the whole idea of evaluating schools through performance measures. An article in The New York Times points out that a group called StudentsFirst has been pushing for the changes mentioned earlier in this Introduction, and their efforts -- and accomplishments -- will be reviewed in this paper.

Eleven States Get Failing Grades on Public School Policies

Led by former schools chancellor in Washington State, Michelle A. Rhee, StudentsFirst has issued a report earlier in 2013 that ranks states according to how well they have applied important reforms to their educational policies. In addition to teacher tenure, standardized tests and the need for charter schools, StudentsFirst has also graded states on how school districts are governed and managed, and on pensions that school districts offer to teachers and staff.

The first thing that jumps out at a reader of this article is that "…no states" received an "A" grade, and only two of the fifty states were given a "B" -- and in both cases it was a "B-" (Rich, 2013).
Those two states getting a "B-" were Florida and Louisiana, Rich explains, and points out that 11 states were "branded with an 'F'" which leads to the obvious point that StudentsFirst has chosen to be a "harsh grader," Rich continues.

When Rhee was interviewed by the Times, she said the StudentsFirst goal was not necessarily to show people "how bad it is," but rather, the goal was to "…show the progress that is being made" (Rich, p. 1). States receiving an "F" grade from StudentsFirst included Alabama, California, Iowa and New Hampshire; states receiving a "D" were New York and New Jersey, and Connecticut got a "D+" (Rich, p. 1). When asked about strategy vis-a-vis the grades given to states, Rhee said she believes that when a child is in a class with an "ineffective teacher"….....

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"Policy Issues In Education" (2013, October 25) Retrieved May 11, 2024, from
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"Policy Issues In Education", 25 October 2013, Accessed.11 May. 2024,
https://www.aceyourpaper.com/essays/policy-issues-education-125545