Benchmark - Comparison Paper: Unified and K-8/Union High School Districts

Benchmark-Connecting A Philosophy of Education with K-12 Historical Events

Benchmark-Connecting A Philosophy of Education with K-12 Historical Events

Summary of Major Historical and Political Events

The growth development, and evolution of K-12 education system was characterized by major historical and political vents. K-12 refers to a public education system and curriculum in which most Americans are familiar with in the contemporary times. It encompasses 13 grades, kindergarten through to the 12th grade. It is an education system that is embraced not only in the United States, but also in other developed economies such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and parts of Europe. The K-12 education system has been in existence in these nations for more than a century. Presently, it represents the main compulsory education in the United States. While this educational system can be achieved from either publicly or privately funded organizations, children who have attained compulsory school-going age, usually six to eight years, can be enlisted for admission.

The origin of K-12 education in the United States can be traced back to 150 years ago, when Horace Mann put in place a statewide education system in Massachusetts. This system would become the first state to pass school attendance policies in 1852. By 1918, the system had spread across different states in the country as laws were passed for all children to receive compulsory education.

Kindergarten programs were designed before the introduction of compulsory education. While it is not often compulsory in all states and regions, children are required to begin their studies in most states at the age of six years. In case a child is too young to enroll for kindergarten studies. If the kid’s age is too low to allow him to start school, the law may require them to begin it. The term kindergarten is a German concept which stands for children’s garden. This concept was invented by Friedrich Froebel, a renowned self-educated philosophy teacher, who attempted to design a place of guided play for children to entertain themselves. The United States developed the first kindergarten in 1856. In as much as education seeks to meet the learning needs of all groups in Massachusetts, not all institutions provided kindergarten programs.

The year 1918 marked the turning point in the history of the American K-12 education. It was a time when the Education Act of 1918 was passed. Also referred to as the Fisher Act, the law implemented changes in the progressive education. As such, it paved the way for changes in progressive education and enabled many aspects of the K-12 education system that is utilized in the United States currently. At that time the regulators increased the age limit to 14 and explored other areas such as health and accommodation. These changes also resulted in the development of a committee that would report to and make proposals to policymakers regarding educational improvements.

The American learning system was operated by state authorities. During early 1971, 7 jurisdictions had developed precise provisions for education in their respective legal frameworks and were put in place partially on the basis of religion (Vinovskis, 2019). Before the enactment of compulsory school attendance legislation, education was mainly localized and available only to the rich, and included religious doctrines. After the compulsory attendance laws were passed, religious groups such as Catholic rebelled against state policies that required common schooling and instead established private Catholic schools. In the first quarter of the 18th century, the court declared that kids be given the opportunity to participate in educational programs

At the federal levels, financing of educational programs was executed by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare from 1953 ton 1979 (Vinovskis, 2019). Thereafter, the Department of Education was established as an independent state agency that would be tasked with the responsibility of overseeing all educational programs and policies across the nation. By 1950s, mandatory education became well established. However, the K-12 education system was still in its early phases of development. Learning institutions, for example, continued to be widely localized. However, the education was no longer accessible only to the wealthy. Even during the 1950s, segregation by race, occasioned by the Jim Crow laws. These discriminatory policies still formed part of the American public learning institutions within that period. As a result, a major landmark ruling was made by the Supreme Court, which resulted in the desegregation of public schools.

At the turn of the 1950s, the legislative system of the country passed a decree that banned racial segregation in learning institutions. While this decision was faced with resistance, particularly in the Southern region, the federal courts finally attained success. However, this ruling had negative implications for low-income neighborhoods. For instance, many urban and inner schools witnessed a high number of rich or middle-class white families leave and join suburban districts (Vinovskis, 2019). From then on, a significant component of individuals who attended public learning institutions were poor children. This is because students form wealthy backgrounds changed their schools. Therefore, inequalities continues to affect American schooling institutions despite the passing of desegregationist laws across many parts of the country. African Americans and other minority groups, for example, continued to complain of being compelled to attend poor schools as their colleague enjoyed high-quality private learning institutions.

Current Trends and Issues in Education

Various emerging patterns define the modern K-12 education system. One such trend is the emergence of e-learning programs across the country. Indeed, e-learning has revolutionized the educations sector in the United States by increasing access to schooling opportunities for many low-income families. Indeed, the c0ncept of e-learning is a word that has been in existence for the last 20 years. In 1999, for example, the term was conceptualized to refer to a form of learning or education that takes into account the electronic environment. As such, the emergence of electronic systems and technologies has significantly revolutionized the learning environment. It has, for instance, expanded access to a deduction for disadvantaged and underserved populations. Indeed, the broadband, wireless systems have enhanced the practice of the poor and disadvantaged groups gaining access to learning materials electronically at a lower cost than their wealthy and privileged counterparts. In light of the above, there is a need to boost the trend of proliferating electronic technologies to all groups, both low and high-income neighborhoods.

The second trend in contemporary K-12 education is differentiated learning. The modern American and European learning environment are increasingly becoming culturally diverse. In this regard, the modern classroom environment is attracting individuals from different cultural, religious, racial, and ethnic groups. As a result, educators and instructors are devising strategies through which they can meet the learning needs of a broad number of individuals at any particular point in time. One such approach, for example, should entail performing a cultural needs assessment and evaluation. Doing so ensures that all the learning needs of the identified student population and their cultures are taken into consideration.

Finally, one emerging pattern that characterizes the modern learning environment is homeschooling. In this regard, many students are increasingly embracing the homeschooling model of acquiring knowledge. This learning approach is founded on the concept of self-directed learning. Students who embrace this learning approach hold the view that they can perform the knowledge acquisition role on their own without supervision from their instructors. In its widest perspective, self-directed learning refers to the process by which people take the initiative, with or without the support of their instructors to acquire knowledge and empower themselves. In so doing, they can diagnose their learning needs with the help of their instructor. In light of the above, self-directed learning takes into account the distinct learning needs of a specific group of students and develops intervention towards their level of engagement and performance. Tin the process, it is important to identify the level of human and material resources for learning, selecting as well as implementing the most appropriate tools, and infrastructures to optimize the process of knowledge acquisition.

Philosophy of Education

Vision

The core vision is to empower all children within K-12 school-going age, and even the youth and adults to get quality education regardless of their socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and other demographic characteristics. Since all Americans have the right to education, it is imperative to ensure that all interested individuals receive quality education especially citizens from low income families. In this regard, appropriate effort ought to be put to ensure equitable treatment of all students regarding the quality of education. For a long time, there have been disparities regarding the quality of education offered in the US depending on a variety of factors such racial discrimination, political impact on education, inequitable distribution of educational resources, and socioeconomic stratification (Fong & Faude, 2018). Therefore, effective socioeconomic and policy measures need to be taken so as to ensure that all students from all socioeconomic backgrounds get high equitable and quality education.

Mission

The mission for improving the quality of K-12 education in the US includes elimination of socioeconomic inequalities such as racial discrimination, and economic stratification based on individual or family income (Vinovskis, 2019). For a long time, politics has played a major role in causing socioeconomic inequality to the extent that some communities such as Latinos and African-Americans have been underprivileged intentionally in economic, political, and social domains. In order to achieve equality in education, it is crucial to establish socioeconomic equality and bridge the disparity gaps that exist between low and high income populations respectively. Socioeconomic gaps can be reduced by empowering low income populations economically by establishing income-generating activities, and technical economic support systems at the community level to increase their strategic socioeconomic growth prospects (Fong & Faude, 2018). Additionally, all education stakeholders have to collaborate and cooperate and find appropriate ways of improving substandard K-12 learning institutions. Historical and political injustices and discrimination have caused great differences in schools in low income and high income communities. Most if not all schools in low income communities are of lower quality than those in high income communities (Fond & Faude, 2018). Therefore, bridging the disparity gap between the schools in both neighborhoods would require a holistic approach in which the federal government, volunteers, and education officers can work on ensuring equal distribution of educational resources in all public schools.

The objective of such initiatives is to increase the quality of education in low income-community K-12 schools to meet the same standards as those of high income-community schools. Furthermore, it is imperative to break the barriers associated with school choice and landscape. For example, students from low income communities should be allowed to apply for admission in high performing schools in a balanced way rather than within their low income-community poor performing schools (Vinovskis, 2019). School-choice location has been used by high income families and socioeconomically privileged populations to intentionally avoid low-income students and schools, and non-White students, a situation that is perpetrated by negative attitudes and stereotypes of low income populations and communities (Fond & Faude, 2018). Therefore, the key stakeholders need to initiate strategic programs and policies that would enable students from low-income communities and underperforming schools to go to high performing schools.

Values

The core values include empowerment of students to utilize their interpersonal and intellectual abilities by supporting them using ethical and socially appropriate ways that would enable them view education positively. All students are appreciated regardless of their abilities, disabilities, and demographic characteristics (Lo & Hew, 2017). Therefore, all children and individuals interested in learning in K-12 schools should be cared for through all possible ways in order to increase their survivorship in the society. In light of the socioeconomic stratification in the society, equitable education is the solution to empowering populations from all backgrounds to create the life they prefer to live in the future. All stakeholders including students and teachers are respected and appreciated, and their concerns should be taken seriously. It is therefore imperative to collaborate, communicate, and support the community in the dimension of education in respectful and optimistic ways that would not lower the self-esteem of the students, parents, and any other stakeholders in education so as to increase cohesion and cooperation.

References

Fong, K., & Faude, S. (2018). Timing is everything: Late registration and stratified access to school choice. Sociology of Education, 91(3), 242-262.

Lo, C. K., & Hew, K. F. (2017). A critical review of flipped classroom challenges in K-12

education: Possible solutions and recommendations for future research. Research and practice in technology enhanced learning, 12(1), 4.

Vinovskis, M. A. (2019). History of testing in the United States: PK–12 education. The ANNALS

of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 683(1), 22-37.

You did a good job of describing a number of key events in US education history. I would, however, have liked to have seen more organization and depth of discussion on current trends in education and analysis on their impact on leadership strategies, classroom practices, and student outcomes. Your philosophy of education was well supported but it became difficult to clearly identify. I am most concerned by the lack of references for what is clearly borrowed information. Even paraphrased information must be cited according to APA.