assgn5

Running head: CHANGE 1

CHANGE 3

Lua Shanks

Walden University

EDDD-8002

Dr. Jazzer

04-16-2021

Assignment 4

Simple Message Related to The Case Study

Education standards have both negative and positive implications on students. Given that there are general students, special education, English language learners, and gifted learners, there is a need to carefully analyze education standards before adopting them. Standards are generally a clear roadmap for education that enables learners to organize themselves and make concerted efforts towards success. They provide consistency and coherence in education thus providing learners with clear targets for achievement. However, adopting new standards for education may sometimes lead to controversy (Gilday, 2020). For instance, only education experts should develop the standards so that they undertake appropriate research to understand the needs of students and their teachers. Without this, critical issues arise concerning the process of adopting standards, the content of the education standards, and how the gaps in adopting standards will be addressed. More importantly, the controversy around the adoption of standards focuses on the issue of assessment especially in high-stakes assessment, and how they will positively impact learners.

The Three Audiences

The State Department of Education

Education standards aim at establishing a single set of education for K-12 learners. As a reform movement standard will significantly transform the state education landscape. With education standards, the State Department of Education will be eligible for more federal funding, a situation that will benefit state schools. Education standards emphasize critical thinking, problem-solving and effective communication among learners. Research also shows that it will sufficiently prepare learners for higher education hence they have received immense support. This immense support is also partly due to the vocal support by the federal government.

Despite this support, school administrators, parents, teachers, and more importantly learners have not fully supported the adoption of education standards. Although the goals of education standards are potent, their implementation has resulted in serious frustration. First, there is a feeling that the State Department of Education adopted the standards to access federal funding. Although funding has greatly benefited schools and learners, the standards are hurting the quality of education. Also, given that there was no trial period to test for the effectiveness of education standards, it is difficult to confirm whether standards will benefit learners or not (Pak et al., 2020). Teachers are also concerned that the education standards do not encourage professional development. Therefore, there is a need for the State Department of Education to rethink education standards so that they can benefit learners and teachers

Education Specialists

Education specialists are equipped through a professional degree to provide knowledge and theory in education. With advanced proficiency in areas such as curriculum development and special education, they are in a better position to guide the departments of education on how to adopt and implement education standards in a way that can benefit learners, teachers, and parents. Education specialists can therefore provide appropriate recommendations after a careful evaluation of the education system on how to improve curriculum planning, teaching methods, and individual lessons. They have a role to play in the current controversy surrounding the adoption and implementation of education standards.

Education specialists should serve as instructional champions to the departments of education before the adoption of education standards so that they can establish the actual needs of K-12 learners. Through this, they can identify an appropriate mechanism of implementing the education standards in a way that benefits learners (Juarsa, Sasongko & Mashuri, 2021). Learners should feature at the heart of education standards although in most cases their needs are not prioritized. For instance, learners differ in their learning and comprehension abilities yet the education standards tend to overlook these. Education specialists can embark on extensive research to understand the most important needs of different types of students so that they can be captured in the creation, adoption, and implementation of education standards.

Teachers

Teachers are directly affected by the adoption of education standards and thus they have strong opinions about their effects on learners. They interact with learners daily and therefore have a deeper understanding of their educational needs. For instance, the teachers understand the implications of narrowing or expanding the curriculum. This means that they have a role to voice their concerns about the standards so that the Federal and State Departments of Education can see and understand the contentious issues in the implementation of education standards.

They are the implementers of the No Child Left Behind Act that seeks to improve the performance of every child. However, they cannot realize much when the education standards are controversial and lack an effective framework that guarantees success. The education standards tend to be most severe on low-performing schools and students who have to give up certain aspects of the curriculum such as arts to focus on more important aspects such as Math.

Why different types of writing are appropriate for different audiences

An audience refers to a group of people who read a particular piece of writing. The type of audience determines the kind of message, vocabulary, and how to structure the information (Whitney, 2017). Audiences vary in terms of age, education and thus there is a need to adjust information to suit their comprehension capabilities. For instance, when writing to an academic audience, there is a need to have adequate knowledge and information about an issue so that there is a coherent argument. Also, when writing to a non-academic audience, the format and intention of the writing should be appropriate enough so that they understand and make useful deductions from it.

References

Gilday, C. L. (2020). Controversy and the Common Core. A Book Review of Common Core: National Education Standards and the Threat to Democracy. Democracy and Education, 28(1), 12.

Juarsa, O., Sasongko, R. N., & Mashuri, N. (2021, March). Analysis of the Application of National Standards of Education in Elementary Schools. In International Conference on Educational Sciences and Teacher Profession (ICETeP 2020) (pp. 348-355). Atlantis Press.

Pak, K., Polikoff, M. S., Desimone, L. M., & Saldívar García, E. (2020). The Adaptive Challenges of Curriculum Implementation: Insights for Educational Leaders Driving Standards-Based Reform. AERA Open, 6(2), 2332858420932828.

Whitney, A. E. (2017). Keeping it real: Valuing authenticity in the writing classroom. English Journal, 16-21.