Colorado College Education and Students Lives Question

Part 1

do you think that high stakes testing is necessary to assess school achievement and track school improvement?

Explain your reasons why or why not. 

• How do you think the opt-out movement is affecting these tests?

Do you think that parents who opt out their children from these tests are making a statement or hurting school test scores? 

• Respond to one of your classmates.
• State whether you agree or disagree with their answers and why.
• Part 2

Differentiation is essential in today’s classroom. Students who have learning difficulties often have accommodations such as the ability to use computers or extra time when completing assignments. To reach students who have different learning needs, teachers give students choices to demonstrate mastery of a skill or subject. For example, instead of taking a unit test, students can choose between turning in a portfolio of work, submitting a research report, or creating a poster project. 

• Discuss the validity and reliability of these accommodations and alternate assignments. Is there justification for giving alternate choices to demonstrate proficiency or mastery of a skill or subject? If so, when and how should students be given a choice? 
• Part 3

Pretend you were a teacher in the Atlanta school district during the time of the cheating scandal from this week’s readings. You suspect that your fellow teachers are changing answers to increase their scores. There is extreme pressure from the superintendent for every class to receive exemplary scores or risk getting fired. 

Discuss:

Part 4

• Describe at least three feedback techniques that you can incorporate in your classroom to encourage a growth mindset. One feedback technique must be for a formal assessment such as a test or a major project.  

Respond to at least one of your classmates. How can you ensure that the feedback described is helping students achieve and not just picking on them for their mistakes?

Part 5

Post an objective from a lesson that you teach, have taken as a student, or would like to teach. 

• Describe the intended student for the lesson and objective. 

Write one fill-in-the-blank question, one multiple-choice question, and either a true-false question or a matching exercise question to test that objective. 

EDU 505

• Part 6 
• Several contemporary issues will be covered in this course, but as you work through the readings for this week that look back on the history of education in the United States, including the importance of it and the difference in the way the U.S. educational system functions when compared to Europe, consider what might be the most pressing issue facing education in the United States. What will have to be addressed in the next five years? 

Identify the issue you believe to be the most pressing and explain why you believe it to be the most pressing. Be sure to provide a rationale and support for your explanation with academic sources. Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts. Do you agree that the pressing educational issue identified is an important and urgent one? Why or why not?

Part 7

• Watch the video, Condition of Education (COE) 2019 Highlights.
• Looking back at the last week’s discussion, in which you identified the most pressing issue facing U.S. education, has this issue been highlighted in the annual report? Do you see evidence of its importance? Consider whether this issue has an impact on your current or desired role in education. If it does not have an impact on your role, explain your current or desired role and why it is not affected by this issue. If it does impact your role, explain how it affects you specifically.

Do you think this issue exists in other countries, particularly developing countries? Why or why not? 

Part 8 

Select a non-Western country to research. look for content from the last three years that addresses contemporary education in your selected country. Identify both your chosen country and the issue, then explain the issue. Be sure to support your explanation with the sources you identified. Consider whether this is an issue in U.S. education as well. Why or why not? Could it be an issue in the future? Has it been an issue in the past?

• What major differences in the two countries might account for differences you observe in the issues that you identify when compared to what is seen in the United States? Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts. Comment on the differences seen in the United States versus what is seen in other countries with regard to the selected issue.
• Part 9 

there are gaps in education—not only in the United States but in other countries as well. There are also several contributors to these education gaps. Identify from the readings or from additional research, one of the contributors to the education gap in the United States. Explain how it came about and how it contributes to the education gap.

Offer at least two potential ways to decrease the effects of this contributor to the education gap. Be sure to support your response with academic resources. Be sure to respond to at least one of your classmates’ posts. Comment on the gaps identified and offer one additional strategy for decreasing or closing the gaps.

Part 10

Identify a piece of education legislation that was recently passed at the local, state, or federal level (within the last two years). Review the details of the legislation. Determine how your legislator or representative voted on the issue. Write a letter to the legislator, thanking him or her for voting as he or she did, and explaining why you agree with his or her position or voicing your displeasure with how he or she voted. Explain your reason or reasons for disagreeing and outline your position in the letter. Be sure to provide a rationale to back up your position.

• Post the letter to the discussion forum. Comment on the letter. Do you have similar legislation in your state or region or school district? What is your position on this legislation? Do you support it? Why or why not?