“Even more startling is that we hold teachers accountable
for student achievement, yet provide them little opportunity to develop rich
understandings of how people learn.” Pg 2
I believe that teachers are held accountable for many things
that they in reality do not have control over. Teachers are blamed for student
failure, however the teachers should not be blamed. I believe that MOST
teachers that choose this profession are truly passionate about their job. To
prove this is the pay they get for the amount of work they do. They do not get
paid nearly as much as they deserve and yet they are blamed for things they do
not have control of. Instead of providing these teachers with effective
training and resources they are in contrast limited and belittled.
“Need to address the fact that many linguistically and
culturally diverse students have fewer opportunities to learn and to
participate fully in robust learning communities.” Pg 4
Teachers lack training in dealing with culturally diverse
students and this is another area where teacher development is required. Change
will come only if there is an equitable distribution of resources in schools
and society. Most public schools are labeled “culturally diverse” however; they
are in reality segregated from the elite, wealthy, white students who are
placed in private and prestigious schools. I believe that this is not really a
just placement of diversity in schools. This is another point however, so for
now I will talk about how change in schools will come only when resources and
the same opportunities rich, white kids receive in their schools is distributed
to the “diverse” student populations in all public schools. How are they
supposed to overcome and be successful when they are not given the same
opportunities and resources for learning as other privileged kids? When the
less privileged students are given the resources they need and robust learning
environments then this is when they will be successful.
The reading about high-stakes testing discusses how the tests
in reality are not helpful in increasing student learning. The tests do not
show any improvement in student learning because there is no clear evidence
that proves it. The tests result in other consequences such as higher drop out
rates, cheating, and less learning and more memorizing. The tests bring stress
and a tense learning environment for our students and teachers. I believe that
the tests are a systematic way to keep English learners and minority groups who
are low social economic status segregated from the wealthy students population.
