by Elizabeth Kells

Created on: December 29, 2009

 The students in America are not scoring as well on achievement test as those in other countries. It is true that many people do not test well but are otherwise very intelligent people. It is unfortunate that does not seem to be the case in America; many of our young people are going into the real world unprepared. National education standards should be used to change that so that the next generation will be prepared to step up.  

National control versus state

In our county it is the state and local governments that make the decisions on our children's education, it does not seem to be working. According to The National Center for Education Statistics (2007), our scale scores for 2007 were not exactly the best. The scale score for reading and mathematics range from 0 to 500.

Our National Scale Scores for 2007

Grade 4 mathematics 235

Grade 8 mathematics 275

Grade 4 reading 219

Grade 8 reading 259

There are some states that did better than others such as California's 4 grade reading scale score of 207 compared to Washington's at 223.  Washington and New York had higher scale scores than most other states in each of the above categories, but they are still below what should be acceptable for our children.  The majority of our children's achievement levels are basic and below. In the state of Florida in 2007, 32% of eighth graders, achievement levels were below basic with only 22% being at proficient, and 5% at advanced level. It is not an opinion, but a fact that something has to be done, our children need better educations. These children are the leaders, doctors, lawyers, and teachers of our future; I do not see how they can be prepared for those roles. The national government needs to step up and do what is needed, because it is obvious the state level governments are not up to the task. As I said previously, some states are doing better that others, the national government can use what works for them and expand on it. It is important that the people determining the best ways to educate our children be in the education field, which has not been the case. How does a person that is not in the educational field have the knowledge needed to determine how our children need to be educated?  The national government can further the success by seeing what works outside of our country and seeing if would be realistic to implement it into our educational system.

Local control over what schools teach  

 Who should have control over the subjects and courses taught in school? The decision should be in the hands of the local and state governments. There are various things that are taught in our schools that are dependent upon where you live. I do have to stress though, that classes such as reading, mathematics, and English must be taught per national requirements. Our government must have the chance and right to be able to educate our children as they have a right to be.

 Resources:

Institute of Education of Science & U.S. Department of Education. (n.d.). Nations Report Card. Retrieved May 26, 2008, from The National Center for Education Statistics: http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/states/profile. asp

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