What education issues will you see in your child’s classroom this year?
It seems these days that the new school year is surrounded by question marks and issues that affect everyone from administrators to teachers, students to parents. In particular, it’s important for a parent to be aware of what might be coming down the road so they can formulate opinions and figure out courses of action.
Here are the issues in education that you might hear about during this upcoming school year.
New standards, new assessments
For many states, this year marks Year One in the Common Core implementation. Everyone who signed up has installed the standards and has supposedly been using them to prepare students for the past few years. If your state did not join the Common Core, or withdrew itself during the process, they will also be implementing new standards soon (or risk losing federal funding). This year, the rubber meets the road.
Of course, coming along with the new standards will be new, redesigned assessments. Tests from PARCC and Smarter Balanced are, with few exceptions, computer-based and take up the technology resources of every school during the testing period. They were field-tested last school year without any major issues. They will now be used in most Common Core states.
BYOD
With existing technology resources stressed in most districts due to the new tests, many are coming around to the idea of Bring Your Own Device, or BYOD. Under this policy, students are not only allowed to bring their devices to school (let’s be honest; they were anyway)—they are encouraged to use them in class.
Smart districts have very strict guidelines and appropriate-use policies when they implement BYOD. You’ll want to read these when they come home. Also, protect your child’s device as much as possible with a case, screen protector, and extra charger.
Student-centered learning
Student-centered learning first took shape in the 90’s under the concept that students should learn in their own individual tendencies and interests rather than strictly going through a subject-based curriculum. As more and more mandates came down from the politicians, the idea was judged as not feasible and was abandoned.
Although the mandates haven’t gone away, the idea is back mainly because the next generation of standards call for more real-world learning examples and because technology is allowing for more differentiated learning without taking as much of a toll on the teacher. If your child finds itself in a student-centered classroom, expect things to be a little less structured and self-paced. This might take a little more monitoring to make sure they are following the guidelines.