Education Equality for All As I read chapter 24 of Diane Ravitch's book, Reign of Error, I would agree more and more as I read her point of view. A main focus of the chapter is putting pressure on teachers to focus on mathematics and reading, in order for them to keep their jobs, is not the way to determine whether the teacher should be kept or not. While it is becoming increasingly hard for a public high school to receive the necessary funding to maintain an adept curriculum, the United States government must move away from standardized tests and focus on making well-rounded students. The fact is, simply using standardized tests as a way to determine if a school should retain the necessary funding to provide a good curriculum for its students is a bad idea.
Since the No Child Left Behind act has been established, school districts and top educators have been focusing too much on standardized tests. In order for schools to keep their jobs and receive the proper funding, the students in their class have to test at a certain range. If the students do not achieve that range, the school has a high possibility of not receiving the necessary funding. That possibility entails more teacher firings, smaller classroom sizes, and the removal of subjects deemed "unnecessary." According to Ravitch, "They will pin an A label on a school that gets high scores, even if its students spend all day every day practicing to take tests in mathematics and reading. But such a school is really not a good school, even if it gets high scores and the state awards it an A" (106). While it is great for a school to receive such high marks, there are different ways to gauge a school's success. If the government is adamant in using standardized test scores to determine if a school is truly successful, then there has to be a change in that system. For example, if a school is in a neighborhood that is poor, beat down and receives above-average test scores, it should receive higher marks than a school obtaining higher test scores in an affluent neighborhood. The circumstances the teachers and school are in should always be an indicator for determining if a school should receive high marks, not just test scores.
While schools from affluent neighborhoods are thriving with outstanding curriculum that provides them with music, drama, art, and sports, public education in the poorer sectors of the United States are struggling to even provide the basic education standards. Due to the affluent schools having higher test scores, they will always receive the funding they need to keep their school thriving. The schools that are in cities with higher crime rates and lower graduation rates are always left out due to their sch...
