Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Government role in Education

Recently, I have been very interested in Elementary Education. I have been researching about the government role in U.S. education and I have found two very important Acts, which I am going to focus on this blog post. 
The first Act I have found is the Common Core. This is when the government sets the guideline of what is expected from the students at each grade. It also focuses on the core concepts since early grades, so that the students have basics and key concepts well developed. The Common Core standards have the purpose of maintaining a high quality education and preparing the students for their future. This requirement brings out benefits, because it allows teachers know in what ways they can help their students according to their level. The second Act is the No Child Left Behind Act, which includes various requirements from the schools. The government requires all schools in the States to bring up all the students to a specific level. Every school has to meet the "adequate yearly progress target." The schools that do not meet this goal, they receive technical assistance from the government and the students are given a choice to move to another public school. The students that fail to meet this 3 times in a row receive special assistance, such as tutoring. Every school has the obligation to test their students in the fields of Mathematics and Reading, and provide annual report cards for each student. The No Child Left Behind Act does not only refer to the students, but also teachers. The government requires teachers to be highly qualified and certified in all the subjects they teach. They have to be professional and proficient when teaching, and have to be able to answer any type of question asked. One of the most standing positive aspects of this act is the educational improvement made for the disadvantaged students. It helps students with struggles to receive a good education just as the other students. 
From what I have researched, I find the government act in the schools positive. The government sets the basic guidelines that a school should follow, such as report cards, the subjects that the students take, teacher requirements,etc. I believe government should have some control over the developments of schools as long as it does not take out the innovation and style of teaching of the schools itself. Just as the Common Core and the No Child Left Behind Act suggest, the government will play the role of assuring good education and future of all the students. 

Monday, February 10, 2014

My Introduction

My Introduction

My name is Eun Byul Cheon. I am 18 years old and as you may have already noticed by trying to pronounce my name twice or more, I am Korean. I have lived in Peru my whole life, specifically since I was 3 years old. I do not plan to stay in Peru to make a living for the rest of my life. I plan to go back to Korea to study and probably make my living there.

Through this blog, I not only plan to complete each assignment I have been given in my Economy class, but also to gain knowledge and interest about a career I have been pondering a lot about. I was mainly going to investigate and write about public education, but I thought this was a great opportunity for me to get to know the possibilities I have with this career choice. The job I have chosen to write about in my blog is elementary education. I became interested in this career when I was offered to help as a teacher assistant in the EFL program. I hope I find more similarities as I research and post more about it.