Final Exam. Education Essay. Charter vs. public school

Final exam
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Question 1
Yes, public school districts can assign students to schools to achieve ethnic diversity due to various reasons. One, education diversity boosts the learning outcomes of the students. According to the Century Foundation, exposure to diversity in school promotes critical thinking, and problem-solving capability of the students (Wells, Fox & Cordova-Cobo, 2016). Differences create a rich learning environment where students learn from different experiences and examples shared by their classmates, thereby, promoting their critical thinking and abilities to solve problems. Second, assigning students to schools for racial diversity helps mold students into adults that can navigate an increasingly diverse world in the future (Wells, Fox & Cordova-Cobo, 2016). Today’s environment is demographically different whereby more students of color make up the composition of schools. The integrated schools help children learn how to live in a diverse society and develop a tolerance for diversity, which will help them navigate with ease adulthood and become employable in the diverse job market.
Question 2
“A Nation at Risk” is a predecessor of the “No Child Left Behind policy.” First, because before the ‘No Child is Left Behind policy” came into existence in 2001, thirty years ago in 1983, the then President Regan stood up and raised a report that expressed the worrying state of schools in America (Waters, 2013). The report noted that SAT scores had dropped in both verbal and mathematics, about forty percent of seventeen-year-olds could not write persuasive essays. Second, the NCLB was born out of the failure of “A Nation at Risk” to implement all its targets and the need to improve American competitiveness by expanding Regan’s report. The failure of actualizations of recommendations from President Regan’s report led to the need for another education policy. The Bush administration came in seeking to rectify the state of American education by setting high standards through standardized tests and providing funding to schools (Waters, 2013).
Question 3
Charter schools and traditional public institutions are similar in that, a charter school refers to a primary or secondary public school financed by government funds, thereby free. Similarly, traditional schools are elementary or secondary schools supported by government funds to offer free education (Curran, 2017, Aug 2). Contrary, the two differ in various ways. First, charter schools are run privately while the government runs traditional public schools. Second, the education in charter school follows the guidelines established by whoever runs the school and observes state standards. Contrary, traditional public schools follow a state curriculum and maintain national standards of education. Third, charter schools aim at providing another education option other than traditional public school for students through a focused curriculum. A traditional public school aims at teaching children and utilizing funds provided by the government (Curran, 2017, Aug 2).
Question 4
Establishing the accountability of schools occurs in various ways. The primary method of holding schools accountable is assessing performance through different tests — the high stakes assessment, which evaluates a student’s improvement in their studies and level of performance in two to three subjects such as mathematics, writing, and English. The non-referenced test, which tracks student in other studies and the criterion-referenced test establishes whether a student has attained a particular level of performance (National Research Council, 2002, pp. 60-63). The second way of holding schools accountable is assessing their levels of conformity to regulations. It focuses on ensuring a school is compliant with rules and laws that guide the education system. The schools provide information such as the number of students, qualifications of teachers, and financial audits. Also, the budget for the following year and safety concerns.
Question 5
Vouchers refer to subsidies provided directly to parents to pay for tuition for their children in a school of their choice. The National Conference of State Legislatures states that the American voucher system is a government-funded initiative with public taxes remitted by citizens. By law, the government refunds parents the money they would have used to pay for private school for their kids. The funds, which range between 500 dollars to 25, 000 dollars go directly to the private school of choice or any other type of school a student chooses to enroll (National Conference of State Legislatures, 2018). Here, the funds, usually for a specific year, term or semester go towards funding a student’s full tuition, homeschooling expenses, and extracurricular activities such as sports, art, and music. Also, it pays for vital materials for learning, gifted classes, and remedial classes.
Question 6
Diane Ravitch claims that the increase of charter schools...