Description: This is
a VOA Special English Education Report.
See text below
Text:
Americans are considering
national education standards recently developed by
teachers
and other education experts.
The National Governors Association and the Council
of Chief State School Officers led the effort.
The United States, unlike other nations, has never
had the same school standards across the country.
The reason? Education is not discussed in the
Constitution.
That document limits the responsibilities of the
federal government. Other responsibilities, like
education, fall to the individual states. Local
control of education probably was a good idea two
hundred years ago. People stayed in the same place
and schools knew what students needed to learn.
But today, people move to
different cities. And some people work at jobs that
did not exist even twenty years ago. Many American
educators say that getting a good education should
not depend on where you live. They say that some
states have lowered their standards in order to
increase student
scores on tests required by the
No Child Left Behind Act.
Kara Schlosser is communications director for the
Council of Chief State School Officers. She says the
new standards clearly state what a student should be
able to do to be successful in college and work.
The standards deal with language and mathematics in
every grade from kindergarten through high school.
For example, in first grade, students should be
asking and answering questions about something they
read. In mathematics, students should be working
with shapes
in kindergarten and angles in
fourth grade. Forty-eight states have already shown
approval for
the standards. Two states reject
the idea. Critics say that working toward the same
standards in every state will not guarantee
excellence for all. Some educators in Massachusetts
say adopting the proposal will hurt their students
because the state standards are
even higher. Others say the change will be too
costly, requiring
new textbooks and different kinds
of training for teachers.
Still others fear federal interference or control.
Supporters say the standards
are goals and do not tell states
or teachers how to teach.
They also say the federal government is not forcing
acceptance.
However, approving the standards will help states
qualify for some federal grant money.
And that's the VOA Special English Education Report.
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Hi. I
personally reviewed this video and found it appropriate for
the news section of English Global Group. This
is a Voice of America video which covers an interesting
topic in Special English. I would appreciate some feedback from both
students and teachers about this video. You can comment in
the window below using any of a number of different services
including Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, and Hotmail.
