Aligning Curricula

Is it just me, or is this something that all states should be doing? Shouldn't high school prepare you for college? Especially this day in age, where college is really necessary for many professions. I'm glad that Texas is finally tackling this issue, but I am not sure if aligning the curricula of their high schools and colleges is the best way to lower their remediation rate.It might address the low college-going rates, but I wonder if there are other factors behind the low college-going rates in Texas.

I think that aligning the curricula may increase the retention rate of Texas high school students in college, but I am not sure how it would increase remediation or college-going rates. I believe that there may be other factors that could be attributed to the high remediation rate in Texas. For instance, teacher quality is not mentioned in this article, but may have a big effect on remediation rates. Furthermore, low college-going rates could be attributed to students not applying to colleges, or to inadequate school counselors.

While curriculum alignment is definitely a step in the right direction, I hope that Texas continues to evaluate their education system. I also hope that other states take the same steps in aligning their high school curriculum to college preparedness.

Aligning Curricula

Educating English Language Learners

Considering that English Language Learners (ELLs) are one of the fastest growing groups of students in the United States, I found this article very concerning. According to this, many states are not keeping track of the graduation rates for ELLs. Even though NCLB requires that this data is reported by different subgroups, including ELL status, 13 states still do not report the information to the public or the U.S. Department of Education. Some states don't even report the numbers accurately.

While I believe that graduation rates for ELLs is an important data point, I think it is also important to keep track of other areas of student achievement for ELLs. Achievement data has shown that ELL students lag behind their peers. Comparing achievement by the different methods of language instruction would shed some light on which methods are working the best and for whom.

In 2001, NCLB requires that states have English-language-proficiency standards that are linked to state academic standards to ensure that student improvement in English-language proficiency also results in a better understanding of the academic content. Furthermore, NCLB mandates that states must implement English-language-proficiency tests to ensure that their is progress for ELLs.

At the moment, there are four commonly used teaching methods for ELLs:

• English immersion - instruction is in English


• English as a second language - may be similar to immersion, but also may include some support to the students' native languages (classes can consist of students with different native languages)


• Transitional bilingual education - some subjects are taught in the students' native language for part of the day and the rest of the day is spent on developing English skills (classes consist of students who share the same native language)


• Two-way bilingual education - instruction is in two languages

With the ELL population becoming a higher proportion of the student poplation in the United States, I think it would be beneficial to have a study on which programs have the best student achievement and the highest graduation rates for ELLs. Obviously for this study to occur, we need clearer data. This would especially help the states with little previous experience with immigrants, but now have an increased number of ELL students, such as Arkansas, Georgia and North Carolina.

Educating English Language Learners

More Data Collection

Secretary Duncan requested better data collection from states as part of the stimulus package. As an education researcher, I completely understand the need for more complete and accessible data from the schools, districts and states in regards to education. And while making it a requirement for more funds seems reasonable, I wonder if states have the capacity to report this data. Are all states even collecting the data that Secretary Duncan is requesting? It seems to me that funds to build the infrastructure for data collection and reporting would be needed.

In addition, it would be great if states were using compatible systems so that data sharing between states would be possible. This would be useful in tracking students that move from state to state. As of right now, if a child moves from one state to another that does not have a compatible data system, a lot of information is lost. This even happens within states, when students move from district to district.  Perhaps an effort to have compatible data analysis systems across districts, states and between K-12 and higher education, so data collection is continuous.

Having this data would inform important policy decisions, such as curriculum, and teaching.To learn more about what Secretary Duncan is requesting, please look at the NYTimes article.

More Data Collection