If I Were Queen of the World

If I was Queen of the world and I could change anything about our education system that I wanted, I would start with changing standardized testing. How is one test that is taken on one day a correct representation of a student’s abilities? It's not. A student might not be a good test taker or they are having a bad day. These tests are a big deal; things like the ACT's decide whether a college will admit a student. I would have the students in and out of class work be represented. I would also spread out finals over the course of 3 days. There would be two tests a day to create more time for students to spend studying.

 
Grading would be changed to reflect the student’s effort in and out of class.  Instead of having only tests in the grade book there would be more points awarded for completed homework and in class activities. There would also be set grades, instead of having a 89.9% in a class the student would be either moved up to an A or down to a B. This would be a signal to the student so that they would know whether they need to be putting in more effort or rewarding them for doing well.

 
The next thing that I would do as Queen would be to implement some of the things happening in schools in China. In China they call on the students that are struggling with a concept to do it in front of the class instead of calling on the kids that know the answers. Of course the kid raising their hand and blurting out answers understands the concepts but what about the kid sitting next to him struggling? There would be severe consequences for blurting out answers because everyone needs the chance to try to answer questions. There needs to be more focus on getting everyone to get to the same level of proficiency.

 
If I were Queen there would be more High School elements implemented in Middle Schools there is too big of a gap between the two. There would be more emphasis on studying and test taking to prepare for High School. Time management is a skill that should be developed before High School.  Making sure that students are more prepared for High School will make them more successful. I think that Middle School is too easy right now. It needs to challenge kids more so that they have the knowledge to be successful in High School.

 
Early education would be changed to focusing on skills such as foreign languages. It is better to start learning a language as young as possible. This will help kids develop the skills needed to learn another language so that when they get older they can choose to learn a third language.

 
I believe that these changes would improve our education system and make sure that American students can compete with foreign countries. Making sure that every student has the same opportunities and resources would be a priority.