Domestic Policy Issues -Education-

1. Domestic Policy Issues-Education- Kelsey Reifert Karen Robb Erik Luebke Josh Aldridge

2. Domestic Policy by Definition • By definition, domestic policy “presents decisions, laws, and programs made by the government which are directly related to issues in the country.” • Can be related to anything from gay mairrage, to stem cell research, to one of today’s biggest, most involved, and most argued policies, that of education and two of it’s most important stages.

3. Universal Preschool Should it be required of the states or left to the parents?

4. Pros and Cons Pros cons • Studies show significant positive outcomes for children who attend preschool, especially children who are "at risk.“ • Higher chance of continued education beyond high school for those who attended preschool. • Government can’t even support higher education schools properly, how will they support universal schooling? • Some argue that the first education in social interactment should be made by parents, not the government.

5. UniversalPreschool.com • One of a number of websites devoted to getting parents to connect with their children instead of having them attend a government funded school at an early age. • This is just a fraction of the many who believe mandatory universal preschool is a bad idea, for whatever reason. • Any support in favor of universal preschool seems non-existant, at this point.

6. Standardized Testing Good Practice or Bad Idea?

7. Pros and Cons Pros cons • Easier to grade • Less time-consuming • Easier to administer • Know all students who move on to the next grade level will all be on the same education level • Holds students accountable to the same standards, leading to achievement gains • Effects how teachers teach their students, and usually affects how much meaningful learning takes place in a classroom • Some teachers will do anything to help raise the test scores • Cultural differences may lead to mis-interpretation of questions, ruining scores of brighter students

8. Teacher Accountability “…in this age of urgency about standards, it has become a code phrase for blaming teachers. It means not just that teachers are supposed to be responsive to the needs of students or to provide high-quality instruction, but that they must see that their students have high test scores—or else.” –ntcm.org

9. Teacher Accountability • With standardized testing becoming more and more important, teachers often give up on the finer details and focus on keeping test scores up, no matter the cost. This can hurt not only the student’s preparedness for higher education, but the relationship any student-teacher relationship if the teacher enters an impartial mindset, seeing not a child ready to learn, but another mindless mass of students who must have top notch test scores.

10. Government Education Policies No Child Left Behind (NCLB), isn’t one of the first, but definitely one of the most discussed and argued policies implemented by George Bush JR. When boiled down, it essentially increases the standards of accountability of states, school districts, and schools, as well as increasing parent’s choices of where to send they wish to send their child to school.

11. Citation • Paloaltoonline.com • Universalpreschool.com • Msu.edu • Ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml