Educational Assessment of a Public School in U.S

By Sudipa Sarkar

Introduction

Education, the term coined from Latin word e-ducere implying ‘to lead out’, can be defined as a framework in which organized teaching and training of students take place. Pedagogy is the art and science of being a teacher, where education is the applied form of pedagogy which includes the system constituting of theoretical and pragmatic research on the basis of teaching and learning. In ancient Greece Socrates the great philosopher, described education as the medium which has the ability to draw out the potentiality that is within the learner, to make him realize about his wisdom that already exists in him. On the other hand, the Sophists explained education as a mode of promise to provide the learners the required knowledge and abilities in order to attain positions within the city-state. In contemporary framework, education in the U.S is offered primarily by government along with regulation and subsidy coming essentially from three levels – federal, state and local. The learners go through either of three modes of option – public, private or home schools in order to solve their educational purpose. This paper aims at analyzing the educational standard of Jeffco Public School to put a special emphasis on the purpose of education, administrative role, teachers’ role, nature of learner and learning decorum in this particular setup and standardize it with prospective expectations.

Background of the Study

Jeffco Public School, situated in Colorado, is one of the renowned public school in United States. It consists of near about 85,000 pupils and is branching over 148 segments altogether. Among these branches, it comprises of 129 neighborhood schools, 9 option schools focusing on special education and 10 charter schools. According to school census (2005-2006), the population of students in school combines 1.1% American Indians, 3.6% Asians, 1.9% Blacks, 17.4% Hispanics and 76.1% Whites.

Purpose of Education

A purpose can be defined as the ultimate goal of the process of education. In some instances, the transmission of knowledge has been considered as the primary purpose of education, while the application of knowledge acquired from school setup to the real world is occurred as a result of the processing of knowledge, a phenomenon identified as the function of the education (Oakes, 1986). According to the vision statement ascribed by Jefferson County, the system believes in equality of learning for all students. The ideology of the school is to focus on the areas where students become able to attain their highest potentialities, as reported by the community. Now, as it is quite evident that, the purpose itself is an articulated objective, thus effort needs to be put towards attainment. On the other hand, function is a subjective aspect and assumed to take place without direct intervention. Hence, the design of the purpose needs to facilitate few significant components –

Acquirement of knowledge in the frame of past of present context inclusive of mathematics, science, literature and history

Enhancement of decision making policies by means of promoting capabilities for evaluation of information

Development of behavioral education focusing on building both psychological and physical health and abilities

Promotion of programming into cultural context

Enhancement on knowledge of moral exercises and ethical standards pertinent to culture and society
Development of self-esteem, self-efficacy, personal development, rational decision-making strategies
The Jeffco Public School focuses on the essential ingredients of education and it focuses on the instructional services assuring the standardization of content and educational equity along with norms defining family literacy, corresponding with the body of research supporting the efficacy of family literacy initiatives (Lesar, et al., 1997) and multiracial education by enhancing equality, stability and autonomy with an understanding of cycle of education.

Administrator’s Role

Administrative aspect is one of the significant components of public school educational context. A proper administration actually governs the system of school at different levels of implementation and it works principally distinctively but interdependently by following few strategic procedures such as –

Freedom and Responsibility
Legality and Constitutionality
Methods of Teaching

Educational Policies

In Jeffco Public School, the administrative structure is categorized under various sub-headings –
Board of Education – The Board of Education is composed of five governing body members serving the community to put their focus on specific area of the county. The service is absolutely done as volunteer service and the members offer their service for free.

Superintendent – Hold by Dr Stevenson who is focusing on implementing administrative strategy for lessening the difference between the achievements of students. In addition to that, Dr. Stevenson directs endorsement, employs strategic planning as well as manages projects and events in major districts.

Chief Academic Officer – The Chief Academic Officer’s role in administrative service is to manage educational service, intervention service, grant and entitlement as well as event management.
Apart from these positions, the administrative system is divided into several other segments including support services, human resources, communication services, community superintendents and cabinet following different roles to promote optimum service in the areas of accounting, construction, information technology, food, planning and design, recruitment management to name a few.
Jeffco Public School is in practice very rich in facilitating administrative service.

Teacher’s Role

Teachers can be considered as one of the primary sources that influence an individual’s behavior, attitude, thinking pattern, decision making strategies throughout the entire life (Nieto, 2000). A teacher has his own set of beliefs in relation to the nature of knowledge and the way of acquirement of the knowledge among students. For example, a teacher might find it uncomfortable and inhibiting any argument on topic during a classroom session, while the other teacher might find it as requirement and encourage it further (Anyon, 1980). However, the teacher’s role differs from the role of administrator’s role by virtue of their differences in contribution in the arena of education (Barnett, & Fallon, 2007).

In order to have a control on this set of bias, Jeffco Public School promotes assessment of teachers in various disciplines as well as the community has developed several modes of operation to define the code of conduct and standardized norms for defining teachers’ competence in educational assessment of students.

Learning Environment

Jeffco Public School provides a significant mileage in educational system in general. In addition to conventional mode of studying, Jeffco Public School also contributes both ends of the education continuum by offering special education for students with learning disabilities as well as education for gifted students. Moreover, their focus entails a holistic approach while providing education integrating family education (Harding, 1996) and multiethnic perspective taken into consideration.

Their learning standard includes a quality team of educators who continuously work on the requirement of students and their potentiality by putting emphasis on the philosophy of learning. The learning standard of Jeffco Public School meets the requirement of state’s model content standards.
According to the principle of the school, the nature of the learner primarily include all varieties of students combining the area of students with disabilities, equality among students irrespective of creed, caste, religion and race, students with special abilities (Bell, 2002).

Prospective Learning

Jeffco Public School is aligned with the state endorsement process for developing their strategic plan. The school can improve its scope of service by enhancing identification and definition of beliefs and exercises that promote student success and put systematic approach into practice extending across grade levels. The learning potentiality may increase with the proper implementation of stuff recruitment enhancing classroom instruction by continual encouragement of effective learning process in order to improve student learning.

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