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18 Reasons the U.S. Education System is Failing

Once upon a time, enthusiasts designed a formal education system to meet the economic demands of the industrial revolution. Fast forward to today and, with the current global economic climate, it seems apparent that the now established education system is unable to meet the needs of our hyper-connected society – a society that is in a constant state of evolution. Let’s examine 18 problems that prevent the US education system from regaining its former preeminence. Check out ExamSnap for all your exam needs.   Parents are not involved enough. Of all the things out of the control of teachers, this …

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Year-Round Schooling: How it Affects Students

The traditional school year, with roughly three months of vacation days every summer was first implemented when America was an agricultural society. The time off was not implemented to accommodate contemporary concerns, like children needing “downtime” to decompress and “be kids,” but was born out of economic necessity. In fact, the first schools that went against the summers-off version of the academic calendar were in urban areas that did not revolve around the agricultural calendar, like Chicago and New York, as early as the mid-1800s. It was much later, however, that the idea as a whole gained momentum. A survey …

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There’s more than practice to becoming a world-class expert

D. Zachary Hambrick, Michigan State University and Fredrik Ullén, Karolinska Institute Some people are dramatically better at activities like sports, music and chess than other people. Take the basketball great Stephen Curry. This past season, breaking the record he set last year by over 40 percent, Curry made an astonishing 402 three-point shots – 126 more than his closest challenger. What explains this sort of exceptional performance? Are experts “born,“ endowed with a genetic advantage? Are they entirely “made” through training? Or is there some of both? What earlier studies show This question is the subject of a long-running debate …

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4 Ways to Improve Parent Involvement in K-12 Learning

By Matthew Lynch Students benefit when there are parent-school partnerships surrounding their school work. However, it is not always easy to promote such a culture of shared responsibility, especially given the great time demands placed on parents and teachers today. Schools may face difficulty in attaining an efficient collaborative framework among stakeholders, which include teachers, parents, students, the community, and the administration.  Trust between schools and parents, in particular, is vital for creating a healthy learning environment. So what can be done to foster stronger relationships between parents and teachers, administrators and whole schools? 1. Encourage collaboration. In general, parents …

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Social Constructivism in Education

According to the theory of social constructivism, social worlds develop out of individuals’ interactions with their culture and society. Knowledge evolves through the process of social negotiation and evaluation of the viability of individual understanding. Basically, every conversation or encounter between two or more people presents an opportunity for new knowledge to be obtained, or present knowledge expanded. The exchange of ideas that goes along with human contact is at play here. In order to apply social constructivism theories in the education arena, teachers and school leaders need to shift and reshape their perspectives. Both must move from being “people …

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3 Reasons Kids Should Spend More Time in School

In the past, I’ve advocated for K-12 schools to abandon the traditional summers-off school calendar and switch to a year-round one. There are many benefits to year-round schooling—including consistency, less time spent relearning material, and the implications that year-round schooling has for closing the achievement gap. But there’s another piece to the puzzle that deserves a closer look. Here are three reasons kids should spend more time in school. We have too much time off, anyway. Let’s look at where American schools rank right now when it comes to days in school versus time off. Thirty states require schools to …

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5 Steps America’s Schools Must Take to Reclaim its Spot on the World Stage

The United States entered the 21st century as the world’s sole superpower. Our diplomatic strength, military might, financial resources, and technological innovation were, and continue to be, the envy of the world. However, in the crucial area of education, the U.S. lags behind many other developed countries. Although the U.S. spends more per student than almost any other country in the world, international exams have demonstrated that we consistently perform well behind countries such as South Korea, China, Japan, and Finland in the areas of reading and math. Why is it happening and what do we, as Americans, need to …

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Why the K-12 Blame Game Benefits No One

By Matthew Lynch With skyrocketing costs, budget crises, inconsistent curricula, poor standardized testing scores, and poor morale among teachers, administrators, and students, the need for sustainable and pervasive educational change is greater now than ever before. The number of questions related to the quality of the U.S. educational system from multiple sectors of society is at an all-time high. Many American parents have seen reports that American schools rank well below schools in countries such as China and Japan, or have heard President Obama declare a “dropout crisis.” An abundance of news reports and discouraging case studies has created panic …

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Why The US Education System is Failing: Part IV

In thinking about the future of education in this great nation, we are inspired by innovation and simultaneously dejected by the slow implementation in many K-12 educational settings. While colleges and universities seem to implement new practices, policies and technologies at a fast pace, K-12 institutions are relatively sluggish. This is not only a disservice to students, but also problematic for the economy at large. Better access to top-notch education starts before Kindergarten – not after a high school diploma has been earned. In the final part of my series, I continue to examine the problems hindering the US education …

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Playing the Blame Game

With skyrocketing costs, budget crises, inconsistent curricula, poor standardized testing scores, and poor morale among teachers, administrators, and students, the need for sustainable and pervasive educational change is greater now than ever before. The numbers of questions related to the quality of the U.S. educational system from multiple sectors of society is at an all-time high. Many American parents have seen reports that American schools rank well below schools in countries such as China and Japan, or have heard President Obama declare a “dropout crisis” in the USA. An abundance of news reports and discouraging case studies has created panic …

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