How student achievement is defined in the current American education system

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24 April 2015
How Student Achievement Is Defined in the Current American Education System
INTRODUCTION
Education has been often defined as a process or method of teaching or imparting knowledge by a learned individual to someone. It usually starts from the school level and then college and university. The basic concept of education is therefore imparting knowledge in a systematic process. Now the question arises who is going to teach? Is he/she truly educated to share knowledge with the young generation? Is the process of teaching correct and appropriate for the children to grasp or understand what is being taught?
It must be admitted that learning systems have changed a great deal from what it was before. Technology and communication system has given unique ways to teach and learn. Moreover, education has spread to all corners of the world and today we hardly find any clan or tribe who is devoid of learning at least the basic systems (Butler et al. 361). Today, direct word of mouth teaching systems have changed. Improvements in communication methods are allowing us to get in touch with each other, exchange ideas, learn new things, work and increase our knowledge faster and easier. Since communication gap has reduced to a great extent, it has made imparting and acquiring education in different fields a lot more interesting. This improvement positively influences student achievement, and it is for the education department to ascertain the standard and achievement level in the current situation.

STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT IN PRESENT AMERICAN EDUCATION SYSTEM
The main theme of our discussion is how American education system presently affects student achievement. Researchers demonstrate that since technology is the most appropriate means to address educational requirements and reach goals, the systems of imparting education right from the school level to the university standard that are being employed by the US educators are simply the best and latest. Moreover, it has been observed that mere knowledge is not the end of education. Complete education includes student behavior, attendance and engagement, a good relationship between the students and educator, parents’ involvement, efficiency in classroom tasks and also administrative standard. Effective implementation of technology will surely lead to the set goals, and the level of student achievement will be higher.
Measuring student achievement is not an easy process. The achievement gap is a subject that is being discussed in the US often as the disparity is being observed in the national test scores among the whites and Asian-Americans who do well and the Hispanic and African-American students. Another important aspect of American students’ achievement that has come to light is that students who come from the other developed countries show better performance as compared to American students who are receiving the latest methods and facilities of modern education (Johnson et al. 532).
Differences in the test scores are being discussed greatly and are being scrutinized to find out the reasons behind this disparity. But regarding the spread of education, it has been found that the rate of college admission, college completion, the standard of courses, and student achievement rates have shown great differences from what it was before. There are fewer absentees and dropouts that indicate that an even American education system is being able to sow the seeds of education even among the most backward people of the US.
Various studies and data collected from different sources have pointed out the main causes of the achievement rates that are lesser as compared to those students who receive education at the American universities and are coming from abroad to study their especially because of the high standard and modern systems of imparting education as well as facilities available in the US (Peterson et al. 16).
Here is a list that shows the larger number of students in the US that show achievement problems:
1. Minority and white students.
2. Both female and male students.
3. Native English speaking students who are not so aware of modern language.
4. Students who belong to the low-income group but are interested to educate themselves.
5. Refugees or immigrants who are learning English language and cannot speak English.
6. Students whose parents have not been to school or college and they are the first generation attending educational institutes.
7. Students from other countries who are not so enlightened but are eager to learn.
The above mentioned categories of students appear to lag behind in their performances as compared to students who come from developed countries especially for higher education and have already achieved the basic graduation degrees or passed the school levels successfully. It is very obvious that students who belong to an educated family and wish to pursue further to do something special and explore new fields of education will score much better as compared to those who belong to the above mentioned group of students. Hence, such comparison is not important. What is necessary today is to improve the standard of basic education at the school levels where the base of education is formed. It is part of the educated authorities to lessen the achievement gaps among students for the betterment of the world at large.
Since this is a much discussed topic and current American education system is focusing on student achievement to a great extent nowadays. A group of educational researchers are studying the causes that circumstances that have created the achievement gaps. They are employing various strategies to bring changes to address this problem. It is not only in the US, but such problems are being noticed in other smaller countries as well. Hence, educators and legislators are employing methods to address the problem in the best possible ways.
CONCLUSION
Although student achievement in the current American education system is being addressed through the adoption of unique strategies, the causes are often complicated and overlap each other. This makes it difficult to determine the exact factors that are creating the serious issue. When there are more reasons for less intelligence and poor performance among students, educators are baffled and are at a loss how to tackle the problem. But improvements in technology and education system, newer methods of reaching out to students as well as their parents and continuous research by educationists to improve the lot of the uneducated masses will surely bring about great changes in the near future.
The fact is, it is important how much effort is being put in by the concerned bodies, whether they are working on the issues or simply discussing the matter is to be ascertained by the higher authorities in order to bring about greater student achievement in the current American education system. There are resources, facilities, and all modern technologies available in the US education system. But it has to be utilized to the maximum to bring in a new educated world.
Work Cited
Butler, S., Marsh, H., & Sheppard, J. Seven year longitudinal study of the early prediction of reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology. 1985. Print.
Johnson, W., McGue, M., Iacono, W. Genetic and environmental influences on academic achievement trajectories during adolescence. Developmental Psychology. 2006. Print.
Peterson, Paul E. and Carlos X. Lastra-Anadón. State Standards Rise in Reading, Fall in Math. Education Next. 2010. Print.