Are Charter Schools Being fair?

Just recently in my other classes I have been learning about charter schools and their attempts to encourage parents to have options in school selection for their children. I grew up in a very rural town and we had a public school or a private school. Those two choices were the only options we had. I had no clue that there were magnet schools and other schools that were distinguished excellence.

According to the article entitled “Charters: Students with Disabilities Need Not Apply,” the Obama administration would like to see an uprising of more charter schools in the United States. Charter schools are designed to give parents the right to choose which school they desire for their child to attend. Charter schools are able to keep their funding as long as their academic performance is high. However, students with disabilities do not necessarily have a positive effect on receiving funds due to low test scores.

Inevitably, there appears to be an imbalance of students with disabilities enrolled at these particular schools. “These schools may appear to produce superior results, but they do so without serving comparable populations and while enjoying advantageous funding” (Hehir, 1). With the desire for more charter schools, policymakers are encouraged to address the issue of the imbalance number of students.

Efforts are being made to ensure that charter school education remains available to all types of people, including those who have disabilities. Three steps were suggested to the policymakers to act as guidelines for keeping students with disabilities in charter school. They are as follows, “ monitor charter schools, and enforce federal law where necessary, consider reducing reimbursements to charter schools failing to enroll representative populations of students with disabilities, and, provide support to charter schools in serving students with disabilities,”(Hehir, 1-3). These steps are intended to help hold charter schools accountable to the students with disabilities rights’ under the IDEA, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

With policymakers stepping into action, more children with disabilities will now able to attend charter schools.I feel that the attempts presented to the policymakers have a positive affect.It will help to create a safer and more welcoming environment for parents with disabled kids to completely have the opportunity to chose which school is the best choice.

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Hehir, Thomas. “Charters: Students with Disabilities Need Not Apply?” EdWeek. 30 Jan. 2010 http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/01/27/19hehir_ep.h29.html?r=1794837409.

Texting Improves Literacy Skills

Today’s technology has increased at a rapid rate. Various benefits have arisen due to the advancements in technology. One of the benefits can be linked to the infamous cell phone feature, text messaging. According to the article entitled “Texting’ Improves Literacy, British Study Finds,” text messaging can enhance one’s literacy skills if it is practiced on a regular basis. Because it is one of the most popular forms of communication, texting has become a culturally universal mark of the world due to the fact that many people have heard of texting and know how to text.

Several people have often heard the many fears that come along with texting. One of the fears associated with text messaging is that it may decrease ones’ literacy skills. However the small study of sixty-three children between the ages of eight and twelve proves that texting messaging essentially improves these skills. It improves skills by having to sound out the words before typing them. Sounding the words out helps in reading and comprehension skills (Robelen, 1).

The majority of phones have a spell check tool with their text message feature. Using a spell check helps the person texting to see what words were misspelled and how to correctly spell them. So many people have become dependent on the spell check feature. In a world that relies on technology for various reasons, a new improvement in education has emerged due to text messaging.

From my own personal experience I have found this study to be true. I have noticed an increase in my spelling due to sounding the words out before I type a text message. I can honestly say that I do not know of anyone who does not utilize their text feature on their phone. With that being said, many people young and old are brushing up on their literacy skills. We depend on technology for so many reasons.Thanks to the recent advancements in technology we are virtually able to see our literacy skills improve. A simple perk of texting is an improvement in literacy skills.

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Robelen, Erik. “Texting’ Improves Literacy, British Study Finds,” EdWeek. 23 Jan. 2010 http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/curriculum/2010/01/texting_improves_spelling_brit.html?qs=Eric+Robelen.

Encouraging Girls to Tinker

When I was a little girl I remember wondering why my dad would ask my brother to help fix the lawnmower or my bicycle, but I was not asked to help. I would stomp my feet, stick my lip out, and pout. My dad in his traditional way would ever so sweetly explain to me that I was a girl and my brother was a boy. Boys did boy things and girls did girl things. I was not encouraged to tinker in tasks that were looked upon as a role of a different gender. Fortunately for my dad, I was a tomboy and would prove to him that I could do it too. This meant that I had to lay my Barbie dolls aside and head to the farm whenever I saw an open opportunity.

According to "Teaching Girls to Tinker," girls are becoming just as good academically as boys. Recent studies have noted an increase on girls' math testing scores compared to that of boys. I feel that this is an exciting accomplishment and opportunity for many reasons. Now girls can have more confidence in learning about subjects that used to boggle their minds.

Tinkering means to meddle with or to fix an object that is broken. Like my experience with my dad, many girls are not encouraged to tinker. This old fashion and traditional way of thinking needs to change. Girls are capable of tinkering just like boys. Raising the standard of expectations for girls will enable them to wonder about how things work or why something is made a particular way.

However, there is still a negative factor that discourages many girls from tinkering. Adults such as parents and teachers are not allowing girls enough time to tinker. Girls are not given the patience from their elders to figure out how to repair broken items. Boys are expected to figure out how something works and they are given the time to determine how an object should be repaired. Teachers who give girl students the time to tinker in or outside of the classroom will more than likely see an interest in mechanical reasoning.

Encouraging girls to tinker will benefit them in many ways. It will help them in their reasoning skills, mechanical skills, math skills, and science skills. Also, girls who tinker may show more interest in majoring in engineering fields as well as computer science fields. I feel that now is the time to encourage girls to tinker.

Damour, Lisa. "Teaching Girls to Tinker." EdWeek. 15 Jan. 2010 http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2009/11/11/11damour.h29.html?qs=girls+education

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