Annotated Bibliography

Aguirre, E., Brock, W. E., Biggins, J. V., Black, J. P., Brockett P. L., Burdick, W. E.,

Burge, J. D., Carswell, B., Chapman, T. W., Cole, P. F., Conn, G. J., Cortina, G., Doyle, F. P., Foreman, J. H., Foster, B. G., Gregory, W. H., Herrera, Y., Martin, L., Jennings, M. P., Palko, S., Patterson, J., Parnell, D., Resnick, L. B., Rivera, R.E., Semerad, R. D., Sticht, T. G., Watts, G. D., Wetjen, S. M., Whitburn, G., Zimmerman, J. H. (2000). U.S. Department of Labor: What Work Requires Of Schools: A Scans Report for America 2000. The Secretary’s Commission On Achieving Necessary Skills, June 1991, i-36.

 

http://wdr.doleta.gov/SCANS/whatwork/whatwork.pdf

 All young Americans should leave high school with the know-how they need to make it in the real world; less than one half of our students have the knowledge or foundation required to find and hold a good job. The nation’s schools are failing to develop the full academic abilities of most students and utterly failing the majority of poor, disadvantaged, and minority students. It is proven that low skills lead to low wages and low profits. SCANS, The Secretary’s Commission on Necessary Skills have compiled a set of foundations and competencies needed to perform in the workplace and in further education, in many cases simultaneously.

Cornfield, I. R. (2002). Learning-To-Learn Strategies As A Basis For Effective Lifelong

Learning. International Journal Of Education, 21(4), 357-368.

 Great changes have occurred in our world regarding education, technology, and the economy. With these revolutions, the nature of work, skill, and knowledge have changed in the way of being more cognitively demanding. The importance of incorporating the teaching of cognitive and metacognitive skills in the classroom will give students the lifelong learning skills needed at all levels of schooling and beyond in the world of work. Curriculum needs to be adjusted to include learning-how-to-learn. Once students learn ultimately how they learn, then these skills can be applied to lifelong learning skills for success in the ever-advancing future.

Glaser, R., Silver, E. (1994). Assessment, Testing, and Instruction: Retrospect and

            Prospect. Review of Research in Education, 20, 393-419.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/1167389

 Assessment is both part of the problem and part of the solution. There is evidence that suggests both sides of the argument. Assessment other than high stakes tests can be used as a valid measure of the performance and thinking students foster. These other types of tests such as selective testing and performance based testing can be used in addition to the state and national tests. What we must teach our students is that there is more than one right answer to a single problem and standardized tests do not leave room for the critical thinking and reasoning that accompanies this real life application of education and life skills.

 

Packer, A. (2007). Meeting Standards Will Not Guarantee Success. Fairtest, The High              School Assessments Forum: Oakland Mills Interfaith Center, 2003, October 21.

 What determines success? – High test scores or skills needed for lifelong learning and the work force? Educators need to think about what the economy is going to look like for the students they are teaching now who will enter the work force in the future. Today, many jobs have already been moved across seas due to globalization and computers are taking over jobs once done by humans. Employers want creative problem solvers, decision makers, collaborative team players, effective communicators, and life long learners, but high stakes assessments are hindering these valued skills. A math test may take away from an art lesson and that art lesson may have given the student who thinks creatively a job with the Ford Company who needs a new design for their Taurus, which is no longer attracting consumers. Also, assuming that all students are alike by giving them the same standards-based tests is unfair because not all students learn and retain information in the same way. What is wanted is more productive workers, more informed citizens, more lifelong learning, and more developed human beings. 

http://www.fairtest.org/meeting-standards-will-not-guarantee-success

Madus, G. F. (1988). The Distortion of Teaching and Testing: High Stakes Testing and

            Instruction. Peabody Journal of Education, 65(3), 29-46.

 Tests are losing their legitimacy on testing students on their learned knowledge due to the “teaching of the test.” This corrupts the information that the students have learned and therefore know because instead of retrieving the information from long-term memory, they are memorizing test material and format. The scores are no longer valid because memorizing stock sentences as prompts for example, is not an indicator of how well or creatively one can write. It has now become an assessment of the student’s ability to recall memorized information.

http://www.jstor.org.ezproxy.montclair.edu:2048/stable/pdfplus/1492818.pdf

 

Wallis, C., Steptoe, S., (2006, December 18). How To Bring Our Schools Out Of The

20^th Century. Time Magazine, 51-56.

 We need to take our schools into the 21^st century and prepare our students for the uncertainty they will face in the world ahead of them. Advances in technology and our global economy will have tremendous effects on what the world will look like for students when they enter the work world or even adulthood. Students need to learn more about the world, think outside of the box, become smarter about new sources of information, develop good people skills and redefine how they learn. The curriculum needs to be adjusted to incorporate a balance between core knowledge and portable skills such as critical thinking, making connections between ideas and knowing how to learn. It is suggested that the curriculum of the United States should become more like those of Singapore, Belgium, and Sweden, where students out perform students on math and science tests. In these countries key concepts are taught in depth and smaller textbooks are used to focus on the powerful and important ideas instead of forgettable details. Also, the curriculum should be more interdisciplinary to help students to think creatively aiding in the production of new breakthroughs in technology and such.

Synder, L. G., Snyder, M. J. (2008). Teaching Critical Thinking Skills and Problem

            Solving Skills. The Delta Epsilon Journal, L(2), 90-99.

 Students who are able to think critically are able to solve problems effectively. Having knowledge is simply not enough in today’s world. To be effective in the work place and in personal lives, students must be able to solve problems and make effective decisions; they must be able to think critically. Thinking critically should be implemented by teaching students how to think, instead of what to think. Unfortunately, standardized curricula and the focus on “teaching the test” undermine the educator’s ability to address critical thinking in the classroom. Also, on standardized tests, students cannot apply critical thinking skills; instead they are only recalling facts. This type of assessment does indicate the student’s knowledge and understanding of the idea, concept, or content area being assessed.