“How Children Succeed” by Tough

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According to the research, that is given in the How children succeed: Grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character, students need to cultivate particular skills, which most likely would lead to success in further academic area, graduating college in particular. The author claims that there are five features, also called leadership principles, which the program OneGoal needs to underline and encourage; these are resourcefulness, resilience, ambition, professionalism, and integrity (Tough, 2013). These qualities are believed to help students to advance their grades; therefore, they will be able to graduate college eventually. The OneGoal program is designed to develop these non-academic abilities and help juniors to survive through college, as the American schools failed to build a mechanism that would inculcate these skills. However, once a student becomes an adult, it could be quite difficult to instill these qualities; it comes to the point that if the person has the makings of them, he or she is more likely to succeed in graduating.

ACE Tech (ACE Technical Charter High School) is a public 4-year school, where architecture, construction, and engineering are studied. According to the statistics, this educational institution is not known for its success; for instance, in 2009 only 12% of the students passed the achievement exam. OneGoal is the program, which was introduced to ACE Tech in 2009 and later became a standard. This program has two main purposes: to grant admission into high-quality college for students and to prove them they always can get smarter and better. The main strength and advantage of the OneGoal is providing students with fundamental skills and knowledge that will help to improve their grades. While the traditional American educational institution never had the intention to provide necessary deep thinking, give inspiration for learning and confidence during difficult times; the OneGoal program teaches everything said above. The second point of the program is to work on college planning with juniors; moreover, students receive guidance through applications and college-admission.

The college conundrum is: “Why are so many American students dropping out of college just as a college degree has become so valuable and just as young people in the rest of the world have begun to graduate in such remarkable numbers?” (Tough, 2013). During the 20^th century, the USA held up the standards of the educational system high; moreover, the quantity of the graduates who passed through it with acceptable grades was immense. Up to the middle of the 1990s, the college graduation percentage in the United States was extremely high, even the most excessive in the world; moreover, the same rate in the educational systems of developed countries was only half as much. However, now the situation is changing promptly, and the USA have passed forward several countries that are experiencing the increase in college graduation; moreover, the rate of graduates from colleges has fallen in twelfth place. This raises the college conundrum in the United States.

According to the research, the ability to graduate college can be predicted by two factors. First of all, the tendency among high school graduates is to exaggerate their capabilities, thus applying to a college that demands more knowledge and skills than they have. Secondly, the best predictor of whether a student would succeed in graduating from college is the Grade Point Average (GPA). Therefore, going through college demands the same qualities and skills, which guarantee high grades during high school.

CSET is short for the California Subject Examinations for Teachers; it has been developed by the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) for future teachers who choose to or are expected to meet specific qualifications for certification by taking examinations. As I chose to be an elementary teacher, I would have to earn a Multiple Subject Teaching Credential, which consists of several disciplines: reading, language, and literature, history and social science, mathematics, visual and performing, physical education and human development.

In order to obtain the credential, a student has to take TED courses; moreover, students have to do teaching or fieldwork in the school. The Liberal Studies degree requires getting an average of 15.5 units per semester and four years of studying. Next it will be a year and a half of education to complete the credential. Getting a CSET degree is crucial for my teaching career; for this reason, the individual preparation is necessary. For a CSET preparation, I will need to study and pass the training tests, which I will download from the given website. Then, I will carefully read and follow all consistent pages of the CSET Tips, especially for the Physical Education section.

The Smarter Balanced is a system presented by the University of California in Los Angeles; it is administered by territories of several states and financed by the expenses of these states. The main purpose of Smarter Balanced is advancing and expanding the new estimating system, which would determine the student movement towards college with the utmost precision. This service is designed exclusively for those students, whose career will be related to mathematics and ELA (arts and literacy).

The Smarter Balanced Assessment System gives to students an opportunity to demonstrate their abilities by taking computer-adjusting assignments and performance exercises. Moreover, this service has three main units, which are aimed to uphold the process of teaching and learning during the whole year. Those are the Summative Assessments, the Interim Assessments, and the Digital Library (Smarter Balanced, 2013). The belief that lies at the basis of the Smarter Balanced System is that an assessment technique of high capacity can advance schooling and training. It could be achieved by supplying the material and means for educators and educational facilities to assist students in graduating. By providing purposeful and relevant information regarding the regions of performance, several objectives are being pursued. Firstly, teachers are able to implement the intended instructions; secondly, students are able to estimate their skills and to focus their energy and efforts in the right direction. And last but not the least, the authorities and policymakers will have an impression on what students are willing to do. This information is necessary for them to set out a schedule and make decisions on professional improvements.

Furthermore, the Smarter Balanced assessments differ significantly from tests that are embedded in the modern education system. Based on the website of the system and the practice test introduced on it, I can say that the list of differences is quite significant, “including writing at every grade, new question types, and performance tasks that ask students to demonstrate an array of research, writing, and problem solving skills” (Smarter Balanced, 2013, para. 2). Moreover, the adaptive computer electronics have been introduced in the assessments in order to implement more precise data about the accomplishments of the graduates.

As a result of online administration of the assessments, the educators and authorities are able to obtain the end-of-year outcomes of the undergraduates within weeks. This is also a reason for quickly analyzing the results of the tests, checking the students’ improvement and planning the program for the next year of education.

According to the assignment, I had to take all practice tests that are introduced on the website and match the grade I have chosen. The answer to the frequently asked question on the website suggest that “the Practice Test allows teachers, students, parents, and other interested parties to experience a full grade-level assessment and gain insight into how Smarter Balanced will assess students’ mastery of the Common Core. The Practice Tests mirror the year-end assessment” (Smarter Balanced, 2013, para. 2). As I decided to be an elementary teacher, I took Practice Tests for the 3d-8^th grades.

While taking the practice test, I have noticed that the tasks are somehow different from that are given to students during school. As for my opinion, these tests are a reflection of what skills students will need while solving real-world problems. So, the Smarter Balanced test was difficult in some questions; however, it was more practical than questions previously given in educational facilities.

To take the test, the students have to possess skills in basic mathematics, logics, spatial perception. The Smarter Balanced test is designed to help educators and parents understand the abilities of children; furthermore, having taken this test showed me which abilities and knowledge students need in order to succeed. Teachers have to take this test for giving their students a better basis for studying.

Reference

Tough, P. (2013). How children succeed: Grit, curiosity, and the hidden power of character. New York: Mariner, HMH.

Smarter Balanced Assessement Consortium. (2013). Web.

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“How Children Succeed” by Tough

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