DQ: Implications of this strategy for diverse learners

According to the National Center for Education Statistics’ report on reading assessment, in 2011 Black students scored 22 points lower and Hispanic students scored 23 points lower than White students (NCES, 2011). This gap in academic performance, also known as the achievement gap, has resulted in increased emphasis on skill development in the early grades. In many states, this has resulted in “pushing down” curriculum from higher grades so that students master this content earlier.

“ Kindergarten is the New First Grade in Texas”, reflect on the following:

Can a state mandated textbook containing content designed for first grade students be part of a developmentally appropriate Kindergarten curriculum?

Also consider the following questions:

What can happen when young children are presented with tasks that are out of the developmental range?

Think about what Kindergartners may internalize about reading and learning if they are faced with tasks that are developmentally out of reach.

Are there ways to increase literacy skills without pushing down curriculum?

Is there anything inherently wrong with increasing the academic rigor of early grades or is the problem in the approach?

What are the implications of this strategy for diverse learners?

I need you to briefly debate the appropriateness of pushing down curriculum.

YOUR POSITION IS A Proponent of pushing down curriculum

You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes.

Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages.

Likewise, large type, large margins, large indentations, triple-spacing, increased leading (space between lines), increased kerning (space between letters), and any other such attempts at “padding” to increase the length of a paper are unacceptable, wasteful of trees, and will not fool your professor.

The paper must be neatly formatted, double-spaced with a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, and sides of each page. When submitting hard copy, be sure to use white paper and print out using dark ink. If it is hard to read your essay, it will also be hard to follow your argument. Get homework help here