{"id":1820,"date":"2012-04-04T23:12:35","date_gmt":"2012-04-05T03:12:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/?p=1820"},"modified":"2012-04-04T23:12:35","modified_gmt":"2012-04-05T03:12:35","slug":"research-proposal-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/2012\/04\/research-proposal-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Research Proposal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Research Question:<\/strong> How have budget cuts and the varying importance of SAT results shaped public school curriculums over time and which components of a well-rounded education have suffered most as a result of these budget cuts?<\/p>\n

Relevance: <\/strong>Just as elementary schools have adjusted curriculums to \u201cteach to the test\u201d in order to improve scores, high schools have also adjusted their curriculums in order to produce higher SAT scores and improve their college matriculation.\u00a0 As schools become underfunded they must decide which components of a child\u2019s education must be sacrificed so that they can still receive a proper education while also attempting to receive a well-rounded education.\u00a0 As budget cuts increase, schools are being forced to cut programs that do not directly translate into test results, and important programs such as the arts and athletics are suffering within schools and students are no longer receiving the education across the same variety of subjects that used to receive.\u00a0 This research project will observe how schools have adjusted their curriculums in correspondence to the fluctuating importance of the SAT when compared to grade point average.\u00a0 I would also like to observe how these curriculum adjustments have affected college matriculation in order to compete with more privileged private schools.\u00a0 Recently, more privileged families have used their resources in order to ensure that their children will be able to receive all the benefits of a well-rounded education, however students without such benefits have suffered.\u00a0 Initially it seemed that schools were making the smart decision to prioritize SAT scores and linked them directly with a student\u2019s preparation towards college success.\u00a0 Recently, those opinions have begun to vary as schools are now attempting to find ways to ensure that students are able to participate in a variety of classes and activities in order to maintain an interest in school and motivate students further to want to succeed at the high school and college levels.<\/p>\n

Research Strategy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The first component of my research involves searching online databases for articles involving SAT importance in high schools since its installation in 1926.\u00a0 Articles were also researched that examined the severity of budget cuts within certain schools and observing which programs were more generally favored when those cuts were enacted.\u00a0 The research covers budget cuts more specifically within the last fifty years as the SAT became more established as a factor for college admissions and observing how public school curriculums were adjusted in order to more greatly aid students succeed in the SAT and allow the schools college matriculation to improve.<\/li>\n
  2. I have contacted Stephen Wallace, the former directors of Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) for an interview and he has agreed to discuss the importance of a well-rounded education while also highlighting the additional risks teenagers face when schools are not able to create a more well-rounded environment due to schools not being able to provide the programs, and when the importance of the SAT is stressed to older students, they are also prone to enter high-stress environments that can affect teenagers without the benefits of other programs to help them.<\/li>\n
  3. I am also considering contacting some of my peers that transferred from their local public schools after programs that they had been heavily involved with had been cut from the school.\u00a0 These interviews would establish the present danger that public schools face when a well-rounded education was sacrificed in order to prioritize programs that focus towards SAT results and programs that were more traditionally recognized to aid college matriculation.<\/li>\n
  4. I am also planning on looking through Trinity College\u2019s admissions records and observing how the percentage of applicants from public schools has changed over the last fifty years, and comparing them to data that will compare the SAT scores of average student, the average public school student, and the average private school student.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Resources:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Gewertz, Catherine. “SAT Scores: A Gauge of College Readiness?”\u00a0Www.edweek.com<\/em>. 14 Sept. 2011. Web. 1 Apr. 2012.<\/p>\n

    Robelen, Erik. “Budget Pact Deals Blow to Literacy, History Programs.”Www.edweek.com<\/em>. 13 Apr. 2011. Web.<\/p>\n

    Wallace, Stephen Gray: Former CEO of Students Against Destructive Decisions.\u00a0 Author The Reality Gap<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Research Question: How have budget cuts and the varying importance of SAT results shaped public school curriculums over time and which components of a well-rounded education have suffered most as a result of these budget cuts? Relevance: Just as elementary schools have adjusted curriculums to \u201cteach to the test\u201d in order to improve scores, high … Continue reading Research Proposal<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":161,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/161"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1820"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1896,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1820\/revisions\/1896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/commons.trincoll.edu\/edreform\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}