Rqbt1 Task 1 Wgu

Thesis Statement and Annotated Bibliography
Western Governors University

Thesis Statement

Research suggests that the United States educational system is failing our children because of the outrageous dropout rate among high school students, the low ranking of U.S. students among member nations of the OECD’s PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) test and due to the enormously influential teachers unions that put politics and power above children and their education.

Annotated Bibliography:

Chapman, C., Laird, J., Ifill, N. & KewalRamani, A. (October 2011): Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States 1972–2009. U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012006.pdf This source gives assessments of rates in 2009, its offers information regarding tendencies in dropout and completion rates from 1972– 2009, and looks at the physiognomies of high school dropouts and high school graduates in 2009. There are four rates given to deliver a clear view of high school dropouts and graduates in the U.S. These rates are the National Event Dropout Rates, the State Event Dropout Rates for Public High School Students, the National Status Dropout Rates, the National Status Completion Rates, the General Educational Development (GED) Credentials and National Status Completion Rates and the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rates for Public School Students. The information in this report is extremely reliable with the researched being conducted by Chris Chapman who is employed with the National Center for Education Statistics, Jennifer Laird and Nicole Ifill who are with MPR Associates, Inc., which is a research and consulting firm that specializes in education and Angelina KewalRamani who is with the Education Statistics Services Institute American Institutes for Research. This study is well researched and provides solid background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show how American students are dropping out of school at the high school level at an alarming rate. (Chapman, C., Laird, J., Ifill, N. & KewalRamani, A., 2011)
Alliance for Excellent Education (March 2012): The Nations High Schools. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/UnitedStates_hs.pdf This is a short compilation of facts from the Alliance for Excellent Education about the economic importance of earning a high school diploma, the need to improve high school completion rates, improving literacy rates based on race and ethnicity, and it points out the fact that about 10% of all high schools produce more than 40% of the countries dropouts and most state tests overestimate student proficiency. In addition, this report discusses the states that have adopted college-career ready standards and the importance of using comprehensive state data systems to drive academic improvement. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show how our high school dropout rates are affecting our economy, and to prove the disproportionate difference between the graduation rates amid White, Black, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian students. Although no author is named the information contained in this report, it is reliable with the researched coming from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012)

Alliance for Excellent Education, Fact Sheet (September 2010): High School Dropouts in America. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/HighSchoolDropouts.pdf This report discusses the number of students who are dropping out of our high schools as well the percentage of students per ethnic group that are dropping out. It also talks about why our students are dropping out and where the students are dropping out from, with the majority coming from approximately 2,000 low performing high schools on the East Coast. Although no author is named the information contained in this report is reliable with the researched coming from such sources as the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the University of Chicago, University Publications Office and Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show the economic importance of combating and reversing the extraordinary high school dropout rate in America, to help the reader have a better understanding of why our students are dropping out of high schools across the nation and to pinpoint where (location, ethnicity and income levels) we need to focus our efforts. (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2010)
Kerachasky, S. (2010): PISA 2009 Results. National Center of Education Statistics: U.S. Department of Education. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international study that assesses educational structures worldwide by testing the abilities and knowledge of 15- year-old students. Every three years, an indiscriminately selected group of fifteen-year- olds take tests in reading, math and science, with emphasis placed on one subject in each year of assessment. The tests are intended to gauge to what extent students at the end of compulsory education, can apply their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full involvement in society. The results of the 2009 PISA test will be used to prove the point that American students are not performing at the same levels as students across the globe and that they are falling behind at an alarming rate. The information contained in this report is provided by Stuart Kerachsky, the Deputy Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences, and U.S. Department of Education. This report provides adequate background information on my topic from sources such as Fleischman et al. (2010). Highlights from PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2011-004). This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Kerachasky, 2010)
Zhao, E. (July 27, 2012): Education Olympics: How Does America Rank Compared To Other Countries. Huffington Post This editorial makes a comparison of how well Americans perform in the Olympics compared to how well we perform academically against other nations. In the report it shows that Americans greatly outperform other nations in the Olympics, but foreign students are seriously outperformed American students academically. This report will be used to show how Americans put a greater emphasis on sports than we do on academics and how students in third world countries are making improvements in academics two and three times faster than students in America. This report was written by Emmeline Zhao, the Huffington Post 's Associate Education Editor. Emmeline wrote for The Wall Street Journal 's Economics desk and she is a graduate from Duke University, earning a degree in Public Policy Studies and a certificate in Policy Journalism and Media Studies. The Huffington Post which was launched on May 9, 2005 is an American news website founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Jonah Peretti, containing columnists and various news sources. In July 2012, The Huffington Post was ranked #1 on the 15 Most Popular Political Sites list by eBizMBA Rank. This report is reliable with the research coming from the Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, OECD’s PISA 2009 test results, Worldbank.org and the U.S. Olympic Committee. This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Zhao, 2012)
ARMARIO, C. (December 27, 2010): Wake-up call: U.S. students trail global leaders. Associated Press This article written by Christine Armario, a journalist for the Associated Press, discusses how American students are not performing at the level that they should be performing at in relation to students of 34 OECD member nations participating in the 2009 PISA. The article also talks about why Chinese students outperformed the other nations’ students and how the United States spends more money per student, on average, than other countries, with the exception of Luxembourg, and how nations like Estonia and Poland achieve at about the same level academically as the United States, while spending less than half the amount per student. This report will be used to examine the difference between the highest performing countries versus the United States and to discuss what they are doing differently them us. In addition, the report will be used to pinpoint some things that the United States in starting to do right in the fight to catch up to the world academically. The Associated Press was founded in May 1846, and it operates 243 news bureaus and it serves at least 120 countries, with an international staff located all over the world. This article is a reputable and reliable source of information. This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Armario, 2010)
Moe, T. (2011): The Staggering Power of the Teachers’ Union “A look at the most powerful force in American education — and it isn’t a force for good”: Hoover Digest 2011 no. 3 Edition. This article discusses the phenomenal amount of political power possessed by the teachers unions, how the unions negatively influence education in this country by putting their special interest needs before the wellbeing of our students and how they protect teachers who are not performing at an acceptable level. It furthers discusses the 13 “Rubber Rooms” which are holding amenities for the New York City Department of Education, where more than 600 teachers accused of misconduct were paid full-time wages to do nothing for months or even years at a time while pending resolution of their cases. The information obtained from this article will be used to show how difficult it is to get rid of “bad” teachers due to tenure and the union’s political influence and power, as well as how much money these teachers are costing the U.S. educational system each year. This article was written by Terry Moe, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 education, and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University. He is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organizational theory. Although there are no sources mentioned in this article to substantiate the information, I believe based on Terry Moe’s experience, knowledge and expertise in this field that the information contained therein is reliable. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Moe, 2011)
Center for Union Facts: Teachers’ Unions Exposed (2012): America’s Education Crisis. http://teachersunionexposed.com/blocking.cfm The “Teachers Unions Exposed” focused on three main points – how our teachers’ unions, primarily the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) block education reform, protect bad teachers and prevent international competitiveness. This website also discusses how teachers’ unions fight to keep tenured teachers employed who are not performing at acceptable levels and the huge political donations made by teachers’ unions to various political campaigns. The information obtained from this article will be used to show how teachers’ unions utilize union dues to gather political strength to put pressure on politicians so that they can control educational reform. Although there is no author listed for this source, I believe it to be a sound and reliable source of information. The Center for Union Facts has collected information on teachers unions from all throughout the country. The Center for Union Facts obtained some of its data from reputable sources such as the Internal Revenue Service 's Master Data File 2008-2009, the U.S. Department of Education, Highlights from PISA 2009 and the New York Times. The Center for Union Facts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by foundations, businesses, union members, and the general public. This website provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Center for Union Facts, 2012)
Pullmann, J. (December 14, 2012): Teachers unions steer clear of Race to the Top. Washington Times This article discusses how teachers unions across the nation are not willing to take money in the short term that may weaken their long-term influence. According to the article, state and local unions’ object to Race to the Top (RTT), the $4.35 billion in federal aid from the Stimulus Package for states to improve their educational systems. The unions also push for a policy that is often called “last in, first out.” This policy requires school leaders to hire, place and fire teachers by seniority rather than teacher quality or school need. Seniority rules merge union power because older teachers tend to agree more with their unions disposition than younger teachers. This article will be used to show how teachers unions care more about their influence over the educational industry and their own selfish interest than they do our children and what’s in their best interest. Joy Pullmann is managing editor of School Reform News and a research fellow in education at the Heartland Institute. Information for this article was taken from research conducted by Scholastic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Washington Times was founded in 1982 by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate. This article provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Pullmann, 2012)

Miller, R. & Chait, R. (December 2008): Teacher Turnover, Tenure Policies, and the Distribution of Teacher Quality “Can High-Poverty Schools Catch a Break?” Center for American Progress This research paper, which was conducted by the Center for American Progress and written by Raegen T. Miller and Robin Chait, Senior Education Policy Analysts at American Progress, discusses competitive disadvantages that high poverty schools face in attracting and retaining high-quality teachers and how tenure reinforce the probabilities that students in high-poverty schools will be allocated habitually ineffective teachers. The information in this research paper will be used to show how tenure policies play a vital role in the failure of the U.S. educational system and in preventing the U.S. economy from being globally competitive. The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute. Some of the sources for this research paper came from the U.S. Department of Education: National Center for Education Statistics, “Teacher Attrition and Mobility, Stanford University: Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice and the National Council on Teacher Quality. This article provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Miller & Chait, 2008)

Bibliography: Chapman, C., Laird, J., Ifill, N. & KewalRamani, A. (October 2011): Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States 1972–2009. U.S. Dept. of Education, National Center for Education Statistics Retrieved from http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012006.pdf This source gives assessments of rates in 2009, its offers information regarding tendencies in dropout and completion rates from 1972– 2009, and looks at the physiognomies of high school dropouts and high school graduates in 2009. There are four rates given to deliver a clear view of high school dropouts and graduates in the U.S. These rates are the National Event Dropout Rates, the State Event Dropout Rates for Public High School Students, the National Status Dropout Rates, the National Status Completion Rates, the General Educational Development (GED) Credentials and National Status Completion Rates and the Averaged Freshman Graduation Rates for Public School Students. The information in this report is extremely reliable with the researched being conducted by Chris Chapman who is employed with the National Center for Education Statistics, Jennifer Laird and Nicole Ifill who are with MPR Associates, Inc., which is a research and consulting firm that specializes in education and Angelina KewalRamani who is with the Education Statistics Services Institute American Institutes for Research. This study is well researched and provides solid background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show how American students are dropping out of school at the high school level at an alarming rate. (Chapman, C., Laird, J., Ifill, N. & KewalRamani, A., 2011) Alliance for Excellent Education (March 2012): The Nations High Schools. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/UnitedStates_hs.pdf This is a short compilation of facts from the Alliance for Excellent Education about the economic importance of earning a high school diploma, the need to improve high school completion rates, improving literacy rates based on race and ethnicity, and it points out the fact that about 10% of all high schools produce more than 40% of the countries dropouts and most state tests overestimate student proficiency. In addition, this report discusses the states that have adopted college-career ready standards and the importance of using comprehensive state data systems to drive academic improvement. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show how our high school dropout rates are affecting our economy, and to prove the disproportionate difference between the graduation rates amid White, Black, Asian, Hispanic and American Indian students. Although no author is named the information contained in this report, it is reliable with the researched coming from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2012) Alliance for Excellent Education, Fact Sheet (September 2010): High School Dropouts in America. Retrieved from http://www.all4ed.org/files/HighSchoolDropouts.pdf This report discusses the number of students who are dropping out of our high schools as well the percentage of students per ethnic group that are dropping out. It also talks about why our students are dropping out and where the students are dropping out from, with the majority coming from approximately 2,000 low performing high schools on the East Coast. Although no author is named the information contained in this report is reliable with the researched coming from such sources as the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the University of Chicago, University Publications Office and Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. This information will be incorporated into the research paper to show the economic importance of combating and reversing the extraordinary high school dropout rate in America, to help the reader have a better understanding of why our students are dropping out of high schools across the nation and to pinpoint where (location, ethnicity and income levels) we need to focus our efforts. (Alliance for Excellent Education, 2010) Kerachasky, S. (2010): PISA 2009 Results. National Center of Education Statistics: U.S. Department of Education. The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is an international study that assesses educational structures worldwide by testing the abilities and knowledge of 15- year-old students. Every three years, an indiscriminately selected group of fifteen-year- olds take tests in reading, math and science, with emphasis placed on one subject in each year of assessment. The tests are intended to gauge to what extent students at the end of compulsory education, can apply their knowledge to real-life situations and be equipped for full involvement in society. The results of the 2009 PISA test will be used to prove the point that American students are not performing at the same levels as students across the globe and that they are falling behind at an alarming rate. The information contained in this report is provided by Stuart Kerachsky, the Deputy Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Institute of Education Sciences, and U.S. Department of Education. This report provides adequate background information on my topic from sources such as Fleischman et al. (2010). Highlights from PISA 2009: Performance of U.S. 15-Year-Old Students in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy in an International Context (NCES 2011-004). This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Kerachasky, 2010) Zhao, E. (July 27, 2012): Education Olympics: How Does America Rank Compared To Other Countries. Huffington Post This editorial makes a comparison of how well Americans perform in the Olympics compared to how well we perform academically against other nations. In the report it shows that Americans greatly outperform other nations in the Olympics, but foreign students are seriously outperformed American students academically. This report will be used to show how Americans put a greater emphasis on sports than we do on academics and how students in third world countries are making improvements in academics two and three times faster than students in America. This report was written by Emmeline Zhao, the Huffington Post 's Associate Education Editor. Emmeline wrote for The Wall Street Journal 's Economics desk and she is a graduate from Duke University, earning a degree in Public Policy Studies and a certificate in Policy Journalism and Media Studies. The Huffington Post which was launched on May 9, 2005 is an American news website founded by Arianna Huffington, Kenneth Lerer, Andrew Breitbart and Jonah Peretti, containing columnists and various news sources. In July 2012, The Huffington Post was ranked #1 on the 15 Most Popular Political Sites list by eBizMBA Rank. This report is reliable with the research coming from the Harvard University’s Program on Education Policy and Governance, OECD’s PISA 2009 test results, Worldbank.org and the U.S. Olympic Committee. This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Zhao, 2012) ARMARIO, C. (December 27, 2010): Wake-up call: U.S. students trail global leaders. Associated Press This article written by Christine Armario, a journalist for the Associated Press, discusses how American students are not performing at the level that they should be performing at in relation to students of 34 OECD member nations participating in the 2009 PISA. The article also talks about why Chinese students outperformed the other nations’ students and how the United States spends more money per student, on average, than other countries, with the exception of Luxembourg, and how nations like Estonia and Poland achieve at about the same level academically as the United States, while spending less than half the amount per student. This report will be used to examine the difference between the highest performing countries versus the United States and to discuss what they are doing differently them us. In addition, the report will be used to pinpoint some things that the United States in starting to do right in the fight to catch up to the world academically. The Associated Press was founded in May 1846, and it operates 243 news bureaus and it serves at least 120 countries, with an international staff located all over the world. This article is a reputable and reliable source of information. This report strongly supports my thesis statement and main points. (Armario, 2010) Moe, T. (2011): The Staggering Power of the Teachers’ Union “A look at the most powerful force in American education — and it isn’t a force for good”: Hoover Digest 2011 no. 3 Edition. This article discusses the phenomenal amount of political power possessed by the teachers unions, how the unions negatively influence education in this country by putting their special interest needs before the wellbeing of our students and how they protect teachers who are not performing at an acceptable level. It furthers discusses the 13 “Rubber Rooms” which are holding amenities for the New York City Department of Education, where more than 600 teachers accused of misconduct were paid full-time wages to do nothing for months or even years at a time while pending resolution of their cases. The information obtained from this article will be used to show how difficult it is to get rid of “bad” teachers due to tenure and the union’s political influence and power, as well as how much money these teachers are costing the U.S. educational system each year. This article was written by Terry Moe, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, a member of the Institution’s Koret Task Force on K-12 education, and the William Bennett Munro Professor of political science at Stanford University. He is an expert on educational policy, U.S. political institutions, and organizational theory. Although there are no sources mentioned in this article to substantiate the information, I believe based on Terry Moe’s experience, knowledge and expertise in this field that the information contained therein is reliable. This report provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Moe, 2011) Center for Union Facts: Teachers’ Unions Exposed (2012): America’s Education Crisis. http://teachersunionexposed.com/blocking.cfm The “Teachers Unions Exposed” focused on three main points – how our teachers’ unions, primarily the National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) block education reform, protect bad teachers and prevent international competitiveness. This website also discusses how teachers’ unions fight to keep tenured teachers employed who are not performing at acceptable levels and the huge political donations made by teachers’ unions to various political campaigns. The information obtained from this article will be used to show how teachers’ unions utilize union dues to gather political strength to put pressure on politicians so that they can control educational reform. Although there is no author listed for this source, I believe it to be a sound and reliable source of information. The Center for Union Facts has collected information on teachers unions from all throughout the country. The Center for Union Facts obtained some of its data from reputable sources such as the Internal Revenue Service 's Master Data File 2008-2009, the U.S. Department of Education, Highlights from PISA 2009 and the New York Times. The Center for Union Facts is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization supported by foundations, businesses, union members, and the general public. This website provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Center for Union Facts, 2012) Pullmann, J. (December 14, 2012): Teachers unions steer clear of Race to the Top. Washington Times This article discusses how teachers unions across the nation are not willing to take money in the short term that may weaken their long-term influence. According to the article, state and local unions’ object to Race to the Top (RTT), the $4.35 billion in federal aid from the Stimulus Package for states to improve their educational systems. The unions also push for a policy that is often called “last in, first out.” This policy requires school leaders to hire, place and fire teachers by seniority rather than teacher quality or school need. Seniority rules merge union power because older teachers tend to agree more with their unions disposition than younger teachers. This article will be used to show how teachers unions care more about their influence over the educational industry and their own selfish interest than they do our children and what’s in their best interest. Joy Pullmann is managing editor of School Reform News and a research fellow in education at the Heartland Institute. Information for this article was taken from research conducted by Scholastic and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Washington Times was founded in 1982 by News World Communications, an international media conglomerate. This article provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Pullmann, 2012) Miller, R. & Chait, R. (December 2008): Teacher Turnover, Tenure Policies, and the Distribution of Teacher Quality “Can High-Poverty Schools Catch a Break?” Center for American Progress This research paper, which was conducted by the Center for American Progress and written by Raegen T. Miller and Robin Chait, Senior Education Policy Analysts at American Progress, discusses competitive disadvantages that high poverty schools face in attracting and retaining high-quality teachers and how tenure reinforce the probabilities that students in high-poverty schools will be allocated habitually ineffective teachers. The information in this research paper will be used to show how tenure policies play a vital role in the failure of the U.S. educational system and in preventing the U.S. economy from being globally competitive. The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan research and educational institute. Some of the sources for this research paper came from the U.S. Department of Education: National Center for Education Statistics, “Teacher Attrition and Mobility, Stanford University: Institute for Research on Education Policy and Practice and the National Council on Teacher Quality. This article provides sufficient background information on my topic and supports my thesis statement and main points. (Miller & Chait, 2008)