Scripted Reading Programs and Standard Curriculum

Introduction

 This paper seeks to analyze and discuss the difference between scripted reading programs and standard based curriculums. This paper also tries to give the reader a different perspective on the two different teaching methods and programs and give evidence on the same.

Standard based curriculum involves curriculum planning. This planning is developed and connected through intellectual knowledge. The curriculum planning must have its bases and relationship with the students in order to avoid intellectual challenges on the same. If a teacher goes ahead and plans an intellectually demanding study work, then, the skill development will be short of the standards. According to Bloom’s taxonomy (1956), he suggests that there are different levels of thinking. These levels of thinking range from synthesis of ideas, prediction of ideas and evaluation of these ideas. This level of thinking helps the teachers to identify the level or the nature of thinking, which allows the student to understand the curriculum.  In this case, a standard based curriculum, involves the processes of planning, delivering, monitoring and improving these programs. This not only ensures that the students learn the most important aspects but also ensures that the learning experience focuses on the student’s level of understanding (Levine, 1987).

The standardized based curriculum measures the achievement of standards as opposed to complying with the regulations and rules of the same. This system creates an initiative, instruction, policy and assessment of the teaching approach. The system focuses on the ways to ensure success and consistency, when communicates the same. On the other hand, scripted reading programs are programs that have a very highly structured lesson or lessons. This is a part of direct instructions and is based on the expertise and creativity of the teacher. In this system, text books and teachers’ guides are used to dictate classroom curriculum and practice.

Difference between Scripted Reading Programs vs. Standard Based Programs

Scripted reading programs believe that there is a difference in the level of understanding in each student, whereas standard based curriculum believes that the only way to achieve a level of smartness in student is to make an effort to accomplish the same. In a scripted reading program, the subject matter of the program is different in every group of students. On the other hand, standard based curriculum is the content subject and is the same in all the groups of the students. Standard based curriculum assesses and compares the benchmarks to the understanding of the students. A scripted reading program allows the exact opposite of this. This system only compares what the students know to what other students know in the same context. This system has no criteria to deploy the resources to the students. In this case, the students, who need the most, end up getting the least (Johnson, 1997). On the other hand, standard based curriculum deploys all the resources to meet all the requirements and standards. In this case, the students, who need the most, end up getting the most in this context. This system also acts very professionally and focuses on instruction improvement to ensure that all the students meet the standards required. Scripted reading programs, on the other hand, have professional development that involves a one day training workshop and, thus, do not have a long assessment period.

Analysis of Scripted Reading Programs vs. Standard Based Programs or Curriculum

The big question is what makes an effective educational policy? Well, in the recent times, it has come to mind that teachers and the learning system are very important in making an effective education policy. Research and studies carried out have found that investing in effective and good teachers is the beginning of developing an effective education policy. In this regard, scripted reading programs and standard based curriculum can be developed to attain the desired goals in the teaching profession. In this way, teachers will be able to produce much better and achieve better results. Does this mean that the curriculum approach does not really have an effect on educational policies? Well, the answer is yes and no. This is because it all depends on the reading program selected and the pedagogical approach, taken in the teaching approach.

Understanding the basis and systems of education is not as easy as it may sound. People have to recognize that expertise on the same really matters (Jere, 2006). In other words, the teachers and the school administration should take the initiative to develop and craft an effective educational policy. These policies will, in turn, help to ensure that good and effective teachers are trained and created. This simply means that teachers have a very important role in developing writing proficiency and reading. However, it is important to note that part of effective teaching is focusing on active instructions, demonstration and modeling the strategies, employed by the same. This is where different reading programs come in and are considered. These programs and curriculums should not only be analyzed but should also involve instructional activities and demonstration from the teaching approach.

It is important to note that scripted reading can only offer a definition model but does not offer or provide any useful information on an educational policy. This information is relevant in the exploitation of explicit and direct skills in the strategic planning of the teaching program. This simply means that scripted readings programs demonstrate and summarize the teaching program or curriculum but does not analyze the lesson being taught. Thus, this program should be used as a self-regulating strategy or teacher regulating strategy and not as a separate lesson guide or program. People should realize that there is power in demonstrative or active teaching.

The environment around should also be conducive in order to foster effective education policy and provide an effective teaching approach. When too much teaching instructions are given in a long period of time, the understanding and active participation of the students is negatively affected. In this regard, there should be a teacher directed setting and proper lesson programming and timing. Many problems have been realized from the scripted reading programs.  One of the common problems is that the students are forced to sit and listen to a long and dull class repetition. This educational system lacks behavior reinforcement. Behavior reinforcement involves giving the students tokens and social praise. This educational system also lacks language development. This is because the students do not participate fully (Garang, 2004).

Scripted reading or direct trading program sets goals for students and makes sure that the students understand these goals, presents very well organized assignments to the students, involves asking of questions to ascertain if the students have understood,  gives students illustrations and demonstrations of the teaching. Many critics have argued that direct reading contradicts the very notion of constructive reading. However, this is not entirely true. This system maintains that the students need to construct meaning of the lessons by themselves. In this way, these students receive direct assistance and are able to develop the meaning of the topic or subject by themselves. This would ensure that the students not only understand the topic but also understand the insight in the topic. This system allows the teacher to maximize the students thinking into active thinking. This simply means that this system does not spoon feed the students but allows them to actively think about the topic. However, this system is more effective for teaching basic lessons and skills. This is because in advanced lessons it would entail complex activities.

Effectiveness of Educational Policies

Scripted reading programs have attracted a lot of debate from many deferent quarters of the world. Research, carried out on this system, found that this system has a substantial overall effect. Other studies have shown that the scripted teaching methods were not as effective as other teaching methods such as standard based curriculum. A program is evaluated on the basis of random assignment, control design and experimental design to achieve one standard deviation from the same. A standard based curriculum should follow important principals. These principals include:

Principal of equity, which encourages and outlines access to learning material by all the students, regardless of whether they are disabled, poor or if they come from a minority group. The equity principal also encourages the provision of or access to extra help from the teachers or the administration. All the students must be taught in an excellent way.

Principal of curriculum. The curriculum should have a progressive logic and be organized in an ordinary manner. In this way, the administration and teachers will ensure that there are unnecessary repetitions and it will avoid wasting of time. It is necessary to note that the importance and relevance of certain topics may change with time. In this regard, the curriculum should have room for improvement and it should be flexible in nature (Garang, 2005).

Teaching principal entails development and promotion of teaching methods. The teaching method should not be at all in one fitting approach. This simply means that the method should not be one that has to be used by all the students. The method should be flexible in that it should allow teachers to choose appropriate teaching techniques from their professional judgments. This will not only develop opportunities for the students but will also ensure that the content is effective.

Learning principal entails conceptual understanding, procedural facilities and factual knowledge of the educational policy. Learning should always begin from the basics and the student should understand and grasp the concepts, procedures and facts.

What Entails a Successful Curriculum Process?

The strategic component of a successful curriculum process is a process or technique that allows an individual to analyze the particular curriculum and use the results or findings to make the decision. The first step is to explore the capabilities of the students and find out how the program or the curriculum will have a positive impact on the achievement of the students. This research or exploration should be based on the quality of the curriculum, the tools that will be used in facilitating the review and the creation or development of the curriculum. Curriculum programs should be diagnosed through the lens of quality by using many different analytical tools in order to determine whether it requires more achievement from the students, if it guides the review on the same and look into the structure reviews and protocol of the same (Richard, 2008).

Educational leaders are responsible for making critical decisions to adopt and implement the best curriculum or program. After the implementation, the educational leaders should research the effectiveness of the curriculum. Content coverage is a very important criterion that helps to find out if the concepts and skills covered are sensible. Standard based curriculum allows the students to learn how to solve problems, efficient procedures, applications and skills. In this case, the elements should be presented in order to balance the organization style and different elements. Every teacher must learn how to overcome challenges in order to implement and improve curriculums. This will ensure that the curriculum has the capacity and potential to envision the required knowledge (Dyskra, 2007).

It is important to note that not all study curriculums and programs may meet the required or golden standard. Different programs may have their downfalls and their high standards as well. In this regard, teachers and educational leaders should be prepared to face challenges at different levels in the implementation of programs or curriculums. If research shows that the curriculum is ineffective, it should be reviewed and revised in order to meet the standards and increase the performance level of the students.

Being a teacher is the same as being a performer. This is because like performers teachers cannot let their energy be flagged. They also stand in front of an audience. A student who is using scripted teaching does not only follow the lesson plan but also learn how to ask questions, respond to answers and explain concepts. This is because this teaching eliminates poor instruction from the teachers. What is the rationale behind scripted reading programs? The rationale behind this program is that it is very sensible and makes a lot of sense to different people. The big question is if this educational system works.  There are many mixed reactions and answers, when it comes to this question. Research, carried out on the same, has found that there is no difference in using scripted programs and other traditional programs. However, research from other quarters has found that scripted teaching helps to greatly increase and raise reading levels amongst the students.

 Many people ask and wonder which educational program or curriculum develops fluency in language. Fluency reading can be described as a consolidated or accurate skill and develops reading skill with practice. In this case, the student is able to allocate or identify the meaning of a text and be able to easily retrieve words. Limited background knowledge, poor and less developed reading skills can greatly limit fluency reading. Scripted reading programs help to promote fluency reading and evaluation of the same (Humphrey, 1996).

In comparison of these two educational systems, it is important to consider which system can meet diverse unique students’ need. It is clear that the role of a teacher from a scripted reading approach and the standardized based approach is different in a few ways. However, each program should have a breaking code.  The breaking code would help to provide and facilitate teaching instructions for all types of students. This ensures that the teaching experience will appeal and attract the student’s interests and age levels. It is very unfortunate that some of these programs do not use this code and, thus, cannot sustain the interest of the student or the mental stimulation of the student. Many people argue that the standardized program is not the best way or an effective tool to motivate students academically. However, breaking the code program would ensure that the students are motivated academically, regardless of the teaching program used.

Behavior Support

When evaluating the best educational policy or teaching method, the research should focus on the behavior analysis of the students and the outcome of the same. In this case, the research will be able to determine how intense or chronic the student’s behavior is. It is important to note that intensive behavior can adversely affect the quality of education as well as the quality of life. An effective teaching program should provide an effective teaching method that will safeguard the students’ wellbeing. An effective teaching method should also be able to motivate the students. One of the ways that a teacher can motivate the students is by rewarding their behavior (Hattie, 2009). Therefore, teaching strategies, regardless of whether they are script reading based or standard based, should be based and focused on direct systematic instructive principals. This very important technique enables the students to develop a wide range of skills. This technique uses data collection procedures and task analysis in order to develop plans for structured lessons. Teaching strategies in both the scripted reading teaching and the standardized based reading should be teacher driven, should be introduced step by step, should have the ability to give constant feedback, should be able to set goals, should be designed to meet these goals, should be able to implement procedures, and should be effective. The teaching strategy must always provide teachable objectives and must contain a built in lesson repetition.  Assessment of the teaching methods and strategies should not be a one day affair but should be an ongoing assessment process.

In this way, the teaching approach will be able to motivate all the students and ensure that they participate in many different reading activities. The approach should also demonstrate effectiveness of the teaching method. The best teaching method and approach should allow all the students achieve the desired results and develop at the students pace. There should be encouragement and inclusion of activities. This is very important because it motivates the students and gives them access to the curriculum. In this case, every student gets an opportunity to develop and learn.

Analysts have insisted that standard based achievements boost and increase the student’s achievement. This simply means that the standardized environment allows the student to learn better. In this way, the teacher is able to choose the activities of the classroom or the lesson. The teacher should also employ teaching strategies that will ensure that the students achieved the desired or set standards. The students should be made aware of the standards. This will help to guide the students on the completion of their class work. Parents also have a very important role to play in any teaching approach. The parents should help the students with their homework and ensure that the students are aligned to the standards. In order to attain these standards, the administration leaders have a role to play. They are responsible for the professional development of the same. The administration leaders are also responsible for prescribing the standards and ensure that the students meet these standards. This not only encourages the students to take responsibility of the learning approach but also to improve their performance by reflecting on self-assessment methods.

In order to make the scripted reading programs and the standard based curriculum successful, the progress should be communicated towards the achievement of the standard. The teaching methods should suit individual students. The students must always be informed of the standards and any change to the standards (Rebar, 2007).

Conclusion

Educational policy and achievement of better results in the same depends largely on the teaching approach used. This paper has given an insight on the advantages and disadvantages of scripted reading programs and standard based curriculum. It has also given guide lines on how to achieve effective learning from the teaching approach.