Role of Educators in Addressing the High Level of Inequality Among Learners

Article Synthesis #5
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Article Synthesis #5
One of the current issues that educators have to grapple with in the US education system is high levels of inequality among learners. Gamorah and Bruch (2017) report that education inequality in the United States have been rising as evidenced by the increasing gap in the college completion rates among Blacks and Whites. Educators have a role to play in addressing the growing inequality in US educational system through use of novel approaches in assessment and instructional practices.
In order to develop effective assessments, teachers have to be conversant with various formats that can be used in the assessment process. One of the potential formats that teachers should explore is the use of interviews with the learners. Interviews can be used for assessment of reading and mathematics ability of learners, though the educator has to tailor interview-based assessment to accurately capture the learners’ ability. Meier and Knoester (2017) note that Running Records, the QRI, and Brenda Engel’s process can be used to assess the reading ability of a learner. The three assessment approaches involves listening to a learner as they read allowing the educator to gather more information about the reading abilities of a learner, adjust assessment based on the information collected, and ease the process of matching the learner with reading materials. Similarly, math interview can be used to annually probe the mathematical understanding of learners using various tasks such as solving problems and use of manipulatives. Nonetheless, an educator should be aware that the results of interview-based assessment depend on the context of the interview.
Notably, use of different approaches to assessment practices is one of the ways through which educators can minimize the inequality in educational outcomes. Hilliard (2000) allude to the need to shift the focus from high-stakes standardized testing to a format that allow the pursuit of excellence in education. Interviews format allow t...