Education in Other Countries: England

Contributed by Lara Reynolds
Austin ISD

This may sound like an odd way to deal with my own frustrations about state-mandated testing, but when the State of Texas began to get so aggressive with its testing requirements I found myself desiring to know how it’s done elsewhere. Somehow, I knew that would make me feel a little better about the whole thing. 

I was curious as to how our system in the U.S. compares to other countries.  As I investigated other countries,  I was surprised to find that England is much more aggressive and organized and that this seems to be serving the students there really well.

I found a lot of interesting information, but the most interesting of all was how closely where we are headed with our education system is to where the English have already arrived. England’s school system is organized a lot like our own, except they began the process of having national standards in 1988 when they put the Education Reform Act into place. These national standards include national curricula. All schools at all levels have to teach the same standards. It would be like all schools in the U.S. being required to teach our Texas TEKS. They even have a program a lot like our own No Child Left Behind. Theirs is called Every Child Matters.

10 Phrases of Encouragement for
Your Students

In England, all students have to take what they call a General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam in order to receive what would be equivalent to our high school diploma.  

There are four major stages at which the students are tested. They call these Key Stages. Stage 1 (KS1) is at age 7, Stage 2 (KS2) at age 11, Stage 3 (KS3) at age 14, and the final stage, Stage 4 (KS4) at age sixteen. All of these stages have national curriculum assessments. It is at Stage 4 that all students must take the GCSE exam in order to graduate from secondary school.

In the end, seeing what they do in England, I feel more positive about what we’re trying to do here. I see how effective it really can be.

Featured Sleek Employee:
Emily Hovland
Content Development

If you’ve ever wondered who is in charge of developing what you see in Incredible Tutor, that’s Emily Hovland. She’s the person responsible for bringing the content alive for the students. In addition to content development, Emily also performs quality assurance on CD and web-based content and researches state and national grants.

Emily brings her strong language skills from a lifetime of interest and education in the field. She grew up in a family of educators. Her father was a psychology professor and her mother was an AP English teacher and director of a magnet school. Emily studied language at the Liberal Arts Academy in Austin, TX and then went to Cornell University where she majored in comparative literature.

In her professional life, Emily has worked in a major publishing house and has supported herself writing articles for an on-line university magazine. For the past six years, she has worked in the eLearning industry. Since coming to Sleek Corporation over three years ago, Emily has directed content development for reading, writing, science, and social studies TAKS titles for Texas and FCAT titles for Florida.

When asked how Emily felt about technology’s role in the school, she replied, “If students aren’t exposed to technology in a 21st century classroom, it’s a disservice. There’s a growing concern that traditional models of learning are not accommodating the needs of the 21st century student. Through the use of technology, educational content can become more challenging and engaging, and can also ensure that each child’s unique educational need is being met.”

Meeting the educational needs of children while making learning fun is what Emily likes most about working at Sleek Corporation. She feels that Incredible Tutor™ software has evolved in such a manner that has enhanced the students’ ability to succeed and made it easier for the teachers and administrators to track their progress. Her latest projects included working on concept-hierarchy charts for web-based content, working with third-party vendors to create new Flash-animated Warm Fuzzies, and overseeing the production of the TAKS science titles for grades 6–8.

When Emily is not working at Sleek, she may be found writing fiction, playing soccer, and hosting dinner parties with her boyfriend. She also likes spending time with her three cats. Another of Emily’s interests is participating in adventure races. Crawling through the mud, solving a puzzle to advance to the next step, or peddling her bike to the next stage are all part of the excitement.

Whether she’s creating new content for the Incredible Tutor or just getting to the finish line in another race, Emily is always ready to meet the challenge.

The cool winter weather makes you want to warm up with some hot soup. This month’s recipe comes from Gretchen Williamson at Corpus Christi ISD. 

Gretchen told us, “They call me the Crock-Pot Queen. I love my slow cooker. I just put stuff in when I leave for school in the morning and it’s ready when I get home. This recipe is good, easy, healthy, and it fills the tummy on a cold night!”

2 pounds cubed beef stew meat
8 cups water
1 onion, chopped
1 (28 ounce) can crushed tomatoes
1/2 bunch of chopped celery including leaves
4 carrots, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
8 cubes beef bouillon, crumbled
2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 small package of frozen peas

Put everything into the Crock-Pot EXCEPT the frozen peas. Turn the slow cooker on “auto.” (If you don’t have “auto” put it on low.) It will take about 8 hours for it to cook, but if you put it on auto and you don’t get home from work for 10 hours you’ll be fine. About 15 minutes before you’re going to serve the stew, add the frozen peas. Eat up! I told you it was EASY!!