An Analysis of Education Reforms and Assessment in the Core Subjects Using an Adapted Maslow’s Hierarchy: Pre and Post COVID-19

Jennifer Ansorger

doi:10.3390/educsci11080376

Abstract

Through the lens of an adapted Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I have analyzed (1) the impact of the three main educational reforms of the 20th and 21st centuries on culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD)and low-socioeconomic (SES)students in the core subjects up to the COVID-19 pandemic; (2) the efficacy of current classroom assessment practices, and (3) a brief reimagining of how changing equity standards in teaching and assessment post-COVID-19 could aid in CLD and low-SES students achieving a higher self-esteem level. I contend that student success, or self-esteem, can only be achieved by first satisfying the needs at the lower hierarchy levels. By analyzing CLD and SES students’ school experiences, educators and policy-makers can extrapolate the requirements for inclusive, rigorous, and responsive assessments that recognize students’ needs and utilize their cultural and linguistic diversity. As states begin the shift from remote learning back to face-to-face in the fall, more significant considerations of CLD and low-SES students must be ensured.

Highlights

From the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) to the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), reforms and reauthorizations to U.S education over the past sixty years have aimed to improve the learning experiences of those students considered marginalized
Through varying degrees of federal guidance and regulations on funding, educational practices, and assessment, these reforms have ostensibly remained focused on reducing the achievement gap [1]
Utilizing the ERIC database, I conducted a review of relevant research using the keywords: Maslow’s hierarchy, culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD), SES, marginalized, COVID-19, assessment, and educational reforms

Summary

Introduction

From the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) to the Every Student Succeeds Act (2015), reforms and reauthorizations to U.S education over the past sixty years have aimed to improve the learning experiences of those students considered marginalized. Through varying degrees of federal guidance and regulations on funding, educational practices, and assessment, these reforms have ostensibly remained focused on reducing the achievement gap [1]. This achievement gap is “a matter of race and class . Is one of the most pressing education-policy challenges that states currently face” [2,3] This gap, for some scholars, is attributed to a lack of opportunity rather than academic ability; it is the “predictable result of systemic causes—a representation of the disparities in opportunities available to children of different racial, ethnic, socioeconomic, and cultural backgrounds” [4]. The opportunity gap shifts the discourse from one of outputs (achievement) to one of inputs These inputs are “the deficiencies in the foundational components of societies, schools, and communities that produce significant differences in educational—and socioeconomic—outcomes” [4]. Those from marginalized communities, where these deficiencies are most common, have limited access to: (a) expert teachers; (b) personalized attention; (c) high-quality, rigorous curricula and educational materials; (d) information resources [6]

Methods

Findings

Discussion

Conclusion