Research Proposal

BYU-I ENG 252: 02

To: Julia Spilker
From: Andrew Butts

Date: 17 May 2018

Re: Research Proposal

Purpose
Topic: Public education
Thesis: The common core curriculum does not accurately measure a student’s intelligence.

Research Questions:
 Does the common core curriculum accurately measure a student’s intelligence?
 How is intelligence defined? Does intelligence correlate with a student’s future career?
 Are creativity and intelligence related?
 Does public education stifle or encourage creativity? If so (or if not), is it because of budget
constraints?
 What effect does a state budget have on the quality of education?
 Does a standardized teaching method simplify teaching? Does it simplify administration?
 Are standardized tests accurate gauges? Do standardized tests highlights areas needing
improvement?
 Are teachers encouraged to teach the child or to teach for the test? Are teachers incentivized to
cater their curriculum to the child?
 If teachers are not incentivized, does it adversely affect the availability of teachers?
 Does the decline of lifelong teachers adversely affect education?

Background
I survived the public education system… barely. The truth is that I was held back by the “No Child Left
Behind” program instigated in Virginia while attending High School. I watched as other “accelerated”
students were suddenly disruptive out of boredom in the classroom. My grandmother and mother, who
were both public school teachers at the time, left their careers as educators out of frustration with the
standardized testing and core curriculums that were being instigated. Now that I am an adult, and my
daughters are approaching school age, I want to know the ramifications as well as the detriments to public
education, to educate myself to their best schooling options.
While there has been much discussion on this topic, all the debate has been inconclusive. The consensus
among teachers and students is that the institution of public education is broken. However,
administrators continue to encourage and enforce the common core program. Why do the two parties
 continue to conflict after ten years of the program? Studies should have been published by now which
prove whether or not the standardized curriculums are effective. A part of this confusion could be
because it is a long and arduous process to change anything involving the government. But I digress into
the significance of this topic.

Significance
As previously stated, this topic affects everyone. Every child must be educated in some way in order to
survive and thrive in the adult world. My hypothesis could expose the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of
the public education system and explore options for child education. It is generally accepted that public
education is failing as a system (which has led to an increase in home schooling), but no actions have been
taken to correct the issues. It would be interesting to compare and trend the effectiveness of public school
systems.

Description and Outline

TO be effective, research like this would require defining and quantifying intelligence among students. A
conclusive analysis would require nationwide testing over several decades. Part of my research will be
gathering standardized test results from multiple states over several years and plotting a trend.
Determining success based on education will be tricky, and I need more time to figure out how to measure
success (income is not always an indicator). I can also draw upon interviews with career teachers,
administrators, and students. Finally, several research and academic papers have already been written on
the subject, so I can draw from the cornucopia of literature already drafted on this topic.
Introduction: Set the stage for the case against the standardization of public education.
Argument: The standardized testing does not accurately measure intelligence.
Argument: The standardized testing stifles creativity.
Argument: The standardized tests do not highlight areas in need of improvement.
Argument: Standardized testing demoralizes teachers, degenerating education.
Argument: Standardized testing discourages a new generation of teachers.
Opposing view(s): Standardized testing is an accurate measure of intelligence, does not stifle creativity,
highlights areas in need of improvement, incentivizes teachers, encourages a new generation of teachers.
Response to opposing view(s): This portion of my essay will be determined by my research. I may wind up
conceding the argument if the evidence is in the opposition’s favor. Only time and research will tell.
Conclusion: The common core, the “No Child Left Behind” program, and standardized testing are bad!

Methodology
Most of my essay will rely on statistics, test results, and trends. I will need to research these numbers
through a variety of sources (government, school systems, news articles, etc.). The rest of my essay will
rely on interviews and eyewitness accounts of the results of standardized testing.

Problems
The data might be difficult to gather, or incompatible. At this time, I have not yet determined a value that
would demonstrate a student’s success after graduating from the standardized school systems. This value

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 may not be quantifiable (how would you define success? Happiness? Intelligence?). Interviews might be
hard to come by, although I doubt it.

Annotated Bibliography
Public school systems
News articles
Published test results
Teacher interviews
Student Interviews
JSTOR
McKay Library

Timetable and Schedule

Generate research question – May 17th
Research – May 18th
Question and research outline – May 19th
Introduction Draft – May 21st
First argument draft – May 22nd
Second argument draft – May 23rd
Third argument draft – May 24th
First 500 words to discussion board – May 25th
Opposing view summary – May 26th
Response to opposing view – May 27th
Concluding statement – May 28th
Proofreading and revision – May 29th
Rough Draft – May 30th
Revision – May 31st
Final Draft – June 1st

Request for Approval

If it pleases the board (instructor and peers), I would like to study the controversy of a standardized public
education and present my findings on the first of June in the year two thousand and eighteen.