The document discusses the importance of narrowing educational issues for focused research inquiries, emphasizing the critical examination of related problems to formulate potential research topics. It highlights key challenges within education, such as the inadequacy of the Common Core State Standards for students with disabilities, the uneven adoption of technology in schools, and declining teacher morale. The text also encourages researchers to consider ethical concerns, stakeholder buy-in, and existing literature when selecting specific problems to investigate.

1. Complete the following discussion question:
For this Discussion, you will narrow the scope of each
education-related issue
you identified in order to formulate problems that merit further
investigation. What are some of the problems associated with
each of the issues and whose resolution might be informed by
applying knowledge from existing research or conducting a new
research study? Why is it important to investigate one or more
of these problems? Identifying issues and problems early in
your advanced graduate degree program allows you to build on
your knowledge base related to them. Further, you will be
prepared to analyze and evaluate scholarly inquiry with a
critical eye.
When evaluating an issue and reflecting on ways to positively
address the issue, the task, at first, might seem overwhelming.
For this reason it is important to critically examine the issue to
determine the most important related problems. As you consider
problems associated with an issue, you should be able to begin
identifying potential research
topics
. Before you can begin
planning a research study
for a topic, the topic must be quite narrow. When attempting to
narrow a topic to a specific problem to study, you need to
consider the following:
What has already been studied in the literature?
How much time will it take me to complete a study related to
this problem?
What stakeholder buy-in will I need to obtain to perform this
study?
What are the benefits of doing this study?
What are the ethical considerations related to this study?
Will I be able to recruit participants for this study?
These questions are not inclusive of all that need to be
considered when contemplating a research study, but they give

2. you an idea of what needs to be considered when you take an
educational issue and extract problems for possible
investigation in the form of a research study.
Respond to the following discussion questions:
Discussion reponses should be at leat 3-4 paragraphs with
citations
Discussion #1
When a research begins their work, they must start by assessing
an issue. Next, the researcher must think of ways to positively
address the issue. The task, at first, might be overwhelming.
Therefore, it is important that the researcher critically examines
the issue and determines what the most important related
problems are. As the researcher considers problems associated
with an issue, they should be able to begin identifying potential
research topics. Before the researcher can start planning a
research study for a topic, the topic must be quite narrow.
Identifying a problem for each issue that can be researched
Common Core State Standards
– The common core state standards is one of the most critical
issues facing education in the 21
st
century. A problem with the common core state standards is
that it does not adequately address the needs of students with
disabilities.
Technology
– After all these years technology is an issue in the field of
education. Technology can be used to facilitate instruction.
Some educators love it, and others do not want to use it.
Technology is a great resource. However, many schools may not
have the resources to acquire technological devices, which are a
necessity in today’s modern curriculum.
Morale of educators
– Despite the difficulties that teachers are facing, many of them

3. still love teaching. However, in the face of low teacher pay,
rigorous teacher evaluation policies and an infatuation with
high-stakes testing, many schools are seeing a drop in staff
morale.
One piece of key information discovered in a scholarly resource
Common Core State Standards
– Teachers working with special needs students’ report that
often the academic goals outlined by the CCSS cannot be
adequately or appropriately incorporated into an IEP (Samuels,
2013).
Technology
– Rural districts have unique challenges relative to their
adoption of technology In classrooms: budgets and funding play
a central role (
Sundeen
&
Sundeen
, 2013).
Morale of educators
- Teacher morale can have a positive effect on pupil attitudes
and learning. Raising teacher morale level is not only making
teaching more pleasant for teachers, but also learning more
pleasant for students. This creates an environment that is more
conducive to learning (Miller, 1981).
Problem statements
Common Core State Standards
– The implementation of the common core state standards has
defined a set of grade-level expectations for students across the
nation. These expectations have led to a multitude of challenges
for educators. One of those challenges is providing effective
instruction to students with
exceptionalities
.
Technology
– Technology is an innovative tool that can be used to change
how teachers teach and how students learn. The problem is

4. although technology is a great resource many districts are
facing economic hardships and are unable to provide classrooms
with the tools needed to diversify instruction.
Morale of educators
- An increase in demands on teachers, insufficient pay, and the
rigor of high-stakes testing is creating an atmosphere of low
staff morale in the educational setting.
How a researcher identifies a research problem is a matter of
intense interest because it is not a one size fits all approach.
Most texts on research suggest that researchers should use some
combination of sources of information to derive the problem
statement (Merriam and Simpson, 1995).
Perhaps the most common recommendation is that potential
research problems might be found by conducting a review of the
scholarly literature.
In most instances, personal experience represents the insights
gained about a topic or situation when engaged in some level of
professional practice, A third perspective on deriving research
problems is to reach out to others for their opinions (Jacobs,
2013).
There are many resources available that allow researchers to
research a topic of interest. However, the narrower the focus of
a topic, the easier it will be for the researcher to find relevant
research material. After the researcher chooses a topic, they will
need to form a search strategy. Establishing a search strategy
can help the researcher find relevant information for their
research. When conducting research on a problem, there are
many things that a researcher can do. For one, the researcher
can perform a search based on the topic they select. Many
academic journals and databases contain relevant information
on a topic. When searching through a scholarly database, the
researcher can find pertinent information that is relevant to the
topic by combining and using the best terms.
References
Jacobs, R. L. (2013). Developing a dissertation research
problem: A guide for doctoral students in human resource

5. development and adult education.
New Horizons in Adult Education & Human Resource
Development 25
(3),
105-106.
Miller, W. C. (1981). Staff morale, school climate, and
education productivity. Retrieved from
http
://files.
eric
.ed.gov/
fulltext
/ED422601.
pdf
.
Samuels, C. (2013). Common core’s promise collides with IEP
realities.
Education
Week, 33
(10). Retrieved from
http
://
www
.
edweek
.
org
/
ew
/articles/2013/10/30/10cc-
iep
.h33.
html
.

6. Sundeen
, T. H. &
Sundeen
D. M. (2103). Instructional technology for rural schools:
Access and acquisition.
Rural Special Education Quarterly, 32
(2) 8.
Discussion #2
Issues in K12 Education
Broad Issue:
Measuring academic achievement to help contribute educated
children
wo
will raise the national economic competitiveness and
productivity of the country.
Issue 1 – Students as producers:
If the goal of education is to create a self-sustaining economy
which is vibrant and productive then, we need to understand
why the current educational model is failing. To do that it only
makes sense that the students who were and are an integral part
of the educational system are taken into consideration when
developing any new strategies.
Issue 2 – Centralization of education:
While centralizing education seems to be the objective, it is
being enforced at the expense of the variety and diversity in the
teaching learning process within the various states. One must
remember that the economy of a country as vast and as diverse
as America thrives on its diversity.
Issue 3 – Standardized tests:
The use of standardized tests formulated in the 1914’s which is
considered as the gold standard is very much outdated and will
not result is reliable assessment measures or even equity in the
work place. These tests were made to measure a lower order of
thinking, Cathy Davidson (2011). Understanding the competing

7. interests at play and the potential effects of the Common Core
State Standards at the college level is crucial to reasserting
assessment as a teaching and learning practice instead of a
system of accountability.
Key information
Issue 1 – Students as producers:
Students, if given the opportunity to work alongside
researchers in a more productive role and not just providing
data; students hold the key to rightly analyze where education
as a system seems to fail to produce the right kind of tools or
tests to measure academic success which guarantees productive
citizens. If students were to be given a little more autonomy and
independence as researchers, we could truly achieve academic
success. Student capability needs to be enhanced, Jim
Hordern
(2012).
Issue 2 – Centralization of education:
Instead of making things same, if one is encouraged to learn
and absorb the varieties – this actually results in a richer and
more vibrant educational system and economy Kate O’Connor
(2014).
Issue 3 – Standardized tests:
Understanding the role of accountability is crucial to the
cautious and critically optimistic stance we take toward the
Common Core State Standards and the Core to College
Initiatives. For the first time, national standards have been
established that attempt to put writing (and reading) on equal
footing with science and math. However, at no other time have
so many competing interests exerted such powerful and far-
reaching force on America’s classrooms in the name of
accountability. Joanne Addison & Sharon James McGee (2015)
Tests for a higher order of thinking and not for a lower order of
thinking should be enforced.
Problem Statements

8. Issue 1 – Students as producers:
Enhancing Student Capabilities by including their input into
research output.
Issue 2 – Centralization of education:
Uniformity in educational standards is an ideal which should
be achieved through diversity in approach to include all
possible teaching learning methods.
Issue 3 – Standardized tests:
In business time is money which cannot be spent thoughtlessly,
in education time is an investment. Tests should be of varied
nature and spread across the learning life of students not
concentrating in one point in time. To measure academic
success all tests over the complete learning life of a student
should be taken into consideration.
Reference:
Jim
Hordern
(2012) The student as producer within a productive system,
Enhancing Learning in the Social Sciences, 4:3, 1-12, DOI:
/10.11120/
elss
.2012.04030005
M. Francyne
Huckaby
(2014) Paradox, Protest, and Wise Communities: Responses to
the Common Core State Standards, Journal of Curriculum and
Pedagogy, 11:1, 25-29, DOI: 10.1080/15505170.2014.907552
Kate O’Connor (2014) Standards or Curriculum? Policy
Constructions of the What and How of Schooling, Journal of
Curriculum and Pedagogy, 11:1, 20-22,
DOI:10.1080/15505170.2014.908434
Davidson, C. (2011, September 23). “Standardized tests for
everyone? In the Internet age, that's the wrong answer”.
Washington Post
. Retrieved October 01, 2016, from

9. https
://
www
.
washingtonpost
.com/opinions/standardized-tests-for-everyone-in-the-
internet
-age-thats-the-wrong-answer/2011/09/21/
gIQA
7
SZwqK
_story.
html
Joanne Addison & Sharon James McGee (2015) To the Core:
College Composition Classrooms in The Age of Accountability,
Standardized Testing, and Common Core State Standards,
Rhetoric Review, 34:2, 200-218, DOI:
10.1080/07350198.2015.1008921