Small and Effective Fixes for a Broken Education System
In my quest to find a school for my kids, I was disappointed by what my options were. Being that my kids and I are a low-income family we also have limited housing options, were there are the better schools. I decided to give the local area schools the benefit of the doubt and enroll my two kids, Mikkayla and Pharoah. Over the school years I made notes on the things that I saw and learned about the schools and my neighborhood. My goals are to establish ways to improve the school system and help bring about change in the school’s neighborhood.
To successfully communicate my findings and goals, I have divided my paper into three sections, with two sections having a sub-section. The first section will explain the Oklahoma City Public School grading system. I will also take two schools and explain some factors that contribute to the grades each school received. My second part will lay out the research about ways to help improve our education system. The sub-section would be on ways to fund such improvements. I will then close out my paper with my proposal on getting more parental involvement in the schools. The sub-section would be on ways to get the school’s neighborhood more involved. Before I can explain my research, I will start off with going over the experience that I had with each of my two children’s schools and what piqued my interest in picking this topic to research.
My children are Mikkayla and Pharoah. Both started their schooling with Headstart. This program is offered to low-income families and funded by the state. Both Mikkayla and Pharoah benefited greatly from this program. There were smaller class sizes and the teachers were able to teach and the children...
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...y should still be involved in the school system.
Community involvement as a key factor. Our community is where we live, work, and play. Improving our community and helping each other is just as important. Putting money into the community and sponsoring events to bring the community together is key. When everyone feels welcomed they are more likely to care more and become more involved.
Community organizations can be formed to help with the effort.
I have found that we have to take the time and care for our children. They are who will take care of the us. Parents becoming more involved in their children’s lives, communities working together with schools, better technology, a better mix of instructional material and legislation that stops the cutting of educational funds are key ways to aid in the support that our children need to succeed in school.
The city of Denver and the challenges confronting its elected leaders, are no different than any other large city, one of the most problematic of which, includes enhancing the quality of public schools for ethnic minority students from lower socio-economic neighborhoods. Katherine Boo’s, “Expectations”, provides a narrative centered on Superintendent Michael Bennett and the implementation of his ambitious strategy to raise high school graduation standards throughout the Denver public school system. Bennett’s plan to achieve this lofty goal illustrates the “four tides,” or philosophies, of administrative reform: liberation management by allowing students from underperforming schools to attend any high quality public school of their choice; (2) a war on waste through the closure of Manual High School; (3) a watchful eye with computer tracking to ensure student accountability; and (4) scientific management with increased and meticulous academic standards.
...it, set higher aspirations, have better attendance, come to class more prepared to learn, and have fewer behavior problems” (Robbins and Alvy, 2009, p.178). These achievable improvements should be priority for school districts.
Detroit is a story of a once flourishing city that has been on a long downslide for decades. There are miles of unoccupied homes and buildings, and crimes and unemployment are at an all-time high. Many aspects of the city are breaking down, including the school system. The Detroit Public School System has lost over eighty thousand students due to high enrollment in charter schools, the large economic decline, and the departure of residents. For many years no one has taken responsibility for the public school system. However, for Detroit to rise again, it is necessary for someone to take responsibility, make a plan, and make sure that children are safe, well cared for, and are receiving a high quality education when going to school each day. In 2016, schools are low-performing with poor test scores, are falling apart, and teachers and parents have decided to take a stand.
Students who go to school in urban schools are not given the same opportunities as a child their age in a suburban area school. Students who go to school in urban schools are put at a disadvantage compared to students who go to school in suburban areas. As a pre-service teacher it is my responsibility to work toward fixing this injustice and inform my surrounding community. As we look into this injustice we see how there are many solutions to this problem and that the government and people need to educated about this issue. There are some who are against changing or do not feel it is necessary to fight the educational system even though their children might be impacted. Through my research I found information supporting my viewpoint of helping to improve our educational system in the United States, but I was unable to find research or a scholarly article that agrees with the current educational program.
“If you would just get up and teach them instead of handing them a packet. There’s kids in here that don’t learn like that. They need to learn face to face. I’m telling you what you need to do. You can’t expect a kid to change if all you do is just tell ‘em.” Texas student, Jeff Bliss, decided to take a stand against the lack of teaching going on in his class (Broderick).
As is common in the school systems, more prolific neighborhoods can use sources not available to another school in a poor neighborhood. There is a common thread in education that the students with access to more options, consistent teachers and environments perform better. This is revealed in HST to an excessive degree. In 2002 the No Child Left Behind was enacted. This act was fuel in the fires of HST, and ironically was meant to rectify the problem of poverty dictating education. “The NCLB (2002) places a significant emphasis on increasing academic achievement for all students, regardless of ethnicity, race, socioeconomic status (SES), limited English proficiency, or students with disabilities on the local, state, and federal levels.” (Domond) NCLB (2002) was meant to challenge schools to address the gaps in the socioeconomically affected areas. Nonetheless, HST has exacerbated those gaps and penalized the schools in the geographical locations that have a higher poverty
The study looked at 43 children, 18 boys and 25 girls, from a variety of backgrounds; socially, ethnically, and economically. The school was located in middle class-upper middle class neighborhood and serves neighborhood children as well as children bussed in from transient housing.
Education is an integral part of society, school helps children learn social norms as well as teach them how to be successful adults. The school systems in United States, however are failing their students. In the world as a whole, the United States is quickly falling behind other countries in important math and reading scores. The United States ranked thirtieth in math on a global scale and twentieth in literacy. This is even more true in more urban, lower socio-economic areas in the United States. These schools have lower test scores and high dropout rates. In Trenton Central High School West, there was an 83% proficiency in literacy and only 49% of the students were proficient in math. Many of these students come from minority backgrounds and are often from low income families. There are many issues surrounding these urban schools. There is a severe lack of proper funding in these districts, and much of the money they do receive is sanctioned for non-crucial things. Schools also need a certain level of individualization with their students, and in many urban classes, this simply does not happen. While there are many factors affecting the low performance of urban schools, the lack of proper funding and distribution of funds, the cultural divide between teachers and students in urban districts, along with the lack of individualization in urban classrooms are crucial reasons to explain the poor performance in these districts. Through a process of teacher lead budget committees and further teacher education, urban schools can be transformed and be better equipped to prepare their students for the global stage.
The school board goal is working to create an educational system where student success is inevitable and all students are cultivated to become fierce competitors in a global society. Collectively, they have the power to transform educational opportunities for our children. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? They must respond to the needs of the next generation of learners; giving them a fair chance to succeed, to compete, and to become world-class competitors. Our children deserve the best; we must stop settling for less than world-class. I feel that the board played a very important part in every child educational in there district. They must do there best to help that child to achieve their goal in society. Superintendent's is the main key communicators are a network of McComb School District residents who are interested in our schools and well-connected to the schools and/or the community. The idea is to promote a continuing exchange between key communicators and the school district. The key communicators become the eyes, ears, and mouthpiece for our
Both Marzano and Schmoker provide practical, research-based techniques to improve schools. They describe programs that a school could use directly to improve current programs. This course helped convince me that simple changes would really help students learn. It was my opinion that a major overhaul of the system was the only way to improve our educational system. What I became convinced of by reading these authors is that we don’t need to change the whole system; we just need to make sure teachers are doing their jobs. Teachers must meet already existing standards set up by the state. The teaching techniques needed for improvement are already well researched and available to all teachers.
It acquires great measures to fix issues, but it’s also important to acknowledge the social causes. For instance, a significant cause is related to social class and the the distinct separation between various racial/ethnic groups. Also, the government and the local districts have great responsibilities in operating communities, both in the suburban area and urban area. Lastly, the public itself seem to have impactful roles in the community. This includes representatives that informs the state of what is undergoing in the society. While many children lack the improvement they deserve in quality schools, they also grow into unchanging and neglected
36). The school leadership team reviewed the Continuous School Improvement Plan to assess the needs of the school and student achievement. Data from state assessments, school incident reports, and other local data was used to suggest strategies, professional development, and budget requirements for school improvement. The findings were shared with stakeholders. The system has determined through the SWOT analysis, the development and implementation of a strategic plan to improve the school organization. This plan will allow the school to use limited resources with input from stakeholders. Also, the plan will provide opportunities for input in the areas of parent engagement, improved and increased communications. Recognizing the strengths and weaknesses, and adding opportunities and threats into actions through the planning process will make this school a quality educational organization in our community and
Implementation of Comprehensive School Reform and Its Impact on Increases in Student Achievement. Journal Of Education For Students Placed At Risk, 11(3/4), 309-329. doi:10.1207/s10824669espr110304_6
The article, Organizing Schools for Improvement, discussed five essential roles to advance school improvements. In this essay, I will aim to demonstrate why these five essential support systems are needed and I will also give reasons what issues and challenges could arise while trying to integrate all five factors.
Education is a very important aspect of the lives of all people all over the world. What we learn, not just in the classroom, shapes who we are. We take our education everywhere we go. We use it when talking to our buddies about sports or music, we use it while solving a math problem, we use our education while debating with our family whether or not we should watch TV or go to the movies. Our education is the foundation of who we are, since every decision we make and every thought we think is dependent on what we know. Imagine how different the world would be if everyone craved learning to such a degree that at lunch tables all over the world the topic of conversation isn't who likes who, or how drunk someone got over the weekend, but it would be what books were read over the weekend, and what new ideas were thought of. This crave for learning would be an ideal but still suggests need for improvement with the current educational system. It seems that the problem with education is that somewhere along the lines the human race forgot (assuming they, at one point, understood how valuable information is) that learning is not just a mandatory process, but also an opportunity to transcend and open the gateway to a better understanding.