The typical population of the New Hopewell Elementary School is more toward families who have low income and sometimes cannot provide the necessary resources or opportunities to their children. This is where a community school like New Hopewell intervenes and helps. The school provides healthy and dental plans to families who can not have one. Services such as tutoring, academic enrichment, and counseling for families can be received. They also really encourage and implement family engagement. The school offers many after-school programs for the students to get involved with and allows for many volunteer opportunities for families. I am very surprised at the number of programs they offer after school because they have something for everybody
This case study is a situation from Case Studies on Educational Administration (Kowalski, 2011). The background information is listed below.
Families and students in grades 6 through 10 may choose to attend and admission is by lottery. Student population is about 300 and there is no cost to attend this alternative public school that operates under the same student budget allocation as other district schools.
Thomas Jefferson was a man who believed that all American citizens need to be educated so that they may exercise their rights. He saw public education as essential to a democracy. One proposal he made for public education would guarantee that all children could attend public schools for three years. However, much like other early school reforms, this proposal received much rejection and was never brought into being. Despite this rejection, Jefferson still believed that America needed public education. Eventually, he opened the University of Virginia. Even though his bills and proposals to benefit public education never saw the light of day, he still made many contributions to public education by providing the foundation on how a democracy should handle educating its
Community Partnerships: Robust data sharing system and national model; comprehensive professional development for partners and schools; partnership working committee including Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and strategic partners; supportive board policy; sample contracts; planning tools; inventory of CBOs, schools and whole child supports. 3. Family Partnerships: Board policy outlining elements of family engagement (i.e. welcoming environments); some knowledge of “the how” – dual capacity framework; expert staff; current Family Engagement Task Force charge with developing a clear definition and multiyear action plan; School Family Engagement Action Teams; Family Development Opportunities (i.e. Family Connector University); 9th-grade success grant (Engaging Families in High School Success) – surfacing family engagement best practices for high school students and for transition years; partnership with the
The Park Slope School, Ps.282 is located in Park Slope Brooklyn. Ps.282 is a Kindergarten to eighth grade school full of diversity. The school’s staff was pleased to assist me with any of my needs. Although finding the right time to schedule an interview with the parent coordinator and guidance counselor was difficult, both parent coordinator and guidance counselor were more than willing to dedicate their time to focus on the interview.
to prepare children from low-income families for school (The Administration For Children And Families, 2002). To prepare a child for school the program has the goal of
But, there is hope: a loving, supportive environment that encourages children to grow into themselves. Preschool. Government programs are in place to help low-income families offset the costs, and national agencies provide multidimensional support for preschoolers and their families. Seven hours in a classroom doesn’t fix the problems at home. Rather, these programs are designed to help low-income families through a multi-faceted approach, attacking several issues in one mighty blow (Olson, Ceballo, and Park 427). These programs offer a variety of resources, including parenting classes, stress management courses, family counseling, and nutrition education. Through these programs, the entire community is assuming responsibility for taking care of its children. After all, it takes a village to raise a child.
There are a few types of preschool programs. First there are structured preschool programs that focus on emphasizing an actual school setting and classroom activities in order to prepare the child for kindergarten or first grade. There are also day care centers, which are not as structured as preschool centers. Daycare’s focus mainly on child’s development through social interaction with children and caregivers. Then there are head start programs that are geared to give children a foot in the right direction in order to be ready for preschool or kindergarten. The right kind of childcare can be a wonderful opportunity to promote the profound learning children experience from birth through age five (Selecting child care, 2002).
Low- income children 's school districts often lack the money to provide these children with resources, and therefore the children will not get these resources any other way. Devarics (2011) stated, "Only 22 percent of local districts reported offering pre-kindergarten or other early learning programs for low-income children" (para.8). Denying this resource affects the many children who reside where that 78 percent of local districts do not offer pre-kindergarten, because many go to kindergarten not knowing minimal skills required. As a consequence, this postpones their education even further. Moreover, Davarics (2011) also stated, "Many schools aren 't educationally where they need to be, which ultimately means many students won 't graduate ready to succeed in a career or in higher education," (para.11). Many low-income schools do not offer activities such as, art, music or sports, because of the lack of money, facilities, or staff. They are not supplied with the right tools and have poor access to computers and Internet. They also do not offer rigorous courses at many of these schools, and have less qualified, trained, and less experienced staff that cannot proficiently teach such courses. Going to school with these disadvantages, can make these children unmotivated to continue an education where there will be little educational progress.
Decades of research proves partnerships between schools and families not only enhance children’s learning and achievement, it is also mutually beneficial to the families and educators. As an early childhood educator, my philosophy is rooted in establishing and maintaining a strong and effective partnership with families and communities that can help children and their families thrive. My approach focuses on effective communication between family and school, respect for diversity, and promoting learning at home.
United States of America: Worth Publishers. Click, P. M., & Parker, J. (2002). The 'Secondary' of the 'Secondary Caring for School-Age Children (Third Edition). United States of America: Delmar. Edwards, Lynda.
Community schools are partnerships between public and private organizations. The school becomes a hub for the community. These schools not only teach students but also provide access to services families needs. “It’s integration of academics and services leads to improved student learning, stronger families and healthier communities” (Blank, Heifets, Shah, & Nissani, 2004, p. 155). Community based schools use partnerships to build community consensus and carryout programs that would normally not be available to the community. For example, community schools provide a clothing closet, emergency food, counseling, and limited health care for families (Blank et al., 2004).
When moving through the hallways, the teachers, aides and staff were all very friendly and helpful, making sure that I not only belonged to be there, but that I was able to find my way to the appropriate locations. Art lined the halls, and the sounds from the classrooms indicated that the children were exicited and engaged in their activies. I would feel most comfortable having children attend this school. It was a warm, safe and nurturing environment, where the individual was celebrated, and the community created.
...y deserve. I believe that the most important component of a program like this is to get the community involved in transforming the local schools. Getting the community involved not only provides additional support to students, but it also helps address the social problems that negatively impact the community. Additionally, federal and state agencies must step in to provide funding for high-poverty schools so they can provide additional resources to enhance student achievement. If high-poverty schools could provide students with a wider variety of co-curricular activities, an extended school day, extended school year, and social services such as social workers, psychologists, and dental care, students would be more engaged with their school, and community members would develop a greater appreciation for their school district (Ballantine & Spade, 2015, pp. 103-108).
Children living in poverty have significant effects on their development. Poverty begins to affect children’s cogitative development early on in the child’s life, reasons why it is noticeable at an early age is because they do not have the learning experiences they need before start attending school, causing them to fall behind, plus leaving them to be unsuccessful for the rest of their life. School readiness is the biggest factor in determining whether a child can escape from poverty or whether they will continue to struggle with learning throughout their life. Interventions during the early childhood could prevent some of these effects from occurring or influences their achievement. Interventions have been used by child care centers to improve