Main Challenges at Bayou High School Bayou High School is one of three high schools in an independent school district of 20,000. Bayou High School is the oldest high school in the district, and at one time served a predominately upper middle class population. Over the past two decades, the face of the community surrounding Bayou High School has changed. The number of lower income housing units has increased, the minority population has increased, and the unemployment rate continues to rise. The changing demographics of the Bayou High School community are reflective in the Bayou High School student body population (Stader, 2006). In 2005, the school district hired Sharon Grey to be the new principal at Bayou High School. Previously, Sharon had been a vice-principal at Marquis High School overseeing the International Baccalaureate Program. Sharon was recognized for her skills in budgeting, student management, curriculum, public relations, and technology. Sharon spent weeks driving around the Bayou High School community hoping to gain a better sense of where the students lived. Sharon’s observations of the neighborhood provided evidence of a racial, social, and economic divide within the community. Upon Sharon’s arrival into her new position as principal at Bayou, she discovered a number of challenges related to students, staff, parents, and academic achievement (Stader, 2006). Response to Open House Event Sharon’s planned “Open House” event for students, teachers and staff was met with resistance from staff, and overshadowed by the Suburban Journal Report labeling Bayou as a failing school. Some staff strongly opposed the event and stated there was no reason to return prior to the first day of school. Someone anonymously left ... ... middle of paper ... ...agogy regardless of their race or ethnicity (Howard, 2010). References Christy, J (2009). Professional Development and the No Child Left Behind Act. Teaching Today. Retrieved from www.glnco.org Howard T.C. (2010). Why race and culture matter in schools: Closing the achievement gap in America’s classrooms. New York: Teachers College Press Kelly, S (2010). A Crisis of Authority in Predominately Black Schools? Teachers College Record Volume 112 Number 5. Retrieved from www.ecollege.edu Spring, J. (2012). American Education. McGraw Hill New York, NY. Stader, D (2006). The Bayou High School Blues. Journal of Cases in Educational Leadership Volume 9 Number 2. Retrieved from www.ecollegeasu.edu Wolf, M.A (2009). The Importance of Teacher Professional Development. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from www.huffingtonpost.com
Susan Potter was hired by Lightville Community School District as the new middle school principal. Her employment began a year before the school opened which gave Ms. Potter the opportunity to oversee construction, hire staff, and determine extra-curricular programs. She also determined curriculum and instructional practices. Ms. Potter was a visionary leader; her goal, as an administrator, was to unite her new team and involve the parents of her students. She formed a committee and asked them to develop the schools vision, mission, and values. While she intended to be a member of the committee, she did not want to chair the committee. She did provide a brief overview of how the group
“Growing Roses in Concrete”(Duncan-Andrade 5) is not an easy task because of the many circumstances and policies that create inequality in these schools and in the society as a whole. In urban schools in the United States, there is more disparately and inequality among young people of color and while educators have tried to solve such issues through different means, the problem still prevails and this has just created “false hope”. Duncan-Andrade states that th...
In conclusion, the Academic Achievement has been fueled by society's presets, minority students' lack of effort, and the failures of the schooling system in America. There has been some challenging setbacks, but the Gap can be fixed to create a common ground for all prospective members of America's society to excel on equally. By realizing that change can be achieved, there are little to no limits for minority students to create a better mindset towards education. Students, parents, and teachers have to be willing to work together, as well as tackle obstacles upheld by society, and the economic deficiencies that effect schools across America. This will, in turn, take America one step closer to closing the Academic Achievement Gap in America.
Robinson, Janet. "Sand Hook Elementary: Six Months Later." Interview by Angela Pascopella. June 2013: 50-53. Print.
Groveland in particular, as underscored by Pattillo (2013), still has a lack of resources. Some ways to combat disorganization within black middle-class communities would be to create more equitable opportunities for youth in these communities. This could be in the form of more recreational spaces and providing youth with a quality high school education within their own neighborhood. However, one of the educational solutions most related to the middle-class are hotly contested affirmative action policies (Pattillo 2013). Pattillo (2013) also concluded that a way to better alleviate the woes of middle-class black communities may be to pour resources into poorer black communities. She particularly notes that:
“When schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enroll in higher level programs.” (Van Roeckel, 2008, p. 1) Deer Valley High School in Glendale, AZ is the first high school built in the Deer Valley Unified Scholl District, and with a population around 1800 students, the high school is one of the bigger schools in the state. It has a tradition of family on its’ campus, where there are still teachers teaching that were there when the school opened in 1980. A number of former students have become new teachers on campus and just about all the teachers’ children have attended and graduated from the campus. With a school like ours, there are many connections to the community around it and it is demonstrated by the programs that bring in parent and community to help with the development of our students. There are numerous booster clubs run on our campus to help support student achievement on the sports fields, a school to work programs to teach the students necessary skills in different areas of either nursing, sports medicine classes, and in the culinary arts classrooms, and funding to our school to help ensure all students graduate on time. There are many programs on our campus, but I will discuss four of the programs: baseball booster club, C2G program, “school-to-work”, and the special education program sponsored by Arrowhead Hospital. These programs are designed to improve the relationships between the campus and the people in the community, and give all students on campus every opportunity to succeed in their future.
Raquel and Melanie are two poverty stricken students that attended University Height’s High School in the South Bronx, because their school was not federal funded, it lacked resources; so it does not come as a surprise, perspective students like Melanie and Raquel have more of a ...
The achievement gap is defined as the disparity between the performance groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race/ethnicity, ability and socio-economic status. The achievement gap can be observed through a variety of measures including standardized test scores, grade point averages, drop out rates, college enrollment and completion rates. The Black-White achievement gap is a critical issue in modern society’s education system. Although data surrounding the issue clearly indicates that the racial performance gap exists in areas of standardized tests, graduation rates, dropout rates, and enrollment in continuing education, the causative reasons for the gap are ambiguous—therefore presenting a significant challenge in regard to the most effective way to close the gap. The gap appears before children enter kindergarten and it persists into adulthood (Jencks 1998). Since 1970, the gap has decreased about 40 percent, but has steadily grown since. Theories suggest the Black-White achievement gap is created by a multitude of social, cultural, and economic factors as well as educational opportunities and/or learning experiences. Factors such as biased testing, discrimination by teachers, test anxiety among black students, disparities between blacks and whites in income or family structure, and genetic and cultural differences between blacks and whites have all been evaluated as explanations for the Black-White achievement gap (Farkas 2004). The research that follows will elaborate on these factors as they affect the decline in academic performance of black males—particularly the literacy achievement of black males.
The United States is a country known for its diversity; so when it comes to the diverse classrooms of today many would not think there would be an issue. However, many schools face a multitude of problems that affect pupil’s education. Roughly twenty-seven percent of Hispanic, Latino, and African-American students in the state of Louisiana fall within the poverty level and unfortunately do not obtain a decent quality education. In addition, only seventy-four percent of those Louisiana students go on to graduate high school (Spotlight on Poverty, 2015). The core portion of the issue concerning poverty in relation to education is due to the economy, work availability, and
Ugbu, J., U. (1992). Understanding cultural diversity and learning. EDUC 160 Urban Education (Spring 2014, pp. 213-228)
When most people think of changes that have occurred over a period of fifteen years, they think of changes for the better. Unfortunately, in some situations the circumstances are different. I have attended Bayou Academy for fifteen years. As I look back on my years here, I notice the changes our school has undergone. When I was in elementary school, petty rules were not a big ordeal. As I near the end of my senior year, petty rules are the only thing that is talked about at Bayou. The school has decided to make major changes within the cafeteria, textbooks, and our everyday classroom rules. The decisions that have been made affect students throughout their every day lives and hinder them from having a pleasurable experience at school.
One of Hoonah City Schools’ biggest issues was the high turnover rate of staff members. The staff leaving so frequently prevented long-lasting relations between the students and staff, so students distrusted and disrespected staff members. The remoteness of the community also made ordering supplies for the school more difficult, so teachers had to buy much of their own supplies for the schools and the students. Additionally, many staff members had to fulfill obligations and responsibilities not included in their job title since the school did not have enough employees. I also heard about the the school’s funding issues, as the number of students seemed to be decreasing and the budget was at threat of being slashed. I had never experienced a school with so many fundamental issues, and it became a bit overwhelming to hear problem after problem with no clear solutions. By witnessing the effects of the above issues in Hoonah and Hoonah City Schools, I became hyper-aware of many of my privileges that I ignored in my day-to-day
America’s school system and student population remains segregated, by race and class. The inequalities that exist in schools today result from more than just poorly managed schools; they reflect the racial and socioeconomic inequities of society as a whole. Most of the problems of schools boil down to either racism in and outside the school or financial disparity between wealthy and poor school districts. Because schools receive funding through local property taxes, low-income communities start at an economic disadvantage. Less funding means fewer resources, lower quality instruction and curricula, and little to no community involvement. Even when low-income schools manage to find adequate funding, the money doesn’t solve all the school’s problems. Most important, money cannot influence student, parent, teacher, and administrator perceptions of class and race. Nor can money improve test scores and make education relevant and practical in the lives of minority students.
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.
While both interviewees stated they did not feel their institutions were ignoring different races and groups and lesson plans were designed around promotion multiculturalism, schools that primarily white often fail to be as cultural diverse as schools with a healthy racial composition. Lesson plans are often ambivalent towards understanding the struggles and hardships of certain racial groups, such as the Native Americans during the time of European exploration. In addition, students at mostly white institutions often associated success with how hard an individual works rather than any hardships or racist or sexist acts thrown upon that person. Ironically, the little multiculturalism that is introduced in prominently white schools has been ill received by parents and teachers. Both parties, especially parents, argue that the children growing up today are “color-blind” and that no explicit efforts to inject multiculturalism should occur in the classroom outside of settings considered appropriate, such as history courses (Lewis, 2003: