Case Study for Building a Coalition for Woodson Foundation

As explained in Diane Ravitch's article, “American Schools in CRISIS,” educators are provided with little job security under Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and Obama's Race to the Top educational reform initiatives; where teachers can be fired based on poor standardized test scores from their students (50). The majority of new teachers already quit within five years of entering the field; “demoralized” (Ravitch 50) by the effects of such high stakes and low resources (Ravitch 52). To combat this figure, many states have decreased the requirements for becoming a teacher, even allowing online licensure in Texas (Ravitch 51). To lower the standards of the “conservators of our common future” (Barber 122) is an irresponsible practice that must be reversed if students are to succeed. Barber proposes paying early childhood educators as much as lawyers to attract better teachers. Higher wages would encourage more ambitious individuals to enter the fields of primary and secondary education. Without highly-trained and intelligent educators, who are dedicated to progress and change, students will continue to stumble through a broken system, woefully unprepared for the task of becoming productive citizens.

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

Since last spring, Philadelphia school district leaders have been sounding the alarm about this year’s fiscal budget. Even after months of discussions and headlines, schools have opened with fewer resources than last year. On March 28th the School Reform Commission approved a lump sum budget which showed a need for an additional $220 million in revenue in order to provide schools with same resources as the “wholly insufficient” 2013-14 school year (McCorry). There will be many inadequate funding impacts on the quality of the education. Classroom resources would be stripped to untenable levels. The district would reduce as much as $2.2 million funding to the districts’ multiple pathways to graduation program which affects estimated 300 students. Another $1.5 million could be reduced from the elimination of preparation and professional development time for teachers at the district’s high needs promise academies. The district’s building maintenance budget could have reduction in amount of $9.6 million. Schools will be cleaned less frequently as a result. Building maintenance will also be curtailed as a result. District’s school police budget could also have reduction in amount of $2.4 million. School police officer vacancies will be unfilled, leaving an additional 27 elementary schools to share an officer.

Mark Biller describes the educational system like a delicate ecosystem, all parts of it need to work together if things are going to last. If the community does not support a school, odds are the school will have to close-down. If the teachers don’t work with parents, then kids will not get the support they need. If parents do not support teachers, students loose an

Mark Bowden has written many books and is the National Correspondent for The Atlantic. He wrote this online article due to the fact that separating students based on ability has once again gained popularity. Instead of stating his stance on this idea, he exemplifies through his narrative how it has good intentions, but could possibly lead to a negative outcome. This could possibly change a parent or teacher’s perception of this concept.

272) By allowing our parents/community members to have a voice in our program, we can actually see how much we are engaging them in our program. By listening to the parents, the community members, and assessing our program we can see what we are lacking in when it comes to their involvement. As I spoke in the previous paragraph about the parents being their child’s first teacher, our community also plays a big role in the education of our children. When children have the support of their community, it shows them that their community cares about them so the children will in turn want to care about and support their

If the current system not the administration calculates that the annually will increase as a chance to reinforce the district where it needs the assistance. While increased funding not necessarily equate to improvements in student performance, it’s funding and where it is clearly needs to be addressed. Ambitious effort to lift student achievement and, fundamentally, to undermine the idea of public

I participate in a tutoring program for elementary students in Dorchester, an underserved community in Boston. Working with the children has helped me eliminate preconceived ideas that led me to believe schools were bad because the parents did not pay enough attention to their children's educations. I now realize that the problems in education have more to do with the amount of funding that goes into certain schools. Ignorance and distance from reality caused me to believe that struggling neighborhoods inherently produce bad students. I now understand that the problems within the school do not reflect the students’ abilities.

Where the school goes wrong is where the school tries to deal with issues internally instead of bringing in the elders and families from the community we have sliced our way into; as Mr. Eagle puts it, “It is never about us, without us.” He went on to describe the National Wraparound Initiative which is a needs driven versus services driven model to deal with crisis when the adults don’t know what to do. The process involves finding the important people in the life of the kid having problems, looking at ways to build up the positive traits in that kid by setting short and long term goals that are

Mr. Jones acted as an ineffective leader. As a matter of fact, neither he demonstrated his leadership skills when he reacted before he was prepared to do so. First, he disobeyed a mandate from his supervisor when he disclosed the information given to him, on an apparent violation of the Code of Ethics of the Education Profession in Florida, Rule 6B-1.001 (2): “…The educator will therefore strive for professional growth and will seek to exercise the best professional judgment and integrity”. He shredded his integrity, when he failed to show loyalty to his supervisor. Furthermore, principal Jones seems to be new as an administrator. Even when the authors only described him as in his first year of principal in the neighborhood school, they do not provide any more information to evidence prior experience as an administrator in other settings.

According to U.S. Deputy Secretary Tony Miller, more than 1.2 million students do not finish their high school education every year in the United States. As stated in the 2013 National Assessment of Educational Progress, only twenty-six percent of twelfth grade students are at or above the proficient level in mathematics, and thirty-eight percentage of the students are at their grade reading level. It is evident that there are serious problems in the education system, and the quality of education needs to be improved. I watched the speech called “Our failing school. Enough is enough.”

"I can't name one person who lives in a home with the mother and the father. I wish I could.” Another problem facing the school is the lack of support from parents. I believe that the blame extends beyond teachers and administrators. For example in the auditorium on Back to School Night.

Public school systems need to be more sensitive to their students. Parents play the major role in determining a child’s academic outcome, but the school system needs to notice children who don’t necessarily acknowledge their gift. These children need guidance -- I believe it is the schools’ responsibility to provide it to them. I have been through a situation that makes me feel strongly about the subject. My example is an indisputable case in point.

As stated above, State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell believes that student’s education should be protected and invested in the future. Our government had a critical mission which is preparing students for productive futures. What he means by this is that we should have an educated, highly skilled workforce that can compete in the global economy for our state’s long term success, but since our resources are excessively depleted, we cannot succeed in achieving this necessary. He felt that the governor and legislature was not fair or responsible approach to closing this budget gap, especially the vital state services such as education. He argued that we can talk about courage, but it is just a word and it will not be useful until it is supporting by the right kind of action. By the way, the right kind of

In addition, insufficient funding of schools along with quality teachers that are retiring are some of the problems we encounter in the education system. In some parts of the United States, there is a lack of adequate access to materials for reading and writing due to budget constraints. In Allen D. Kanner’s article, “Today’s Class Brought to You By…” he mentioned that with the baby boomers retiring, and a high turnover among new teachers, who are asked to teach subjects they are not properly trained for, are causing difficult classroom situations (280). Similarly, Governor Jerry Brown’s statement last January 11 pointed out that K-12 education has ‘borne the brunt’ of the state’s budget cuts with more than $18 billion in cuts over the last three years. This resulted in larger class sizes, programs are cut, and over 30,000 educators laid off. These teachers are very valuable in our society because they provide our youth with the knowledge and social experiences that they will use to better their future and the future of the entire world. As a student, I have suffered the consequences of triple digit fee increases and the lack of available classes offered. The high cost of education has put the burden not only on the students, and many of their parents, but educators, as