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Community Assessment Sample

Decent Essays

This is a profile of the school community for North Vista Elementary school. I have taught at this school for over ten years and served on the PTA Executive Board for three years. My children attend this school as well. Information for this assignment was gathered from online sources, news articles, phone interviews, and personal experience. Florence School District One is a diverse school district as a whole, and that diversity is a result of the merging of various communities within Florence School District One. For this assignment, I will focus on the North Florence community where my school is situated. The North Florence community has always been one of the poorest communities in Florence.
According to the City of Florence website, …show more content…

I gathered this information from online sources with data by zip codes and city sections. The data is from 2013, but still paints a clear picture of the North Florence area in comparison with city averages. There are approximately 5,447 residents in the North Florence area. The population is 98% African American. The average household income is $23,336 with 29.5% of people living below poverty level. The unemployment rate for the North Florence area is 21.6 %. There are not many major businesses in the North Florence area other than the schools. The only exception is a …show more content…

Based on the information gathered from the City-Data website, the average home value in North Florence is $72,000. The average home value of the city of Florence is $151,500 according to the 2014 Census estimates. As noted in earlier statistics, North Florence is a poor area where the majority of households have a low socioeconomic status. The lack of job opportunities in North Florence, a slow housing market in the area are the causes of poverty in the community and creates a disadvantage for some of our students. I have spoken with the principal, Sharon Dixon, on numerous occasions about the effects of this on our students. Many of the students come to the school with a lower vocabulary than students from wealthier parts of Florence. Much of that has to do with the lack of education of the parents. Many hold high school diplomas, but only a few of our parents hold college degrees. The education level of the parent is a factor in the preparation of children for school. A lot of the families also receive government assistance and do not have access to technology or extra learning opportunities. Many parents work multiple jobs or shift jobs and do not always have the time to help their students academically. This puts the children behind before they even begin. North Vista has some of the lowest test scores in the district, but the principal has been working closely with

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