Educational Welfare Of The Alaskan Student

“There’s a distinction between an education and school. Education is what Native people have been doing for their children since the beginning of time. School has been what has been imposed on people from outside” (Garland). This thought from Garland’s article “In remote Alaskan villages, teachers struggle to make school meaningful,” eloquently lays out how many Alaska natives regard the operation of collecting knowledge. Remarkably, Garland’s notion also offers great insight as to why the U.S. education system seems to fail Alaska natives altogether. It is this “distinction” (Garland), between education and school that seems to actively disconnect the ancestral cultural values of Alaska natives from the mainstream education system in this country. An impression of this broken connection appears in Kleinfeld’s The Teacher who Came to Rivertown. Here, Bob Perthall and his family move to Rivertown, Alaska, a remote village of 75 people. Accepting the position of teacher/principal, Perthall’s good intentions collide with subsistence, alcoholism, hardship, long-held customs and personal crisis. At schools end, the people of Rivertown finds no surprise in Perthall’s ending defeat. However, what really concerns us about the “teaching case,” is Perthall’s lack of preparedness for the students and culture of Rivertown, ultimately continuing the cycle of an ineffective school.

The purpose of education is to prepare students for their futures with both knowledge as well as fundamental life skills. I believe students are highly capable beings who have a desire to be productively challenged. To empower students to meet and exceed high expectations set forth by the state, school, or teacher, it is imperative that educators “teach for enduring understanding through partnerships and by drawing on brain-based education, students ' multiple intelligences, and culturally appropriate curriculum innovations” (Laster and Johnson). Beyond guaranteeing students can read, write, and perform basic math functions, we should be producing graduates who are responsible individuals positively contributing to society, reliable workers, and devoted family members. Whether students receive a scholarship to attend college or go to work immediately following graduation, we must train them to conduct themselves with integrity, have an admirable work ethic, and solve challenging problems they may face throughout their lives.

Local school board meetings are a venue that allows the public to attend and be a part of the educational process. These meetings provide community members with important information about upcoming events so that they are able to be well informed of the happenings that are taking place within the school system in which their child attends. Along with being able to learn about what is taking place within the school, it also allows parents and parent groups the opportunity to express their opinions and concerns about matters that could likely affect their children. Monthly school board meetings are a way to help establish and maintain open lines of communication between the school and community members. By allowing the community members the opportunity to be heard, it further enhances the relationship between the school and the community.

The school is responsible for designing and implementing strategies to reach the educational goals of students. The particular high school beliefs that all kids can learn and that the mission of this school is to challenge each student to learn, achieve, and fulfill his /her potential. Principals should lead each school in implementing the policies. In addition, this high school’s improvement plan of the three legal issues: unsupervised students, hallways, and field

We have to provide multiple opportunities for students to grow and learn. We need to be a culturally diverse school district that accepts everyone and encourages a pluralistic culture. We need to work together with our

There are a number of ways that charter schools give parents greater individual control over their childrens’ education. No longer is a child bound to attend a particular school based on the geographical location of his or her home. Parents have the freedom to select a charter school that they feel would best suit the needs of their children1. Parents also have a greater say in the affairs of charter schools compared to public schools. In many instances, parents serve on the “board of education” governing the charter school, a board whose context is determined by a school’s charter and not state law. This contrasts with the traditional public school board that is limited to seven members elected from the community-at-large, regardless of whether board members have children in school. Moreover, a charter school board is entirely occupied with the operations of just one school instead of an entire district. Charter school supporters argue that this leads to less bureaucracy and greater efficiency in creating school policy that ultimately benefits students.

Legally, one can argue that the state has jurisdiction, but the Department of Education has a great influence over the decision to adhere to its’ demands. Through funding, “the Department of Education has a significant amount of control over public education” (Underwood, n. d., p. 5). Aside from writing curriculum's using state and district standards, our curriculum's must now incorporate the common core standards. Our curricular, methods of teaching, and resources must be modified to address the common core standards, state standard, and district standards or one risks losing

Bureau Valley’s school board is comprised of seven members. Each member represents a section of the district. These board members are very prominent figures in our communities; they have much of the communities support. Although popularity, may not be what is best for the students. Looking at the Bureau Valley school board mandates, they are ultimately only required to do 4 hours of training and attend a few meetings when elected (Bureau Valley 2013, 120). Unfortunately, it is 2016 and the board member with the most recent training of any sort happened in March of 2014, almost two years ago. David E. Lee and Daniel W. Eadens, authors of “The Problem: Low-Achieving Districts and Low-Performance Boards,” find that school boards like Bureau Valley’s are not uncommon. Lee and Eadens find that most school board members only receive about “six hours of training per year,” compared to Bureau Valley’s four per election, our board is severely undereducated (Lee and Eadens 2014, 3).

While school districts and school boards are the “voice” of the people in their particular districts, Arizona state agencies ultimately supply the majority of the funds and are also involved in administering the school funding system, collecting school fiscal and performance data, developing academic standards and model curricula, administering the state achievement tests, administering

What is the role of public schools? Who should be governing public schools? This paper will address each side of these educational issues as well as offer a position statement and an action plan.

Every school district has board meetings throughout the school year. Unfortunately, many parents, community members, & school personnel do not attend such important meetings because they don’t realize or understand the importance of such board meetings or how informative they can be. According to Kankakee School District (2017), the Kankakee School District Board of Education is composed of seven elected members, who were elected by the citizens of Kankakee to serve a four-year term that do not receive no salary for they services, are committed to ensuring a quality of educational excellence that will enhance the opportunities and challenges facing today’s student and additional responsibilities that board members include are selection of the District superintendent, developing general polices according to wishes of the community and requirements of law, hiring school personnel based upon recommendation of the Superintendent and the Assistant Superintendent of Personnel, adopts salary schedules, approves funds to finance school operations, must adopt and review the annual operating budget for the District, and setting the property tax levy to produce adequate funds to meet the District’s financial needs ranks among the responsibilities of the Board of Education (Retrieved from https://www.ksd111.org/domain/68). For this paper, the Kankakee School District board meeting will be used, information learned from board meeting, use of

Presently, the availability of educational opportunities at the college and university level is a critical state and personal interest given the needs of the state for a well-educated workforce which has never been greater. Too many, the focal point of attending college is receiving a high paying job in the future. Unfortunately, in most states, tuition is on the rise and students who come from low-income families find themselves struggling to fund their education. According to legislatures, “The cost of college in New Jersey, as in the nation, continues to grow faster than the rate of inflation.” (State of New Jersey 1). In the national financial aid policy resources that are typically given to the neediest families are shifting towards

Human beings progress through their lives searching for purpose and understanding. Along this journey, humans find their innermost selves which is utterly terrifying for most. Humans learn that they are manipulative, vengeful, acquisitive, and that life is full of loss and suffering. Oxford Dictionary states that a human being is, “a man, woman, or child of the species Homo sapiens, distinguished from other animals by superior mental development, power of articulate speech, and upright stance.” While the preceding definition sounds very scientific, the phrases, “power of articulate speech” and “superior mental development” are extremely significant. Communication is arguably the most important feature that any living thing can possess. The power of communication helps human beings relate to one another. Superior mental development refers to the power of the human brain to think and solve

These standards can provide reassurance to school districts (particular the teachers and the students), that what is being taught and learned in schools is meeting up to these larger national standards. However, one disadvantage of allowing state and federal governments to exercise an increased role in determining what schools should do is that political issues begin to creep into the decision making of educational practices. Essentially, state and federal governments will be less willing to adapt to changes in education since many political ties exist with more traditional practices.

With the school district being a huge part of Marion, I thought that it would be useful to get the priorities and beliefs of a member of the school board. The board is made up of 9 members. In Marion there are two schools, the high school and the elementary school. This board oversees and makes decisions pertaining both of the schools in the district. With almost everyone in community having some sort of relation be a part of one of the school, this board can play a large role in the community