I Am Observing At Eastridge High School

While shadowing at Ridge Elementary School, I noticed that some of the students seemed to be on different social-emotional scale levels. Some were natural born leaders and some were not which is okay. The natural born leaders would take charge of group assignments and the other children had no problem being a follower. Either way, the assignments that they had got done every time. I perceived almost immediately that an excess amount of the school’s students fell under three complexions. The three were mostly Hispanic, moderate Black/African descent, and few Caucasian. Since the school was mostly Hispanic this lead to the school has a lot of concentration on reading improvement clubs, in other words, bilingual education program which could be a great benefit for students who need the extra assistance. Taking a glance at the religious diversity in the classroom there were hard if any no visible religious diversities. Due to the majority of the school is the same ethnicity I am making an assumption the culture practiced the same religion which is why there is a lack of diversity in that area. More diversity should be added to this school district I believe the most impactful, and teachable moments are derived from a fellow diverse

Currently, general education classrooms have increasingly become diverse with both disable students and students from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In order for educators to ensure that they effectively teach these classrooms, meet the needs of each student both successfully and individually, effective research that is based on strategies need to be implemented. The U.S. Department of Education suggest that, the current school-age population is becoming more diverse as time passes, yet, majority of the teachers in these schools are white non-Hispanic women. According to another report by The Condition of Education in 2006, American schools are portraying increased diversity and growth. The report suggested that, forty two percent of students in public schools were ethnic or racial minorities in the year 2003; this increased from twenty two percent since 1972. Owing to these reasons, teachers in these schools are expected to educate a diversified class of students including those that come from diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. Teachers are therefore, required to implement a number of key strategies that will ensure that every student in specific classroom feels that he or she belongs there (Worrell, 2010).

Being a teacher who has spent the past seven years working in a “persistently low-achieving” school, I have gained an understanding of the inequities within Jefferson County Public Schools. Students, who attend schools with higher levels of poverty, are subjected to not receiving the same standard of education as those who attend schools with lower levels of poverty. Educational equity is an issue in our district and has become a main focus for improvement. JCPS has made it a goal to find ways to provide an equitable education to all students, regardless of their gender, socio-economic status or ethnic origin. JCPS wishes to create a system that not only focuses on high achievement, fairness and providing an opportunity in education but ensures every student receives a basic minimum standard of education. Achieving these goals, of course, is easier said than done. Our district, school leaders, teachers, parents, students,

The setting is Washington Elementary School in West Orange, NJ. The grade I picked is first grade. The age group in the class is between the ages of five and seven. The subjects they learn are math, language arts, social studies, and writing. But they focus more on reading and math throughout the day. There are 8 girls and 8 boys in the classroom which makes 16 students in total. The class is divided into three racial and ethnic groups which are Latino or Hispanic, African Americans, and Asian American. There are about 1 Asian American, 6 Latino or Hispanic, and 9 African Americans.

The school system serves 68.3% white families, about 11.9% Hispanic families, 12.2% black families, 2.4% Asian, and the other 5% multi-racial families. Bailly

Long Branch Middle School is a very urban school where diversity is predominant in all the departments and classrooms. In my observation, 75% of the students are Latinos or with Latino descent (first generation), 20% of students are black and the 5% remaining are white. This is because the vast majority of people living in Long Branch are Brazilian, Mexican or somewhere where Spanish is the main language spoken at home.

Arlington ISD has a somewhat diverse student body and interestingly matches the statewide statistics. At precisely 45.1%, Hispanics make up for majority of the district’s demographics. Comparably, 52.2% of Texas’s public school population consists of Hispanic students. Caucasian students make up 21% of the district and 28.5% of the state. Asian students comes in at third place making up for 16.2% of the district and 4% of the state. The least populous demographic for both the district and state comes out to be Pacific Islanders and students with two or more races.

Additionally, the primary language dispite discouragement from the teachers was english. Furthermore, the children who were darker skinned latinos often played with otther darker skinned latinos or black children, while the white students played with lighter skinned latinos, the divide on the playground was based moreso on the race a student appeared to be rather than their cultur. Moreover, in the reading groups the majority of white students were in the high reading group, with the mahoirty of biracial students in the medium reading group,the majjoirty of the latino students in the low and only the african american and black students were only in the low reading group. despite th eschool trying to teach the students about race and the harmfull effects of racism, the low percentage of black and african american students made them easily identified as different, and reulted in them being labeled as such, which negetivly effected their school work. The white students are priilaged because many of their parents hold power over the school, and have been able to attend an alternative school due to their parents ability to work within the

Unfortunately, the school's lack of appropriate education results directly from poor government funding. So even with hard work, the lower-class student is still held down by his socio-economic status. Poverty-stricken parents are unable to offer their children the same attention and motivation as parents of a higher-class can, therefore never providing these children with the mindset that they are able to accomplish the American dream. According to Mantsios, 40 million Americans live in poverty, and the mental and physical affects the low standard of living has on them is undeniable (Mantsios 328). Citizens who live in poverty work long hours for little pay, yet return to a household that in no way symbolizes the hard work put forth. Within this environment, very few people have the positive outlook to mentor children successfully.

I was surprised to believe that as a whole, a significant portion of students came from low-income families, experienced homelessness at some point, were hungry, or suffered from trauma. For one student to experience any of these problems requires a number of resources for a school, but when the majority of students are facing these issues, schools need to be particularly well equipped. Adding to this the fact that Chicago public schools are seriously underfunded, this is a tragedy. Schools are forced to cut social workers, psychologists, and clinicians from their services and ultimately, students are left without help. In my Introduction to Poverty Studies class, we learned that in order to alleviate systemic poverty, part of the solution lies in focusing on children and providing them all the resources so that can be as well equipped for life as possible. Much of this responsibility falls on public schools, but without funds, this task is

West is next for the 8th graders at Hadley Jr high. With only a month left in the school year 8th graders are getting more and more anxious. Last Friday students went to a dance at Glenbard West. They got to meet the sophomore and students from other schools.

Hunger and poverty are global issues that American is not an exception to. As of 2012, statistical data provided by the government reported that "46.5 million people were in poverty, including 16.1 million children under the age of 18" and households with children are hit disproportionately with hunger (Feeding America, Hunger). This disproportion results in an equally startling deficit in the quality of education for our children. These alarming statistics attest to the fact that poverty has become an epidemic. Educating all students to ensure they become productive and successful citizens cannot just be a desire, but a need. The required reformation to fix this epidemic requires government and community assistance with teacher involvement.

My data analysis of racial demographics in the school district shows that the area is uniquely isolated – surrounded by communities that don’t look similar. At Palos Verdes Peninsula High, there are two primary ethnic groups that attend school – white students and Asian students. Combined, they make up over 75% of the high school population, while white students represent the largest overall at just over 40%. The third largest ethnic group represented is Hispanic or Latino students, of which there are only 262. This equals about one-tenth of the high school. The district overall has even higher percentages of white students, totaling almost 48%. Only 12% of the district’s students identify as either Hispanic or

The school population consist of 45 % African Americans, 40% Hispanics, 9% whites, 2% other or more races, 1% Asians, 1% American Indians and 1% Hawaii Natives.

Teachers have seen that there is an increase of diversity in their classrooms. As teachers, we need to learn how to work with the different ethnicity and backgrounds we interact with every day. Many of these students are underrepresented in certain areas of education, while other students are overrepresented in certain areas as well. The two racial/ethnic groups I want to focus on are Hispanic or Latino students and Asian/Pacific Islanders.