Students At Clearview Middle School

In the article “Fremont high school”, Jonathan Kozol describes how the inability to provide the needed funding and address the necessities of minority children is preventing students from functioning properly at school. He talks to Meriya, a student who expresses her disgust on the unequal consideration given to urban and suburban schools. She and her classmates undergo physical and personal embarrassments. Kozol states that the average ninth grade student reads at fourth or fifth grade level while a third read at third grade level or below. Although academic problems are the main factor for low grades, students deal with other factors every day. For example, School bathrooms are unsanitary, air condition does not work, classrooms have limited

I teach first grade at Lowe Elementary School; my class is made up of twenty-four very diverse seven year-olds; they come from all over the city of Louisville, from a variety of socio-economic situations. Each student brings a unique personality to our classroom community, and they all work hard to become “smarter and smarter” and to “go to college”. Thirteen students are boys and eleven are girls. Of these twenty-four students, three of them are English Language Learners. Additionally, eight students receive tier two interventions and two receive tier three interventions in reading. In math, five students are tier two and four are tier three. I also teach one student who receives ECE services for a developmental delay. Within my class there is a wide achievement gap.

For decades now, there have been educational problems in the inner city schools in the United States. The schools inability to teach some students relates to the poor conditions in the public schools. Some of the conditions are the lack of funds that give students with the proper supplies, inexperienced teachers, inadequate resources, low testing scores and the crime-infested neighborhoods. These conditions have been an issue for centuries, but there is nothing being done about it. Yet, state and local governments focus on other priorities, including schools with better academics. It is fair to say that some schools need more attention than other does. However, when schools have no academic problems then the attention should be focused

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

Mrs. Alice McLoughlin-Doro is a Special Education teacher at Downers Grove South High School in Downers Grove, Illinois. The community is known for its excellent school districts. According to the 2010 census there were 47, 833 people living in Downers Grove with approximately 19,000 households and 13,000 families. The racial makeup of the school was reported to be 88% White, 3% African American, 5% Hispanic, 0.2% American Indian or Alaskan Native, 5% Asian, and 1.6% from two or more races. About 1.7% of families were below the poverty line. The school district report card reports the following racial/ethnic background for the school: 68.1% White, 10.3 African American, 11% Hispanic, 7.3% Asian, 0.2% American Indian, and 3.2% two or more races. The elementary schools, middle schools, and high school all perform very well academically receiving above state average scores on standardized tests. She has been working there for 10 years and is currently a Case Manager of 17 students, all with an IEP, all with different needs and goals in the LD department. She co-teaches two general education classes in English intervention, all freshman. Although she is a Special Education teacher, she works with all the students. She also teaches a READ 180, Tier 3 reading and english intervention. This is where we will be focusing on for this

“When we can predict how well students will do in school by looking at their zip code, we know we have a serious systemic problem” (Gloria Ladson-Billings 20). When we are able to forecast how a child will perform by where the child resides, then how can we say that every child is receiving quality education. The unsuccessful educational system infused into the United States is affecting the majority of minorities. In the United States students due to their race and social class, suffer from underfunded public schools, inexperienced teachers, and housing segregation, which in turn inhibit their opportunity to succeed through education. These difficulties plaque students from the very beginning of their public school experience and follow them throughout their academic life. There are a few solutions to these issues but they have to be implemented and enforced with a slow integration.

A school setting provides opportunities where issues of social justice, oppression, and discrimination can be addressed. According to Bemak and Chung (2009), students of color and economically disadvantaged students are likely to have low academic achievement, in comparison to their White middle class counterparts. These disparities in academic

Miss Kane’s first grade class at Lutie Lewis Coates Elementary School (also known as Coates Elementary) has twenty students and seventeen of them are considered English Language Learners (ELL) (E. Kane, Personal Communication, October 4, 2016). This is very frustrating for both Miss. Kane and her students because it is very difficult to communicate with many of her ELLs. Out of Miss Kane’s twenty students eight students are Hispanic, five Indian, five Black, and three White. Miss Kane’s class is very diverse and this allows students to feel more accepted because not all students are similar. Coates Elementary as a whole is very diverse: Asian 28.86%, Black 18.26%, Hispanic 37.32%, and White 12.08% (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). Miss Kane’s classroom reflects similar diversity as Coates Elementary does. Both Miss. Kane and the Coates staff really show their appreciation for diversity and attempt to treat all children equally giving all students equal opportunity. Coates Elementary is a Title I school; about fifty percent of students receive free and reduced lunch (Fairfax County Public Schools, 2015). This school was placed in the center of poverty and many of these students who participate in the free and reduced lunch program are English Language Learners.

Houston Elementary is a predominately white school. 413 white students are enrolled in Houston Elementary, which is nearly 98% of all students. This is most likely due to the fact that many of the current residents in Houston are part of a family who has been in the Ozark area for many years. Although the population in Houston is mostly composed of white families, there are families from different ethnic backgrounds present. The Elementary school has two black students enrolled, two Asian students, and two Hispanic students. Therefore, all together 1.5% of Houston’s elementary students are from an ethnic race different from that of the white students. Many of Houston’s students are faced with poverty; this means that the students’ families are dealing with financial challenges which are often due to loss of jobs or lack of available work. This financial strain can make it difficult for families to afford to pay for their children’s lunch every day. This need is the result of a program which offers free or

Heather Ruha grew up in a “pretty rough” suburb on Chicago’s west border; this background has allowed her to connect with the hardships that her urban students face. Her interest in education was sparked by an incredibly influential teacher’s assistant in one of her classrooms, who Heather described as “giving” but always pushed her to do her best and challenge herself. She graduated from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago with a major in Elementary Education and a minor in Psychology. Ms. Ruha has been working in the Kenosha Unified school district since 2006, originally as a teacher in elementary classrooms, until she discovered a true passion for working with middle school students.

Currently, I am student teaching at Alfred E. Zampella PS #27 School in the district of Jersey City. The school is located in a busy city, next to John F. Kennedy St. which is especially busy in the morning and during rush hour. This results in several late students on a day to day basis. On the other hand, this school is also highly accessible and as a little over a thousand students. The school has grade levels from kindergarten to 8th grade, and has a mix of general, special, and inclusion education classrooms. Typically, families that enroll their students into this school are of lower-middle socio-economic class, and tend to be majority Hispanic, Indian, and African American, with few Caucasians and Asians. This school provides a variety of special programs for their ESL students and special need students. Students may be offered speech language pathology, occupational therapy, physical therapy, ESL programs, reading recovery, and counseling.

The students and staff alike work together and collaborate to make the learning and experience of school meaningful. The teachers in each grade band are close and have been working together for many years. Even though the school is only 15 years’ old many of the teachers have been here for seven or more years. The kids are all different in everything to culture to learning types. The students in the class range from kindergarten levels all the way up to about 9th grade levels, even though this is a special education class. We have seventh and eighth grade students only in this class. There is one student with Downs Syndrome, a few with a specific learning disability in reading, math or both. We also have a student in because he is the “trouble kid”. This specific individual is incredibly smart but he has behavior problems and he can be difficult to teach or otherwise have in class. The atmosphere here in the class is different than in the individual classes. There is none of the regular gatherings of students in this class. Everyone is helpful, caring, accepting, kind and joking with one another.

When looking at today’s school system, there is an evident gravitation towards a “for the masses” curriculum. This forces students of all ages and learning styles to conform to a system that may or may not work best for them. However, with the pressure of standardized testing - including state tests, AP tests, the SAT and ACT - a standardized curriculum seems to be the only option. This creates a huge issue in schools nationwide; especially those with a wide range of income levels. In general, students coming from a high-income family will be successful in this impersonalized system with little to no outside help. However, students coming from a low-income family, usually classified as at-risk, tend to struggle because of outside factors, including but not limited to a lack of after school care and parental support, learning disabilities, and language barriers. Because of these factors, the current school system, specifically in high-poverty areas, does not fit the needs of a student classified as “at-risk” because of problems, including but not limited to: the lack of teacher engagement, daunting academic pressure, little security, level and type of discipline, and control in the learning environment.

In Ms.G classroom, the students are expected to learn together. The staff treat the students the same and give students individual attention when needed. Students receive a variety of therapy and counseling such as speech, occupational, and physical Therapy.During my visit i noticed that a young boy, i later learned name was Marco, seem to be reluctant to participate in group activities. Ms.G and other staff did not seem to be bothered by Marco's behavior. Later I asked ms.g what has she done to help Marco open up more. Ms.G explained that Marco has been this way all year and will probably get out of his shell in time. I would recommend the use of Invisible Support which according to the National Center for Quality Teaching and Learning (2016)

Teaching children of poverty can be very challenging. These children are more likely than their peers to experience poor nutrition, parents with low educational attainment and underemployment, broken families, child abuse and neglect, drug abuse, teen-age pregnancies and high rates of dropping out (Holt & Garcia, 2016). It has been my experience that these students are a little rough around the edges which may cause an educator the inability to see beyond the exterior of the child thus treating them more harshly than their peers. Being employed in a Title 1 school, I have had the pleasure of working with students and families whose major source of income is welfare. They often came from a single-parent household and arrived at school improperly dressed and usually hungry. I found that meeting the child’s basic needs helped them focus on school and took some of the stress off of their parents as they knew their child was in a safe, caring place. One thing that was vital in our classroom was firmness and consistency. Unfortunately, many teachers and schools do not possess the knowledge and experience required for success in these more challenging schools. Impoverished students often do not care about their education nor did their parents seem to care how their children perform in school (Holt & Garcia, 2016). I feel this can be attributed to distraction from just trying to survive. In order to have greater success in the classroom of impoverished students, teachers need to