Underserved Adolescents

Ecological theory describes four levels of the environment that interconnect and impact people. Moving from the most intimate individual system to a broader inclusion you can identify the many systems that play a role in individual’s lives and well-being. These interactions could be harmonious and create homeostasis or could be disharmonious and cause stress.

On December 10, 2015 President Obama signed Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). This act was a replacement for No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. NCLB was a representation of the nation’s goals under president George Bush in which all children would be offered support in order to flourish academically. While ESSA has the same groundwork as NCLB Act, the government anticipates greater academic merit. Only time will tell if this will prove true, nevertheless ESSA will significantly change educational approaches in the upcoming years.

What could schools do to support the college access of Latino immigrant students? To understand how public high schools serving low-income, immigrant students (majority of whom were of Hispanic descent) achieved high rates of college acceptances, Jaffe-Walters and Lee (2008) conducted an ethnographic study to explore how schools provide students with the academic skills and social capital to support college-going. Among other factors, the researchers found that staff resisted “deficit thinking by focusing on the structural and material conditions that limit families” (p. 285). That is, instead of blaming students’ circumstances for struggles to achieve in school, educators at these schools sought ways to overcome structural barriers and provide students with the resources and capital necessary to graduate and attend college. One way of preparing all ELLs attending the schools was grouping students heterogeneously in academically challenging courses, with an “assumption that all

For low-income students and minorities, their upbringing and their current socioeconomic status can and will factor into their perseverance and motivation due to the structural barriers they possess. Students’ of low-income families often come from working class homes who help their child to understand what their unavailability to balance work and go to school might be. Often times for minority and low-income students’ they reach an age (often times being the age of 18) in which they have to decide which path they will decide to take, take on work and go to school often times to support the family, or work full-time with the possibility of “growing within their work” with the basic knowledge they acquire once they graduate high school (assuming they do). The Los Angeles Youth is subdivided between the rich and the

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) was established by President Obama. ESSA replaces the No Child Left Behind Act. EESA was said to be implemented in schools in the 2017-2018 school-year. The main goal of ESSA is to assist in strengthening the middle social class, thus building stronger schools. This legislation is said to ensure that students that graduate high school are ready for college, maintain accountability, so that no child is left behind, make sure standardized testing doesn’t interfere with teaching, provide more children with high- quality preschools, give more power to state and local decision makers, and establish new resources for teaching and testing. Every Student Succeeds Act removed the excessive certifications requirements

After school programs have always been a staple in the lives of students living in Urban Communities providing different opportunities inside and outside of the school. Many programs have used mentoring and afterschool programs to help bridge the gap between secondary education and higher education. But, the effects of socioeconomic status has continued to contribute to the prevention of African Americans entering postsecondary institutions (NCES 2007). It seems that the issues preventing African American students are deeper than statistics and need a different approach to tackle this issue.

The differences in academic gaps between children and teenagers from low-income neighborhoods and affluent neighborhoods present themselves in the schools the students attend. A study by the Department of Education showed that students in low-income areas did not have access to the same rigorous courses, and when they did, the resources available to the low-income students was lacking compared to the resources the students in high income neighborhoods had access to. In the low-income areas black and Hispanic students were twice as likely to have teachers with less experience, with one or two years in the profession, compared to schools in affluent neighborhoods with well-to-do white students. Another thing increasing the academic gap is that only 22 percent of local districts reported offering pre-kindergarten or other early learning programs for low-income children.

The Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems is a model created by psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner that refers to five structures of which an individual interacts with that impacts their development. The structures are referred to as systems in the model and there are five systems: Microsystem, Mesosystem, Exosystem, Macrosystem, Chronosystem.

The population I am interested in researching is low socioeconomic status minority adolescents. With this population I want to look at their relationship with their community and factors that play into their academic achievement and how these two elements of their lives intertwine. Their relationship with their community/ neighborhood includes factors such as their participation in community activities, community violence exposure, part-time employment, youth groups, volunteering activities and their perception of neighborhood belonging. School-related aspects that play into their academic achievement includes looking into their grades, aspirations, motivation, academic mentors, and extra-curricular activities. I want to study these influences

Bronfenbrenner’s (1977, 1979, 1989, 1993, 1994) ecological theory suggested that child (human) development occurs for the child within the context of various environments. These environments, or systems, are influenced from within and between other environments. The individuals within each system influence each other through various transactions that occur between them.

NAEP statistics from 1992 to the present indicate that more than 60% of Hispanic students scored below the national normative standards for grades 4, 8 and 12. Forty-two percent of ELLs 16 to 24 had dropped out of high school, while the rate for others was ten and a half percent. Twenty-five percent of ELLs in high poverty high schools had repeated one-grade (fifteen percent for others). This statistical data shows how ELLs who experience poverty and live in high poverty areas are less likely to succeed educationally.

Bronfenbrenner Analysis Name: Course: Tutor: Date: Urie Bronfenbrenner is today credited and known in the psychology development field for the development of the ecological systems theory constructed to offer an explanation of the way everything in a child and their environment affects the whole child development. Bronfenbrenner ecological theory has levels or aspects of the environment containing roles, norms, and rules defining child development namely the microsystem, the mesosystem, the exosytem, the macrosystem and the chronosystem. The subsequent discussion offers an analysis of these levels and their influence to child development, and then offers a personal analysis of the influence of the ecological theory in decision making.

The Microsystem includes the environment surrounding the child, such as peers, family and school. The Mesosystem is the connections between microsystems, such as Home system into School system. Then there’s the Exosystem, exterior to his/her experience where the environment in which an individual is not directly involved. The Macrosystem is the cultural value in which people live along with their expectations. Lastly is Chrono-system and that’s the events happening in a child’s life; the influence of personal history. Later determined was the child’s biological system, but it was not a conclusive factor. Other theories include Bio-Ecological systems theory and Theory on the Ecology of Human

Many influences and interactions take part into human development. These influences are better understood by Urie Bronfrebrenner’s Ecological Systems Model. According to this model, individuals interact with five systems: microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, macrosystem, chronosystem. I interviewed my Aunt Betty about her life to give me a better understanding of the Ecological Systems. This paper will describe how these systems apply to her life.

Developmental psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner first introduced the Ecologicial Systems model in the 1970’s. Bronfenbrenner argued that to understand human development, the environment in which the person belongs must be understood (Bronfenbrenner, U.1979). The Ecological Systems model concentrically depicts how a person’s development is influenced by their wider environment. In the original model there were four ecological levels in the system, however in 1979 Bronfenbrenner added an additional fifth level (Bronfenbrenner, U. 1994). With the developing person in the centre, the five progressive levels of environment include the microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, marcosystem and the chronosystem.