School Reform

School reform is vital for the success of students and the system. Changes in society, demographics, technology, and even curriculum require schools to change the way things are done.   The issue is not whether reform is needed; the issue is whose voice should be heard during reform. In order for reform to have complete success, all stakeholders should be involved in reformation. The voices of teachers, students, community members, local school board members, and state and federal politicians should be heard to ensure that the best reformation is implemented.

When all stakeholders affected by educational reform are not involved, one group can be negatively impacted. This will affect the implementation of reformation or most importantly affect education’s major purpose, student success. One example is a policy that is being enforced by TEA that begins this summer. Due to budget cuts, TEA is disqualifying students that live in a two mile radius from their campus from bus transportation. Many stakeholders will not see a problem with this reform. Politicians may gloat that there are balancing the budget. Tax payers might feel that their taxes are being spent more wisely. Yet, teachers and students will be affected negatively. During the regular school year, this reform might make change, but in summer programs it affects these stakeholders greatly. This is a problem for the 21^st Century Summer program at Lucio Middle School in the Brownsville Independent School District. Due to this issue, students that live close by are not going to be bussed. These students do not have a problem walking, but now the number of students that need bussing dropped so the number of busses for the program was cut in half. Now some students will need to be at their bust stops at 6:00am, when the program does not begin until 8:00am. This will affect participation from students that can use the enrichment program. This is why it is vital for all stakeholders need to be involved in reformation. If students and teacher were allowed to participate, they could at least see the importance of bussing in the summer programs or other programs that have lower enrollment. In the David School, it is obvious that many stakeholders were involved. First, they realized that certain students need special attention. Community members and politicians probably had an impact when discussing the funding for this program.

All stakeholders should be involved in education reform. First the voice of students needs to be loud and clear. Their needs are the purpose of education. Reformation should happen when their needs are not being met because this impacts society. Most third world countries are populated with the uneducated. The social ramifications of not listening to the students’ needs would be drastic. Teachers’ voices are also very important. Teachers are the main implementers of reform. If their voice is not heard the reform might not be successful. Teachers understand best the educational philosophies for students’ success. The community must also be heard. If they are not heard, this could have financial ramification when dealing with taxes and bond issues. Politicians in the local, state, and even in the federal level’s voice is important morally. The United States and especial the state of Texas still believe in protecting students’ morality. If school reform was left to the community at-large, the media and business community will probably have a lot of power over educational reform and there focus is not students’ morality. Yet, even these stakeholders are important because they affect education reform financially.     

School reform is needed, but any reform or change in education is not easy to implement. In order to successfully implement educational reform all stakeholders should be involved. The voices of students, teachers, the community, school board members, and state and federal politicians can become the voice of success.  

Gender Equity

Males vs. Females: The Eternal Debate

            The debate of gender bias has existed for a long time. If a person is a creationist, the argument could be that God created man first in his image and women from man to give man company. If a person is an evolutionist, the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest could lead to the conclusion that men are stronger than women. This debate has even entered the educational system. Some educators believe that schools shortchange girls, that they are given the same opportunities. I believe that that the argument that girls are short change is exaggerated and has caused problems for both boys and girls.

            Klienfeld (1998) explains that the idea that girls are shortchanged by schools was created by women’s advocacy groups in order to portray women as victims, so they can receive special treatment and policy attention. The problem, she continues, is girls are not shortchanged. In fact, women get higher grades in school and receive higher class ranks and school honors. Women graduate from college more frequently than men and the number of professional and doctoral degrees received by women is increasing. This is proof that the issue has been overblown. In some areas boys do better like in science and math, but girls are at the top in reading and writing. This is probably due to interest. Girls are just not as interested in math and science as they are in reading and writing. Today, we have curriculum and lesson plans in math and science strictly for girls. While in some cases this might increase girls interest, in other cases it might create women professionals that are not as excited about their career and therefore slowing down progress. The biggest danger is that the focus on this issue is taking away the attention on those who de need special treatment and policy attention: special education students and minority students like Hispanics and African American boys and girls. This debate even extended to sports. Title IX makes schools and districts responsible for providing the same number of sports for both boys and girls. Yet, at the time it did solve a problem it created other problems. Now, girls can play football with boys. This can create problems both physical and emotional for both the boys and the girls. In some districts now there are more girls sports than boy sports, shortchanging boys.

            I believe that being shortchanged or not depends not on gender but more on individual characteristics. Some girls would rather be artists or mothers, and do want to be scientists or engineers. Yet, some girls grow up to become famous scientists like Marie Curie. Whether a boy or a girls a student’s interest, desires, family, and will help shape what they will become. Granted, educational experiences are determining factors, the other factors are just as important if not more. It is not fair to state that schools are to blame for the differences in career choices and accomplishments. The David School focuses on boys and girls, but it is obvious that most of the problem students are males and not females. In this example the problems were not created by gender bias, but from family issues and personal beliefs and attitudes of these boys.  Schools and districts need to approach this by making everything equal. They need to focus on boys as much as girls. They need to encourage every student to achieve to their highest potential. They need to believe that no barrier, gender or otherwise, can deter them from their ultimate goal.

            In the web page, Gender and Society, it is stated that most people in the United States believe that women have more difficult lives than men. If this is the case, then why are women accomplishing just as much if not more than men. If would definitely make the generalization that women are smarter than men and God has a way of balancing the situation, so women have it harder. Whatever the case may be, all boys and girls are given the same educational opportunities. All students must understand that racist and sexist will always exist, but that their will is stronger than their hate.               

RITA

Rita

How would the David School be different if Rita was principal?

            The David School is an alternative high school for troubled teens. Students are helped academically, but are also mentored. Although teachers and administrators have good intentions, not all students succeed. One example is Chris who received an incomplete for being absent 15 days and not completing all hos class work. He was given the opportunity to make up the work missed, but due to some bad decisions, he failed to complete it. Some teachers also were just frustrated and told him that he would receive and incomplete no matter what he did. Rita is a principal that was allowed to lead Wilson Middle School where she noticed a lot of social injustices. If Rita was the principal at the David School, students like Chris might have a better opportunity to succeed.

            Principal Rita will first work with the teachers at David School. Although, they worked hard to assist these students, they gave up to easily. Rita, as a teacher worked with students with needs and was successful at it. I believe that most times teachers are good teachers, but master teachers are those that go beyond. The video Teach documented examples of master teachers. One teacher stayed two to three day a week to help one of his kindergarten students.  Although, the David School teachers were good teachers, the type of students they served need master teachers that go beyond. Chris could have been visited at home or given one to one assistance. Although the music teacher said he would visit, he did not. Principal Rita would also not allow isolation of these students. Although the David School focuses on students with emotional and behavioral issues, I believe it is important that students are also mainstreamed. They need to learn to be part of the community. As they become adults, society will expect them to contribute and there will be no special work place that will accommodate and understand their problems. It is an injustice if the students of David School are not allowed to participate in mainstream education. Principal Rita is a social justice advocate that would not allow this injustice to continue.