Best Education Possible: Effective Schools

Home » Post Category Effective Schools

Showing posts with label Effective Schools. Show all posts

Inequity in American Education of the Poor: Part 3

To ensure students are mastering the skills necessary to be college or career ready, measuring of academic success materialized. However, most racial and ethnic subgroups of children have improved their scores over time, performed better on mathematics, reading and science measures. Nevertheless, the achievement gap causes critic to blame the public education for failing to teach the poor students. For every critic pointing out the failures of the system, there’s a success story to be told that outlines the progress public education has made.

The U.S. Department of Education released a report in December 2011, documenting that school districts across our country are unevenly distributing their state and local funds, shortchanging schools that serve low-income students. The report reveals for the first time the extent of inequity in our nation’s per-pupil expenditures from state and local sources among the schools within a school district.

Weber was an early researcher to the literature school inequity. In his 1971 study of four effective inner-city schools, Weber focused on reading achievement that was clearly successful for poor children on the basis of national norms. All four schools had strong leadership and the principal was instrumental in setting the tone of the school; helped decide on instructional strategies; and organizing and distributing the school's resources. All four schools had "high expectations" for all students. All four schools had an orderly, relatively quiet, and pleasant atmosphere. All four schools strongly emphasized pupil acquisition of reading skills and reinforced that emphasis by careful and frequent evaluation of pupil progress.

You have read this article Effective Schools / How to Get the Best Education Possible for Your Child / Inequity in Education with the title Effective Schools. You can bookmark this page URL https://movimentosporting1906.blogspot.com/2012/11/inequity-in-american-education-of-poor.html. Thanks!

Inequity in American Education of the Poor: Part 2

High academic expectations for all students that are measurable and attainable are imperative in order to close the inequity gap in American public education. It all begins with our failure to have high expectations for the children of the poor. This simply requires that an effective school bring the children of the poor to minimal mastery of basic skills. Focus must be on student learning with a combination of discipline, intensity, concentration, and commitment. Research proves that our public schools know the methods and technics in order to successfully educate all children. An average student who attended “high rigor instruction schools” would learn about 78% more mathematics between grades 8-12 than comparable students in a “low rigor instruction school. We must stop throwing money or funding at the problem, and strategically educate these students with research based methods and rigor.

Despite several decades of reform, public schools in America are criticized by some as not teaching all children effectively. Consistently poor test results and low graduation rates prove the critics right. It takes a village to raise a child, but the same village must share accountability when many of their children are not learning in the public educational systems, especially the poor. Districts with higher poverty rates have fewer highly educated, experienced teachers and less stable teaching staff. These schools need highly trained and most effective teachers in their classroom. Highly effective teachers show passion, respect, caring attitude, fairness, skilled communication, creativity, sound knowledge of content, and have a positive impact on the lives of students, parents, and colleagues. Schools of underprivileged students must have educators with these traits.

Inequity in American Education of the Poor: Part 1

Public schools that teach poor children successfully must have strong leadership, an environment of high expectations that all children can learn, highly qualified teachers, and active parental awareness and support. Progress of society must be measured by our willingness to develop the least among us. Evolution necessitates public policy that begins by making the poor more educated and less underprivileged. This means the standard of education to public schools must be equitable and teaching poor children at least as well as middle-class children. This certainly is not happening in most schools for the poor in America.

Being a strong instructional leader is the challenge for principals in schools today, but even more challenging in schools with high poverty residents. Academic and social success is too complex for a principal to achieve alone. There must be a leadership team that works together to develop a vision and goals that are achievable. On the other hand, without strong instructional leadership at the helm to both create and manage the vision, teachers are not likely to form committees to improve the school. The principal must set high expectations, develop teacher leaders, and maintain a positive attitude toward students, staff, and parents. This is not always easy when you are dealing with an at-risk population.

Traits of Highly Effective Schools:#6

Elaine K. McEwan writes a book about the qualities and unique characteristics of school that help students get the "Best Education Possible". Each chapter offers research-based trait and examines its impact on student achievement. Trait # 6 is High Expectations.

High Expectations - Teachers can say they have high expectations because they expect their students to do tons of work and pass very difficult test. However, tons of work and difficult test do not necessarily mean high expectations. In order to qualify for membership in the high expectations club, teachers have to believe that their students can achieve, explicitly teach them how to get smart, and convey a profound and unwavering commitment to their academic success.

How can High Expectations be achieved:

1. Eliminate Low Expectations - Once your convey to children, whether consciously or not that they are too "dumb" to learn, they will almost always prove you right.

2. Intervene Before They Fail - Help students achieve academic success by giving intervention to students who show non-mastery in reading and other content areas.

3. Build in Rigor and Relevance - An average student who attended a "high rigor instruction school" would learn about 78% more mathematics between Grades 8-10 than comparable students in a
"low rigor instruction school.

You have read this article Effective Schools / How to Get the Best Education Possible for Your Child / Tips for parents with the title Effective Schools. You can bookmark this page URL https://movimentosporting1906.blogspot.com/2012/07/traits-of-highly-effective-schools6.html. Thanks!

Traits of Highly Effective Schools: #5

Collaboration is powerful when accomplish, but is a challenging one, calling for a variety of talents, essential when different points of view and thinking styles are needed to accomplish a task. In a highly effective school, all members in the community are responsible for teaching others and for learning themselves.

Benefits of Collaboration

1. Reduction of isolation of teachers

2. Increased commitment to the mission and goals of the school

3. Shared responsibility for the total development of students

4. Powerful learning that defines good teaching and classroom practices

5. Increase meaning and understanding of the content that teachers teach

6. Higher likelihood that teachers will be well informed

7. More satisfaction, higher morale, and lower rates of absenteeism

8. Significant advances in adapting teaching to the students, accomphished more quickly that in traditional schools

9. Commitment to making significant and lasting changes

10. Higher likelihood of understanding fundamental systemic change

Traits of Highly Effective Schools: #4

Relational Trust is the basis for positive relationships in the school community. Some refer to it as the glue that holds a school together. Bryk and Schneider (2002), described rational trust as a construct compose of four concepts: (1) respect, (2) competence, (3) personal regard, and (4) integrity.

Respect - is the deference someone shows to others without regard for their political position, wealth, job role, or power.

Competence - is the ability to do something in a superior way, for example, the ability to teach previously low-achieving students and bring them to mastery.

Personal Regard - is the presence of positive feelings toward someone. When individuals like each other, they enjoy being together.

Integrity - refers to an individual's adherence to certain moral principles and standards. When they promise to do something, it happens.

Traits of Highly Effective Schools:#3

Academic focus is the most under appreciated and overlooked trait of highly effective schools. Focus is difficult to observe behaviorally, but there is a quick litmus test: Ask the principal, a handful of teachers, and a small group of students to describe their goals for the school year. If all of these individuals aren't working on the same goals, the school lacks focus. Everyone is doing their own thing.

Step 1: Begin With a Compelling Academic Vision in Mind - The vision that a strong instructional leader has for a school is often sketched out for stakeholders (teachers, students, and parents) with a broad brush.

Step 2: Articulate a Meaningful Shared Mission Statement - After a compelling vision has been conceived and explained, the next step is usually the development of a mission statement that spells out more specific terms what the vision will actually look like in the school.

Step 3: Set Goals That Are Measurable and Attainable - These goals are logical action steps that flow from the mission statement but are smaller and more manageable in scope. Everyone should be working with a different set of goals related to their specific set of responsibilities.

Step 4: Ensure a Focus on Student Learning - Focus is the combination of discipline, intensity, concentration, and commitment with which groups or individuals tackle goals related to student learning.

Traits of Highly Effective Schools: #2

Ten Traits of Highly Effective Teachers:

1. A passion to help students learn and grow

2. Demonstrates qualities of respect, caring, and fairness

3. Positively impacts the lives of students, parents, and colleagues

4. Strong classroom management, engages students, and manages time

5. Exhibits drama, enthusiasm, liveliness, humor,charisma, creativity, and novelty to teaching

6. Has the ability to make a difference in the lives of students

7. A skilled communicator

8. Has a sound knowledge of content

9. Has a knowledge of the students, the school, and the community in which they teach
10. Has the ability to be read one's own mental state, able to articulate ideas, issues, and values, reflective, and able to adjust to the changing needs and demands of the profession.

Best Education Possible