April 9, 2017 - 16:30
I believe that there is a chance for positive change in education with the incorporation of school and home. It seems that when students advocate about what best helped them succeed they often mention having a strong support system and people who mentored them. I believe that with better resources, like professional development that is focused on practicing different pedagogies and state sponsored projects, there could be a renewal in student motivation and better grades.
Not to belittle the efforts taken by previous policy makers but money really does make the world go around and urban schools do not have enough of it to produce the same quality education as other public schools. Funding in these schools in very important to enact any kind of change because ultimately poor funding is an integral part of the problem. And so, for my idea of an initiative it's pertinent that schools first and foremost get the funding they deserve. I think Philly's rezoning as an asset to the school system is a step toward attempting to make a change for the better. But my plan is to try and rebrand schools, if we can further incorporate schools into home life and give our teachers the tools to interact with the community in a meaningful way then there could be a change in some of the behaviors that plague inner city schools and other schools with similar problems.
If schools were to take a successful model for teacher-student relationship building and apply it on a larger level the rewards should theoretically be positive as well. Given that every school is in a different area and there is no cookie cutter solution to the achievement gap, the solution needs to be flexible and adept to change. I propose that school's individually do a project in their respective communities, trying to bridge the physical gap between them. As a larger example I think a collection of school's in a community can use federal funds to sponsor a garden or some other type of farming project. If they want to do something less manually laborious or more accessible they can sponsor a family/community day that features multiple booths that can be run by a classroom or a group of families.
The goal of the projects is to get the schools and families of the students more involved overall, build a physical community that consists of physical people who are committed to the overall growth and education of the students. To come together in a way that isn't a parent or a teacher but instead a person who is concerned with the wellbeing and future of the students. I felt as though throughout the readings and in personal experiences that there is such a division between parents and teachers about what their place/position is in the student's life, and how that challenged what they could and could not do in reference to the child.
If blurring the lines is what it takes to make everyone become the village necessary to the raise the child then that's what should happen. If guardians can come to the school and work in tandem with the school officials then their communication will be strengthened and they can stay on the same page about how to best help the children. And when the students see that the school is taking a more active role in their outside class time, it will hopefully strengthen the relationships between teachers and students and transfer to the classroom. If teachers can gain the respect from the students then they can use it to their advantage in the classroom and push them to be the students that they are all capable of being.
In addition to bridging the gap physically there still exists the achievement gap to address. I believe that it is unrealistic to expect there to be a decrease in for-profit education options and I understand that these programs are an alternative that has seen improved educational consequences. Yet this is not the only way to combat the gap, there is work to be done in the classrooms that already exist. It could be extremely beneficial for programs like TFA to invest in serious professional development that will expose their teachers to multiple pedagogies that can reach different students. I believe that there should be programs to try and turn what are considered hindrances in the classroom into a learning tool. Many students have cell phones and they can be very distracting, imagine if there was a way to integrate the technology into the lesson then the teacher can engage more students and track their involvement. I believe that by creating an environment prime for learning then it's best to make sure the teachers have the tools they need to reap the most benefits for their efforts as well as the students having a better chance to learn.