School Reform

School reform should involve the voices of students, teachers, community members, and local school board members.  If any one voice has too much power then there is the risk of moral ramifications of one voice being overpowered by another.  If a school board has too much power then there is a risk of corruption which may impact the community, teacher, and student trust in the school board. The philosophical view of the board may result in school board members’ agendas becoming more important than what is the best for the students that are being educated.  The social ramifications of having a school board that exerts too much power is that the relationship of the school board with the community members could deteriorate to the point of causing conflict in the community as well as the school district.  This is especially prevalent in smaller school districts where the school is the center of the community.  The opposite can happen if a community exerts more power than the school board.  The community’s overpowering voice can cause problems in the school district with administrators, teachers and students.  There needs to be a balance of the voices that are involved in school reform. 

State or Federal Powers are often too far removed from the specific needs of the community to make decisions that are in the best interests of all the students in a state or in the United States.  An example is how the state of Texas changed the assessment to STAAR.  I do not believe this was in the best interest of all students and all districts.  I feel like the state decided to reform accountability because the legislators felt that the assessments needed more rigor based on information from some constituents.  Instead of doing statewide accountability reform, the legislators could have researched to find districts that exhibited "best practices" and then made minor changes based on the research.  

Another example is No Child Left Behind because most states already had accountability testing in place.  Some of the state accountability conflicted with the federal requirements of No Child Left Behind.  How much money has been wasted on assessment development that could have been used to improve education for students?

At the David’s School, the students are more involved in their education by discussing their goals and aspirations with teachers as well as the principal.  This is done by having individual meetings with students and having an IEP for each student.  The principal made home visits to visit families to keep the lines of communication open between school and home.  The students and families were not intimidated by the education system, they were equal partners. 

Gender Equity

As a former 1^st and 2^nd grade teacher, I do not feel that the problem of gender bias has been overblown because even young students in my classroom would have specific biases about the role of women and men in the home.  I observe the opportunities for math and science in our school district, and I see more male representation than female representation in our Investigative Math classes as well as science teams.  Is this because boys are receiving more encouragement that girls to participate in the math and science teams?  In my district, I believe my role as the curriculum director is to make sure there are equitable choices for boys and girls in all curriculum areas.  Professional development and resources need to be available for teachers to  attend as well as have resources to help teach gender equality. 

This becomes harder as students grow up.  It is much easier to establish gender equality in the younger grades, but many times student’s views can be shaped by their home life.  Teachers in the younger grades should encourage and find reading materials that appeal to the interests of boys because girls tend to do better in reading at the younger ages.   Teachers can do this by locating high interest reading materials for boys.  As students mature, girls and boys can be pressured by peers to conform to roles that they see in their family or that they see portrayed in the media.  Educators need to have knowledge about gender equality and have tools to help promote it in the classroom.   

     I agree with this statement from the link provided with these week’s lesson.  “The myth that the schools shortchange girls is dangerously wrong because it has diverted policy attention from the group at genuine educational risk---African-American boys. This is the group that scores lowest on virtually every educational measure. This is the group where an enormous gap does exist between males and females. But the African American gender gap favors females, who are pulling far ahead of males in college graduation rates and in obtaining professional degrees”  (http://www.menweb.org/kleinful.html).  Along with gender biases, educators need to make sure that their own ethnic biases do not create an inequality in their classroom environment.

Gender bias in the Country Boys was not an issue because the story is told from the point of view of Chris and Cody.  However, I believe if the documentary included struggles of girls growing up in Appalachia the focus would be on teen pregnancy and how the girls took care of their families.  The documentary would not focus on girls graduating or going to college.  Is that right or wrong?  I think too many times girls facing the same struggles as Chris and Cody are expected to take care of their family and are often depended on to provide child care for younger brothers and sisters. 

Not only are there gender biases in classrooms, but what about the gender biases that exist for female administrators in a school district?  How can an administrator find tools to help her deal with the gender biases in a district that have former coaches as administrators?  Yes, gender biases still exist in classrooms and they still exist in educational administration. 

Rita

Rita's social justice philosophy is right in line with the David's School.  Rita's experience may be better utilized at the David's School because she will not face the opposition of her peers as she would have faced at Wilson Middle School.  Rita's philosophy and Mitzi's philosophy are very much alike.   Rita's role as principal may be more rewarding at David's School becuase she will not have to work as closely with the staff to change the staff perceptions of the student population they teach.  However, if Rita were to remain at Wilson Middle School, she may find it extremely rewarding if the end result for students was positive and changed for the better.