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Education systems

Reevaluation of theReevaluation of the

Education SystemEducation System

Clear Vision IndustriesXavier A. Parker.

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I.I. Table of ContentsTable of Contents

I.I. Table of ContentsTable of Contents 22

II.II. Introduction Introduction 33

III.III. Learning StylesLearning Styles 6 6

IV.IV. Assessing MotivationAssessing Motivation 88

V.V. Develop ExpectationDevelop Expectation 9 9

VI.VI. Afterschool ActivitiesAfterschool Activities 1616

VII.VII. StatisticsStatistics 1717

VIII.VIII. ConclusionConclusion 1818

IX.IX. ReferencesReferences 2121

Appendix A: Emplemention Chart Appendix A: Emplemention Chart 2323

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II.II. Introduction Introduction

The purpose of this plan is to developing an innovative and current education system, currently over a

million of the students who enter ninth grade fail to graduate within four years. In fact, about 7,000

students drop out every school day. Perhaps this statistic was acceptable fifty years ago, but the era in

which a high school dropout could earn a living wage has ended in the United States. Dropouts

significantly diminish their chances to secure a good job and a promising future, once the decision is

made to quit school.

To rid the current education system of the current problems will be to restructure the current class

room set up, evaluate individuals learning styles and the effect of after school activities.

Restructuring: Restructuring: Kindengarden-12Kindengarden-12thth Grade Grade

Learning Styles:Learning Styles:

From K-3rd grade students should be evaluated on their learning styles and their

abilities to retain information.

New IEP system:New IEP system:

Don’t make an IEP a bad thing, make the IEP for every student, and use it as aDon’t make an IEP a bad thing, make the IEP for every student, and use it as a

developmental tool.developmental tool.

Assessing Motivation:Assessing Motivation:

From 4From 4thth-8-8thth grade assess student’s motivation for success and action. grade assess student’s motivation for success and action.

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Developing Expectations: Developing Expectations:

From 9From 9thth-12-12thth grade develop expectation for graduation from staff, parent and grade develop expectation for graduation from staff, parent and

student. student.

Classroom Structure:Classroom Structure:

After the development of the new IEP and learning styles system, change the

class rooms to match students and instructors that learn and instruct the same.

Afterschool activities & Statistics: Afterschool activities & Statistics:

The review the Union contracts and look were adjustments and compromise can be made to

decrease the massive expense of the Union and create and save jobs.

Implementation chart Implementation chart

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III.III. Learning Styles Learning Styles

What is the best way to learn: The best way for a person to learn depends on the person, of

course. It is well know that people have different leaning styles that work best for them. The best

approach for an instructor to take is to address a variety of learning styles with their teaching plan. It

is also helpful to encourage students to understand their preferred leaning style. Individuals assume

that by the time students reach the college level that they have figured out the best and most

productive way to study to retain information. This is not a correct assumption. School systems

should make students aware of the various learning styles and encourage them to consider their

preferred style as they complete their studies and develop a plan to assist in this.

Providing the right environment conducive to learning: The classroom environment can also

have a big effect on the amount of learning that occurs. Here again, people are different and have

different environmental preferences. Nevertheless, understand what effects the learning process is

important to know. Some of the common learning styles and environmental factors that should be

considered when attempting to create the best learning conditions are listed below:

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Learning Styles DESCRIPTION

Structure of Lessons

Most students learn best when there is a logical sequential, delineated lesson that provides the objective and systematic steps to do the assignment. This type of student benefits from the use of rubrics so that they can better follow lectures and assignments. However, some students do not like much structure and appreciate being given choices and allowed to be creative.

Sociological

Some students benefit greatly from group activities and other do not. For those who are peer learners, pair them with another student when possible. For those who are self learners do not force them into a group/peer-learning situation all the time. Cooperative learning is an important learning tool but some students are more introverted than others and may have difficulty participating in group activities.

Auditory

Some students learn best by listening. Auditory learners do well with lecture, class discussions, etc. While lecture is considered the least effective teaching method, some students learn best by simply listening. These students may also be more sensitive to outside noises.

Visual

Visual learners benefit from a variety of ocular stimulation. One example would be the use of colors. These students like images and written information. They like to be able to read instructions or the text on their own to increase their understanding. When studying it is helpful for these student to use different color highlighters or pens as they are reading and taking notes. These students may also be more sensitive to visual distractions.

Tactile

Most people learn best with hands-on activities, but some gain a lot more from it than others. Some students really increase their learn potential when they are give they opportunity to do something by themselves Especially in a science classroom there should be plenty of opportunities to learn by doing.

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Environmental Factors

DESCRIPTION

Formal vs. Informal

A formal setting would be the traditional desk and chair or possibly a table. An informal setting would be the floor, a couch, a beanbag, etc. Every student’s brain will not function the same in the same postural position. So when you see a student slouching in a traditional desk or chair, it may simply mean that they would learn better in more of an informal setting.

Noise vs. QuietSome students find sound distracting and some find it calming. It may be beneficial to have several study areas established. One where the noise level is kept to a minimum and one where some background noise are present.

Temperature

Room temperature also plays a key role in learning. If a student is too cold or too hot, they will have more of a hard time concentrating on what their learning task is. It is recommended that the classroom temperature be cool if possible. This way those who do not like being cold can simply wear another layer of clothing and be comfortable.

Bright vs. DimEverybody’s eyes react differently to light. Some students may need to sit by a bright reading lamp while others may get a headache when too much light is present. A light level that all students find comfortable should be sought.

Kinesthetic

Some people need to have continuous movement as they are studying, such as tapping there fingers or foot on the floor, fooling with their hair, using a stress ball, or chewing gum. This is absolutely natural but if they are not alone studying, makes sure they do not distract others.

Mobility

The human body is built to move and it does particularly like to sit still for long periods of time. Have students to stand, stretch, and take short breaks as needed during studying. It is good to study in 20-30 minute increments with a brief break between each block of time. Research has shown that it only takes 30 seconds to rest and recharge the brain.

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Implementation of Learning Styles: The suggested way to implement these new learning styles

takes the pressure off of the student and the teacher for the first 4 years of development, so instead of

trying to get A, B, C’s and so on and so forth, the new system will be focused on how the student’s

learn to prepare them for the grades of 4th-12th.

The young students will still learn their alphabets, numbers, math and English, but the focus will

not be on grading them and testing them for their report cards, the emphasis will be on grading on

how they retain the knowledge, how the best learn it and can do they get it (can they tell you why

2x3= 6; instead of just memorizing it). To implement this plan the school system will have a new

I.E.P system for all of the students not just the special education. The new I.E.P system will track the

learning style of ever student in every subject. It will track their behavior patterns and achievements.

The reason for this is just imagine if every teacher had information on ever student that was set to

come into their class room everyday. The teachers know if the have an over achiever and or an under

achiever in their classroom. They know who can help them in the class room and who will need extra

help in the class room.

Classroom set up: The new I.E.P. and learning style system will help the school system set up the

class room to meet the needs of all students. I think it would be beneficial for the student and teachers

to have it set up where if I am in a math class and I am a visual learner that everyone in the class

room is a visual learner’s, so the teacher can develop a course were the visual learners can get the full

information from the course. Next if it was not cost effective to break each class down into different

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learning styles, but they can combine certain learning styles 1, 2, or 3 different styles in one class

room but since the teacher knows that he has the certain learning styles in his class room he can set

up for all of them, there for everyone is learning equally.

Effect of the systems: The effect of the new system will be better class room grades and behavior,

if a student is getting information in the form that is the most effective to him/her then grades will be

better. Next, sometimes all of the things put in place can not change certain students, but with the

development of this new system it can eliminate the “stupid student” and what I mean by this that

most bad behavior comes from a student not being involved in class, not getting the information and

feeling less than the other students that get it, therefore making fun of the other students that do good

it and making it seem as being smart is bad.

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IV. Assessing MotivationAssessing Motivation

Motivation is the process whereby goal-directed activity is instigated and sustained. From the 4th

grade-8th grade this is where we now develop motivation of the student. This is were we set goals and

reward when these expectations are meet. For the early grades motivation can be something as simple

as setting the goal of no interruption during class for the whole day for at least 3 days out of the week

and the reward is a pizza party. For the higher grades this is were you reward them with setting goals

and when they meet these goals they are allow to go to the spring dance, participate in sports,

cheerleading and other in school and after school activities. This is currently active in the school now

but it can be revamp to where the student sets their own reachable goals to then give some of the

responsibility to the student.

I feel motivation is key to success; most people really feel that since they went to school and did well

that their child should automatically will love school that is just not fact. We need to find ways to

motivate the new age student things that were working are not currently working as evident by the

drop out rates. So in this stage this is were we start setting goals for the students to continue toward

high school.

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V.V. Develop Expectation: Develop Expectation:

From 9th-12th grade develop expectation for graduation from staff, parent and student. This is the

stage where we prepare students for life after high school. During this stage we prepare students for

careers and or higher education then careers. I think that today in our educational system there is to

much weight put on testing, there are individuals who could teach you the legal system front to back

but it took them 2-4 times to pass the BAR exam, so I really think more weight should be put on

knowledge retention and can they re-teach what they have learned.

When setting expectation from 9th grade we find out what would they like to do after high school, if

someone wants to be an architect you will have that student take more math courses than another

student who wants to be a scientist. Next after finding out where they want to go set them up with the

course work to let the see what is expected to see if that is what they want to do. The third is to bring

back home economics, auto shop and tool shop and courses of that nature.

Finally for the students who want to go to college, they should be prepared during the second half of

their 11th grade school year, so they can prepare for SAT/ACT’s, college visits and parents being

more involved with these choices also.

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VI. Afterschool activities:Afterschool activities:

Enhancing Children’s Academic Achievement:

Improving Children’s Grades and Academic Achievement: Young people attending formal after-

school programs often spend more time in academic activities and in enrichment lessons than do their

peers left unsupervised after school. Children whose out-of-school time includes 20-35 hours of

constructive learning activities do better in school.

Studies indicate that students in after-school programs show better achievement in math, reading, and

other subjects.

Increasing Children’s Interest and Ability in Reading: Quality after-school curricula expose children

to an environment rich in language and print. Quality, research-based tutoring programs also produce

improvements in reading achievement. Tutoring can also lead to greater self-confidence in reading,

increased motivation to read, and improved behavior.

Improving School Attendance, Increasing Engagement in School, and Reducing the Dropout Rate:

After-school programs can help children develop greater confidence in their academic abilities and a

greater interest in school, both of which have been shown to lead to improved school attendance and

completion rates. Students who spent even one to four hours a week in extracurricular activities were

60 percent less likely to have dropped out of school by 12 th grade than their peers who did not

participate.

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Increasing Homework Quality: The structure of an after-school program can make homework part

of students’ daily routine. This can contribute to children in after-school programs completing more

and better-prepared homework because of their participation. Also books student need to be able to

bring books home, I don’t know how many times parents with young students call me to ask for help

when helping their child with home work because they have been out of school for 10-20 years, and

the student does not have a book to bring home with the examples for the student and the parents.

Increasing Aspirations for the Future: By giving children role models and the tools they need to

succeed in school, after-school programs can help children realize their full potential.

Improved Behavior in School: Research shows that children who participate in after-school

programs behave better in class, handle conflict more effectively, and cooperate more with authority

figures and with their peers.

Better Social Skills: The after-school environment allows children to interact socially in a more

relaxed atmosphere. Research shows that children with the opportunity to make social connections in

after-school hours are better adjusted and happier than those who do not have this opportunity.

Improved Self-Confidence: Youth organizations have indicated that the single most important factor

in the success of their programs is the relationship between participants and the adults who work with

them. Programs can provide the opportunity for youth to gain self-confidence through development

of caring relationships with adults and peers.

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More Effective Use of Funding: After-school programs can help school districts save money over the

long term because of decreased student retention and special education placements. Where there is a

decrease in juvenile crime due to a program, communities also save resources.

Greater Family and Community Involvement: Many after-school programs depend on and draw

upon parent and community volunteers. Research show that when families are involved in schools,

students do better. Educators can also expect that when family and community members make an

investment in an after-school program, they will be more interested and involved in their own

children’s learning, in the learning of all children in the program, and in the life of the school as a

whole.

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VII. Statistics:

Who is dropping out: Overall, far too many students are not graduating on time with a regular

diploma; low-income and minority students fare the worst in the dropout epidemic.

Each year, approximately 1.2 million students fail to graduate from high school, more than half of

whom are from minority groups. Nationally, about 71 percent of all students graduate from high

school on time with a regular diploma, but barely half of African American and Hispanic students

earn diplomas with their peers. In many states the difference between white and minority graduation

rates is stunning; in several cases there is a gap of as many as 40 or 50 percentage points. A sixteen-

to twenty-four-year-old coming from the highest quartile of family income is about seven times as

likely to have completed high school as a sixteen- to twenty-four-year-old coming from the lowest

quartile.

Where Are Students Dropping Out: A relatively small number of chronically underperforming high

schools are responsible for more than half of the nation‘s dropouts.

Approximately two thousand high schools (about 12 percent of American high schools) produce more

than half of the nation‘s dropouts. In these ―dropout factories, the number of seniors enrolled is

routinely 60 percent or less than the number of freshmen three years earlier. Eighty percent of the

high schools that produce the most dropouts can be found in a subset of just fifteen states. The

majority of dropout factories are located in northern and western cities and throughout the southern

states.

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Why Do Students Drop Out: While there is no single reason that students drop out, research indicates

that difficult transitions to high school, deficient basic skills, and a lack of engagement serve as

prominent barriers to graduation. Most dropouts are already on the path to failure in the middle

grades and engage in behaviors that strongly correlate to dropping out in high school. Various

researchers have identified specific risk factors, such as low attendance or a failing grade, which can

identify future dropouts—in some cases as early as sixth grade. Ninth grade serves as a bottleneck for

many students who begin their freshman year only to find that their academic skills are insufficient

for high school-level work. Up to 40 percent of ninth grade students in cities with the highest dropout

rates repeat ninth grade; only 10 to 15 percent of those repeaters go on to graduate.8 Academic

success in ninth grade course work is highly predictive of eventual graduation; it is even more telling

than demographic characteristics or prior academic achievement. Unfortunately, many students are

not given the extra support they need to successfully make the transition to high school. As a result,

over one third of all dropouts are lost in ninth grade. The six million secondary students who

comprise the lowest 25 percent of achievement are twenty times more likely to drop out of high

school than students in the top-performing quartile. Both academic and social engagements are

integral components of successfully navigating the education pipeline. Research shows that a lack of

student engagement is predictive of dropping out, even after controlling for academic achievement

and student background.

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What Are the Costs of Dropping out of High School: Dropouts suffer from reduced earnings and lost

opportunities; there is also a significant social and economic cost to the rest of the nation.

Over the course of his or her lifetime, a high school dropout earns, on average, about $260,000 less

than a high school graduate. Dropouts from the Class of 2008 alone will cost the nation more than

$319 billion in lost wages over the course of their lifetimes. If the United States" likely" dropouts

from the Class of 2006 had graduated, the nation could have saved more than $17 billion in Medicaid

and expenditures for uninsured health care over the course of those young people‘s lifetimes. If U.S.

high schools and colleges raise the graduation rates of Hispanic, African American, and Native

American students to the levels of white students by 2020, the potential increase in personal income

would add more than $310 billion to the U.S. economy. Increasing the graduation rate and college

matriculation of male students in the United States by just 5 percent could lead to combined savings

and revenue of almost $8 billion each year by reducing crime-related costs.

Updated February 2009: Dropout factories produce 69 percent of all African American dropouts and

63 percent of all Hispanic dropouts, compared to 30 percent of all white dropouts.6

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VIII. Conclusion:

This plan I really think may not be the answer to everything but I think it is a start; the development

of a program of this nature can really change the structure of the current school system and our place

in the world when it comes to education. Many student fail at school because now things are focus on

teaching a class a certain subject one way, but we know that people learn things differently, so when

students are not learning they are acting out. When students are taught a subject in their learning style

they become more interested and become a better student.

The emphasis that we place on test is a bit much, I can do the work not get the work, then memorize

it and take a test and get a A, but that does not help me in the long run because I really don’t get it.

Next we have student who does the work and gets the work, but is a bad test taker and then gets a bad

grade on the test then he finishes the course with a C or D, but he/she does really know the material,

this is a problem. I really think that we need to develop new grading system on retention of material,

reiteration of material learned and testing on the material.

Finally, I really think that with all of the problems we face in the current education system one of the

biggest factors my very well be the things that happens outside of school. A new development of

community and after school programs is a must, children need things to do, parents are working long

hours, making less money (some people) and the children are effected by it.

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IX. References

Alliance for Excellent Education (February, 2009). High School Dropout in America. Retrieved on

April 25, 2009 from http://www.all4ed.org/files/GraduationRates_FactSheet.pdf.

Archived Information (June 2000) After-School Programs: Keeping Children Safe and Smart.

Retrieved May 1, 2009 from http://www.ed.gov/pubs/afterschool/2potential.html

Meece, J. L., Schunk, D. H., Pintrich, P. R. (2008) Motivation in Education “Theory, Research and

Application. Upper Saddle River, NJ.

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Implementation Chart Implementation Chart

Phase Restructuring:Restructuring: School board Implementation:School board Implementation:

I Developing Learning Styles

Develop new IEP system

New Classroom set up

Have the school board develop a new

learning style curriculum.

Redefine IEP

Develop staff training for teachers to

prepare for change

Meet with parents and community

about plan

II Create motivation standards for grades 4th-

8th

Develop expectation for 9th – 12th grade

Real college preparation curriculum

Reinstitute technical courses (Home Ec.,

Wood Shop and Auto Shop)

Staff must develop motivation guidelines

for staff and students

Develop expectation guidelines

Help develop college prep curriculum

III. Pick a class and monitor from K-12

Develop after school programs

Develop new grading system on retention,

reiteration of material learned and testing

Secure funding

Create a monitoring system for this

program

Contact family of developing school

Develop a class of students in the inner

city and suburban areas.

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Evaluation Sheet: Name: _______________________________________________

Course: MGT 205 Date: 5/6/2009

1= Strongly Disagree 2= Disagree 3=Agree 4= Strongly Agree

Preparation- Member was well prepared

Communication- Individual was informed

and knew content well and presented it

clearly

Time- Project was informal but not

information overload

Quality of Power Point-

Do you Agree with the information

presented?

Additional Comments:

Overall Score