Inquiry Project Intro

“What community-based programs are available to educate the surrounding community?”

What programs are available, in your city, to help you out with an array of problems (i.e., financial, relationship, educational)? What organization can you turn to when you feel that you are at the end of your line? When you sit down and think about these questions, you realize that the answers to these questions are very difficult to find. Not all cities proudly promote the services that are available to support everyone in their community. Through my research and interviews, I have realized that community-based organizations have strong ties with the communities and actually support the individuals by giving them assistance and teaching them various skills needed to be successful in the future. For instance, there are various programs which take an active role in changing things that are negatively affecting the community; community based participatory research (CBPR) “involves the systematic inquiry, with the participation of those affected by the issue being studied, for the purposes of education and taking action or effecting social change” (Victoria Breckwich Vasquez, 2006) There are various programs available that can support the youth in the community by teaching them various skills. These programs promote an interest and respect for authority and knowledge in the children that cannot be matched by interactions that many of them will have outside of a professional or educational setting. An article that spoke about after-school programs stated that the programs “promoted the formation of strong, positive relationships between the participants, and between participants and the adult staff, many of whom were teachers” (Sarah Barr, 2006). During my time working for a community-based organization, I have realized that everyone needs support in any way, shape, or form that it is available, especially during these difficult socio-economical signs. That is why I feel the need to educate myself and others on the various types of programs available to everyone through community-based organizations. This education will also assist in the creation of a community-based organization that I have planned to support the youth in the urban community of Jersey City.

Community Service/Meetings

The community service that was performed at Arts High really gave me some personal information regarding the various different functions that occur within the different areas of the High School.  I began my community service by organizing the files of various students in the guidance office.  I was organizing the files by the year that the student took the HSPA exam.  As I skimmed through some of the files, I saw that some of the students had to take the exam more than once in order to pass it.  I personally do not believe that these standardized tests are pertinent information as it pertains to the future success of the students; but it was interesting to get a first hand glance of these scores.  The next day I helped Mr. Waldron (Athletic Director for Arts) by being a referee in the Junior/Senior Basketball Tournament that took place in the gymnasium.  This was a great experience because I was able to witness how the students interacted with each other and the administrators.  You were able to see the different types of students and the groups that they were a part of.  For instance, there was the group of arrogant students who acted like they knew it all; or the dance major students who did not participate in the game but were cheering everyone else on.  I loved this experience because I was able to interact with actual students and realized that I can control them if they get out of hand.  This is mainly because I can relate with their experiences and this allowed me to get some sort of respect from them.  It was very interesting to see that Mr. Waldron was able to run such a great tournament and control the large number of students with only one other member of the Arts High faculty helping him.

 As for the meetings, it was interesting to view the different aspects that go into running a Department within a High School.  The only problem with the Department Meeting that I attended was that there is not a Department Chairperson available at this point in time.  For the time being, there is an Interim Chairperson overseeing the Physical Education department.  As an unbiased observer, it seemed that there were many points of conflict within the Department and that there was some restructuring and organizing going on.  It was great to see a different perspective of the teaching experience because I was able to see how many different activities (i.e., grading, scheduling, and collaborating) a teacher has to take part in.  This proved that teacher’s job does not end when the bell rings because there is more to teaching then lesson plans and administering tests.  The final meeting that I attended was a meeting of the Athletic Department.  I enjoyed attending this meeting because I would like to become a coach in the future.  This meeting helped me realize that sports and academics go hand in hand.  There have been many changes that make this possible and I viewed it first hand at Arts High.  A student did not want to participate in gym class and because of this he was unable to participate in the School’s baseball game that was taking place after school.  These meetings gave me different perspectives from both sides of the school (athletics and academics) and I am very thankful and appreciative for it.     

Inquiry Project Details

My inquiry project deals with the affect of community-based organizations and the future success of young adults in Urban communities. I am focusing towards how these organizations can create programs that lead to the future educational success of the students. I have researched this topic and found that these organizations can have a positive influence on the young adults in these communities. There are various programs developed by these organizations that can stop some of the negative influences within the community. These behaviors, known as “at risk” behaviors, can lead to students becoming less focused on their current education; therefore leading to more students dropping out and not leading a successful life. These programs are also seen as a way to promote an education for these students after high school. They take away the “ghetto” mentality and show them that they can achieve great things as long as they stay on the correct path.
This topic touched close to home because I am from an urban community and am currently working with a community-based organization that had various programs to keep the young adults of the area focused on going to college and making something out of their lives. I will use various forms of data to come up with a conclusion and somewhat definitive answer to the question I have posed. One form of data would be my past experiences with this and various other community-based organizations that I was a part of as a child. Another form of data would be all of the journal articles that I have through Google Scholar and the JTSOR database. These articles give me actual data from tests that have been performed to find the impact of the programs created by community-based organizations. Most of them show the positive influences that are give by the programs. I will also use my current job with a community-based organization to provide more facts and information into the business and political processes that have to occur in order to create and get funding for a successful program. Finally, I will try to get in contact with administrators and city officials from Newark to find out which programs are currently offerred in the area that are on the future success of the young adults of Newark. Some of the questions may be: How does the government help the community-based organizations fund these programs? Do you believe that these programs are successful? If not, what would you do differently to improve it? In the end, I believe that the information attained from this project will help me get a great deal of research done for when I begin the process of developing my own programs to assist children/young adults in the urban communities.

NCLB Act Strengths and Weaknesses

I can honestly state that I believe the No Child Left Behind Act does not work at all.  During the last class, I found out that many of the individuals in my group completely agreed with my stance on the Act.  There are some areas of the Act that can work once some modifications are done to it.  For example, it is very important to identify the schools that are in need of improvement, but standardized tests are not the best way to identify them.  Standardized tests are actually one of the biggest weaknesses that make this Act hated by most of the educators in America.  The Department of Education should get together and find a new way to identify these schools in need of assistance.  I also agree that it is important for the State and District to devote “additional attention and resources including funds for supplemental services” to help improve student achievement.  This should be worked on more intensely because there are many schools that are not getting the proper funding to create programs that can improve the success of the students.  It is also very important for the government to understand that they should assist in paying for the tutoring of children with low performance levels.  The schools and teachers are wrongfully accused for the low performance of these students but they are not given government assistance to increase it.  Finally, one of the strengths of the Act that actually hits close to home is the ability to provide an equal educational opportunity for low-income students.  I personally understand the truth between the discrepancies in the educational programs between low-income, middle-income, and high-income neighborhoods.  Something that ties closely to that portion of the Act its request to close the achievement gaps between these groups of students.  Like I stated before, the only way to do this is to minimize the discrepancies between various economic classes.  Hopefully President Obama and his Department of Education will work diligently to fix the poorly organized NCLB Act.         

Observation at Arts High School

I witnessed a completely different perspective of the education process during my observation at Arts High School.  I shadowed Mr. Brogdan for the day and was able to view how a teacher coordinates Physical Education classes.  I actually began to understand what a teacher has to go through on a daily basis.  The class is actually split up into three different portions; 10 minutes are dedicated to the time it takes for the students to change clothes (5 before class, 5 after class), 30-35 minutes are dedicated to stretching and warm up activities, and 40 minutes are dedicated to various activities (tennis, basketball, badminton, etc.).  The class begins by taking attendance and ensuring that all students are getting changed into their gym clothes and ready within the first five minutes of the period.  Any student that does not dress up for class has to go to the library, read a chapter from the textbook (“Physical Education and Activities”), define the vocabulary, and answer the four questions at the end of the chapter.  Once all of that is determined, the students have to run five laps around half of the gym floor to get a full passing grade for the day.  This would be followed by a two lap squatted run exercise where the students are graded for their ability to complete the run while being in a squatted position the entire time.  The students would then get five pound dumbbells and do various stretching activities that are also graded; 50% for attempting the stretches, 100% for attaining certain time limits during the stretches (holding a certain position for 1 minute).  In the final section of the class, the students are taught the basics about various sports and are allowed to play the sports that are occurring during the certain cycle (i.e., Cycle 3 is dedicated to Badminton and Basketball).  The students are graded on their participation in the activities. 

Mr. Brogdan was respected by all of the students that attended the classes he had that day.  They understood what they had to do if they did not have clothes to change into.  The students who participated in class were ready on time and knew that they had to start as soon as he gave the signal or they would get a reduction in their grade for the day.  There were the typical one or two students in the class who tried to act tough but never disrespected the instructor.  The one part of the activities that I found interesting came during the various stretching activities that the students participated in.  The students were actually pushing themselves and everyone else to do the best that they could.  You heard comments like, “You could do it” and “It’s only one minute, it’s not as hard as you think.”  I just found this particularly interesting because it showed that Mr. Brogdan was a positive motivator and his students picked up on that behavior.  This shows me that he was creates a democratic environment between the students because he teaches them how to work together and motivate each other to get to a common goal that can be reached by everyone.  In conclusion, I think that this observation showed me that Physical Education class is not just a break from “regular” classes; it actually teaches great lessons that help students participate in our society.        

Annotated Bibliography

Leon Dappen, J. C. (2006). Urban and Nonurban Schools: Examination of a Statewide Student Mentoring Program. Urban Education , 151-168.

This article speaks about mentoring programs that were created by community organizations in order to erase a lot of the negative activities that were affecting students.  The researchers believe that urban school administrators should instill these programs in all schools.  These mentoring programs seem to positively affect the students who participate by minimizing their negative activities.  The article gave some relevant information about the effects of these programs on students.  It did state that the study does not show consistent proof of the effectiveness of these programs but I believe that it did give enough evidence to show that there is a significant amount of change made with them.  It also took into consideration the various other factors that affect the learning of students (social/economic status, etc.).  I believe that it has enough evidence in it to help me find a well-evaluated answer to my inquiry question.

What is the role of public education in creating citizens? What types of citizens do we need in this changing society?

When it comes to creating citizens, public education should focus on educating them on the democratic government that we are all a part of in the United States.  In the past, the educational system was focused on creating homogeneous citizens who were robotic and assimilated to follow the “American way.”  I actually believe that this type of system creates the idiotic citizens that Parker speaks about in his article that we read.  Schools are not focused on children learning how to think analytically and critically; they are more focused on the Three R’s and lesson’s based around some falsified information about our nation’s history.  I do not believe that public education should take this role because it takes away the individualization of our students and their ability to think rationally.  They can all follow and respect the “American way” without having to act them same, look the same, or think the same way.

I believe that we need a mixture of the participatory and justice-oriented type of citizen in this changing society.  There are too many individuals who are standing idle while the world around them continues to be controlled by the “people in power.”  For instance, President Obama won last year’s elections because of the unified power of many people who were tired of how this nation was being operated.  Many of these individuals who voted will now stand idle until there is another crisis that affects them so strongly that they feel their vote will make a difference.  I believe that we can create a nation of rational and analytical individuals by ensuring that everyone either participates in our democratic government or takes a stand for anything that they believe is wrong with it and try to make a change.