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Contextual Factor Analysis

Katelin Carey

Community, District, and School Factors

Lawrence High School is located at 7 School St Fairfield, Maine, home of the bulldogs.

The school has 671 total students enrolled, and is the only high school in the district MSAD 49,

serving the towns Albion, Benton, Fairfield, and Clinton. The center of Albion is about 20

minutes from school, some living even farther, creating long bus rides to and from school. Most

students live in Fairfield, which is still a big town that includes what they call Fairfield Center

which the center is about ten minutes from school. Below is a table that shows the total

population of each town.

Town Population (according to 2016 Census)

Fairfield 6,585

Albion 1,945

Clinton 1,078

Benton 2,671

Entire District 12,279

The schools that make up the district are Albion Elementary, Benton Elementary,

Fairfield Primary, Lawrence Junior High School, Clinton Elementary, and Lawrence High

School. Below is a rough map of the area that makes up the district. The students’ ethnicity/race

in the high school is 97% white, 1% black, 1% hispanic, 0.3% American Indian, 0.3% Asian,

0.1% Hawaiian, and lastly, 0.3% are two or more races. There is an even distribution of females

and males, with there being a 49% enrollment of female. According to the U.S. Census, people
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older than five years old that speak a language other than English at home is only 2.3%; this is

accounting for all ages above five years old, so the likelihood that Lawrence has very many

English Language Learners is not very high.

The district is set in a very rural part of Maine, with many students involved in working

on farms or other labor jobs, making for long school days. Between the six schools in the district,

there is a high rate of poverty that affects the students and their families. Of the total district,

53.66% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch. This is a table taken from a Morning

Sentinel Article that shows each school and the free or reduced lunch amounts.

Number of Students Eligible for Percentage for Eligible for

School Total Enrollment
Free or Reduced Lunch Free or Reduced Lunch

Albion 132 85 64.4

Elementary

Benton 627 395 63.0

Elementary

Clinton 233 160 68.7

Elementary
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Fairfield 159 112 70.4

Primary

Lawrence 680 350 51.5

High

Lawrence 351 212 60.4

Jr. High

According to the 2016-2017 budget proposal, the district spends an average of $10, 247.56 per

student, which is $742.95 less than the average the state of Maine’s average. MSAD 49 spends

less than 150 out of 232 Maine Districts do on their students. With the poverty that the school

faces with families, it is assumed that the community is not as involved as some others in Maine.

Classroom Factors

Above is how my classroom is set up. There are eleven tables that seat two students each,

all facing the front of the room. There are two teacher’s desks, mine being in the back right now.

There are bulletin boards on the left wall and some shelves and closets along the right side. There

are two full walls of white boards which make instruction easy to keep everything up and a
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planner for classes. There is also a small projector and a document camera that are ready to use.

For the first couple weeks my classes I will be teaching are two blocks of College Algebra that

are 40 minutes each and a dual enrollment class with KVCC, Geometry, and Advanced

Pre-Calculus with a study hall duty fourth period. When the semester ends, I will be teaching two

College Algebra dual enrollments that meet every other day for 80 minutes each, a remedial

Algebra 1 part 2 for students who failed the second half of Algebra 1, and Calculus, all of which

meet for 80 minutes a day.

I have been subbing in this school district and attending high school here, because of this,

I know almost all the Lawrence High School staff and I have met some of my students this year

in some of my subbing. My mentor teacher is Emily Dennett who is one of seven of the math

teachers at Lawrence High School, whom I had as a teacher for College Algebra just four years

ago around this time. The math department is in it’s own building beside the school called the

“annex”, which I feel makes the teachers closer and I see many communicating frequently.

The school has started a fairly new program called “BARR” that stands for Building

Assets, Reducing Risks. From the information I gathered, all freshman have the same set of

teachers, and every day these teachers meet and discuss students and their classes. The goal is to

ensure all students’ success transitioning into high school. This makes for a stronger education

for these students, especially at-risk students, if all the teachers can communicate and address

issues early on for the students whom need it. Once a week administrators meet with the teachers

in the BARR program to also ensure students success and make sure that everything runs

smoothly.
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The school is transitioning to Proficiency Based Standards, and the math department has

come up with their own rubric to assessing the standards. Each subject with standards that are

necessary to have to graduate are in Algebra 1, Geometry, and Algebra 2. In each, the school has

approved tests that have to be given and students have to pass certain amount of standards, which

are assessed with the rubric. There are textbooks for some classes, but my mentor teacher uses

her own materials for some classes that she makes using a textbook as a guide. The school is

doing standards but also keeping grades in place for classes at the same time.

To help with students meeting the standards, the school has a new block called “bulldog

block” that is after second period. The teachers can use Edyousched to tag students during this

block that have to come see you for work. There are kinks in the system because it is new, but it

is still a valuable time for teachers to get students caught up on standards. The block is only

about 22 minutes, so it is not a very long time if you have multiple students. On top of the

students you tag, you have students from your homeroom that are in there too. There’s also

priority on which subject can override another tag depending on the day of the week. For

example, the math department has Tuesday’s as priority so if a student is tagged from another

subject and the math teacher wants them, the math teacher will get the student for the day. From

what I have seen, most students enjoy having this time to catch up if they need it or do to

homework.

For technology, Lawrence High School just got one-to-one Google Chrome laptops this

year. This being a new thing for the school, teachers have not integrated technology in the

classroom very much, which I plan to try to do more of. The math classrooms also have TI-84

calculators for students to use during class. Most students do not have access to these calculators
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at home, but my mentor teacher found a program called “Desmos” that students can use online,

download on their computers, or even their smartphones. Students are allowed to use this during

tests and quizzes and they really enjoy using it.

Policies that are very important to know in the school are no hats, no cell phones (unless

the teachers request the students to use them), and students need passes in the hallway. I have

personally seen an issue with phones and students. My mentor teacher says part of the problem is

if she sends them to the office for being on the phone, even after warnings, the office just sends

the students right back with no punishment. This will be a struggle to find a balance and respect

with the students and their phones being out all the time.

My mentor teacher does not usually grade homework, unless it is a class that needs the

motivation of knowing that their work is graded so they should do it. She puts homework in the

total grade as a very low percentage so it would not affect their overall grade much at all. From

what I have seen so far, the only students who really do their homework are advanced students.

The school has a tech program that is offered at Waterville High School for students who are

more hands on, or have a skill they can use, that’s not in the traditional classroom. For example,

CNA, childcare, cooking, EMT, graphic design. These really help students find something they

are good at, along with having alternative classes rather than the regular classes, and giving

students some college credits for some of their courses there.

Strength/needs analysis and student characteristics

The Lawrence High School class schedule is very different than other schools around. Lawrence

has the same four blocks a day, instead of an every other day schedule like other schools. There

is an exception of a couple classes like College Algebra that does do every other day. This
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schedule means that instead of all year classes, most classes are half a year instead. This really

helps the math department because students are able to take two maths in a year rather than one,

and they are seeing math more frequently so they seem to forget less concepts. Classes that are

AP are usually a year long, but again there are a few that are only half a year.

I am mainly focusing on my Geometry class, which is now a class of 10, two just joined

from other schools, but there are 8 other students that are from the school so I was able to pull

their PSAT scores, which are in the table below. My class is made up of one ninth grader who is

also taking Algebra 1, two sophomores, six juniors, and one senior. The percentile is telling for

where the student is and takes in their grade and such, what percentile to other students like them

they are at. As you can see, none of my students are in top percentiles. In my experience with the

students in this class already, I know a lot of them are not very good test takers, and have some

work, so I know that these scores are not completely accurate for measuring the students’

knowledge. Some of my students are also taking this class for the second time because they

failed with another teacher, which tells me that they really need a teacher who will work with

them and do whatever they can to help them succeed.

Student Math PSAT Score Percentile

Student 1 420 39th

Student 2 300 1st

Student 3 420 31st

Student 4 400 18th

Student 5 450 37th

Student 6 390 14th

Student 7 360 6th

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Student 8 430 26th

Within this class, they are all very different and come from different backgrounds. I know

one student is adopted by his aunt and uncle because of his father murdering his mother. One

student has personal issues trying to find out what gender they are. The list goes on; what is

important as a teacher to know is that this school is a Title I school, and many of these students

are in poverty and have home issues going on that affect how they perform in a classroom. I

intend to help these students succeed, even with whatever they have going on at home. Eric

Jensen says “​Strong, secure relationships help stabilize children's behavior and provide the core

guidance needed to build lifelong social skills.​” ​This is something that is super key to my

students. They need a strong relationship to help them build on their lifelong skills, especially

socially. Jensen gives an example that “students with emotional dysregulation may get so easily

frustrated that they give up on a task when success was just moments away.” This is crucial to

math because many students want to just give up, even when they’re on the track to success. I

intend to help these students get over that hump of giving up, and start to succeed. Other issues

that may be hard is cooperative learning activities because many of these students shut down. I

plan on easing into activities by doing small ones, and different types, until the students get

comfortable and confident enough with them. With students with a range of things against them

in the classroom, as a teacher I need to really try to understand the root of their problem and

really try to be there for them, not against them. These students need reliable relationships,

stronger peer socialization, and they need to feel special. I am confident that if I try hard enough,

these students really will all get what they need to be successful.
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I also gave my students an MI survey and an interest survey to see what type of learners

they are and who they are as a person. This class is made up of natural and verbal students,

which tells me these students like the outdoors and outdoor activities, and they need directions,

notes, etc. read to them a lot. From just the first quiz we have had in the class, and many mini

quizzes, I know that these students are verbal for sure. Many students look at problems and say

they don’t know how to do it, but if a teacher reads something to them or they have the question

reworded, they know exactly what the answer is. With this, I know that I need to take a little

more time with the students and may have to read the question to students when they need it. I

have a deal with a few of the students who really need the questions read to them for quizzes and

tests. When they feel like they don’t understand a question, they write “not done” on their paper

when they hand it in and I tag them for bulldog block where they can come in and I can read it to

them.

With a lot of students also being naturalist, I will try my best to go outside and do an

activity if I can, but I also will integrate outside ideas to students as much as I can. For example
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having word problems about outdoor things, finding angles in roads on google maps, etc. On the

flip side, this class does not have very many logical students which is very important in

Geometry, so the students may have more trouble when solving a bunch of angles and doing

proofs. I may have to spend more time with students to show them different ways and more

activities with students if they are having trouble.

Although the MI’s are not 100% accurate, I know what will help certain students strive,

and what will help the class as a whole be successful. I am a firm believer of switching it up

though and doing multiple different strategies all the time so students see multiple instructional

strategies and they all get a chance to learn. The standard way of notes that has worked really

well with this class is using the document camera and doing notes in an interactive way. The

document camera lets me face the class when writing notes, and lets me fill out the notes with

them. There are also practice problems within the notes that allows me to let students try them on

their own and then do it together as a class. This works really well with this class because they

are verbal students so they like to hear the notes, as well as see me write them. I can also focus

more on the class and ask rhetorical questions when I can face them. Overall, this class is always

open to new ideas for activities, but they enjoy doing notes together with the document camera.

I am very pleased with having all this information and I know I can switch things up for

these kids to learn, especially where it is a small class. I have started trying little things in my

class such as having the students do homework problems instead of me, doing an admit or exit

slip in different forms, and doing activities that are different. The atmosphere in the class is very

encouraging and the students are not afraid of speaking out with a wrong answer, except for a

couple students who are really quiet. Since I have met these students, they have really grown into
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students who aren’t really afraid of math, and they are open to trying whatever crazy idea I come

up with that day. Individually they have all taken responsibility for their learning and they are

not afraid to ask me for help. This semester with these kids I feel like is really going to give a lot

of them a rich learning growth.

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Bibliography

“Albion, Maine Demographics Data.” ​Albion ME Demographics data​,

www.towncharts.com/Maine/Demographics/Albion-town-ME-Demographics-data.html​.

Ascd. “Chapter 2. How Poverty Affects Behavior and Academic Performance.” ​How Poverty

Affects Behavior and Academic Performance​,

www.ascd.org/publications/books/109074/chapters/How-Poverty-Affects-Behavior-and-

Academic-Performance.aspx.

Baker, D. (2016, May 6). 2016-2017 MSAD 49 Proposed School Budget.​Budget Booklet​.

Retrieved January 10, 2017, from

http://www.msad49.org/UserFiles/Servers/Server_3012026/File/2016-17%20Budget%20

Info/Budget%20Booklet%202016-2017.pdf​.

“Fairfield, Maine Demographics Data.” ​Fairfield ME Demographics data​,

www.towncharts.com/Maine/Demographics/Fairfield-CDP-ME-Demographics-data.html

“QuickFacts.” ​U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Fairfield town, Somerset County, Maine​,

www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/fairfieldtownsomersetcountymaine/AGE295216​.

Search Maine School Database: Free and Reduced Meals - The Portland Press Herald / Maine

Sunday Telegram. (2011, January 1). Retrieved January 10, 2017, from

http://www.pressherald.com/interactive/search_maine_school_database_free_and_reduce

d_meals/