Running head: POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 1

Poking Holes in the Education System

Naya G. Gipson

First Colonial High School

POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 2

Abstract

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Keywords:​ Lorem, ipsum, dolor

POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 3

Poking Holes in the Education System

Dropout rate is mostly rooted from a students’ socioeconomic background (Lynch, 2016).

Although the dropout rate has decreased, it is still seen that hispanic youth are more likely to

dropout of high school than any other races Black and hispanic youth are more likely to dropout

of high school than other race. In 2016, 5 percent of non black or hispanic youth of the ages

16-24 left school without completion and 6 percent black and 9 percent overall youth of the ages

16-24 left school without completion (Child Trends Databank, 2018). Race is not the only means

for students’ dropout. In an interview with Ms. Shelton, an assistant principal at First Colonial

High School, she stated a few reasons that are recurring when students decide to drop out. She

noticed that it is usually because students have a loss of motivation because they are so far

behind, and that it is the easier way out to quit but also because some students literally cannot

afford to stay in school (D. Shelton, personal communication, November 7, 2018).​ ​The current

programs in public schools do not adequately keep students engaged in school because they lack

of effectiveness and do not educate students on the options they have and still stay in school.

Dropout Laws

Students are required to go to school from ages 5 to 18 and have rules for dropping out.

But different states have different rules and ages a student is allowed to dropout. Dropping out

can lead to legal and financial problems (Gjelten, n.d.). When a student stops attending school,

they are considered truant. This can lead to going to court and parents facing criminal charges.

Luckily, there are alternatives for students that want to dropout and some of them are required in

order to officially dropout. A student can get a tutor or can go into different schooling. The

student can also have a way to be readmitted into school if they choose to go back (Gjelten, n.d.).
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 4

Low Income Schools/ Areas

States are responsible for a certain percentage of school funding, yet most low income

areas don’t get enough. The homes and economic status of children have an impact on their

education. Most likely if a student’s family is not at least middle class, then the student doesn’t

go to a school that can benefit them. States have reduced funding for some schools making it

harder for a student to grow because the students are not getting good enough resources. Students

may also have teachers and staff that are underqualified (Silva Mangiante, 2010). This does not

only affect the students, but affects everyone in the school. It leaves teachers and administrators

unemployed. They cannot give back to the community if they do not have students that are in

school.

Less funding disallows students to be able to get a higher education, which then leads to

unemployment because they cannot get the education they need. Even if a person is employed,

they may not get a well paying job and would still end up in poverty. Students that do not have

the resources and end up dropping out of school would not get a valuable income. These students

earn much less than students who are able to finish high school (Wandrei, n.d.). This makes it

harder for a student to come out of poverty because they don’t get to have the same opportunity

as other students do.

Students that live in low income households also may not have proper nutrition because

they probably do not get to have food to eat every morning. The student may also not be able to

participate in extracurriculars or go on trip with the class because they often cost money. If low

funding for education becomes lower, there will be no hope for growth for students and the
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 5

community. The economy is now improving so the focus should be more on education funding

(Lynch, 2016).

School Culture

School culture has a major impact on students’ and staffs’ success (Wagner, 2016).

School culture is the effect a school has on the students. The effects include the diversity, how

the staff work together, and the values that a school has. There can be negative and positive

school cultures. Positive school culture builds up students’ achievement and improves the entire

school overall. Negative is the exact opposite (Ascd, n.d.).

A study was conducted in Mississippi high schools, and the focus was to see if there was

a correspondence of culture in schools and the graduation/dropout rates. They were able to prove

their hypothesis and concluded that student achievement improves as the school culture improves

(Pearson, n.d.). The study was measured with the School Culture Survey; the counselors and

teachers took this. The survey has six different subsections: collaborative leadership, teacher

collaboration, professional development, unity of purpose, collegial support, and learning

partnerships. The study found that collegial support and learning partnerships had effective

correlation with graduation rates (Pearson, n.d.). Having a positive school culture affects the

entire school, not just the students. It keeps students and staff motivated and is seen that collegial

support is an important part of school culture and student success (Wagner, 2016).

In a negative environment there can be teachers that disagree with students and vice

versa. Usually the staff will have no hope in the school’s success and often not put effort. In a

positive school culture it’s the exact opposite. Teachers and students build healthy relationships,

everyone has a positive outlook on the school. This happens because of communication and
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 6

understanding what the school want. Teachers encourage and believe in students to do better.

The staff works together and come up with new ways for children to learn. A positive school

culture makes everyone feel like they belong ("Is Your," n.d.).

Teachers’ Affect

Teachers are the main influence on a student’s growth in school. In low income schools

and areas, some teachers may be underqualified. A qualified teacher would be one that has

obtained at least their bachelor’s degree in the subject they choose to teach in. A qualified

teacher also has experience in teaching, hold a teaching license from the state and prove their

expertise in what they teach ("New No Child," 2004).

Studies have shown that students who have an “effective” teacher for years are able to

achieve more than ones who have an under qualified teacher for years. This matters more for the

disadvantaged schools than in the high income schools because lower income school is far more

affected when an “ineffective” teacher is replaced by an effective teacher, than in higher income

schools (Silva Mangiante, 2010). According to the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), teachers

should be highly qualified. The NCLB was especially for the disadvantaged schools but they are

the ones that have more trouble finding and maintaining qualified teachers (No Child, 2002).

Education Acts

The No Child Left Behind Act was made to replace the older Elementary and Secondary

Education Act (ESEA). The ESEA was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1965 and created Title

I, which is federal funding for schools and mostly to help the disadvantaged schools. This was

later revised and became the No Child Left Behind Act, signed by George W. Bush, in 2002.

This also gives federal government funds additional assistance to the students that are financially
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 7

disadvantaged. The NCLB also says that schools are responsible for the students’ outcome and

achievement (Klein, 2015). Only states who agreed to take funds would have to follow the law

because the constitution says that the state can make their own decisions in education. The

requirements the NCLB are each basic core classes, evaluate it by giving annual tests (most

states do standardized tests), and set a “proficient level,” and report the scores and demographic.

The demographic includes race, income, disability, language proficiency, and gender. The tests

are for grades 3-8 and once in high school. The goal for the NCLB is that by the year 2014 all

students will have “proficient” levels in math and reading by an “adequate yearly process”

(Fairtest, 2008). Another thing the NCLB wanted was for states to fairly distribute highly

qualified teachers within schools that are in poverty and the wealthier schools (Klein, 2015).

There were flaws with this act and none of the goals were met by any of the states. This

act has been proven ineffective because of no congressional updates or reauthorization. The

states had a choice of whether or not to accept federal funding from the NCLB. If states chose to

deny the act, it would have resulted in reduced funding for them. It relied too heavily on

standardized tests and some districts only followed parts of the law. One main part they ignored

was the equal spread of highly qualified teachers between the disadvantaged schools and the

wealthier schools. At the same time other states and districts weren’t able to evaluate the quality

of tutors. States that had weaker schools did could not have a grand turnaround like the act was

suggesting. The funding that was promised was never reached. In the fiscal year 2007, $25

billion was to be obtained for Title I but it never did. Only $14.5 billion was reached by fiscal

year 2015 (Klein, 2015).

POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 8

The NCLB was then replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). It was signed

by Barack Obama. This did not require any huge turnarounds and is the same concept as NCLB

but no grand goal that is too hard to attain and with more things added to help the students. The

ESSA is also more flexible and gave more freedom to the states than the NCLB. The purpose is

provide equality for students and states set an achievement level for advantage and disadvantage

students. This includes low income students, special education, and limited english language

skills (Lee, n.d.). Meanwhile the department of education has data on the schools and can

suggest things that would help (Klein, 2016).

This act too has some flaws. A hearing that held in 2017 addressed all of holes in the

plan. On thing that was pointed out was the unclear guidelines and proposed plans for how to

address the schools that are in low income areas and failing. It was also reviewed that not one

state was meeting the testing demands and the overall performance of schools was only decent

(Parent, 2017). The ESSA also doesn’t have a high demand for qualified teachers. States now

come up with their own version of an “effective teacher” (Klein, 2018).

Special Programs

In the case of Shawn GARRETT v. The Board of Education of the School District of the

City of Detroit, The Board of Education of Detroit was being sued for violating the 14th

amendment which is the basic rights for citizens and Title IX. There were three male academies

that were ready to open and the plaintiff believed that the school should not be all male and that

the programs that are offered in the academies apply to all students and not just males. Females

face the same struggle as urban males. They also believe that the academy was not only helping

“at-risk” males but helping all males of different statuses. By setting up the all male academies,
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 9

violations of many laws occurred such as: The Equal Protection Clause of the Michigan

Constitution, the 14th Amendment, and various other cases that set precedents for this situation.

The academy was made to help black males stay in school and out of trouble but the plaintiff

claims that males are not the only students that are at risk and that excluding females would not

impede their achievements.

On the other hand, the defendant claims that the other cases brought up by the plaintiff

are different from what they are trying to establish. They believe that because there would be no

females, the males would better succeed. Because females also face the same struggles, does not

lower the importance of the males. The court did acknowledge that the males were an

“endangered species” but concluded that that is not enough to override equal opportunity of the

females. This shows that everyone should have an equal opportunity of education rights. It also

shows that although this was a case in 1991, dropouts were a problem that was being looked at

back then. We can see now that we still have a problem that needs to be fixed (Board of

Education of the City of Detroit, n.d., slip op.).

Advisory

An advisory in high school is set time during school where groups of students meet up

with a teacher to talk about academics, goals, and the overall well being of the student.

Advisories are different for each school and have a set curriculum. A school can choose how

often and how long they want the advisory to be. But advisories should be less time than a

normal class. The students report to the same teacher for advisory so that the students and the

teacher can build a relationship. The purpose is for a better school culture to promote students’
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 10

interests in coming to school. Usually the more organized the advisory, the better the effect there

is on the students (Great Schools Partnership, 2015).

Advisory is meant to help the school grow together but there are times where they are

unfocused and unorganized. Advisory works when it’s done right. Advisories that are too short

or don’t happen often leave students with nothing to do and they begin to talk amongst each

other rather than learn useful lesson. They also do not get the chance to build a relationship with

their advisor. Unclear guidelines of advisory leads to students and teachers being frustrated and

not wanting to participate (Great Schools Partnership, 2015). Effective advisories are hard to

introduce and maintain but they are worth it in the long run (Pearsall, 2017).

After High School

There are many signs that point to the obvious: Schools don’t prepare students for the

“real world.” There are times when a student does the best in school but later doesn’t know what

to do afterwards. Students are usually taught to do most things the same and to be quiet. It is also

noticed that not all students go to college so it raises the question “how are students that don’t

attend college going to be prepared?” There are now more school districts that are rethinking the

curriculum to help students become more prepared for after high school (Chen, 2018).

Communication skills is usually what employers look for in a potential employee. Most of the

time this is not taught in school (Morgan, 2017).

Vocational Learning

Most people forget that vocational and career skills were taught in school. Later school

turned into college preparation. Not all students are fit for college and not all want to go to
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 11

college. This is not a negative thing. Students learn differently and not everyone is good or

interested in core subjects. Some students enjoy hands-on learning and careers (Wyman, 2015).

Learning vocational skills help students that don’t get into college. Vocational learning

has so many benefits for students’ futures. Career orientation allows students to be able to make

decisions when faced with challenges. Learning vocational skills is essential and helps develop

work habits, beliefs, interests, and values. Career guidance in school allows students to gain

career abilities and when a career is aimed for students’ ambitions and abilities and shows how

they can be apart of the community. It is recommended by a study that students should be more

informed about vocational studies. Study shows that while students in a vocational school are

less likely to go to college after high school, they are still more likely to find jobs or become an

entrepreneur after high school than students who don’t. In the study there is a significant

difference in the students finding a job with vocational school and those who don’t (Hanifa,

Hamidah, Sawitri, & Suryadi, 2018).

There is vocational training offered but most of the time students have to apply and meet

certain requirements to get in. Sometimes students cannot meet the requirements but want to do

vocational school. Vocational school in high school is combined with the normal courses so

students are having to keep up with grades in the vocational school and grades in their normal

high school (D. Shelton, personal communication, November 7, 2018).

Why Should You Care

This does not only affect the students but it affects the economy. When schools are

underfunded, teachers start to lose their jobs and then furthers the underfunding. Then are apart

of the unemployment statistics. If schools aren’t funded, the achievement gap would never close
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 12

and it would be harder for students to graduate. (Lynch, 2016). Students are the future and if they

are the ones dropping out then the future could be in trouble. They often are the ones using

federal funding for assistance. This makes tax revenues suffer too.
POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 13

References

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Chen, G. (2018, April 30). Are public school students prepared for the "real world?" Retrieved

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POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 14

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POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 15

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POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 16

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POKING HOLES IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM 17

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