Learning Environments and Students

Changes at the District Level

Please read Chapter 11 of The Kids Left Behind. As you read, fill in the graphic organizer on the next two pages, outlining how each structural change to school policies can help improve educational and personal outcomes of students in poverty. Then, describe some of the barriers to implementing these changes.

Why It's a Good Idea

Common Barriers to Implementation

Providing extra instructional time

Impoverished students stand to benefit from the additional time and attention brought on by this strategy. This is because these students can use the extra time to devote to problem areas and then improve. The students from Gainesville essentially had an 8-day school week that led to improved test score in math and English language arts.

Potential barriers are lack of resources to enable additional instruction. If there is no instructor willing to put in additional time to teach these students, then there will be no availability of instruction. Students also may not want to participate and devote extra hours to school. Their parents may not want to, or are not able to take them.

Starting early

Adding an earlier school day provides additional time students may need to dedicate to their studies.

Compliance may be low and students and school staff may not see benefits from earlier starts.

Reorganizing the school day and week

The school day does not have to follow a traditional method. The book mentions a redesigned 4-day school week where students learn at the end to relearn lessons and have additional time to enrichment and remediation. This strategy when applied correctly, can lead to less time spent in school for students, while still maintaining a high level of academic proficiency.

Students and teachers may not like or welcome the changes. Some prefer the traditional method and may feel strange within an environment that promotes changes that are witnessed in this strategy. Schools may not have the resources or time to devote to a new means of instructing students. Essentially this strategy asks for a large overhaul of existing policy. Some schools cannot achieve that under a reasonable amount of time.

Extend the school day

Schools in countries like France have a longer school day than seen I the United States. With this strategy, students can use that extra time to complete homework in the library or focus on remediation and enrichment. The time can be extended in the morning or the afternoon, or both. It offers students the means with which to take the time to focus on the curriculum instead of the traditional school day responsibilities.

A major barrier to this kind of strategy is willingness on both the teacher's part and the student's. Students may not wish to devote extra time to learning and instead may want to leave earlier. Teachers may already feel overloaded with work and feel they cannot devote the time needed to supervise during those extra hours. It all boils down to lack of resources and time.

Module 4 reading, cont'd.

Strategy

Why It's a Good Idea

Common Barriers to Implementation

Extend the school year

Extending the school year can be beneficial in that students can receive assistance during the summer months when remediation and enrichment can help the most. Year-long school with smaller breaks in between has been adopted by countries like England and has led to improvement in academics.

Schools may not have the resources to enable year-long school. Furthermore, summer months are already filled with summer school and summer programs that do not seem to provide a positive impact on some participating students.

Create small, supportive learning communities

This strategy allows teachers to focus on less students so they can devote higher levels of attention and promote better communication among students and teachers. Teachers will be able to assess students' progress and provide critical feedback through this strategy.

Many schools cannot afford smaller, supportive learning environments. Most public schools have large classrooms with 20-30 children. There is just not enough in terms of resources to effectively promote such a strategy.

Establish small learning environments

Having these kinds of learning environments in the library for example, can enable improved learning among students. Students can devote time to finishing homework assignments and getting additional tutoring.

There may be limited availability of these environments due to time and resource constraints.

Provide effective and successful transitions

This strategy entails offering full-day kindergarten so students can get used to longer school days and planning transition visits, orientations, and home visits to improve a student's relationship between home and school.

Because the norm is age-separated schools, it may hard to break tradition and adopt longer days for kindergarten and planned home visits. School staff may not be trained to perform such actions and can lead to confusion and inability to perform job duties.

Module 4 Journal

Which of the ideas from the reading do you think are the strongest for supporting the success of students of poverty? Why?

I believe establishing smaller learning environments is key. People believe extra time may help students, and to some extent, it can. However, smaller learning environments mean a greater focus on the student. It enables teachers to get to know the student and his or her strengths and weaknesses. It allows for increased communication among students and teachers. It also provides the means with which students and teachers can assess the progress of the student in an easier and more facilitating way.