Orange Middle School is just one of the many inner city schools that is experiencing the same issues: poverty, poor parental involvement, gangs, drugs, etc. They have one advantage. They have a staff of educators that care about their kids, as well as a leader that is looking to invoke change in a community that has seen very little success. Orange's staff looks to establish relationships with their students, and build on education based on this.
I think it is a great idea to break down the school into smaller learning communities. Students are taught in smaller environments and given the attention they deserve. They also receive the structure and intimacy not present in their home lives.
It is always a positive asset to establish relationships with students, to an extent. You should find out as much as you can about the student, as a tool to help teach them. Understanding home lives, and personal situations, help you understand why they act certain ways.
Orange needs to improve on the relationship the school has with the parents. Parental involvement is positive in learning communities, and helps education. One way to do this is to offer monthly conferences to parents at the school. Offer incentives for them to attend, possibly feed them. These conferences can cover topics such as drugs, pregnancy, gangs, etc. Awareness is essential in a students growth.
Offering the students a place to be after school is another suggestion, keep them off the street. Offer gym activities, more clubs, after school education programs, etc.
Orange is moving in the right direction. Anything above what they had is an improvement. It all starts with an idea, and then the right plan of implementation. I think they are doing that.
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4 comments:
What do you suppose was the motivation for the change?
I think that what Orange Middle School did was commendable. But how many schools and districts would put such changes into practice if they weren't mandated to make changes?
Carl, I whole-heartedly agree with the value of the small learning communities in Orange Township. Great blog. Impressively great.
After writing my blog, I went about reading others and we thought the same way. The middle class and upper class districts do not have a problem with parent involvement but if we offer our schools as wonderful places for children and their parents our vision for these inner city schools may change. I am happy the the teachers get to work in common planning groups with smaller groups of students as their focus.
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