By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | SCHOLAR | August 28, 2014The greatest challenges facing urban public schools today stem from a lack of financial support and deficiencies promoting social order (Rose & Gallup, 2004). Based on the perspective of those who have spent time in classrooms, many contend that these two factors contribute to faculty stress, discontent, and eventual burnout, in addition to negatively affecting the learning environment (Driscoll, 2005; Jones International University, 2009; Noll, 2009; Ozmon & Craver, 2002). Moreover, these elements permit a disservice and force elimination of our overriding obligation toward students and families to provide the maximum quality public educational opportunities they deserve.
Financial Support
School districts do not have the
authority to generate their own revenue. Instead, districts are funded
through a variety of taxes and fees enacted through funding formulas that
dictate money how much will be received per student. Over the past several
years, schools have felt the financial brunt and dire conditions of the
economic downturn posed by dramatic state budgets that have not been
educationally sound or economically prudent for cities or states nationwide.
With state finances in unprecedented trouble, school districts have been faced
with intensive budget deficits that have placed them in perilous positions,
resulting in the closure of schools, elimination of staff, and reduction of
programs, services and resources that students need and want in order to
produce the necessary savings and work towards financial balance while seeking
to maximize, where possible, the use of available resources and the direct harm
to students, families and school communities (Caskey & Kuperberg, 2014; Jennings, 2003). The stakes are great. Inadequate and
insufficient funding and resources precipitate the challenges that affect
student achievement and the well being of children, which ultimately threatens
the future of our great nation (Guthrie, Hart, Ray, Candoli, & Hack, 2009;
Kettering Foundation, 2011). School funding challenges carry costs that
continue to be felt not only by public schools, students and parents, but
communities, and by extension, all citizens of the United States of America.
In the spring of 2014, Dr. William
Hite, Superintendent of the School District of Philadelphia stated, “If we do
not reverse this pattern of asking our schools to do more with less. Young
families with children and young professionals will flee the city. Property
values will decline. Businesses will have to look outside of the city for
skilled employees. The tax base will fall. Costs for social services, health
care and law enforcement will rise” (School District of Philadelphia, 2014). This
will be the future of many metropolitan cities and is evidenced by the city of
Detroit, Michigan.
The increasing scarcity of adequate
school funding calls for school leaders to take on a more extensive role
leading from within to advocate and gain state support for alternative financial
resources (Guthrie et al., 2009). School leaders must practice personal
professional development, educate stakeholders, inform elected officials, and
actively participate as a constituent, alongside utilizing targeted advocacy
efforts at the building, district, and state level to promote robust financial
support (Education Policy & Leadership Center, 2012; National Association
of Secondary School Principals, 2012). To address financial support
collaboration inside and outside the school is key.
Social Order
No learning takes place in schools or
classrooms that are out of control, but the classroom is a single entity within
the school. Imagine a school where deep dysfunction persists and
disciplinary infractions have become the new normal. This appears to be
the case at several urban public schools (Moore & Lewis, 2012).
Earlier this year, at a school in Philadelphia, a brawl erupted resulting in students fighting one another, setting off firecrackers, assaulting staff
persons that knocked one staffer unconscious and produced a fracture
to the skull, alongside a multitude of other injuries (Graham & Purcell,
2014). Though this is an isolated extreme case, some of the more common
situations in urban schools involve rampant class-cutting, fights, smoking,
social media bullying, and other student problems (Moore & Lewis, 2012;
Hoffman, 2014; Hickman, 2008). The larger dilemma is the continued
culture of chaos and disregard for authority. Following the isolated
incident described, Philadelphia School District spokesman Fernando Gallard
stated, “There is no reaction from the students –they just continue as if this
is a normal way to behave. It’s shocking to see individuals behave this
way, and to do it so brazenly in a school” (Graham & Purcell, 2014).
Literature has suggested that, lack of
discipline is the second largest problem affecting public schools, second only
to lack of funding (Jennings, 2003; Moore & Lewis, 2012). Lack of
social order within the school can cause faculty and staff to feel as if they
are just treading water as the days pass. An underlying variable to
student discipline is that many students of urban communities maintain a distorted
sense of right and wrong (Moore & Lewis, 2012; Plump, 2011). In fact,
many are socially vulnerable in their quest to discover who they are as
individuals and have a strong desire to belong, which causes assimilation to
the imbalance of social order and exhibit of immature behavior (Moore &
Lewis, 2012; Plump, 2011). Social order and the ability of a student to
operate successfully within an orderly environment is both a critical element
of self-perception and essential to the success of the student within or
outside the classroom.
To address lack of discipline and gain
conformance to social standards of behavior within the school we must invest
in Positive Behavior Support (PBS) embedded with restorative practices (Smull,
Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2012; Spaulding, Horner, Mary, & Vincent, 2008;
Wachtel & Wachtel, 2012Wachtel, 2013). The focus needs to incorporate
eight core elements: (a) focus on prevention, (b) clearly define and model
reasonable, necessary, and understandable expectations that are consistent with
instructional goals and what is known about how people learn, plus further
highlight the expectations of the school by posting behavioral policies on
bulletin boards and periodically announcing them over the public address system,
(c) acknowledgement of appropriate behavior, efforts, and achievements that
could include smiling at a student after an expectation has been met, verbal
praise, certificates of appreciation, official recognition of their excellence
in the school newspaper, or other appropriate gestures, (d) consistent and
known consequences for problem behavior such as contracts or daily reports to
reinforce or monitor behavioral expectations, alongside ways to respond
noncoercively to consequential behavior that might include redirecting student
behavior, reevaluating the situation, reinforcing appropriate behavior,
proximity, restating expectations, stating the facts, and consequences, (e)
ongoing data collection analyses and utilization in decision making, (f) a
continuum of intensive, individual interventions for students with chronic
behavior problems that may include an in-school teen court program, youth
alternative learning environments, male and female mentoring, and pathways to
success programs, (g) team-based implementation that potentially includes an
anti-bullying, conflict resolution and peer mediation program that engages
students, staff and parents in planning sustainable school community
activities, and (h) school-wide adoption of restorative practices (Driscoll,
2005; Feuerborn & Tyre, 2012; Hickman, 2008; Hoffman, 2014; Smull,
Wachtel, & Wachtel, 2012; Spaulding et al., 2008; Wachtel & Wachtel,
2012Wachtel, 2013 008). These eight core elements can be used by school
leaders to create school-wide behavioral expectations and promote a single
school culture for behavior that empowers everyone to uniformly address
behavior issues and create an ethos of fairness in our schools, which
ultimately provides an effective learning environment for all (Hoffman, 2014;
Spaulding et al., 2008).
Keeping in mind that staffing may be
limited, making it difficult to increase the number and accessibility of
counselors, social workers, and mentors, it would be advantageous to create an
anonymous tip line or text alert for reporting potentially dangerous situations
or providing ideas to improve school climate along with utilizing homeroom
teachers as mentors or advocates for student cohorts, parallel to case mangers
for learning support. Because students sometimes need an opportunity to
regroup, it is essential to provide more in-school options to “blow off steam”
(Feuerborn & Tyre, 2012). To ensure safety during lunch periods and
between classes, utilize music, a catalyst for urban students that can be
played during class intermissions making on the minute alerts during the audio
plus provide structured activities during lunch hour. In assisting teachers
needing to assign lunch detentions, provide accommodations or time-out rooms
throughout the day, alongside, Youth Alternative Learning Environments (YALE),
in-school suspension with academic supports and consistent staffing.
Summary
The long-term effects stemming from a lack of
financial resources within public schools have yet to be seen throughout the nation;
however, we have seen evidence if we view at a city like Detroit, Michigan. Additionally,
if we look at the experiences of those in classrooms, we know that student
achievement and well-being is affected, which ultimately threatens the future
of our great nation. This calls for strong advocacy and activism efforts
of individuals working in the education system, leading from within to initiate
change in K-12 education. Also, effective behavior management is
essential for a school to be successful. Investment in Positive Behavior
Support (PBS) embedded with restorative practices is needed to address lack of
discipline and gain conformance to social standards of behavior within the
school. All things considered, each of us must stand dedicated to the
principles of quality, integrity, and continuous improvement, and understand
what it takes to combat the challenges facing urban public schools. Soon, the torch will be passed on to this inquisitive generation packed full of potential.
Suggested Citation
Tolliver, A. R.
(2014). GREATEST CHALLENGES FACING URBAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS TODAY.
[Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2014/08/greatest-challenges-facing-urban-public_28.html
References
Driscoll, M.P. (2005). Psychology of learning for instruction (3rd ed.). Boston: Pearson Education.
Caskey, J., & Kuperberg, M. (2014). The Philadelphia School District's ongoing financial crisis. Education Next, 14(4)
Education Policy & Leadership Center (2012). The Pennsylvania education advocacy network. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.eplc.org/public-advocacy/pa-education-advocacy-network/
Education Policy & Leadership Center (2012). The Pennsylvania education advocacy network. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.eplc.org/public-advocacy/pa-education-advocacy-network/
Feuerborn, L. L., & Tyre, A. D. (2012). Establishing Positive Discipline Policies in an Urban Elementary School. Contemporary School Psychology, 1647-58.
Graham, K. & Purcell, D. (2014). Violence persists at troubled Bartram High. Retreived from http://articles.philly.com/2014-04-05/news/48870325_1_school-year-fernando-gallard-philadelphia-school-district
Guthrie, J. W., Hart, C. C., Ray, J. R., Candoli, I. C., & Hack, W. G. (2009). Federal governance and education finance. In Jones International University (Ed.), Managing learning organizations. Boston: Pearson Custom Education.
Hickman, H. (2008). Structure, Power, and Discourse: An Analysis of Discipline in an Urban High School. Penn GSE Perspectives On Urban Education, 5(2),
Hoffman, S. (2014). Zero Benefit: Estimating the Effect of Zero Tolerance Discipline Polices on Racial Disparities in School Discipline. Educational Policy, 28(1), 69-95.
Jennings, J. (2003). IT in a time of budget cuts: How school funding will affect the quality of education. T.H.E. Journal, 30(6), 14-17.
Jones International University. (2009). Current K-12 education theories. Boston: Pearson Custom.
Kettering Foundation. (2011). Wicked problems. Dayton, OH: Author.
Moore, J., & Lewis, C. W. (2012). African American Students in Urban Schools: Critical Issues and Solutions for Achievement. Educational Psychology: Critical Pedagogical Perspectives. Volume 4. Peter Lang New York.
National Association of Secondary School Principals. (2012). The school leader. Retrieved from http://www.nassp.org/Content.aspx?topic=56558
Noll, J. W. (2009). Taking sides: Clashing views on educational issues. New York: McGraw Hill.
Ozmon, H. A., & Craver, S. M. (2002). Philosophical foundations of education (7th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Plump, J., A., E. (2011). Accelerating the Reading and Mathematical Competence of the 21st Century Urban Student [PowerPoint Slides]. Retrieved from http://www.ucpapdtrainer.wikispaces.com/IF+-+T.E.A.C.H
Rose, L. C., & Gallup, A. M. (2004). The 36th annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup poll of the public's attitudes toward the public schools. Bloomington, IN: Phi Delta Kappa International.
School District of Philadelphia (2014). Statements From Superintendent Hite And Src Chairman Green On Delayed Adoption Of Fy2015 Budget. [Press Release]. Retrieved from https://webapps.philasd.org/news/display/articles/2156
Spaulding, S.A., Horner, R.H., May, S.L., & Vincent, C.G. (2008). Evaluation brief: Implementation of school-wide PBS across the United States. Unpublished manuscript.
Smull, E., Wachtel, J., & Wachtel, T. (2012). Family Power: Engaging and Collaborating with Families. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices.
Wachtel, J., & Wachtel, T. (2012). Building Campus Community: Restorative Practices in Residential Life. Bethlehem, PA: International Institute for Restorative Practices.
Wachtel, T. (2013). Dreaming of a New Reality: How restorative practices reduce crime and violence, improve relationships and strengthen civil society. Bethlehem, PA: The Piper’s Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment