Great+Schools+for+All

How Do We Make Schools Great for Everyone?

I. Description of Problem or Issue
Lead Editor: Kaitlyn //Describe your issue. Include definitions of key terms, why issue is important in educational reform, how this issue is addressed/used in the RI Strategic Plan, and what are current efforts and/or trends in schools related to your issue.//

A problem that has come to our attention is "how do we make schools great for everyone?" Many schools have different problems that contribute to their reasons of why they need to improve. Much of the difficulties we've found lie within testing, curriculum and funding. Without fair tests, a focused curriculum and equal funding, problems develop within the school. A lot of schools are focused around getting their students to pass certain tests so the school as a whole passes the AYP. The special education population as well as the ESL-ELL kids tends to have difficulties taking these tests. Other issues have to do with curriculum being surpassed so that teachers can teach how to take the tests rather than what is on the test. Not having sufficient resources and funds or qualified teachers can damage the academic success needed to meet AYP as well. Throughout our research we have found why these problems exist and have brainstormed ways to fix them.

Many terms used throughout our presentation are educational based terms and acronyms. ESL/ELL( English as a Second Language/ English Language Learners), AYP (Adequate Yearly Progress), SAT (Standardized Assessment Test) and NCLB (No Child Left Behind) are common terms seen throughout. Inclusion in Special Education simply means to include disabled children in mainstream classes. Current efforts in effect to make schools "great" for everyone is Race to the Top; an educational reform put in effect under the Obama administration. With this in effect, many schools are racing to improve their school systems in any way possible.

II. Relevance of Problem or Issue in Rhode Island Schools
Lead Editor: Emily //Describe the relevance of your issue n Rhode Island by (1) describing how its effects are evident in the districts that were studied earlier in the course and (2) how it is being addressed through Rhode Island's Strategic Plan or its RTTT program.//

The issue of "How do we make schools great for everyone?" directly relates to issues in Rhode Island. School systems must have proper funding, not teach to tests, well-developed ELL and ESL programs in place for standardized testing, and adequate services for students with disabilities. The effects of not having the previous necessities are evident in several schools in the Central Falls district and also Rogers High School in Newport, where the schools did not meet the Adequate Yearly Progress standards. Rhode Island's Strategic Plan mainly says that schools will be monitored to track that the achievement gap is diminishing. If there is a failing school, the plan discusses how it will support leaders who try to intervene and reform the school by evaluating what barriers need to be overcome and finding legal ways to make such changes possible.

Research Summary
Lead Editor: Matt

The main goal of my research was to hopefully find a solution to the funding issues that impoverished school districts face. I looked at information that would hopefully go into the issues that stem from the inequality of funding in schools around America. The main problem with impoverished areas is the fact that property tax is what funds a school system. Meaning, areas with insufficient wealth will not have the money to fund the school systems. There have been a few proposed ideas in terms of how to possibly spread the wealth around the country. Obviously, this is a deeply controversial issue that people who have the money to pay for their child's education will not want to pay for another child's education. With all the research done, there is still no clear cut answer on how to fund impoverished schools. The only possibility would be more government funding which seems unlikely.

Kaitlyn's goal for her research was to see how current disability programs and how effective they were. A key idea that Kaitlyn focused on was the implement of including special ed students into mainstream courses. She sees that inclusion has many good impacts on special needs students' social and learning life, but the cons always are seen when these students have to take the same tests. Some of them truly are incapable of passing the test and the government overlooks this issue. These school systems are often doing their most needy students a service by including them while also taking away from assessed quality by the government. In the end, Kaitlyn recognizes that there is no way to completely fix the issues of her topic, but she has hope that there is a chance for improvement.

Emily's focus was on making a fair system of tests for ELL and ESL students. Her research pointed out how hard it must be for students who do not speak English to take the test and even learn in the classroom. With schools so focused on teaching to tests, it seems that they neglect the needs of students to just learn the language. Their opportunities seem limitless when coming to America but once they step into the schools, their opportunity to learn is not what was expected. Even special needs students have to take the same tests as everyone else. It is clear that many are unable to pass these exams. The current system needs to be changed on how it assesses these students or else schools will still be considered "failures" though they may be providing a great education and a lot of help to the neediest students.

Sam looked at how more focused curriculum's will accelerate learning. Currently, schools have very narrowed curriculum's based around learning how to read, write and math. The main issues with this is the fact that students are still not becoming proficient in these subjects and "curriculum's" are based solely on teaching how to take a test. The possible impacts of this are great, students are leaving schools not know much information except for how to pass a test. This has great consequences on the future of our society. Not only are students narrowed to certain subjects, ones that may be of interest are neglected which prevents artistic ability. Students are losing interest and hope because they are not learning. The hope is that implementing more diverse and intriguing curriculum's will peak students interest in schools. Hopefully, the government will see that there needs to be a change in this regard.

IV. Group Product Overview
Our groups idea for presentation is to read fictional but realistic situations of students based on our individual research. We will read these to the class and create four different discussions by asking questions pertaining to the issues. Our goal is to have students identify the issues each scenario has and think critically on how to possibly solve the education issues. We hope it is an interactive and interests our fellow classmates.

V. **Visual Representation**
//Insert a graphical representation of topics related to your issue here. This can be either a scan of a "Mind map" made in class or something more fancy.//

VI. Research Questions and Reference Summaries
Lead Editor: //List your research questions and who is researching this question in this table. When each team member begins their research, you should link each question to its corresponding research page. Each researcher should start this page using the template "EDC 102 Fnl Proj Student Research."//


 * || **Research Question** || **Researcher** ||
 * 1. || How to fairly fund high poverty schools || Matt Repetto ||
 * 2. || @How can we improve disability services? || Kaitlyn Sharkey ||
 * 3. || How can we make assessment tests fair for ESL and ELL students? || Emily Markey ||
 * 4. ||  ||   ||
 * 5. ||  ||   ||