Millicent Powell ED 310 Prof.

Terry Stockton

Riverside Middle School

(Neighborhood Project)

The Neighborhood
I began my neighborhood project by walking around the neighborhood that surrounds Riverside Middle School. I noticed several common characteristics about the homes. Many of the houses looked as though they were built in the late 1800s or early 1900s and they were located close together with only 5 or 10 feet between them. Several of the houses had been divided into multi-unit apartments, which allowed for high-density housing. Many of these houses are affordable options for people who are defined as being in the lower to lower-middle socioeconomic class. About half of the homes were well taken care of with manicured yards and freshly painted siding. I also noticed that a large number of the fixed-up houses were being put up for sale. Most of the houses did not have a garage, so many cars were parked out on the street. This provided valuable information because it gave me a clue about how much the residents could afford on an automobile. None of the cars that I saw were a new make or model, which could indicate that they were financially unable to buy a new car. The area had numerous small businesses, restaurants, and a few gas stations intermixed with the houses. About 30% of the storefronts in that area were closed or empty. Also, there were numerous bus stops that seemed to be frequently used by the people who lived around there.

Historical Analysis
In 1871 the local legislature in Grand Rapids created the Board of Education for the city. The creation of the Board of Education incorporated all of the schools within the city limits of Grand Rapids under a single school district. At the time, the school district and the city had a combined budget that allowed for the city to sway decisions concerning the schools resources, payroll, and transportation services. This is no longer the case and the city has no direct control over the bonding or borrowing powers of the school district. This division between the school district and the city can still be observed today as the city is a prospering medical and business center, but many of the public schools within the city limits are struggling to make ends meet and to pass standardized tests. The city of Grand Rapids itself has gone through many social, industrial, financial, and governmental shifts across time. During the 20th century, Grand Rapids was known as The Furniture City. With more than 50 furniture factories, Grand Rapids had quickly become the furniture manufacturing capital of the North East. The furniture factories employed at least half of the labor force in Grand Rapids. This caused the citys economy to become dependent on those factory jobs. These jobs did not require extensive education and allowed people to provide for their families by being skilled at their trade. When The Depression reached Grand Rapids in the 1930s, one half of all the factories were forced to close their doors. This created an unemployment rate of 25% in the city. To relieve the strain placed on its citizens, the government created programs to create jobs for the unemployed. Many workers began to depend on those programs for work to support their families. World War II began in 1939 and brought with it a revival of Grand Rapids and much of the United States. After World War II, Grand Rapids began developing into the health center of West Michigan. With this change a suburban building boom also was created. The

highway network encouraged the suburbs to form in the farmland around Grand Rapids by allowing the residents to easily commute to the city for work. Along with the creation of the suburbs, Grand Rapids was becoming increasingly more diverse throughout the years. African Americans began moving from the South to find work. Between 1950 and 1960, the black population grew from 7,000 to 12,000 people. In 2000, the black population of Grand Rapids had quickly shot up to 40,000 people. In the last half of the 20th century Grand Rapids began receiving Jewish refugees who had survived World War II and the holocaust in Germany. At that time Eastern European refugees also came to the city because they were fleeing from their homes and villages that had been devastated by the war. Between the 1950s and 1980s still more people came to Grand Rapids who were fleeing from Communist oppression in Hungary, Cuba, and Vietnam. More recently, West Michigan has received refugees from Albania, Liberia, Croatia, Sudan, and Bosnia. All of these cultures exist and intertwine within Grand Rapids and have created a very diverse community. The public schools in Grand Rapids reflect this diversity in their student popualtion. The students come from a wide range of backgrounds and home structures, which requires the schools to be sensitive to all religions, ethnicities, and races. Since test grades are such a popular topic in Grand Rapids Public Schools, I decided to look into Riverside Middle Schools test score history. According to the School Improvement Plan for Riverside Middle School, in 2011 only 11% of the 6th grade, 5% of the 7th grade, and 5% of the 8th grade students achieved a Level 1 or 2 (which is the acceptable level). In order for a school to show they are meeting AYP, the students test scores need to show that at least 80% of the 6th grade, 78% of the 7th grade, and 77% of the 8th grade students achieved an acceptable test score. When a school does not perform up to state standards, then that school must create a School Improvement Plan that outlines a plan

of action that will remedy the problematic scores in a specific amount of time. The School Improvement Plan listed the test scores necessary to show Adequate Yearly Progress as defined by the Michigan Department of Education (MDE). By 2012 the school was expected to increase each of their passing percentages by 5%. These poor test scores have become what people expect from GRPS and many associate these scores with a sign that the district is failing. Unfortunately, the lower test scores have begun to outshine the positive things that exist within the district. The media and the public is distracted by hot stories about failing public school to see that the district is making a steady recovery and great programs do endure. Along with these lower test scores, around 50% of the students in Grand Rapids Public School district are electing school of choice. This allows many of the students who are of a higher socioeconomic class to go to another school. Many of the students who remain in the public schools live in homes where private or charter schools are not an option financially. Often times this is creating a division between the types of students and families that continue to enroll in the public and private schools, the resources available to the different schools and students, as well as varying ethnicities. The lower test scores have also caused the threat of government intervention to become a close reality. If they continue not to meet AYP, they can be taken over by the government and run more like a business than ever before. In the most recent election, Michigan voters voted to pass the Right to Work Act. This act made it possible for people to be hired by a company without them being required to become part of the Union. This has allowed teachers to decide whether or not they want to be a part of the Teachers Union for their district. This has caused the Unions to reduce in power in some districts, which has given the government and school district more power.

Another recent development in the education structure is the way that districts are evaluating their teachers. The Revised School Code: Act 451 of 1976 redefined the performance evaluation system for teachers and school administrators. Districts now have to evaluate their teachers and grade them on their level of effectiveness. The evaluations must occur at least annually and provide timely and constructive feedback for the assessed teacher. After their final evaluation, teachers are given a rating that ranges between highly effective and ineffective. As a small incentive, teachers who are evaluated as being highly effective are given a small monetary bonus. The ratings also impact the schools decisions about promotions, retention, granting tenure, granting full certification, and removal of ineffective teachers. There are several teachers who are striving to meet the highly effective standard, while others still lack the ability or desire to do so. Although the part of the schools history that I am describing is very recent, I feel that it is important and shows the state of urgency that Grand Rapids Public School district is feeling. Along with the pressure to keep test scores up, the weakening of the Teachers Union and the burden of performing at the highest standard all of the time are creating increased pressure on the teachers minds. The faculty at Riverside Middle School seems to be stressed out more by the evaluations, MEAP and MAP test scores, and their job security than by the students. The teachers and staff are working diligently to raise test scores and keep their school running, but many seem to feel that there is no end in sight to these stressful times.

Financial Demographics
Financial Demographics of Grand Rapids Public School District: 94% of students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch program (state average is 46%) Percentage of families and people whose income in the past 12 months is below the poverty level: 19.5% Percentage of families receiving food stamp benefits: 22.8% Family per capita income: $20,280 Financial Demographics of Highland Park Residential Neighborhood: Median household income: $30,893 Occupations held by 16 and over males in the area: o 4.9 % management o 3.3% business and financial o 6.5% computer/math o 2.1% architecture/engineering o 2.1% education/training/library o 1.7% life/physical/social science o 1.8% community/social services o 2.0% art/design/entertainment/sports/media o 1.6% health care o 11.8% service o 25.5% sales o 3.1% construction/extraction/maintenance o 10.8% production o 12.2% transportation o 3.3% material moving Occupations help by 16 and over females in the area: o 3.5% management o 6.7% business/financial o 2.7% computer/math o 1.2% life/physical/social science o 2.1% community/social services o 5.3% education/training/library o 1.5% art, design, entertainment, sports, media o 8.7% healthcare o 30.8% service o 27.6% sales o 1.1% construction/extraction/maintenance o 5.5% production o 1.2% material moving Analysis: These financial demographics really opened my eyes to how different my students home lives are compared to mine. Both of my parents have Masters degrees and work in

education and business marketing, while many of the students parents work in service, sales, production, and transportation. Most of the jobs associated with these classifications do not require a college education and pay based on an hourly rate instead of a salary. While the state average for students who are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch is 46%, in Grand Rapids Public School District 94% of students are eligible. Also, 19.5% of families in GRPS have an income in the past 12 months that is below the poverty level. In the Highland Park area, where many of Riverside Middle Schools students live, the median household income is $30,893. These financial demographics show that the families who enroll their children in GRPS have a very low yearly income. It also demonstrates how important it is that the students at Riverside Middle School are provided breakfast and lunch each day. This could create bad effects around holiday breaks because the students may not be getting complete meals each day, as they would at school. Also, some students are not able to get important resources such as Internet, school supplies, or clean clothing at home.

Racial Demographics
Grand Rapids Public Schools Student Racial Demographics: 67% White 21.6% Black 1.5% Asian 0.5% Native American/Alaskan native 16% Hispanic/Latino Analysis: These racial demographics show how diverse the student body is in GRPS district. As I discussed before in the historical analysis, Grand Rapids has an increasingly diverse community, which is reflected by the public schools. While the suburbs predominantly comprise of White students, the city is where the racial diversity exists.

Graduation Rates
Union High Schools Graduation Rates: Union high school: 71% Graduation Rates by Race: o White: 80% o Black: 72% o Hispanic: 54% o Asian 100% o Multiracial: 71% Graduation Rates by Gender o Female: 80% o Male: 62% Analysis: The graduation rate of Union High School is lower than desirable at best. Almost 30% of Union High Schools students do not graduate high school. If GRPS were to be given a grade based on their graduation rates, they would receive a C. This has the ability to raise some questions about the effectiveness of Grand Rapids education system. When the graduation rate is broken down by rage, we see that large achievement gaps exist between races. While 100% of the Asian students and 80% of the White students graduate (which is still too low in my opinion), only 72% of the Black students, 71% of the Multiracial students and 54% of the Hispanic students graduate. This shoes that there is something that needs to change so that all of the students can be reached regardless of race. Along with a racial division, there also exists a gender divide. Whole 80% of the female students graduate, only 62% of the male students graduate. These graduation rates imply that there is something going on either within the schools, community, or homes that are causing these noticeable gaps. It cannot be solely blamed on the schools. Interventions need to occur in the other parts of the students lives as well if GRPSs graduation rates are going to rise.

School Performance Level

Official Performance Level of GRPS: 2012 MEAP Average Percentage of Students Who Received Passing Scores in Grade 6: o Math: 10% (State Average: 40%) o Reading: 43% (State Average: 63%) o Social Studies: 2% (State Average: 30%) 2012 MEAP Average Percentage of Students Who Received Passing Scores in Grade 7: o Math: 13% (State Average: 38%) o Reading: 26% (State Average: 62%) o Writing: 21% (State Average: 52%) 2012 MEAP Average Percentage of Students Who Received Passing Scores in Grade 8: o Math: 3% (State Average: 33%) o Reading: 36% (State Average: 66%) o Science: 2% (State Average: 16%)

Perceived Performance Level: According to greatschools.org, Riverside Middle School is ranked as a 2 out of 10, where 0 is the worst possible score and 10 is the best. The information on this website is contributed by the parents, students, staff and the community and is meant to help parents research where to send their children for school. It also is meant to help educate people who are considering moving into a new school district. On the same website Grand Rapids Public School District received a ranking of a 3 out of 5. These rankings show that Riverside middle school is struggling to get positive community appeal.

Analysis: Although I think that the publics view of Riverside Middle School are lower than they should be, the test scores do indicate that the learning that should be occurring in schools isnt happening. The students are failing to keep up with the state averages. For many people, since test scores are easy to look at and analyze, they are drawing quick conclusions about the quality of Riverside Middle School. However, it has been my experience so far, that many of the teachers are doing a good job of instructing the students.

However, many of the students do not have the prior knowledge necessary to complete grade-level course work. So, instead of being able to teach students their grade-level material, the teachers are forced into teaching content from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade curriculum. There is an endless cycle occurring between the perceived performance level of Riverside Middle School and the official performance level because without interventions occurring in the homes when the students are young, the middle school will be continuously caught trying to make up for lost time.

Community Education Level

Educational Attainment in Highland Park:

Analysis: This graph focuses on the education attainment level of all adults that live in the Highland Park neighborhood in Grand Rapids, MI. I focused on Highland Park, because the parent and the student that I interviewed were from around that area, and not Riverside

42.6% 25.7 % 17.4% 8.6% 19.5% 15.0% 11.2% 10.7% 8.1% 8.0% 7.1%

6.7%

6.1% 2.2% 1.5% 2.0% 1.1%

3.1%

Gardens or Creston where the school is located. The bar graph above shows that over 50% of the adults in the neighborhood have a high school diploma or lower. In general, education level has a positive correlation with household income. So, since over half of the adults in this area have a low level of education, they probably also have a low household income. According to city-data.com, about 45% of the adults who live in the Highland Park area have families. This leads us to the conclusion that some of the parents in the area are probably not able to get jobs that pay them based on a salary.

Religious Predominance
Predominance in Grand Rapids: 52.9% of people are affiliated with a religious congregation Kent County, MI o 16% Christian Reformed o 38% Catholic Church in North America o 40% other o 6% Reformed Church in America

Household Demographics
Grand Rapids Public School District: Total occupied housing units in GRPS: 69,805 o 30,153 of those houses are rented Average Household Size: 2.49 bedrooms Average Family Size: 3.2 people Percentage of Householder being: o Male: 59% (lower than surrounding districts by ~30%) o Female: 49% (higher than surrounding districts by ~30%)

Interviews
Teacher: 1. Where do you live? Near the corner of 3 Mile Rd and Plainfield Rd My house is a single family home about 2 miles away from Riverside Middle School 2. Where did you attend school?

 I attended and graduated from Northview Public Schools. 3. Do you drive or take a bus? I only drive and dont take the bus ever. 4. What do you think of the bus system? The bus system really helps to get the many of the students where they need to go. Some of the students would have no other source of reliable transportation without the busses. 5. Did your family use the bus system? Not really. We may have taken the bus a time or two for the experience. 6. How much schooling did your parents have? Both have some college education. 7. What did your parents do for work? My dad was in the military for a while and then worked for General Motors for 30 years. My mom worked for Old Kent Bank for a long time and now works at a paper company. 8. How much schooling do you have? I have a Masters degree in special education. 9. Did you like living in this neighborhood? Yes, but many of the families where I am from do school of choice, so I only see a few of my students around the nighbrhood. 10. Is the community of the school supportive and positive? Yes, and it would be more if the school tried to get involved with the community more. Last year we started a parent committee, which really helped to get more parents involved. We also have a nurse from Spectrum that comes in each day instead of hiring our own. We have some local businesses that help at events, like the school dances, by proving some of the food. 11. Would you change anything about this community? I would like the people who live in the area not to do school of choice because GRPS has a bad reputation and people dont always give it a chance. A lot of people dont know about the good programs that we have in our schools because they are so distracted by the bad press we have gotten in the past. For example, there is a program in the high schools where the students can take EMS courses all year and by the end of the year, they are certified to be an EMT. 12. What types of people generally live around here? Riverside Gardens and Creston have a lot of people who are older, so kids come from further out from areas like Highland Park. 13. Did you feel safe where you live? Yes 14. Would you feel safe if you lived where the kids do? Mostly, my husband is from the Creston area, so I am pretty comfortable over there.

15. What are your favorite things about living in this community? It is a quiet neighborhood. The neighbors are pretty nice. I like to live in the community I work in. I really like to support the local and small businesses. 16. Do you like working at this school? Why? Yes, and I am in my 13th year. I love that I live in the area and I feel like the school is doing some really great things and is working very hard to keep it going. The school has become half the size it was when I started working here, so the environment is different now. I also like the diversity instead of feeling like I am talking to a little me. Parent: Note: I am assigning the letter S to indicate when we are talking about her son, who is in my class. 1. Where do you live? We live near the corner of Plymouth and Michigan in Stone Brook Apartments. 2. What type of place do you live in? They are small townhouses where lots of families live. 3. What do you thing about the community that you live in? The community tends to be more positive. We live on the bottom floor of the townhouses, but there isnt any police or fighting going on ever, so we feel safe. 4. How many children do you have? I have 4 kids. 5. Do you live with anyone else? No, I am the sole provider. 6. Do you live by any family? There is some family is close by who are Ss cousins. 7. Do any Ss classmates live around you? Some of his classmates live there too, but it is mostly children who are his younger brothers ages. 8. How far away is your house from the school? It is only about a 10 minute drive. 9. How does S get to school? S rides the bus, and so do his brothers. 10. How do you feel the school caters to your child? The school helps with his hearing disability by providing him with a teacher microphone. S doesnt like to use it because it embarrasses him, but I tell him to use it. 11. Do any of your children play sports? One of my sons plays soccer, but S does not play sports.

12. Does S eat the schools food? Yes, he has breakfast and lunch at school. 13. What type of job do you have? I just got a temp job at Spectrum, but was recently unemployed. 14. Are there any churches near where you live? There are some churches, but not very much religious life. We dont practice, so I dont know much about it. 15. Do you ride the bus? I never take the bus system because it takes all day and is not reliable. The bus system is too hard to plan with. 16. Is there anything that you want to change? I want S to be more interactive with sports and involved after school and for him to have more positive and real life experiences. I feel that Ss weight and hearing problems dont allow him to be in the schools activities. Student: 1. Were you at this school last year? Yes 2. What do you think about Riverside? I like it 3. What do you like? I like that I can do fun things here like jump rope in gym class and work in the computer lab. I also like that I have met lots of friends. 4. What dont you like? I dont like that we cant have our phones out during school. 5. Are you involved in any after school programs? No, because I help at home doing chores like washing the dishes and doing my homework. I wish I could do LOOP. 6. What is LOOP? It helps with homework and you get to do activities with other students after school like go swimming or go to a museum. 7. Do a lot of people participate in afterschool programs? Yea, a lot of people do sports. 8. How far away do you live? I take the bus, which is about a 20 minute ride. 9. Do a lot of students live near you? Not really 10. Would you change anything about riverside? I would like it if we could have our phones out. Haha. 11. Can you tell me a little about your family? I have one younger brother. I live with my mom, dad, and brother. 12. What is your favorite subject? Spanish. My dad speaks fluent Spanish and helps me with it.

Classroom Observation
I decided to observe Miss. Martins classroom during one of her 7th grade science classes. The first thing that I noticed was that the students were much more talkative in her classroom than in my cooperating teachers (CT Mr. Stevens). This surprised me because I recognized many of them from Mr. Stevens classroom and in his room, they were respectful and mostly quiet during instruction. The students also had a more relaxed posture and kept joking around and disrespecting each other. The tables of the classroom were arranged into groups to encourage and enable group work. However, instead of helping to create order, the students were very distracted form the lesson because they kept talking with each other. Mr. Stevens classroom is set up in traditional rows of desks to create boundaries for personal space and to keep students facing him. After the instruction is completed and they have homework time, then the students can move into groups to work together. I think that having them arranged in groups all of the time encouraged them to be social and pay attention to each other instead of Miss Martin. Miss Martin seemed exacerbated with the students as she tried to talk to them. This was very different from Mr. Stevens, who keeps control and tells the students what to do and what not to do without having a defeated inflection, even if he is tired. I also noticed that she uses a passive aggressive tone and style of speaking when a student acts poorly instead of being stern and direct with them like Mr. Stevens is. I can see how important the tone and way you speak to the students can be for control and organization. On each of the tables, she had a box that contained glue sticks, pencils, pencil sharpeners, scissors, and rulers. These boxes seemed to be a distraction for the

students as they would take things out and fiddle with them while she was talking. She started class by having the students respond to a question in their journals, but only about 2/3 of them did it and she made no effort to require the others to do it too. Throughout the lesson, the students continued to test her boundaries and got away with more and more each time. One thing that she did well was that she gave the students outlines for appropriate research, pictures, and other content for their projects. The students were asked to create a public service announcement about a disease they were each investigating. I thought that this assignment was a really great idea to get the students involved with the material. She also gave them each the opportunity to learn what was and what wasnt appropriate. Mr. Stevens instruction is not nearly as creative and he seems less prepared for the lessons than she was. While Miss Martin was trying to reach higher levels on Blooms Taxonomy, such as synthesis, Mr. Stevens tend to keep his instruction around the levels of Understanding and Application. I can see how valuable Mr. Stevens classroom management techniques are, but also how limiting and uncreative his lessons are.

References
City Data: Stats about All US Cities - Real Estate, Relocation Info, Crime, House Prices, Cost of Living, Races, Home Value Estimator, Recent Sales, Income, Photos, Schools, Maps, Weather, Neighborhoods, and More. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2013. <http://www.citydata.com/>. Google Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013. <http://www.maps.google.com/>. Grand Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce | Home. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Sept. 2013. <http://www.grandrapids.org/>. GreatSchools. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Sept. 2013. <http://www.greatschools.org/>. National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) Home Page, a Part of the U.S. Department of Education. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Sept. 2013. <www.nces.ed.org>.