Schools

1
Schools

• CI 212
• Dr. Brown

2
What is a school?

• Physical Place
• Place were students go to learn
• Social institution an organization with
  established structures and rules designed to
  promote certain goals.

3
What are the purposes?

• Transmitting society and reconstructing society
• Participation in society and academic learning
• Individual needs and collective needs
• Sustaining for today and preparing for tomorrow

4
Types

• Public
• Traditional / Neighborhood / Full-service
• Magnet
• Charter
• Alternative
• Private
• Parochial
• Single-gender
• Homeschool
• For-profit schools

5
High Schools

• Comprehensive High School
• Attempts to meet the needs of all students
• Often divided into tracks college-prep,
  general, vocational
• Extracurricular activities (band, theater,
  sports) for social, personal, and intellectual
  development
• Criticism of the CHS
• Tracking limits choices and segregates students
• Size larger schools are more impersonal and
  students get lost in the shuffle
• Departmentalization fragments the curriculum
• Alternatives interdisciplinary teams, small
  learning communities

6
Middle School

• Designed to help students through the rapid
  social, emotional, and intellectual changes
  characteristic of early adolescence.
• Adaptations
• Teachers and students are placed in
  interdisciplinary teams
• Attempts are made to create and maintain
  teacher-students relationships
• Use of interactive teaching strategies
• Eliminate competitive sports and organizations

7
Organization of Schools

• Personnel
• Administrators
• Principal ultimate responsibility
• Vice or Assistant Principal oversight of
  various elements of the school (i.e. discipline,
  building and grounds, extracurriculars)
• Support Staff
• Guidance counselors, school psychologists, health
  care providers, media center specialists,
  secretaries, physical plant staff, and curriculum
  specialists.

8
Organization of Schools

• Physical Plant
• Classrooms, hallways, offices, auditoriums,
  gymnasiums, music rooms, etc
• Alternatives open classrooms, moveable walls,
  modulars
• Who monitors the physical plant? How well is it
  maintained?
• Curriculum Organization
• Is there a guiding philosophy?
• Who determines the curriculum?

9
Location

• Rural
• Suburban
• Urban

10
Effective School Research

• Optimal school and class size
• School - large, but not too large (600-900
  students), however small schools researchers push
  for more like 200-300.
• Class under 20 has positive effects on students
  and teachers
• Clear mission and strong leadership
• Teachers share an understanding of institutional
  goals
• Administrators focus on teaching and learning
• Safe and orderly environment
• Students need to feel emotionally safe in schools
  for learning to occur
• Orderly classrooms promote learning and student
  motivation
• High parental involvement
• The more a parent is involved the higher the
  student achievement and attitudes and behavior of
  students

11
Effective School Research

• Academic focus
• Teachers have high expectations and maximize
  instructional time
• Sports and clubs do not take precedence over
  courses
• High collective efficacy
• Teacher must believe that they can promote
  learning in all students
• Take responsibility for student success or
  failure
• Interactive instruction
• Teachers engage students with questions,
  discussions, and projects
• Frequent monitoring of student progress
• Assessment is an integral part of teaching and
  occurs often and promptly