School Improvement Project

Crystal Dell

The American public school system has been around for several decades. Throughout
those years change and reform have occurred, but it still does not meet the needs of ALL
children. In order to have a close to perfect school system it would take a severe amount of
dedication from educators, parents and the government. There are numerous areas in the system
that needs some updating; however, the three that I feel are most important at this point in time
are Professionalism, Diversity and Reform.
Becoming a teacher takes a lot more than just going to college and earning a degree.
Whether they admit it or not, teachers influence children just as much, if not more, than their
parents. With this in mind, it is important to help mold a childs moral and ethical beliefs. As an
educator one is responsible for educating the student and helping them apply what they learn to
other aspects of life. With this comes a teachers philosophy of teaching. Each teacher has a
different philosophy but they should all include the same goal: to better the child. Once we can
agree on a single goal it should not matter how it is achieved, but that it is achieved sufficiently.
Teachers should not be trapped in the classroom; instead, a good teacher is one who
involves the community with the school. Inviting parents to come to an open house or setting up
a fundraiser, is a good way to involve others which will simultaneously stimulate the children to
participate. Those teachers who stay behind their desk and hide from parents and others should
not be in the classroom. It is impossible to stimulate anything when one is as dull as a dead
battery. A great attitude can make all the difference between a student participating or laying
their head on their desk and taking a nap.
Ethics play a huge role in the classroom. Teachers are faced with difficult ethical
questions every day. They are forced to sensory their answers or face termination. Some

teachers have bad ethics but are not punished. They have all the power and the student is never
right. I can reinforce this statement from personal experience. Not only was I wrongfully
scolded in front of my fellow classmates, but it went as far as me having to schedule a parent
teacher counselor conference. The outcome was my teacher yelled at my mother and me and I
was transferred out of the class. The teacher never had any consequences. Did this teacher have
tenure?
Who deserves tenure in the professional academic teaching community? After a
determined number of years with the same school a teacher is rewarded tenure. Some teachers
truly deserve this honor, but on the other hand, too many teachers have or are about to receive
tenure and they do not deserve this achievement. As sad as it is to say, unfortunately there is an
enormous amount of educator who should not be in control. They are either stuck in their old
ways and are not at the intellectual level as their students, or they have their own views of what
us acceptable and ignore the set standard. At the same time there are other teachers who have
tenure that should be there, but we do not have enough of the good ones.
Being an educator in a public school system, one should expect to encounter special
needs students in their every day classroom. This was not always the case! Before inclusion and
mainstreaming ALL students with special needs were in segregated classes. Mainstreaming did
not meet all the needs so gradually inclusion was developed. For the most part inclusion works,
but now that standardized testing is available for tracking the students progress, it has been
implemented that their test scores be included in the overall student test scores. I feel this is a
great idea because it will hold the schools accountable for all of their students progress. This
will also urge teachers to spend that extra time with that one student on that one question. This

could make all the difference; however, although it has been highly thought about actually
implementing these guidelines has yet to occur.
With this, teachers need to go through additional training to meet the needs of all the
children in their classroom. In the same sense schools should provide additional diversity
training for teachers in their schools. A teacher should know how to adjust an assignment for a
higher learning and a challenged student. If this occurs than that school system has succeeded all
of their students.
Language diversity is just one of many obstacles educators deal with every day. There
are many different programs that can help a student transition into using English fluently in the
classroom. Some may say Maintenance language programs do not get the job done fast enough.
I would agree and highly support English as a second language programs. These programs
emphasize a rapid transition in to English.
The population is rapidly increasing which means more students in the classroom. This is
a major problem due to the lack of sufficient teachers. In college, it is expected to have one
teacher for every one hundred fifty students in a lecture hall. This standard is not acceptable for
primary and secondary education. In these schools there should be at least one teacher for every
twenty-five students, otherwise the student will not receive adequate personal stimulation. It has
been proven that children who receive personal attention are more engaged in the classroom.
There are a number of changes that need to occur in order for the school systems to
succeed in meeting the needs and standards of all children. It is important to involve the
community with the schools. Inviting parents into the school and classroom is a great way to get
people aware of what their children are doing for eight plus hours out of their day. Once people

see firsthand the good the schools are doing for the children they will get more involved. A lot of
schools rely on private funding from their communities. Although this seems unfair to the public
schools, this funding allows the schools to purchase better books, computers, uniforms, and
create more after school programs. To make up the difference, I feel that the government should
increase the funding for our public schools. It is only fair to give all children the same
opportunities to better their education.
The government has become so involved with the way teachers educate that they have
made it impossible for teachers to truly connect with their students. They have turned educator
into robots. Due to standardized testing, teachers are forced to shove a certain amount of
information into the minds of students in order to meet a deadline. Unfortunately a lot of
teachers do not meet this deadline, or meet it but the students did not adequately retain any of the
information. If teachers cannot stop and take more time on a chapter because the students do not
understand it, then what is the point? Not only is it unfair to test students on information that
they did not adequately learn, but most standardized test determine the grade given in the class or
status of graduation. Why punish children for a situation that is the result of poor organization of
a curriculum by the government and the board of education?
Teachers who stay behind their desk and hide in the classroom are toxic to children. In
order to stimulate children and the community a teacher must be outgoing. In between classes it
is always a good idea to step outside their door and greet students as they enter. It is also a good
idea to volunteer for heading up or participating in committees and/or coaching. Students
recognize those teachers who go above and beyond the classroom to interact and help out their
students. The more teachers that volunteer, the more extracurricular activities and program

schools will be able to offer. The main issue with after school programs is not having enough
coaches to sponsor or direct the program.
No Child Let Behind was signed by former President George W. Bush in 2002. What he
essentially did was put back into effect the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which was
created in 1965, with a few adjustments. He raised the amount of accountability schools and
teachers are actually held for. Standardized testing is the essential tool that shows the students
achievement level. This is fine except for the fact that high-stakes testing does not allow
students to graduate without passing. As a former student of high-stakes testing I do not agree
with this form of accountability. It resulted in an unnecessary stress on both the student and
teachers not know the information on the test even though sometimes the information is not
given. This does not seem fair to test a student on information that was not taught, and to allow
that test to determine the graduation status of that student is ludicrous.

References
Kauchak, Donald P., and Paul D. Eggen. Introduction to Teaching Becoming a Professional (3rd
Edition). Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall, 2007.