The
federal government has attempted to try and lay the groundwork attempting to
improve low performing schools. Their
first attempt was the Improving America’s Schools Act of 1994 (IASA). There was a follow-up on the legislation No
Child Left Behind. Both of these laws
specify actions that have to be taken when the schools do not meet the standard
test scores. The federal government is
clear, they specify that once the school has been identified as a low achieving
school they have to show annual yearly progress. If they do not show progress, then more
severe intervention has to be deployed. RTI
(Response to Intervention) strategies and plans need to be in place for each
site. Next steps are; “Close and reopen
as a charter school, replace relevant school staff, turn the school’s
governance over to the state, contract with a private management company to
operate the school, and any other major restructuring of the school’s
governance designed to produce major reform”.
In reality, no one is implementing these reforms. The last category gives schools a loop hole
of “other activities”[i]. It is rare for the state to take over a
school. The problem with replacing staff
is most of these schools have trouble getting people to work there.
In
both California and East St Louis, very little progress has been made. Unfortunately, the impact this has had on
students, teachers, and administrators has been detrimental. There are several schools in the Bay Area
that are similar to East St. Louis, and both environments are not
improving. The East St. Louis schools
have not made drastic steps to help the school system and to better improve the
quality of education provided. The
similarities are, both schools systems are trying to just keep the schools
afloat. Both school districts realize
that it is going to be hard if not impossible to improve the schools. The salaries in East St. Louis are poor and
so are the salaries in Hayward and San Lorenzo.
They have trouble attracting people to these areas. East St Louis attempted to reach out to the
private community, but with very little success. The same thing is occurring in the Bay Area
on involving private businesses through the use of fund raising.
Even
though there are varying issues defining both school districts, the problems
are not being addressed. Within the East
Bay California school systems, RTI (Response to Intervention) is noted,
sometimes addressed, not fully funded, which has a huge negative impact on
student performance in this area. In the
East St. Louis district the same needs are well known, but unaddressed. Both school districts have many issues with
hindering student success. Hopefully,
resolutions to these issues will become a priority in order to make student
achievements a possibility.
[i] Mead, Sara. "Easy Way Out:
"Restructured" Usually Means Little Has Changed."Education Next.
Education Next, Winter 2007. Web. 20 Feb. 2014.
<http://educationnext.org/easy-way-out/>.
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