Demographic Changes in Baltimore County Public Schools, Research Paper Example

Part 1: Demographics, description of town

Owings Mills, Maryland is a suburban town located in Baltimore County that is primarily white and mostly comprised of married couples.  The total population according to the 2000 census was 20,193 (21117 zip code profile, 1997-2010).  The median age in the town is 33.2, and the town is nearly divided evenly between men and women, with 19,875 men and 21,536 women. (21117 zip code profile, 1997-2010) Owen Mills would be considered a relatively low income area, with the median income $66,563 as compared with a statewide median income of $70,545 (city-data).  The racial makeup of the municipality is 51.3% African American, 37% Caucasian, 4.8% Asian, 4.2% Hispanic, 2.4% biracial, and 0.07% native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders.  In addition, the cost of living in 2009 was 100.3, almost exactly the United States national average of 100. (Owings Mills, Maryland,Houses and Residents, 2010) The teacher-student ratio is 16:1, a ratio that has remained constant for the past several year (Owings Mills Elementary School, 2003-2010.)

Owings Mills’s schools are rated by GreatSchools.com on the average of six on a scale of 1 to 10, with the top rated school being New Town Elementary School, which received a rating of 10.  The next highest score, 7, was received by the Owings Mills Elementary School.  The school also receives a consistently high rating from the parents of students that attend the school, giving it an average rating of five out of five (Maryland school assessment results, 1998-2010)Nevertheless, the school has had some areas of interest regarding state test scores. When testing begins in grade three, there is a range of scores among ethnicities with African-American students receiving scores that are significantly lower than that of the other three ethnic groups tested: Asian or Pacific islanders, white students, and Hispanic students..  Then, curiously, the scores of African American students increase dramatically at the school during grade four (96.7 math, 90.1 reading) and are much more competitive with those scores belonging to students of other ethnic backgrounds.  Then, grade five scores declined significantly for nearly all students, with an average score of 81.2 and math and 91.2 in reading.  (Assessments, Baltimore County, Owings Mills schools, 2010.)

Problem identification

In third grade, African-American students scored significantly lower in their math and reading tests than any other ethnic group. Yet, the next year, and fourth grade all the students, including African Americans, achieved significantly higher scores than the previous year or the next year What accounts for the low scores of the African American students scores in third grade, as well as explaining the excellent performances in testing for all fourth graders and then the significant decline in all students’ test scores in fifth grade?  Are the lower test scores for third graders a function of simply not being prepared to take standardized tests, and still having difficulty with them simply because they are brand new? (Harriet Stranahan, 1997)

Part 2

Developing curriculum to improve students test In order to understand and improve the students’ declining test scores in the fifth grade, it would be important to examine and strengthen the curriculum in the fourth grade in preparation for the following years’examinations, as well as for the students’ academic benefit.  The extremely consistent and high performance of all fourth graders on the exams implies that their preparation in the third grade is excellent. Certainly, in order to understand this phenomenon and how to correct it, it is important to consider all of the factors involved in providing an education to students in this elementary school: the factors that have contributed to the excellent scores achieved by fourth graders, and the markedly lower scores that the fifth graders obtained.  In addition, the fact that in the third grade, the scores of African American students were substantially lower than those of students of other ethnic groups should be examined as well.

Some factors to examine would be: the experience of the third grade teachers and their teaching methods as well as those in the fourth grade, the curricula in both grades and how they are tailored to meet the students’ needs, supportive services provided for students in need including parent availability as well as parental involvement with both their children and the school, the nutrition of the students, and how many hours a day that children are allowed to watch television.  In addition, it would be crucial to look at the school’s role in the students’ education such as teacher experience in preparation, student-teacher ratio, technology available for educational purposes, the safety of the school environment, and the foundation and strength of the curriculum itself.  It would be important to establish whether zand how the Maryland test scores actually do or do not reflect the students’ capabilities and potential.

Fourth grade teachers need to have a clear and detailed understanding of where their students are, developmentally.  By the time a child reaches the age of nine or 10, he is developing the ability to reason and spend a great deal of time trying to figure out why.  This is an age where a child is trying to make sense of the world and the ways in which he fits in.  In addition, during this phase a child begins to make sense of the concepts of time, distance and space.  Earning, spending, and saving money is often a focus of children this age.  A significant developmental step at this age and the development of a (Fourth grade curriculum overview 2010, 2010) sense of humor as the student begins to understand some of the absurdities of life. (Bynum, How to write your own home school curriculum: fourth grade, 2002)

Certainly, if the fourth grade students are to accomplish the learning goals that they need to complete both fourth grade and go on to fifth grade successfully, the curriculum they are exposed to must address the subjects, math and language arts, in the way that makes it both interesting and motivating for the students as well as to help them internalize the learning concepts and apply them to future academic learning.  If the goal is to help the student is accomplished higher test scores in fifth grade besides learning the concepts that they need to be at grade level, there needs to be clear learning objectives for the student in fourth grade.

Fourth grade should be  an academic year that produces clear and measurable progress in reading, writing, math, and language arts.  This discussion will address the area of improving reading skills.  If the objectives developed for that year are achieved, than the students should be able to demonstrate the foundations of their learning via their grades and test scores.  In the area of language arts, at the end of the year the fourth grade student should be able to read with a competent level of fluency and articulation. This includes the utilization of root words, prefixes, suffixes and clues that allow them to sort out unfamiliar terms. They should also be able to develop assorted paragraphs to focus on a particular topic; in addition, they should be able to write chronological paragraphs that center on actions leading to results that derive from their own personal experiences. (Bynum, How to write your own home school curriculum: fourth grade, 2002)

The matter of the lower scores of African American students in third grade needs study.  Given the difficult economic times undoubtedly the students at Owings Mills, who come from mostly low to middle income families, are most likely experiencing the fallout of the recession as well as the impact that it is having on their own families.  It would make sense, then, to include in the curriculum ongoing opportunities for students to express their feelings, doubts, worries, frustrations, an overall experiences living in their families at this particular time.  This would allow students to both vent and hopefully gain relief from sharing their situations with their fellow students and to perhaps find that they’re not alone.  At the same time, they would be continuing to develop and improve their reading and writing skills.  It would be important for the instructors to help the students empathize with each other regarding the difficulties involved in families falling on hard times.

The economic situation is one factor that could be addressed while helping students improve reading skills; family dynamics are another important factor.  By exposing the students two stories that describe and include family members who are demonstrating wide ranges of the motions, the situation of being unemployed, and perhaps even anger that leads to abuse, the curriculum would be advantageous to the students psychological as well as academic well-being.

In order to both motivate and teach fourth grade students so that they will be well prepared for the challenges of fifth grade, teaching methods must contain variety, tangible ways of learning, interesting to the students and creative ruler to engage the students in the education process. Their vocabulary skills can be taught in a variety of ways, helping them to learn about synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms which are taught by reading both silently and out loud, and then calling on them to explain their understanding of various passages.  In addition, reading comprehension skills are a vital foundation for students to be able to move forward academically and in the world, and in fourth grade the students should become involved in writing about the characters and the plots that they come across in their reading lessons. They should also learn about fact vs. opinion, the point of the story that they are reading, and become involved in comparing and contrasting elements of the reading material. (Ibid.)

Part 3

Given that more than half of the population of Owings Mills is African American, teachers in the schools need to be educated about how to work with African-American children, who come with their own set of individualized needs based on both their families specifically as well as their cultural identities. There have long been studies and research done on the attempts to close the achievement gap in schools for African American students; in order to be effective with this population, teachers need two adapt their knowledge, methods and philosophy and alter aspects of their instructional framework in order to meet the needs of African American students culture, interests, methods of learning and experiences (McKinley, 2003.)

There are many methods that teachers can utilize in order to “level the playing field” for African American students.  Included among them are a adding to the curriculum culturally relevant material so that African-American students can identify with what is being taught, and feel included in the lessons.  Student-teacher interactions, classroom environment and the management of that environment two ensure tolerance are significant factors in the effectiveness of teachers of minority students.  Specifically, they model standards of respect, fairness, and appropriateness using specific advising on normative behavior as well as environmental variations, a phenomenon that is more likely to ensure collaboration among students. (Sheryl J.Denbo and Lynson Moore Beaulieu, 2002)

That sort of environment is most likely to allow students to meet their potential in terms of grades and test scores because their comfort levels are high, permitting them to relax and do their best.

Citations

21117 zip code profile. (1997-2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Neighborhood Link National Network: http://www.neighborhoodlink.com/zip/21117

Assessments, Baltimore County, Owings Mills schools. (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from 2010 Maryland Report Card.: http://msp.msde.state.md.us/Assessments.aspx?K=030402&WDATA=School

Bynum, S. (2002). How to write your own home school curriculum: fourth grade. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from www.essortment.com:

Fourth grade curriculum overview 2010. (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Time4learning: http://www.time4learning.com/education/fourth_grade.shtm

Harriet Stranahan, J. R. (1997). Are they fair? Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Journal of Academic and Business Ethics: http://www.maec.org/aastudents.html

Maryland school assessment results. (1998-2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Greatschools.com: http://www.greatschools.org/test/landing.page?state=MD&tid=53

McKinley, J. (2003). Leveling the playing field and raising African-American students’achievements in 29 urban classrooms. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from New Horizons for learning: http://www.newhorizons.org/strategies/differentiated/mckinley.htm

Owings Mills elementary school. (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from MuniNet Guide: http://www.muninetguide.com/schools/MD/Owings-Mills/owings-mills-elementary-school

Owings Mills, Maryland,Houses and Residents. (2010). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from City-data.com: http://www.city-data.com/housing/houses-Owings-Mills-Maryland.htm

Sheryl J.Denbo and Lynson Moore Beaulieu, E. (2002). Improving skills for African American students: a reader for educational leaders. Springfield, Illinois: Charles C. Thomas.

Testing. (2003). Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Maryland State department of education: http://www.msde.maryland.gov/MSDE/testing/msa/