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The Journey

The Journey. Susan A. Walker Doctoral Student University of Northern Colorado Advanced Placement Initiative Grant Coordinator Greeley-Evans District 6. Overview. Introductions/Set Research Projects Barriers to Advanced Placement Accelerated Mathematics Program P2P Dissertation.

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The Journey

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  1. The Journey Susan A. Walker Doctoral Student University of Northern Colorado Advanced Placement Initiative Grant Coordinator Greeley-Evans District 6

  2. Overview • Introductions/Set • Research Projects • Barriers to Advanced Placement • Accelerated Mathematics Program • P2P • Dissertation

  3. Part One Research Projects

  4. Barriers to Advanced Placement Purpose of Research The purpose of this investigation was to gain a deeper understanding of Latino student and parent perceptions about the factors that inhibit or encourage access to Advanced Placement coursework at the high school level.

  5. Barriers to Advanced Placement

  6. Barriers to Advanced Placement

  7. Barriers to Advanced Placement

  8. Barriers to Advanced Placement Research Participants • Eligibility of Participants 1) Enrolled entire high school career 2) Current Junior or Senior with a Latino surname 3) C or better in required coursework • Selection Process

  9. Barriers to Advanced Placement Data Collection • Focus Group • Students & Parents • Protocol • Questions

  10. Barriers to Advanced Placement Key Points From Parents • Communication • AP Program Costs • College Access and Costs • Parental Support and Expectations

  11. Barriers to Advanced Placement Parent Participant “America is a beautiful place to live and it gives the parents opportunities like jobs to work, but it also gives their children opportunities in school… they should be focusing on their children and not just their jobs”.

  12. Barriers to Advanced Placement Key Points from Students • Peer Pressure and Acceptance • Loss of Hope and Motivation • The Ethnic Check Box

  13. Barriers to Advanced Placement Summary of Findings • Family and peer factors • A sense of isolation • A lack of encouragement and support both in and out of school • Student perceptions about not comparing well in advanced course work • Perceptions about being undervalued as a minority

  14. Barriers to Advanced Placement Humbling Truth It may not be so much what we are doing as educators as what we are not doing as human beings that effects the greater impact on Latino student under-representation in Advanced Placement coursework.

  15. Barriers to Advanced Placement Findings • Build communication • Create community • Forge positive peer relations • Engage student success achievement through relevant activity

  16. Barriers to Advanced Placement Recommendations • Parent to Parent Conferences • Parent Language Classes • Personal Parent Contacts • Early Access • Multi-Cultural Peer Role Plays • Multi-Cultural peer to Peer Recruitment

  17. Barriers to Advanced Placement Parent Participant “If we are the country that we profess to be, I think that we’ve got to eradicate even the smallest idea of unfairness.”

  18. Part Two Accelerated Mathematics Program

  19. Accelerated Mathematics Program Math Pathways 101

  20. Accelerated Mathematics Program Mathematics Course Sequence • Algebra I 9th Grade • Pre Algebra • Geometry 10th Grade • Informal Geometry • Algebra II 11th Grade • Intermediate Algebra • Trig/Pre Calculus 12th Grade • AP Calculus and AP Statistics

  21. Accelerated Mathematics Program Segregated Classes • Homogenous student groupings • 70% of the Latino students were below grade level and placed into the lowest classes

  22. Accelerated Mathematics Program Making Change • Research in 2006 • Geometry: Gateway class • Spring 2006 • Principal Approval • Classroom Visits to promote self selection • Parent Meetings to Promote the Program • Registration

  23. Accelerated Mathematics Program New Pathway • Algebra I 9th Grade • Accelerated Geometry Summer School • Trig/Algebra II/Pre Calculus 10th Grade • AP Calculus / AP Statistics 11th Grade • Options to attend college at no cost to students during their senior year

  24. Accelerated Mathematics Program

  25. Accelerated Mathematics Program Enrollment Outcome Advanced Placement Calculus

  26. Accelerated Mathematics Program Implications • Reduced Barriers • Human Empowerment • Informed Choices • Improved Self Esteem • Increased Confidence • Increased Social Interest

  27. Accelerated Mathematics Program Educational Impact • Increased Latino proportions in all other advanced core classes • Increased Latino proportions in clubs • Staff awareness • Parent Engagement

  28. Part Three Parent to Parent Conferences

  29. Parent to Parent Conferences For All Stakeholders • Knowledge • Understanding • Support • Voice

  30. Parent to Parent Conferences • Step 1: Select a Topic • Step 2: Student Selection • Step 3: Train Teachers • Step 4: Develop Questions • Step 5: Conduct Research • Step 6: Findings • Step 7: Process with Stakeholders

  31. Parent to Parent Conferences • Latino students feel some teachers at the school do not care about them. “Teachers look down on us because of how we look and dress.” “School is a way to better and change your life but teachers hardly help us.” “Teachers judge Latinos. If you do one thing wrong teachers think you have quit.” “I wonder what they would so if it were their kids.” Recommendation: Discuss the perception with faculty and allow them the opportunity to discover and develop solutions.

  32. Parent to Parent Conferences • Latino parents feel that some teachers at the high school do not care about their children. “When kids aren’t doing anything and the teachers know it, then the teachers aren’t doing anything either; I give the teachers an F too.” “The kids who need help, don’t get help; only the smart kids get the help.” “When teachers don’t care then kids won’t care.” “The teachers and the school need to care about the kids and know them as individuals.” Recommendation: Discuss the perception with faculty and allow them the opportunity to discover and develop solutions.

  33. “Black parents who, during the 1950’s were regularly denounced in school circles for their alleged nonconcern with education, were in the 1960’s repeatedly criticized for their interference in the form of picket lines and mass delegations.” -Meyer Weinberg (1991)

  34. Dissertation Teacher Perceptions

  35. “Conservatives who urge return to former standards and practices and radicals who criticize present conditions agree at least in one point: neither party is satisfied with the way that things are.” John Dewey: The Way Out of Educational Confusion, 1931

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