Searching for current information about Academic Yearly Progress (AYP) for my school online, I came across a parent review of the school, dated June 25, 2011:
“The school is horrible. While I was walking in one day the kids were running around (uncontrolled). Kids were hanging out the window. I would recommend your child not attending here. I am currently taking my child out.”
It is unfortunate to see that after all of the effort that my colleagues and I put in on a daily basis, this is how our school is viewed from the outside. Nevertheless, I cannot blame this parent for commenting in this way. It is completely true. The transition times before and after lunch are comparable to a stampede on the Serengeti, as students rush from class to the cafeteria, jumping, screaming, hitting one another and running back and forth in the hallway. There have been instances of students throwing teacher’s belongings out the window and instances of students throwing textbooks out of windows and breaking windows of cars in the parking lot below. In my own classroom, a student decided that she was done with Spanish class for the day and because I was standing guard at the door, ran to the open first story window, jumped out and walked home.
It is easy to blame the individual students and say that they should know better. But in reality, one must look at the multitude of factors which influence each and every student’s life outside of the school walls, and then consider how this translates to a student’s behavior and attitude within the school. Additionally, it is important to look at the changes that have taken place and policies in place at our school to contemplate their impact on the school environment and students’ mindsets upon entering it.
Benjamin Stoddert Middle School (BSMS) is a 6-8th grade school located in Temple Hills, Maryland. It is about one mile outside of Washington, D.C. Many students who attend BSMS were born in D.C., but because of the gentrification process which has begun in many of the traditionally Black neighborhoods, Black populations have been pushed out of D.C. and now reside inside outside of the District of Columbia, yet inside of the Capitol Beltway, a more affordable living area over which Prince George’s County Schools such as BSMS have jurisdiction. For this reason, Benjamin Stoddert’s ethnic population has changed over the years. According to the building engineer who has been working at the school for a decade and living in the area his whole life (48 years), a once all White school in the early 1980s, Benjamin Stoddert is now a majority Black school with 95.3% Black students. Beyond that, the student population’s ethnic background is as follows: Multi-Racial (2.64%), American Indian (1.02%), Asian (.44%), and White (.44%). 68% of these students receive Free and Reduced Meals and 12% receive special education services.
In terms of the staff, there have been many changes in the last two years. in the 2010-2011 academic year the Turnaround Model as defined by the Maryland Department of Education was implemented at Benjamin Stoddert. That is, because our school had been failing state standards for several years, it was decided that our school needed to be “turned around.” To do this, all administrators were fired and all but five teaching staff members were fired and new and administrative teaching staff was brought on for the 2010-2011 school year. In the 2010 school year, that meant that 36% of the teaching staff was part of a resident teacher program, most likely meaning it was the first year of teaching for this group. Furthermore, 24.4% of the teachers possessed a standard professional certificate and 27% possessed an advanced professional certificate, as defined by the Maryland State Department of Education.
An average day at Benjamin Stoddert begins at 8:30 AM and ends at 3:10 PM. Students cycle through five mods which last 68 minutes each with a 30 minute lunch period in the middle of the day. In each classroom, challenges present themselves throughout the day. Students come without appropriate school supplies, without having complete homework and without a positive attitude towards learning. These challenges create even further problems when teachers punish students for not having these necessary learning tools. Giving a verbal warning or a 10 minute detention can often escalate to a student display of disrespect and attempt to have the last word over the teacher. Additionally, it could lead to the teacher shouting back at the student in attempt to win control of the situation and classroom. Ultimately, these interruptions are a disruption of learning time for all students and many times it takes several minutes for students to get back on track. This may take place several times in one class period.
Walking down the hallways of Benjamin Stoddert, students are frequently seen standing outside classrooms, waiting to be taken to In-School Suspension (ISS) or “Alternative Instructional Area” (AIA) or to be welcomed back in the classroom after a causing a disruption in the classroom. It is common to see administrators yelling at children, and children yelling back at administrators. Every once and again, a parent will come to the school to reprimand his or her child for showing disrespect to a teacher or for the child getting into some sort of trouble, as defined by a teacher or administrator. At times, this admonishment will be verbal and other times it will be physical.
Speaking with individual students about their family and home situations, there seems to be much instability. It is rare that a child has both a birth mother and father at home, as has been the case in about four or five households of my 300 students over the last two years (as far as I know). It more common that children live in single parent households with several siblings, some half- and some full-blood related. The parent at home is the mother and many times she is alone in raising the child because the father is incarcerated. From conversations with 11-14 year old students, their lives already include many more negative experiences than their higher income peers. Students have told me about having experienced situations of physical, verbal and sexual abuse, rape, moving across state and national borders, loss of shelter, loss of family members, violence, fights, knife and firearm use, drugs, early sexual encounters, suicidal thoughts, hunger, lack of appropriate clothing, and the like.
This multitude of attitudes, mindsets and experiences all impact different students and staff in different ways. Though on the whole, what students and teachers lack and experience at the most basic and individual level at some point will filter into other aspects of their lives and impact the relationships that they have in other, non-domestic environments, like school. When a student cannot access his ADHD medication because his mother does not have adequate funds, his lack of focus and incendiary attitude impacts the learning and mood of students, teachers and administrators who must interact with him. When a young man has no successful and articulate male role model in his life and believes that the only career path for him relates to a the hip hop industry or NBA, it is difficult to convince him to take his head off his desk during a grammar lesson. When students have more acquaintances incarcerated than in college, it is difficult to assure them of the benefits of working hard in school.
Learning is all about questioning, problem solving, demonstrating creativity and discussing issues of science and morality. These abilities, as postulated by Maslow, are considered tasks of “self-actualization.” As laid out by Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, these items can only be carried out when all other, more basic human needs such as safety, love, self-esteem and physiological needs are satisfied. It of course is possible for children, and people in general, to overcome “deficiency needs” such as of hunger, love and family and health to be able to realize higher level capacities such as creativity and problem solving, but in my personal opinion this is rare. From my observations at Benjamin Stoddert Middle School, students first need to be loved, fed, accepted and respected before any meaningful learning can take place. Yet when there are so many children who have these basic needs and so few adults and other positive to provide love, respect, acceptance, attention, etc. to them, everyone begins to feel down downtrodden. This is not to mention that the adults in the building are also humans and have these very same needs. When students show a general lack of respect and esteem towards the adults and when fights are breaking out left and right, causing a questionable state of security in the building, it is difficult for the adults to focus on teaching.
Though the parent’s comment on the school review website did not go into great detail about why “this school is horrible,” and was probably forming an opinion based on one short trip to the school, her statement describes an environment which overall, is quite true about the current state of Benjamin Stoddert Middle School. Taking the time to put on paper the observations that I have gathered over the last year and a half has, sadly, allowed me to see this. Individually, my colleagues and students are thoughtful, intelligent, kind, and caring people, but given the lack of human and capital resources in so many senses and on so many levels, the negatives rather than the positives compound into an environment where unfortunately, no one really wants or likes to be. Words cannot express my grief in admitting this, yet as a second year teacher and as a single human being, there is little I can do with the talent and time I have to turn this around. Only sweeping changes in societal mindsets and economic opportunities over years and years will begin to address the challenges that Benjamin Stoddert Middle School experiences.
References:
http://www.marylandpublicschools.org/MSDE/divisions/certification/certification_branch/certification_inf/types/overview
http://msp.msde.state.md.us/AypIntro.aspx?AypPV=14%7C0%7C16%7C0615%7C3%7C000000
http://schools.pgcps.org/index.asp?code=6515&Submit=GO
http://www.education.com/schoolfinder/us/maryland/temple-hills/benjamin-stoddert-middle/#students-and-teachers
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