School Culture Interview - Assignment Example

Running head: Education School Culture Interview Insert Insert Grade Insert 03 July School Culture Interview The school comprises students and staff from divergent cultural communities and is an epitome of diversity. Different forms of testing are applied to gauge the performance of students. The school takes a lot of pleasure in recognizing its students and staff for better performance. This motivates them to perform better and boost the chances of the school in the state. In line with requirements, the school has numerous extracurricular activities including sports which occupy students and helps in nurturing talent.

The school equally considers the significance of behavior and academic performance as crucial qualities of students. This enables students to be assisted in their areas of weakness. Teachers are encouraged to share their experiences during staff meetings and other informal meetings. The rules and expectations of the school are manifested on several avenues with the aim of instilling them into the student minds. The school is diverse in composition with a number of ethnic groups represented. Majority of the students are Caucasian, Hispanic, and Asian constitute only 25%.

There are certain students receiving special services in the school for various reasons but mostly, the Asia services include special learning programs along with medication. The school uses different testing methods to evaluate student learning capacities though catholic schools undertake similar tests in the state. There are diverse ways of determining the overall student performance since a number of tests are conducted. The school’s performance can be described as average because there are students in bottom 25% while other are in top 99%, a times the school’s average is 70% as well as 55-60%.

Students and staff are acknowledged in school as a way of boosting their morale and appreciating good performance. Examples of recognition events in the school include quarterly rewards, classroom student of the month, SLE of the month, Student appreciation Day, certificates and prize box. Staff acknowledgement perks include; Teacher appreciation, Principal appreciation as well as gifts and certificates. Various types of extracurricular activities are offered for students in the school which include sports, community service, and church choir, alter servers for weekend Mass, Students of both genders and all ethnicities represented in the activities though some activities are more popular than others on the basis of cultural background.

Both academic achievement and behavior are considered important, and there is a huge connection between the two because they complement each other. However, it depends on the child because it is not possible to have the two in equal measure. Incase a student performs well but does not have good behavior then programs have to be incepted to cultivate good behavior and vice versa. One of the biggest problems in nurturing students’ behavior is the lack of parental support (Peterson & Deal, 2010).

Teachers are encouraged to share with each other whatever they learn and do mostly at faculty meetings and informal meetings. The school’s staff is aware of the impact of culture on teaching and learning owing to the fact that some students speak English as a second language; some have IEP’S and some students are on medication for learning disorders. There are many types of culturally responsive instructional practices used in the school that aids the learning process by making it more participative; the major practices comprise of group work and pair share.

Some of the rules and expectations of the school are posted in various avenues like classrooms where each classroom has its own rules. The school handbook is equally significant and in overall these rules and expectations are taught to students. Students have a voice in the school since they can talk to teachers anytime. The teachers and school administrators are usually available at several avenues like playgrounds. Families and the community are encouraged to participate in the events and activities of the school through parent association, classroom helpers, computer lab, coach sports, lunch duty, fundraisers, and parent orientation.

In summary, the school profile represents diversity and excellence intertwined together. The schools composition symbolizes cultural diversity where several communities are represented. The school has several programs that boost performance, enhance teacher student interaction, and encourage families and communities to participate in extracurricular activities. The school inculcates cultural values in the students through the application of culturally responsive teaching methods, which also recognize the importance of culture in teaching and learning processes.

The effectiveness in the schools processes lies in the inclusion of several practices that make the events of the school to be participative in nature. These include student voice, family and communal participation, extracurricular activities, student and staff acknowledgement along with the different testing methods. Reference Peterson, K. & Deal, T. (2010). Shaping School Culture: Pitfalls, Paradoxes, and Promises. Washington: John Wiley & Sons.