Social Policy Development - Coursework Example

Clarity of Goals and Relationship to Underlying Values and Assumptions

After the economic crisis of 2007 to 2010, about 11.6million new jobs were added to the economy. However, most of these jobs went to individuals with at least a college education. For those who possessed a high school diploma and below they lost about 5.6millions jobs during the recession, and only a meager 80,000 were created after the economic meltdown. Individuals with a high school diploma and below are restricted to low-skill jobs with little room for growth. During a recession, the least educated workers are the first to lose their jobs and the last to be re-hired back causing them the greatest suffering. So, the increasing call for better education has been on an upward trend since the beginning of the 20th century. Carnevale, Jayasundera, and Gulish (2016) observed that there was a shift of 46percent of the workforce being comprised of individuals with a post-secondary training or education compared to the only 28percent that was witnessed in the 1940s. Government assistance is crucial for individuals with a high school diploma and have lost their jobs.

The Northeastern Ohio town of Youngstown has a median household income of $24,361 which is significantly lower than the states average income of $48,849. Moreover, 37.4percent of the town’s populations lives below the poverty line, and this necessitates government assistance (Ohio Department of Education, 2016). Increasing the graduation rate within the Youngstown area would decrease the need for public assistance, reduce engagement in crime and increase the income earning potential of the population. If the graduation rates were to increase to about 90 percent nationwide, then there would be an additional 600,000 students that graduate. This would translate to an increased benefit for the country of about $6billion as workers earnings, which would result in overall economic ripple effects such as, even more jobs and increased gross domestic product (GradNation, 2017).

Concerning, the acquisition of a GED as compared to students that choose to pursue high school diplomas, the latter are better equipped with the strength in skills of perseverance and motivation to seek further studies and success in life. Students that fail to acquire a high school diploma are susceptible to dangers such as detrimental health behaviors (Zajacova & Montez, 2016), poverty, unemployment, incarceration and increased dependence on social services. Schools with at-risk students are obliged to promote programs that would provide support (Legters & Balfanz, 2010). Youngstown city schools need to change their systems to accommodate and assist at-risk students. This can be done by altering the traditional school calendar to a year-round model. A year-round model will help increase graduation rates resulting in students becoming gainfully employed. Parents who possess high school diplomas are more likely to raise children who also graduate from high school and participate in community activities like volunteer work and voting.

Additionally, a year-round school calendar would mitigate factors that hinder high school graduation including the summer learning gap. Also, the biggest challenge is on the families that belong to the lower socio-economic status. They have lower achievement levels since they are unable to provide additional academic structured opportunities during the summer months. For many summer students, the summer remedial instruction is too late a solution to the challenges that beset the students in the first portion of the traditional school calendar (Ballinger & Kneese, 2008).

The proposed policy will accommodate the struggles associated with the long summer break that contributes to lower graduation rates. The policy will adapt the single-track system to assist in decreasing absences, learning struggles and the strain of families. Application of a year-round schedule will enable students and families to have a more stable and reliable education system.

The concept of year-round schooling has been credited for its ability to enhance student learning since they are uninterrupted by the lengthy summer break. Experts posit that the long summer break increases the likelihood of forgetfulness of what a student learned before the holiday. The break is a remnant of the agrarian days, and it should not dictate the learning of today. Application of the modified school calendar in other schools has shown that students have better academic retention due to fewer interruptions. It does provide a stable routine where the summer break is instead broken down into several short breaks (Merino, 1983). The breaks are adequately spaced through the year and allow for advanced enrichment and remedial work.

A year-round balanced school calendar has the potential of maintaining student interest in learning activities. Scheduled vacations in between periodic student-teacher classroom interaction is a more balanced mode of learning. It ensures that student interest remains optimistic throughout the year since students that have difficult moments can contemplate a vacation not a long time off. Adaptation of single-track year-round school calendar by the Youngstown district will provide a more logical pacing of instruction. And the regular breaks offer a period of refreshment for both students and teachers—who would now be ready for the next instruction session. This rhythm is more like that of normal life since it involves the intensive pursuit of work, then rest and regeneration, and then back to work (Ballinger & Kneese, 2008).

Moreover, the increased number of intersessions provides for less burnout for both the students and the teachers. The summer slide, as it is referred to by most educators, avers that knowledge is lost whenever students take a protracted break. When students unlearn things already taught the end result is a deteriorating attitude towards school which could affect the number of graduands. However, some studies discovered that there is no significant difference between students that follow the traditional calendar and those that adopted the year-round calendar (Merino, 1983).

Nonetheless, at-risk students are found to do better in year-round school calendars. Studies indicate that students who have some form of disadvantage, on average, lose more than 25percent of their learning during the summer breaks (McMullen & Rouse, 2012). Keeping at-risk students in school improves their learning curve and keeps their minds on a learning track which otherwise remains unstimulated when at home. The at-risk students have a differential effect between out-of-school and in-school environment. In spite of disadvantaged students attending lower quality schools, their home environment is worse off compared to others. This results in the summer break establishing an even wider divide between the disadvantaged students and others. Consequently, if Youngstown schools adopt a year-round calendar, it would disproportionately assist at-risk students and reduce the performance gap.

Another factor that supports the initiation of the year-round school calendar is youth crime. Residents originating from disadvantaged neighborhoods are more inclined to participate in violent behavior. Mares (2013) suggested that there is a causal effect between violent crime and warmer weather. Consequently, free time during the long summer break will be a breeding ground for violent behavior for students from disadvantaged groups. The research advances that the students from low-income households and neighborhoods have almost 36percent more violent instances during summer time. School incapacitation has been suggested as the key factor that leads to the rise in such violent crimes. They are attributed to boredom rather than calculated criminal thought (Mares, 2013).

Another issue that the policy wishes to address is that of reliance on public aid. The American State court system from Idaho, Kansas, Massachusetts, New York, Texas, Carolina Montana, among others has been of the opinion that the over-reliance on local taxes for financing local education institutions is a violation of the state’s constitutional requirement: equity in education. Districts deemed as poor are unable to adequately generate enough taxes that will cater for the provision of minimally acceptable education. Many courts see it as only fair to order the State coffers to augment the deficient local funding for remediation (Jantzen, 2007). However, such rulings are based on the assumption that the substandard education results stem from diminished spending. This, however, may not be the case since dropout rates are affected by a myriad of other factors. With the application of the proposed policy, it will remedy this presumption and the gathered funding would be enough to accommodate a year-long school calendar. In fact, it will reduce overcrowding, and the funds can be channeled towards reducing the student-teacher ratios and other co-curricular activities. The consequences of this would be a reduced dropout rate as was observed by McNeal (1995).

Practicality and Appropriateness of Service Provisions

The Ohio State government awarded the United ways and the Youngstown City Schools about $1million in grant money aimed at supporting current programs. However, such funds could be redirected towards the establishment of a year-round schooling, that is either pay teachers more or high more teachers. The funds could be applied in assisting children that have a difficult time in reading and mathematics. Also, it could assist in increasing parental engagement which would lead to the creation of a positive learning environment for the children. Moreover, during the short breaks, the Youngstown City Schools will continue to utilize the grant-funded PASS partnership project in conjunction with the Youngstown State University to empower students to meet their academic goals. The 2nd and 7th Foundation are also good partners that will assist in tackling literacy difficulties and provide positive role models to the SES students of Youngstown (SecondandSeven Foundation, 2017).

Students too can benefit from the year-round school calendar. Extracurricular and co-curricular activities can be applied throughout the year. Scholars observed that students retain much more if they are able to apply it (Ballinger & Kneese, 2008). Intermission periods that are present within a year-round calendar will provide excellent opportunities for students to participate in creative avenues that apply what was learned. For instance, Youngstown city schools could promote intersession periods that subsume extensive science projects, objective science studies, or participation in science camps that augment classroom learning. Moreover, the single-track system provides the flexibility that could prove useful when parents and teachers want to add an extra day or week, maybe around proclaimed holidays. Such additions provide opportunities for travel that are lower in cost and provide ample family quality time. Students can also benefit from incentive programs such as music events or academic decathlons during the short periods. High school students can utilize the time to visit prospective colleges. Student-athletes too can benefit from this modified calendar which provides adequate time for sports seasons that are free from homework or exam requirements.

Teachers will also benefit from the year-round calendar. They can take value of the yearlong possibilities for staff development. The modified calendar assists teachers to continuously develop rather than wait for a summer-long period to do so. The in-service schedule for the year-long calendar is almost similar to the one applied in other professional jobs like engineering, law, and medicine. The fears of prohibition for pursuing advanced degrees are unfounded. The law of supply and demand also applies to in graduate schools. Meaning, if teachers require in-service training, universities are ready to provide. And in instances where there is vigorous competition for teaching graduate students, universities will provide classes that meet the needs and are favorable to the teachers.

Another derived advantage for year-long schools is the reduced crowd. Researchers posit that schools that apply a traditional calendar are more crowded than those that utilize the year-round school system (McMullen & Rouse, 2012). Additionally, the modified calendar has a better student-to-teacher average ratio. Other service factors for year-round schools include, they are mostly elementary schools, they experience a higher enrollment rate, and their class-size is slightly larger. As concerns teachers, these schools are characterized by a bigger portion of licensed teachers who exhibit more experience and register lower turnover rates. McMullen and Rouse (2012) remark that the conversion from a traditional school calendar to a more robust year-round system would see overcrowding reduce by almost 21 percentage points.

A year-round calendar also has financial benefits. Some note that the program leads to avoidance of costs associated with capital outlay of more facilities. Also, the school can avoid purchasing extra-site operations, furniture, equipment, utilities transportation and maintenance and hiring of more staff. Moreover, there are potential savings that arise from additional average student daily attendance. A year-long policy enables sharing of materials among students, and there are reduced absenteeism, vandalism and reduced applications for substitute teachers (Hanover Research, 2013).

Even with all these benefits of the proposed policy, there are some shortcomings particularly considering the family structure, extracurricular activities, facility maintenance, among others. One, the family structure could be jeopardized as many who argue against the policy cite that it brings with it irregular vacation times. However, the single-track system could remedy this by ensuring that children within the same family are in school and on vacation at the same time. Planning extracurricular activities could also seem tedious. It would require advanced logistical planning every time there is a vacation coming up. And even if the students in a year-round system are able to coordinate their schedules, they could still be at odds with other schools. Hence, it would prove challenging to schedule competitive matches with other city schools. However, this can be remedied by having a unified approach towards the year-round system across the whole Youngstown City School district. Maintenance of school facilities could prove problematic if the school adopts a multi-track system. But, the proposed policy refers to single-track system which would be easier to work around and schedule maintenance during the vacation periods.

Standardized Eligibility Requirements which are Easily Determined

Year-round schooling should be introduced at the kindergarten level. And as proposed the single-track option would ensure that all students, particularly those from one family are on a similar school schedule. Eligibility for year-round schools particularly for elementary should be on a voluntary basis. Parents would feel more involved with the programs if it is an option, not a requirement—as has already been witnessed in other states like Minnesota that have already implemented the policy. For instance, in Minnesota, the year-round system provides for students to start school in August with nine-week sessions and three-week breaks (Nair, 2012). Additionally, the at-risk students and those who come from a disadvantaged background should get priority during the pilot phase of the policy. Students that come from lower-income households, those with learning and physical disabilities should be catered to before the program is rolled out to the rest. Other common requirements would be that the summer break should not last more than six weeks or any other vacation in between—as is practiced in Arkansas, and instruction should not be less than 180 days (Skinner, 2014).

Follow-up of Proposed Strategy

The follow-up strategy should be used to evaluate the effectiveness of year-round schooling against the traditional calendar. The examination should focus on areas such juvenile delinquency rates, graduation rates, and satisfaction levels for students, faculty and the community. Moreover, it should examine if there has been significant cost saving after implementation of the proposed policy. Many schools that have adopted this strategy applied the use of an intersession coordinator (Haser & Nasser, 2005). For Youngstown’s City School district, the intersession coordinator could assist in evaluating classes, planning and coordinating various school activities and evaluating the outcome of students.

Illinois, for instance applies the No Child Left Behind Act which is used to measure the strides made by schools. Similar tests like the Standards Achievement Tests could be utilized to evaluate if there is indeed adequate yearly progress in student academic achievement for the educational institution as a whole school or its subgroups. The standards could be set by the Ohio Department of education, and the test scores could be evaluated based on them.

External examiners could be used to evaluate the progress of the program. These external examiners, in conjunction with intersession coordinator, can develop testing criteria to determine if the year-round schooling program increased student performance as compared to the traditional calendar schooling program. During testing, it is important to separate between at-risk and disadvantaged students and those that are from well-off backgrounds. Separation into subgroups ensures there are reduced variations and increased accuracy of tests. As studies already indicate, the disadvantaged students are the ones who seem to benefit the most whereas students from well-off families show little or no increased educational achievement (McMullen & Rouse, 2012). Measurement of cost factors can be done by the Ohio Department of Education to see if spending on school budgets has decreased or increased after implementation of the program. Examination of other factors would require a much more robust approach. For example, examining delinquency rates would require input from the department of corrections, the community, and the school administrators. A case-study could assist in determining if there has been any significant change.

Additionally, a year-round school calendar would mitigate factors that hinder high school graduation including the summer learning gap. Also, the biggest challenge is on the families that belong to the lower socio-economic status. They have lower achievement levels since they are unable to provide additional academic structured opportunities during the summer months. For many summer students, the summer remedial instruction is too late a solution to the challenges that beset the students in the first portion of the traditional school calendar (Ballinger & Kneese, 2008).

The proposed policy will accommodate the struggles associated with the long summer break that contributes to lower graduation rates. The policy will adapt the single-track system to assist in decreasing absences, learning struggles and the strain of families. Application of a year-round schedule will enable students and families to have a more stable and reliable education system.

The concept of year-round schooling has been credited for its ability to enhance student learning since they are uninterrupted by the lengthy summer break. Experts posit that the long summer break increases the likelihood of forgetfulness of what a student learned before the holiday. The break is a remnant of the agrarian days, and it should not dictate the learning of today. Application of the modified school calendar in other schools has shown that students have better academic retention due to fewer interruptions. It does provide a stable routine where the summer break is instead broken down into several short breaks (Merino, 1983). The breaks are adequately spaced through the year and allow for advanced enrichment and remedial work.

A year-round balanced school calendar has the potential of maintaining student interest in learning activities. Scheduled vacations in between periodic student-teacher classroom interaction is a more balanced mode of learning. It ensures that student interest remains optimistic throughout the year since students that have difficult moments can contemplate a vacation not a long time off. Adaptation of single-track year-round school calendar by the Youngstown district will provide a more logical pacing of instruction. And the regular breaks offer a period of refreshment for both students and teachers—who would now be ready for the next instruction session. This rhythm is more like that of normal life since it involves the intensive pursuit of work, then rest and regeneration, and then back to work (Ballinger & Kneese, 2008).

Moreover, the increased number of intersessions provides for less burnout for both the students and the teachers. The summer slide, as it is referred to by most educators, avers that knowledge is lost whenever students take a protracted break. When students unlearn things already taught the end result is a deteriorating attitude towards school which could affect the number of graduands. However, some studies discovered that there is no significant difference between students that follow the traditional calendar and those that adopted the year-round calendar (Merino, 1983).

Nonetheless, at-risk students are found to do better in year-round school calendars. Studies indicate that students who have some form of disadvantage, on average, lose more than 25percent of their learning during the summer breaks (McMullen & Rouse, 2012). Keeping at-risk students in school improves their learning curve and keeps their minds on a learning track which otherwise remains unstimulated when at home. The at-risk students have a differential effect between out-of-school and in-school environment. In spite of disadvantaged students attending lower quality schools, their home environment is worse off compared to others. This results in the summer break establishing an even wider divide between the disadvantaged students and others. Consequently, if Youngstown schools adopt a year-round calendar, it would disproportionately assist at-risk students and reduce the performance gap. Read More