Entry Four - Draft Three

From all my research I have learned a lot more about school size and how that effects students. Also about the issues that public schools are facing compared to small schools. Yes, small schools are doing better academically since teachers can spend more time with their students. However its also because teachers can change the curriculum to tailor to their students needs. But in public schools you have students that don't really care about their academics going to school so of course there grades are lower. But then you have students you try their best. So the difference in students can change the dropout and academic rates. Another thing was that public schools are government funded and they might not get all the resources that they need. In the past couple years public schools have had to layoff teachers because they couldn't afford to pay them which caused class size to go up then before. For public schools its the school itself and the lack of funding that are causing the increase in dropout rates and decrease in academic performance

Entry Three - Draft Three

From a lot of the different sources I looked at for information. I felt like they were all saying the the reason for high dropout rates is the big public schools. But to me I feel like a lot of people like to blame the high dropout rates at public schools on the schools themselves as a scapegoat. Because they don't know who else to blame. But lets be honest the kids that go to smaller schools are the ones that are more driven to succeed. They have their parents to impress with their grades. While at big public schools you do still have some students like that while others that aren't. You have immigrants and people who don't even speak enough English to communicate with others and could careless about their grades. Those are people that won't due better no matter how much their teacher's push them. So yes the dropout rates are higher in big public schools but the students are different too. So I feel like then information presented is a bit off.
I went to both a big public school and a small school and you have the same type of people in both scenarios. But in public schools you have more of the same type of people. So in a way the dropout rates are pretty much the same. An example of this would be from Werblow and Duesbery's article. They defined a small school to have less than 674 students and the dropout rate was at about 2.5%. So about 17 out of 674 students dropped out of school. While at a big school that had 2,692 had a dropout rate at about 3% and about 81 students drop out. The number from the big school is almost five times that of the small school. However, the size of the big school is about 4 times the size of the small school. So the big school is like a larger scale of the small school.
Yes, you can get a better education at a smaller school and there is a difference levels of education at least to me. But there are students that hate going to school and don't do well in school. So they eventually give up and drop out. Also, there are your stoners you could careless about school that don't care about school or what they are going to do tomorrow except getting high. Also there are students that can't really succeed in how the public school system and need that one on one learning but don't have the opportunities. Also don't forget about teen pregnancy and how that is more common in big public schools than small schools. To me that is because students are more aware of it in small schools and don't want that to happen to them since everyone knows everyone.

Entry Two - Draft Three

I found a lot of information about the differences in school size and how it affects student. But one perspective that I agreed with is how big public schools don't test as well as small schools. That isn't something to new to most people since that is one of the factors that parents send their children to either private school, charter school or Christian schools. That is because big public schools don't have all the resources to help their students learn like private school. Due to the fact that their funding is coming from taxes while private schools are coming from the parents. I mean Thomas Toch was talking about how public schools in the United States haven't really changed over the years. And when you really think about it they haven't. Also teachers can't give each student all the attention they need.
In the article by Werblow and Duesbery, they defined a small school to be less than 674 students and out of those students about 2.5% of them dropped out. While in a school that they defined as large at 2,692 the drop out rate was about 3%. At a first glance people might think that the both sizes of schools have similar dropout rates. However, 2.5% of 674 students is about 17 students, while 3% of 2,692 students is about 81 students. The number of dropouts from large school is almost five times of what it is in small schools. That is a large number of students who just don't see the need and don't care about school.

Entry One - Draft Three

My inquiry question is What are the impacts based on school size? I choose this topic because I went to both a small school with about eighty students per grade then to a public school with about 300 students in my class. The level of education varies from small schools to big schools but there are also other social aspects that people don't really think about. That is the part I am really interested in finding out more about. That's because I wonder how much of an impact on your level of education does your school size make on you. However, I do want to learn more about school size and the level of education students are receiving. That is because our youth is the future of our country. So we should give them the best education we can since they will be the ones in control and we should make sure they are well educated. I mean we don't want the United States to be run by idiots? Or do we? School size is linked with drop out rates and academic performance.
When I attended a small school from 4th to 9th grade and I did notice differences when I transferred to a public school for the rest of my high school education. The time I spent at the small school I got more attention from the teachers when I needed help with work. Also I felt like we all got pretty much the same GPA just the grades in each class varied. There was no popular group since there were only eighty students per grade. We were all pretty much friends with each other.

Entry Four - Draft Two

From all my research I have learned a lot more about school size and how that effects students. Also about the issues that public schools are facing compared to small schools. Yes, small schools are doing better academically since teachers can spend more time with their students. However its also because teachers can change the curriculum to tailor to their students needs. But in public schools you have students that don't really care about their academics going to school so of course there grades are lower. But then you have students you try their best. So the difference in students can change the dropout and academic rates. Another thing was that public schools are government funded and they might not get all the resources that they need. In the past couple years public schools have had to layoff teachers because they couldn't afford to pay them which caused class size to go up then before. For public schools its the school itself and the lack of funding that are causing the increase in dropout rates and decrease in academic performance

Entry Three - Draft Two

I feel like a lot of people like to blame the high dropout rates at public schools on the schools themselves as a scapegoat. Because they don't know who else to blame. But lets be honest the kids that go to smaller schools are the ones that are more driven to succeed. They have their parents to impress with their grades. While at big public schools you do still have some students like that while others that aren't. You have immigrants and people who could careless about their grades. Those are people that won't due better no matter how much their teacher's push them. So yes the dropout rates are higher in big public schools but the students are different too. So I feel like then information presented is a bit off.

Entry Two - Draft Two

From my researched I just found information that told me about how big schools don't do as well in academics as smaller schools. That isn't something to new to most people since that is a reason why parents send their children to small private, charter or Christian schools. That is because big public schools don't have all the resources to help their students learn like private school. Due to the fact that their funding is coming from taxes while private schools are coming from the parents. I mean Thomas Toch was talking about how public schools in the United States haven't really changed over the years. And when you really think about it they haven't. Also teachers can't give each student all the attention they need.

Entry One - Draft Two

My inquiry question is What are the impacts based on school size? I choose this topic because I went to both a small school with about eighty students per grade then to a public school with about 300 students in my class. The level of education varies from small schools to big schools but there are also other social aspects that people don't really think about. That is the part I am really interested in finding out more about. That's because I wonder how much of an impact on your life does your school size make on you. However, I do want to learn more about school size and the level of education students are receiving. That is because our youth is the future of our country. So we should give them the best education we can since they will be the ones in control and we should make sure they are well educated. I mean we don't want the United States to be run by idiots? Or do we? School size is linked with drop out rates and if students attend college. That is because in big schools some students will get lost in the middle of everything going on around them. While in a small school everybody knows each other and they are friends and everybody has someone to hangout with. That isn't the case in big schools since there are more outcasts in them. We need to figure out what is affecting the youths level of education and fix it because the people in the United States aren't as smart and well educated as they use to be.

Bibliography

Werblow, Jacob, and Luke Duesbery. "The Impact Of High School Size On Math Achievement
              And Dropout Rate." High School Journal 92.3 (2009): 14-23. Academic Search
              Complete. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

Hart, Patricia Kilday. "Size Matters." Texas Monthly Feb. 2006: 64+. Academic Search 
             Complete. Web. 20 Feb. 2012.

Delavan, Garrett. The Teacher's Attention: Why Our Kids Must and Can Get Smaller
               Schools and Classes. Philadelphia: Temple UP, 2009. Print.

 

Meier, Deborah, Nancy Faust. Sizer, and Theodore R. Sizer. Keeping School: Letters to Families
               from Principals of Two Small Schools. Boston, MA: Beacon, 2004. Print.

Toch, Thomas. High Schools on a Human Scale: How Small Schools Can Transform American 

               Education. Boston: Beacon, 2003. Print.

Entry Four - Draft One

From everything I researched I found out that a lot of what th

Entry Three - Draft One

I feel like a lot of people like to blame the high dropout rates at public schools on the schools themselves as a scapegoat. Because they don't know who else to blame. But lets be honest the kids that go to smaller schools are the ones that are more driven to succeed. They have their parents to impress with their grades. While at big public schools you do still have some students like that while others that aren't. You have immigrants and people who could careless about their grades. Those are people that won't due better no matter how much their teacher's push them. So yes the dropout rates are higher in big public schools but the students are different too. So I feel like then information presented is a bit off.

Entry Two - Draft One

From my researched I just found information that told me about how big schools don't do as well in academics as smaller schools. That isn't something to new to most people since that is a reason why parents send their children to small private, charter or Christian schools. That is because big public schools don't have all the resources to help their students learn like private school. Due to the fact that their funding is coming from taxes while private schools are coming from the parents. I mean Thomas Toch was talking about how public schools in the United States haven't really changed over the years. And when you really think about it they haven't. Also teachers can't give each student all the attention they need.

Entry One - Draft One

My inquiry question is What are the impacts based on school size? I choose this topic because I went to both a small school with about eighty students per grade then to a public school with about 300 students in my class. The level of education varies from small schools to big schools but there are also other social aspects that people don't really think about. That is the part I am really interested in finding out more about. That's because I wonder how much of an impact on your life does your school size make on you. However, I do want to learn more about school size and the level of education students are receiving. That is because our youth is the future of our country. So we should give them the best education we can since they will be the ones in control and we should make sure they are well educated. I mean we don't want the United States to be run by idiots? Or do we? School size is linked with drop out rates and if students attend college. That is because in big schools some students will get lost in the middle of everything going on around them. While in a small school everybody knows each other and they are friends and everybody has someone to hangout with. That isn't the case in big schools since there are more outcasts in them. We need to figure out what is affecting the youths level of education and fix it because the people in the United States aren't as smart and well educated as they use to be.