Concepts of Education
Course Description: Examines the sociological, historical, political, legal and economic concepts in education.
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School Analysis Paper
Esperanza High School is located in Anaheim California. The Esperazna Aztecs school mission statement is as followed, To encourage appreciation of cultural diversity, to foster democratic values, to prepare students for a productive work life, to promote a desire for life-long learning through standards based instruction and enrichment. Based on this mission statement, Esperanza values diversity throughout the school. They want to give each student an equal opportunity to succeed not only in the classroom, but in life. No matter what cultural background or race one comes from, they will be treated as one and everyone will work together to achieve their goals. As for the schools motto, “where excellence is a tradition,” it means that students are going to be treated the same as they were in the past. In fact, Esperanza does follow their mission statement based on student diversity. Based on the percent of total enrollment of Esperanza high school, 1.60% are African American, 0.13% are American Indian or Alaska Native, 10.65% are Asian, 1.02% are Filipino, 12.96% are Hispanic or Latino, 0.19% are Pacific Islander, 72.42% are white. As one can see, Esperanza enrolls many different ethnic groups and challenges each group and hopes that they all succeed. In comparison to the district and state, Esperanza’s graduation rates are very high. There are 26,026 African Americans in the state that have graduated, of those 54 have come from the district and 18 have come from Esperanza. There are 3,074 American Indian or Alaska Natives in the sate of California, of those, six are from the district and three are from Esperazna. There are 39,409 Asian that have graduated, of those 227 are from the district, 111 are from Esperanza. The filipino graduation class consisted of 12,472 in the state, 22 are from the district and eight are from Esperanza. There are 143,476 Hispanic or Latino graduates in the state of California 418 are from the district and 58 are from Esperanza. The ethnic group of Pacific Islander consist of 2,504 in the graduation class of California, of those six are form he district and two are from Esperanza. Lastly, the white population of California’s graduation class consist of 141344, of those 1,215 are from the district and 534 are form Esperanza. What this tells me is that not only does Esperanza have a lot of diversity in its school, but they accept it. As one can see, Esperanza hosts a large percentage of each ethnic group in its school itself in comparison to the district as a whole. Going back to the mission statement, they value the appreciation of diversity, and based on the graduation rates in the survey, they are doing just that. They are giving each student an equal opportunity to succeed in life and become successful in the future.
Esperanza, of course, is following the No Child Left Behind standards. In order for that to happen, students are needed to be taught by teachers NCLB complaint. In fact, in Esperanza alone, 99.2% of the classes are taught by such teachers, and in the district, 98.5% of the classes are taught by NCLB complaint teachers. This shows that not only does Esperanza believe that students need to be taught with the very best instructors so they do not fall behind, but the district believes that as a whole. They could have hired teachers without this background for cheaper, but because they believe in their mission statement of making sure every student succeeds, they hire the best. They do not want anyone falling behind.
Esperanza’s mission statement states that they want to promote a desire for life-long learning through standards based instruction and enrichment. In order to do so, they have to teach to the standards. Because Esperanza also puts a huge amount of emphasis on diversity, the standardized test scores are broken down based on each ethnic group that is in the school. The test was broken down into four sections, English-Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, and History-Social Science. The following is the percent of students scoring in proficient of advanced. For English-Language Arts, African Americans scored 54%, American Indian or Alaska Native did not score proficient or advanced, Asian scored 81%, Filipino scored 73%, Hispanic or Latino scored 47%, Pacific Islander did not score proficient or advanced. Whites scored 71%. In the Mathematics section, African Americans scored 45%, American Indian or Alaska Native did not score in the proficient or advanced range. Asian scored 80%, Filipino scored 81%, Hispanic or Latino scored 45%, Pacific Islander did not score in either range, White scored 66%. For the science test, African Americans scored 62%, American Indian or Alaska Native did not score in this range, Asian scored 85%, Filipino did not score in this range, Hispanic or Latino scored 52%, Pacific Islander did not score in this range, and white scored 74%. For the last test, History- Historical Science, African Americans scored 55%,American Indian or Alaska Native did not score in this range, Asian scored 81%, Filipino did not score in this range, Hispanic or Latino scored 38%, Pacific Islander did not score in this range, and white scored 63%. One can interpret these results a number of different ways. The big question everyone might have is how come there are certain groups that did not meet the scoring range? The answer is because one, the groups that did not meet the range, American Indian or Alaska Native for example, has a very low population in the school. Only 0.13% of the school is in this group. Also, this chart shows the percent of people who are in the proficient range or advanced range. This does not mean that the percent of the others in the ethnic group did not pass, it just means they are not above everyone else. They could still meet the state standard, they just are not at the top. That goes for every group in this school. Just because there is a low percent in the proficient or advanced range, does not mean they did not pass. They could still meet the requirements. Also, it is interesting how the majority of the population, whites, did not score the highest. Maybe it is because there is such a high number of students, but it is still interesting how the minority students, such as the Asians are scoring very high on the test. This shows that the school is treating everyone the same way, and that diversity is playing a huge role in the curriculum. It is great to see such a high number of minority students scoring at a proficient or advanced level based on state standards. This chart also shows that the school is teaching to its mission statement as well. They want to teach to the standards and they are doing just that. To have a consistent amount of students in a number of different ethnic groups scoring in such a high range shows that the school is teaching its students right.
As for the school’s financial state, the current expenses per daily attendance is$8,040 for the school district of Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified. In comparison to other school districts throughout the state, it falls in what would be considered the lower range. The reason why it falls in this range is because the average throughout the state is in the $10,000 to $20,000 range. At the high end, some school districts are in the $30,000 range and the low end is just below $8,000. The reason why this school district might not have as much money as the other districts is because of where the school is located. Most of the schools are in the Anaheim city limits, so right away that is a down side. Any time a school is in the city, one knows the tax dollars are not going right to the school. One can also tell that they might not have a high spending for each student because of the diversity throughout the school. If you look at just Esperanza, the diversity is huge. That says that they might need to spend more money on other things, like security, especially since it is a city school.
Esperanza does however find ways to improve the faculties of the high school. In order for that to happen, they have to move around their budget to make ways to afford new faculties. This goes back to their mission statement and their motto because in order for a student to succeed in a classroom, they have to be able to feel safe and comfortable in it. In fact, they have spent, 12 million dollars in bonds to make the campus a more safe and comfortable environment. What they are in the process of building are, a new science and language arts building. They are going to renovate all the restrooms, the gymnasium, and the theatre. Lastly, they are going to be building a second gym, a new music room, and renewing administration offices. All of this is going in the process of being made to complete a safe learning environment for the students.
Esperanza High School prides itself with great curriculum. The mission statement says that they want to teach to the standards, and that is exactly what they do. The curriculum at Esperanza is divided into eight core subjects that each student must complete. Those subjects are, reading/language arts, mathematics, science, history-social science, foreign language, health, visual and performing arts, and science lab. What is interesting about this curriculum, is that every teacher must follow the same guidelines and teach at the same pace. Unless, of course, for the accelerated program. The reason why they all must follow the same pace is because for every core course, every student “has standards aligned”, and all are using the state regulated textbook. What this means is that every student knows and has access to all the standards. This show another way how Esperanza really follows their school mission statement of teaching to the standards. For the other part of the curriculum, they have physical education that is required and the students have to test to the national standards as well. There are also a lot of non core courses that a student has available to them. For example, there are many business, computer, and technology courses that are available for the students to take. This really plays a huge role in students life because these classes can help them steer in the right direction of where they want to go with their life. The mission statement states that they want the students to develop skills to live a great life after school, and having these classes available, on top of the core courses, is great for the students.
As for extra curriculum, Esperanza prides themselves on athletics. The offer a lot of sports to both men and women. The sports that are available for them to participate in are, men’s- football, water polo, cross country, basketball, wrestling, soccer, baseball, diving swimming, track and field, volleyball, golf, tennis and lacrosse. As for women’s, there is, cheer/song, tennis, cross country, volleyball, golf, dance, soccer, basketball, water polo, softball, diving and lacrosse. There are many options for both sexes to play. They put a lot of money into the athletics and it pays off. They have been ranked nationally in football, and has been recognized by ESPN by the top 30 national programs for all of their sports combined. If students do not want to participate in varsity athletics, Esperanza has many other options one can take apart of. There are club sports programs offered for every sport, as well as leadership clubs, music and vocal clubs, foreign language clubs and theatre clubs. There are options for everyone to participate in extra curriculum. They believe that extra curriculum brings unity to their school and helps the students develop many skills that will help them become successful later on in their lifetime.
Esperanza is part of the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School district in California. The district consist of twenty two elementary schools, six middle schools, and five high schools. This is very unique for a district to house so many schools, especially those of different grade levels. This is another reason why the district is not at the top in terms of money. There is not enough money to go around to every school, and since there is thirty three schools, how are they going to distribute the money? Does one school deserve more? There are many questions in terms of where the money should go.
Esperanza high school calls themselves the Aztecs. It is a public high school, therefore, the grades are 9-12. As we already know, the student population is very diverse, and the total enrollment is 3,126. There are 124 teachers currently teaching at Esperanza. Throughout the district, which has thirty three schools, there are 1,154 teachers. That is a very good student to teacher ratio at Esperanza. Going back to their mission statement of teaching to the standards and making sure every student is on the right track to a successful career, they are doing just that with the student teacher ratio. The students not only have access to great teachers, but the subject that they teach are great. There are a lot of technology based classes that requires great technology.
WORK CITED
“Esperanza High School.” Esperanzahs.com. N.p., 30 Nov 2010. Web. 30 Nov 2010. <http://www.esperanzahs.com/>.
Themocracy