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ECI 301/Chapter 12 Written by: Anna Bodenhamer

There is no one answer to the school/community disconnect. There are many disconnecting pieces to the puzzle. The three major pieces are the family structure, the schools, and the communities we live in. Each piece plays a major role in a child’s life. So if you plan on teaching for a profession prepare for an exciting, unpredictable, rewarding and many times very stressful career.

Today the family structure has many components. They are culturally diverse, single parents, blended families and low-income families that are very unstable. Instability is the worst and the hardest on kids especially when they are constantly on the move from school to school. Social workers call the moves, “stealth moves” to stay ahead of landlords looking for overdue rent (Education vital signs, 2006). Overall, mobility rates are highest in large, predominantly minority urban school districts (American school board journal). Mobility rates keep climbing. According to the Chicago Public Schools twenty-three percent of students who entered first grade in 1999 had changed schools by the end of the year. Four years after entering first grade, more than fifty percent had changed schools (Education vital signs, 2006). The negative effects of high mobility are well documented; but how can schools address students’ needs amid the pressure of accountability (Susan Black, 2003)? Schools are under tremendous pressure to meet accreditation and are held accountable for their SOL scores. So we all know what that means, “teachers are under the microscope” in hopes their students achieve passing scores on the SOL tests. This is not an easy achievement with students moving in and out and than back in again. It is not surprising that many highly mobile students suffer academically (American school board journal).

Schools are a major piece of the puzzle in shaping our future. Teaching is becoming a very stressful occupation. The No Child Left Behind Act, signed into law January 2002, aims to make sure that all children achieve academic proficiency and gain the educational skills necessary to succeed later in life (Child trends data bank, 2003). In theory this is a wonderful idea but in reality it is not easy to accomplish. In one classroom you may have as many as twenty-five to thirty-two students with half being two to three years below grade level. Then there is the SOL pacing guide you must follow and complete by the end of the year. So your students take the SOL test and you hold your breath, in hopes that their scores are passing or at least not embarrassingly low! Then the so call specialist scrutinizes your class scores without giving concrete advice or guidance in how to achieve higher scores. They tell you what you need to accomplish but not how. It is very frustrating! There are just too many specialists that have never stepped into a classroom to experience the teacher’s reality of teaching students of “today”.

Students are a product of their environment. Classrooms are full of cultural diversity and socio-economic levels. Many homes and communities often accept and encourage behaviors that are incompatible with the behaviors in the school setting (Bos and Vaughn, 2006). For instance, aggressive and highly emotionally charged behavior may be expected of African American males at home and in their community but are unacceptable in the class setting. Hispanic students are viewed as dependent and passive (Bos and Vaughn). This is very confusing to the student when they receive a reprimand and told the behavior is unacceptable at school. The lack of respect and opposition to authority is increasing every year. They reason by saying, “My momma says it’s OK!” Social skills are definitely lacking in society. When parents are called in for a conference, the teachers immediately realize, “The apple does not fall far from the tree.” These days it is falling on the schools to teach the social skills our parents, a generation ago, taught us at home. Teaching students to solve interpersonal problems has been very successful with a wide range of populations (Platt and Spivack, 1972). The goal of interpersonal problem-solving training is to teach students how to employ a wide range of strategies that allow them to develop and maintain positive relationships with others, cope effectively with others, solve their own problems, and resolve conflict with others.

FAST is a strategy that is taught to students with learning disabilities who have been identified as having social skills problems (Vaughn and Lancelotta, 1990; Vaughn, Lancelotta, and Minnis, 1988; Vaughn, McIntosh, and Spencer-Rowe, 1991). This is a wonderful strategy for all students. The idea is to get students to consider:

FREEZE and think! What is the problem? ALTERNATIVE? What are my possible solutions? SOLUTION evaluation choose the best solutions: Safe? Fair? TRY It! Slowly and carefully does it work? Soulutions that is effective in the long run.

SLAM is another strategy used to assist students in accepting and assimilating negative feedback and comments from other people (McIntosh, Vaughn, and Bennerson, 1995). It stands for:

STOP—Stop whatever you are doing. LOOK—Look the person in the eye. ASK—Ask the person a question to clarify what he/she means. MAKE—Make an appropriate response to the person.

When students master these strategies they will have learned a very valuable lesson. They realize there are laws to abide by and rules to follow in society and to learn to do so will enable them to live a safer, peaceful, and successful life.

So as you can see “schools” are a major piece of the puzzle. Teachers educate, nurture, and become surrogate parents to all their students. The disconnection between schools and communities is wide and the responsibilities on schools seem to grow every year. A person who becomes a teacher is unselfish, dedicated, and caring. We all know the profession will not create wealth in our lives but we will enjoy many rewards. Especially the few students that come back to say, “Thanks for everything you taught me”.

Reference: American school board journal. September 2003, from http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html

Black, Susan. from Educational vital signs,U.S. school's facts and figures, 2006. from http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html

Bos, Candace S. and Sharon Vaughn. Strategies for teaching students and learning and behavior problems Sixth edition (2006), Pg. 381.

Educational vital signs, U.S. schools in facts and figures (2006). http://www.asbj.com/current/research.html

McIntosh, Vaughn, and Bennerson. (1995), from Strategies for for teaching...2006. pg. 401

“No child left behind: A parent’s guide”. http://www.ed.gov/parents/academic/involve/nclbguide/parents guide.pdf

Platt and Spivack (1972). From ''Strategies for teaching...sixth edition, 2006. pg. 398

Five Multiple Choice Questions:

1. Social workers refer to families on the move as “stealth moves,” why? A) Families that enjoyed traveling B) Mobile families C) Families that stayed ahead of overdue rent D) Families on the move

2. Students who come from highly mobile families suffer? A)Depression B)Academically C)Personality disorder D)Diabetes

3.Name the law signed in January of 2002. A) “No Child Left Behind Act” B) “Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)” C) “Handicapped Children’s Protection Act” D) “Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act”

4.“FAST” and “SLAM” are strategies to teach students to? A) Solve interpersonal problems B) Solve academic conflicts C)Solve international problems D) Solve theories

5.Over all family mobility rates are highest in what districts? A) Predominantly rural B) Predominantly high socio-economical C) Predominantly minority urban D) Predominantly minority rural area

ANSWERS: 1)C 2)B 3)A 4)A 5)C

ESSAY QUESTION:

Why is it important to teach students strategies to solve interpersonal problems?

Answer: The goal of interpersonal problem-solving training is to teach students how to employ a wide range of strategies to allow them to develop and maintain positive relationships with others, cope effectively with others, solve their own problems, and resolve conflicts with others.