Education Questions to Be Answered

By Ronald W. Holmes

In a time of an uncertain economy, this book provides solutions for improving Americas schools through federal funding, programs, services, community partnerships, accreditation and leadership standards. The book can be very helpful to school stakeholders such as parents, teachers, principals and district administrators since the topics focus on the K-12 environments. With a plethora of references to support numerous suggestions, discrepancies and issues, this book can be useful to graduate students, professors, researchers, university administrators and education state agencies. While Americas schools are faced with numerous challenges in todays society such as the lack of family stability and parental involvement, this book also provides a roadmap for successful and struggling schools in the U.S.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Oct 14, 2011
• ISBN: 9781463452735

Ronald W. Holmes

Ronald Holmes is president and publisher of The Holmes Education Post, an education focused Internet newspaper. He publishes weekly articles on educational issues and offers unique, researched based solutions, perspectives, best practices, and resources to improve public education. Ronald Holmes earned a PhD in Educational Leadership, a MED in Educational Administration and Supervision and a BS in Business Education from Florida A&M University. He also earned a MED in Business Education from Bowling Green State University. He is a former teacher, school administrator, and district superintendent.

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Regarding Students…

How can extra-curricular activities contribute to student achievement?

During the holiday season, the malls were packed with shoppers whose ultimate goal was to purchase gifts for their relatives, friends, associates, employees and the like in exchange for a splendid holiday gathering. Target, Walmart and Macy’s were identified as being the top retailers for appealing commercials as they used various advertisement gimmicks to attract consumers to their stores. In fact, the better the advertisements, the more likely consumers would purchase their products especially when the commercials revealed a comical or quirky approach according to the National Retail Federation.

Even more enticing to consumers was Black Friday. This was the day after Thanksgiving where retailers nationwide significantly reduced their prices on merchandize and hundreds of consumers stood in line over night to get a bargain on various sales. Consumers who did not want to stand in lines at the retail stores on Black Friday placed their orders online.

During the academic year, the schools are packed with students whose ultimate goal is to get a quality education. The different ways that schools promote their programs determine the level in which students are engaged and become active participants in the learning process. In fact, some schools promote their programs through best practices such as employing highly qualified teachers and school leaders, using data to drive instruction, integrating technology in the curriculum, differentiating instruction and establishing community partnerships. While schools are challenged by societal demands to improve education, the questions to be asked are, how can extra-curricular activities contribute to student achievement? Is it a viable intervention to address the achievement level of America’s students?

In considering this topic, I asked my 9th Grade God son to read my previous article in the Capital Outlook entitled, How to reach the boys in and out of the hood. This article discussed the concerns of African American boys and various ways to reach them since they have the most suspensions and expulsions in the school system, have the worst academic and attendance record, most likely to be incarcerated and most likely to drop out of school. After my God son provided me feedback on the article, he suggested that I write an article on the academic and behavioral success of students who participated in sports or similar activities at school or the community. I was very curious about his reasons for the request and learned that he felt that if students participated in sports, they would be motivated to learn, remain in school and avoid getting in trouble with the law. I was inspired by his response and equally happy to write about the topic.

As a former teacher, coach, principal and superintendent, I saw first hand how students who were involved in extra-curricular activities performed better in school compared to students who were not involved in such activities.

In doing so, it was evident that students who participate in extra-curricular activities improve their academic performance, attendance, and aspiration for attending college according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This is supported by the National Education Longitudinal Study, as well as findings revealed in the Journal of Community Psychology.

As a former teacher, coach, principal and superintendent, I saw first-hand how students who were involved in extra-curricular activities performed better in school compared to students who were not involved in such activities. One of the reasons was that the sponsors of these activities took a vested interest in the students not only in the extra-curricular activities such as band, football, baseball, volleyball, or cheerleading but also in the classrooms. In fact, the sponsors would form partnerships with the teachers of the students and have them (the teachers) to use the sponsors as the resource to ensure that the students behave properly in school and complete their class assignments. When the student’s performance was not up to par, the teachers would inform the sponsors and subsequently the students would get reprimanded in practices or games to reinforce academic excellence.

Another reason students who were involved in extra-curricular activities performed better in school compared to students who were not involved is that sponsors also would form partnerships with the parents of these students. In addition to the teachers, the sponsors would inform the parents of these students how their children were performing in the extra-curricular activities and the classrooms. Many times, this would happen at the activity’s practices, events or through other communication channels. Thus, the students became fully aware of the partnerships formed with their sponsors and parents and realized there was little or no excuse for misbehaving academically and socially in school.

Every organization has to find its niche for effectively engaging and meeting the needs of potential customers. The retail industry entices its customers by creating commercials and events such as Black Friday to attract consumers to purchase various commodities for a profit. On the same note, the school system has to find its niche for continuous improvement in meeting the needs of the customers (the students). Research has proven schools that employ highly qualified teachers and school leaders, offer a rigorous curriculum, focus on teaching and learning and the like lead to educational achievement. Research has also proven that students who participate in extra-curricular activities at schools improve their academics, attendance and behavior and subsequently become motivated to pursue higher education.

In my view, extra-curricular activities have a significant role to play in helping students to gain academic success. By creating partnerships among the sponsors (coaches, band directors, club coordinators, etc.), teachers and parents, school stakeholders can take advantage of extra-curricula activities to foster continuous academic success in the educational setting.

What causes the dropout rate for African American Students?

Dr. Charles Drew, George Washington Carver, Dr. Patricia Bath and Garrett A. Morgan are African Americans who found inventions or cures to many problems plaguing society and ultimately improved the lives of people throughout the world. These inventions have spanned the spectrum. For example, Dr. Drew invented the blood bank, saving the lives of people through blood transfusions. Carver invented peanut products, enriching the lives of people through 300 uses of peanuts such as making cooking oil. Dr. Bath invented a Laserphaco Probe and developed the procedure for using it to perform cataract surgery, restoring the sight of people who had been blind for almost 30 years. Morgan invented the gas mask and traffic light, enabling people to breathe in hazardous environments and avoiding them from crashing their automobiles into other people.

As a tribute to Black History month, these African Americans’ inventions play a significant role in our standard of living. We are indebted to them for their contributions which respond to the critical needs of our society. As we pay homage to these African Americans, a significant concern for today is the enormous high school dropout rate of our African American students. The questions to be asked are what causes the dropout rate of African American students? What is the impact of students dropping out of school early? Most importantly, what can we do to prevent our African American students from dropping out of school?

Researchers report that in 2007, about 32.2 percent of all students in America’s public schools did not graduate from high school with a regular diploma, whereas, about 46 percent of all African American students did not graduate from high school with the same diploma. Annually, about 1.2 million students drop out of school which equates to 7,000 students dropping out each school day, or one child every 26 seconds.

We just have to work together and redirect federal spending on education instead of incarceration.

Researchers also report that a plethora of reasons exists for the dropout rate of African American students. Some reasons include high school exit exams, home environment, poverty, peer pressure, poor academic achievement,