The Macro system Case Study

A child’s schooling is critical because it influences an individual’s growth and career achievement. Furthermore, based on a person’s needs, schooling can help children develop a deeper understanding and strong insights into life. However, the learning process is affected by cultural issues such as race, family life, and economics. I undertook conversations with both parents and students at the school to better understand how cultural factors impact a child’s education. The main aim was to decide how these issues impact youth, as well as potential remedies or improvements to change the educational environment. Results from the interviews revealed that administrators and teachers play a significant role in guiding and providing knowledge to children in school. However, both parents and students acknowledged that the school needed improvements in engaging children beyond the school environment.

From the parents’ point of view, the cost of life has led to taking multiple jobs that make them busy, thereby losing track of the significance of the child education. Additionally, children require materials and resources to enhance their learning process. As such, many parents focus on acquiring money to be able to provide the essential requirement of their children at school. However, this factors negative impact the effectiveness of education as the learning task is solely left to the teachers and administrators in the school. At home, the children do not increase their knowledge with the help of their children. In some instances, the children do not even get to see their parents since they are always out working. To improve the effectiveness and success of the education system, the parents should be as much involved as the teachers in the education process. Collective efforts of all stakeholders in the learning process of the children will promote the education.

The parents also acknowledged that the teachers did their part in delivering education to their children. They also supported various programs established by the school to help increase the quality of teaching in the school. There is open communication policy that allows parents and teachers communicate regarding the child’s progress and issues affecting them. However, to be able to engage families and children beyond the school environment, the school should have social events. Such events include skate days, supporting organizations during walks and runs, meet at parks among others. Parents did not have an idea about what measures the school should take to support families from racial and ethnic minority groups. There is very little that one teacher can accomplish in a class with children from diverse cultures. The important thing is ensuring that the children gain knowledge to help them better understand their environment and important values in life.

However, from the children perspective, the school can support families, especially from racial and ethnic minority groups. First, the school could offer special classes to parents of such children and educate them more on what is expected of them and their children. Second, the school can provide material support to such parents to enable them to help their children better. Essentially, the cost of resources and academic requirements are expensive, and some parents from racial and ethnic minority groups cannot afford. Therefore, the school can help by providing their children with some resources that will promote the effectiveness of the learning process. In cases where tutorials are necessary for such children in some academic areas, the school should offer such programs to children free. This will ensure that families from racial and ethnic minority groups can access quality education that will help improve their life and status.

On the issue of engaging families and children beyond the immediate school environment, children suggest families’ activities, held by the school. The activities include movie nights, spaghetti dinners, and muffins with mom and doughnuts with dad. Such activities and events will not only promote academic but also encourage family time. During such activities, the school should set aside time to inform the parents about the happenings at school. Additionally, this could serve as a platform for parents to provide suggestions that could be used to help with academics. In a case of any problems affecting children, discussions could be held to help find solutions. If need be, the school can also hold a conference to help improve the collaborative roles of children, parents, and teachers in the learning process. This will contribute to improving the quality and efficiency of the education system at school.

Developing collaborations and relationships with other professionals and organizations are crucial to improving education at school. To achieve this, both parents and children suggest that the school can invite organizations and professionals. Such people have experience in their careers, an aspect that could be helpful if they provide insights to the children. This will provide children with ideas of what careers to pursue and their interests in life. Engaging children early in what interests them is essential as it enables them to focus on achieving a single career goal. Furthermore, there are organizations that provide scholarships and donations to the school. Involving such groups will provide the school with adequate resources required for smooth learning of children. As such, the school should work together with such organizations to help motivate children by awarding performing students. The school should find both organizations and professions willing to give back to the society and include them in their education system activities.

Suggestions

Developing a successful school-family partnership leads to innovative, meaningful participation activities that enable the school to achieve success. Therefore, schools should make efforts to communicate openly with parents so as to hear what they have to say. For instance, when developing improvement plans, the school should involve at every stage. This provides a sense of shared responsibility, an aspect that promotes commitment to the process. Of most importance is the recognition and support of families from racial and minority ethnic groups. Parents from such groups should not be viewed as part of a larger homogeneous group in the school. Essentially, values and attitudes towards education vary widely across different minority ethnic groups. Therefore, the school should recognize this diversity and tailor services appropriately, instead of taking a color-blind approach(Jeghal, Oughdir, Tairi, &Radouane, 2016). For instance, helping parents meet each other can play a significant role in reducing the feeling of isolation and lack of confidence.

The school should introduce programs that will help tackle negative perceptions associated with minority groups. In addition, the school can actively promote diversity of cultures among the families through programs that strengthen cultural identity. In many cases, teachers and administrators tend to make assumptions about children and their parents based on their background. However, more often than not, such ideologies tend to be unfairly judgmental. Creating culturally specific programs will raise parents’ confidence in their cultural heritage, which will translate to improved attendance of their children in school. Parents from minority ethnic groups are mostly affected by barriers such as distance to travel, cost, language barrier and lack of time (Fullan,& Watson, 2008). Therefore, when engaging parents, the school should consider affordability, time, location, and make sure that information is communicated in a number of languages. Such strategies can help engage and support families of racial and ethnic minority groups, in efforts to promote and improve the quality of education.

Since parents and the community are an integral part of the education collaborative culture, it is important to establish activities that enable collective engagement. Besides, regardless of income, cultural background, and education level, all parents want to be involved in their children’s education. Therefore, the school should initiate activities where children and families can engage outside the school environment. Such activities are aimed at building relationships between family, children, and teachers, improving student learning process and encouraging family time(Villarreal, 2012). The school should supplement classroom instructions with activities such as Muffins for Moms, Donuts for Dads, Coffee with the Counselor, back to school nights, and movie nights. Such programs enhance interaction between parents, children, teachers and administrators. Parents get a chance to inquire more about their kid’s performance and any problems encountered in the learning process. In the same way, educators and administrators can get ideas and experiences about their students at home from their parents.

During these activities hosted by the school, the administrators can inform parents about the happenings, improvements, and problems in school. Additional, all parties involved; children, teachers, and parents can work together to establish strategies that will help improve the quality of education. Effective ways of communication can also be agreed upon; for instance, the stakeholders can agree to create a website that could help with academics. Furthermore, out of their busy schedule, parents get a chance to interact with their children. Here, they can learn about their progress inside and outside the classroom (Villarreal, 2012). In addition, children get the opportunity to spend time with their parents in fun activities. This enables development of a healthy relationship between parents and children. Also, since parents and teachers meet due to their interests in the child’s development, both parties can work together for the greater good of the students.

Collaborative partnership with professionals and organization comes from the desire to achieve the best outcomes possible for the children. These collaborations play a role in determining the outcomes of children’s learning and development. As such, the school should seek to establish relationships with such professions and organizations to improve the education system. First, the school should incorporate in their system, programs that allow professionals to spend time with students. For instance, a career day, where professionals from diverse fields are invited to school. This will provide an opportunity to children to learn from such experienced people about different careers. Additionally, they serve as role models, inspiring children to specific fields at an early stage. As a result, children will focus on their area of interests early enough, thereby enhancing their success in different areas. Another event to include is awards day for best-performing students to create motivation among students.

Second, there are many organizations dedicated to providing resources and services to schools to promote education. Such philanthropic giving is often targeted to improve the education system by providing required resources. As such schools should collaborate with several organizations, depending on their needs and resources provided by respective organizations. For instance, if most students cannot afford quality backpacks, they can approach an organization willing to give such donations to their students. In cases of textbooks required for various grade levels, the school can seek the relevant agencies that can assist accordingly. Such collaborations not only provides needed resources but also help parents by reducing the cost of essential supplies for their children (Sleeter,& Grant, 2007). As a result, every student can access the required materials to facilitate the learning process, thereby increasing the success of the students and the school as a whole.

Action

In order to promote change in the school, the Regional Education Officer (REO) is in the best position to help. Essentially, the role of REO is to promote quality education and support programs that help attain the same goal. The main aim of making changes in school is to ensure that children are provided with quality education and that they acquire knowledge that will help them in their future careers. The REO is responsible for opening new programs and facilities in schools and advising and guiding teachers to ensure they effectively undertake their duties. As such, I believe that the REO will play a major role in facilitating the relevant changes required in school to improve the education system in school(Stoney, Mitchell, & Warner, 2008). To explain the various issues and solutions to improve the situation I wrote a letter to the REO. The letter outlined the various changes that should be incorporated into the education system and methods that will effectively achieve that.

The Letter

John Smith

Department of Mathematics

123 Broadway

Berkeley CA 4563

Phone: (111) 111-2222

Email: j.smith @berkeley.edu

Prof. Jones

The Regional Education Officer

The State of California

Dear Sir or Madam

I am writing this letter to inform you of the intention of Broadway school to make some significant changes in the education system. These changes are aimed at improving the quality of education and enhance a smooth learning process. I would also like to ask your help as the Regional Education Officer in promoting these changes. I believe your office is dedicated to helping schools in the change process, providing support and guidance to ensure success. Your contribution will be of great significance to the school as it will assist the school advance to the next level. The main goal of the set changes is to improve performance and create one community in the school.

The changes expected to be incorporated into the education system include recruitment of school staff from diverse cultural backgrounds comprised of school. This will help to understand better children behavior from different cultures and how to deal with them. In addition, the school is looking forward to supplementing classroom lessons with outside class activities. These activities include movie nights, back to school nights, coffee with the counselor and muffins for moms and donuts for dads among others. These activities will involve families and their children; the aim of this strategy is to foster strong relationships and encourage family time.

The school is also seeking to develop collaborative relationships with organizations and other professionals. Essentially, professionals have acquired experience; mentoring students will positively inspire them and enable them to identify their areas of interests. Additionally, children will have real role models, an aspect that will allow them to focus on excelling in the field of interest. On the other hand, collaborating with organizations dedicated to supporting schools will help the school acquire resources and materials necessary to facilitate an efficient learning process. Therefore, fostering such relationships will contribute to improving the education system by enabling children to access required tools and resources essential to their success.

Of great importance is changing policies to allow development and improvement of the learning environment. The ministry of education should supply-side capability interventions that will enable provision of teaching materials, development of infrastructure. Although, indirectly, such development is aimed at raising the achievements made by students. Consequently, the government should consider providing incentives that change behavior such as monetary incentives to teachers. Such a policy will help improve the quality of teaching in a community constrained by societal and economic factors. If the above policies are changed and executed, the education system will improve.

Kind Regards

John Smith

Feedback and Reflection

Essentially, cultural tendencies influence how children participate in education; this is an important aspect in understanding the behavior of a child. The impact cannot be underestimated as it varies from beliefs about education, participation styles and the value of education. For instance, making eye contact with teachers for Asian students is considered inappropriate, and they tend to be quite in class. On the other hand, European American children look teachers directly in the eye and are encouraged to participate in the classroom actively. Therefore, teachers who lack knowledge about such cultural diversity inaccurately judge students as disrespectful or poorly behaved (Fullan, & Watson, 2008). Another cultural influence is the role of parents in education where some cultures believe that teaching is exclusively the task of the teacher. However, other parents actively participate in the learning process of their children, greatly assisting teachers. As such, educators should understand personal ideologies and histories regarding education to know the students better.

To effectively include and support families and children from racial and ethnic minority groups, the school considers recruiting staff from local communities. If there are teachers who better understand the behavior of students as influenced by their cultural background, it will be easier to deal with them. Additionally, to help build a healthy relationship with parents, administrators should focus on addressing all the main issues facing families as a whole, rather than just those affecting each cultural background. As a result, parents will be more comfortable and confidence, which will lead to the creation of a mini school community. This is contrary to dividing parents and children on the basis of their background, an aspect that discourages development (Stoney, Mitchell,& Warner, 2008). However, the school should recognize diversity within and across minority ethnic groups in a positive manner and tailor programs that will enhance cultural identity.

To actively engage children and families beyond the immediate school environment, the school can establish several programs. These activities include movie nights, muffins for moms and donuts for dads, coffee with the counselor, back to school nights among others. Moreover, the school can create a website that will enhance communication and interaction between parents, teachers, and children in matters of school. These programs will not only help build relationships between all parties involved but also encourage family time. In addition, teachers get the opportunity to observe the interactions between parents and their teachers and the potential effects on their relationships on education progress (Sleeter, & Grant, 2007). Parents can also learn about what is happening in school with their children and collaborate to create strategies that will help enhance the learning process. As a result, the school will be able to maintain an active inside and outside classroom life of their students to promote education.

Collaborative relationships with other professionals and organizations are essential to improving the education system. Through career days, the school can invite other professionals from diverse fields to mentor their children. The presence of real role models will inspire children to perform better in school. Additionally, students will identify their areas of interest at an early age and as a result, focus on excelling in their preferred field. On the other hand, the school can approach organizations that will help them with their specific needs that will improve the quality of education. Essentially, there are numerous organizations that are dedicated to assisting students in various ways. These methods include offering scholarships, donating school materials, and providing resources to poor schools (Jeghal, Oughdir, Tairi,&Radouane, 2016). Depending on the needs of the school, schools should foster relationships with specific organizations to acquire the necessary tools and resources.

Based on feedback from the interviews conducted, parents and children had several recommendations. First, both parties encouraged the school to incorporate supplementary activities outside the classroom. These activities will help engage families and children as well as enable all stakeholders to build a strong relationship in efforts to improve education. Second, children recommended that the school should establish special programs to address families from racial and ethnic minority groups effectively. Although there is no single method for determining effective engagement with minority groups, it is important to ensure that they do not feel alienated from other groups. This will help create a single mini community within the school comprised of people from diverse cultures, but with same objectives and goals. As a result, education will be improved, with an equal success of all children regardless of their ethnic background. If these recommendations are implemented, there will be significant changes in the education system in the school.

Conclusion

Education acquired in schools is relevant as individual gains learning experiences that help shape their life career and success. Moreover, it is an important tool used to solve problems and make innovations in the contemporary world. To provide quality and beneficial education, schools should ensure an efficient learning process. However, it is important to recognize that there are many influences such as cultural influences that affect the process of acquiring knowledge. As such, the school administrators should make sure that it establishes effective programs and measures that will help counter various influences. Collaborative efforts between all stakeholders (administrators, teachers, children, and the ministry of education) are also a crucial aspect in promoting smooth learning. This will enable children to acquire a quality education, which will equip them with necessary knowledge and tools required to excel and succeed in life and their future careers.

References

Fullan, M., & Watson, N. (2008). School-based management: Reconceptualizing to improve

learning outcomes. School effectiveness and school improvement, 11(4), 453-473.

Jeghal, A., Oughdir, L., Tairi, H., &Radouane, A. (October 01, 2016). Approach for using

Learner Satisfaction and Outcome to Evaluate the Learning Adaptation Policy.

International Journal of Education, 14, 4, 1-12.

Sleeter, C., & Grant, C. (2007). An analysis of multicultural education in the United States.

Harvard Educational Review, 57(4), 421-445.

Stoney, L., Mitchell, A., & Warner, M. (November 01, 2008). Smarter Reform: Moving beyond

Single-Program Solutions to an Efficient Education System in the United States.

International Journal of Education Policy, 2, 2, 53-68.

Villarreal, E. (January 01, 2012). Improving Institutional Efficiency in the United States Higher

Education System. United States Journal of Education, 37, 81-90.