Mission (Process)



 

My mother is an author of nine books all on educational reform. Her research in educational inequality and my own experiences in various Philadelphia schools has inspired me to act upon specific issues facing the Philadelphia school system. During my junior year of high school I created this website to present the data from my project.

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The process of my project is outlined below. The main goal and purpose of this project is to help students in philadelphia receive a better education by getting more funding for Philadelphia high schools. For this educational reform to happen hard facts must be presented to the people with the authority to make that difference. To get these facts I intend to present concrete evidence of the current systems failures through this project. The next step is to provide alternative solutions that will create positive educational reform. This project is still in progress and will continue past the end of the 2013 school year. 

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Process:



Step 1) Shadowing Schools:

I am going to shadow five low income schools, five sufficient income schools , and five high income schools. When I shadow these schools I am going to follow around a student and take notes, not as a perspective student but on the environment of the school. I will take into account facility, teaching, after school program, health, safety, learning material, and funding as one variable classification grouping (variable group A). The second variable classification grouping (variable group B) will be student test scores, engaging in class, general happiness, nutrition, and hostility of the environment as the other variable.

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Step 2) Statistics:

Once I have my data from the schools then I will get more in-depth on understanding the precise details of school funding from these schools. I’m looking at what determines funding, how much funding, where funding goes, why they get funding, what programs have a shortage or surplus of funding, how they can get more funding, how they could lose funding, what each student is worth in a dollar amount, and what average income families of the students make.

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Step 3) Policy:

This will be mostly just be to understand the school districts policy on funding. Even though private schools arnt funded by the school district of Philadelphia they still exist with in Philadelphia. This will allow me to focus on the flaws and inconsistencies of the system later on in my project.

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Step 4) Contrast Data and Variables:

Im going to use statistical data analysis to compare the funding data with variables A and B. I will create charts, tables, and graphs, all of which will have paragraphs to explain them. What this will do for my project is show the correlation between funding, how a school is run, and how the students turn out.

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Step 5) Contrast Social Equity with Results from step 4:

Here Ill explain about why such differences in funding are unequal and should be changed. Ill be able to show how social class and financial status have a large impact on education. I can illustrate the cycle of poverty and why it continues for certain areas.

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Step 6) Contrast Public Safety with Results from Step 5:

Here I will take data of public safety in different areas of Philadelphia, and then contrast that with the areas of Philadelphia that are stuck in cycles of poor education. I can show why keeping some areas without a quality education makes the city more dangerous as a whole. I can show how people are born into violent communities, and that the foundation behind this system can be linked to public education in some ways.

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Step 7) Contrast Policy with Results from Step 6:

I will explain why areas of Philadelphia will continue to stay impoverished, and how it is sometimes impossible in the current system for everyone to have the opportunity to be financially successful. I will show that because of violence and poor educations the budget must be shifted in favor of education. I will present data and a multi year plan that shows why shifting budget to education will mean not having to spend as much on other finances such as jails, police, and gun shot emergency doctors.

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Step 8) Sponsors:

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​Alice E Ginsberg: My mother, author of many educational reform books, including the CHOICE, Oustanding academic book 2012 award winner, and the essential reading club book list. The books name is: Embracing Risk in Urban Education. A link to her Amazon.com profile is posted below:

 http://www.amazon.com/Alice-E.-Ginsberg/e/B001K8Q974

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​Douglas Herman: 



In his 4th year at Science Leadership Academy, and 5th in the Philadelphia public school system, Douglas brings a unique perspective to history, both modern and ancient, by utilizing media art in understanding and developing individual relationships with history and politics.  Starting with a pen, then a camera and now fully embracing video, Douglas also continues to travel through the "developing world" to create relationships with organizations, communities and individuals focused on sustainable development. Perhaps the most important phase has been to adapt his work for the classroom through history and video curricula, and convince his students that they are actually living history every second and have tons of opportunities to change it.  http://www.dfherman.com/

 Douglas is also the director of Rough Cut Prudoctions-a collaborative media production team which handles all aspects of media creation with an explicit focus upon video production. Rough Cut is comprised of SLA students, both past and present, and has started to expand its reach into the "developing world". You can check out RCP on Vimeo and on their site at www.roughcutproductions.org​

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​Chris Lehmann: Principal of Science Leadership Academy. Just to name a FEW of Mr Lehmanns accomplishments I have copied below his profile under "faculty staff" in the Science Leadership Academy website (Scienceleadership.org)

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"In November of 2012, Chris was named one of Dell's #Inspire100 - one of the 100 people changing the world using Social Media. In April of 2012, Chris won the Lindback Award for Excellence in Principal Leadership in the School District of Philadelphia. In September of 2011, Chris was honored by the White House as a Champion of Change for his work in education reform. In June 2010, Chris was named as one of the "30 Most Influential People in EdTech" by Technology & Learning Magazine. In 2009, Chris was a honoree for the Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development's Outstanding Young Educator Award. Chris was named as one of "40 Under 40" by Philadelphia Business Journal in 2009. In 2006, the National School Board Association named Chris one of "20 to Watch" among American administrators. In 2001, Chris was honored by MOUSE as a Champion of Technology and Education for his work on building the portal at the Beacon School. Chris has written for such education publications as Principal Leadership Magazine, Learning and Leading with Technology Magainze, and the School Library Journal. Chris has spoken at conferences all over the world, including TEDxPhilly, TEDxNYED, the National Association of Secondary Schools Conference, the Building Learning Communities conference, the National Educational Computing Conference, the Philadelphia Area Educational Technology Conference, The Yahoo Cybercitizen Conference, the Innovative Learning Conference, The Council of Educational Facilities Planners Regional Conference, the K12-Online Conference, the International Conference on Technology and Education and at LinuxWorld, and he has worked with many schools and districts in the U.S. and England as a consultant. Chris received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Chris is co-editor of What School Leaders Need to Know about Digital Technologies and Social Media, the author of the education blog Practical Theory: http://www.practicaltheory.org"

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Step 9) The Presentation



Anyone is welcome to enter through the main entrance at

the Franklin Institute at 222 North 20th st, Philadelphia, PA,
19103. There will be a staff member at the entrance with
directions to the Musser Auditorium. Please arrive at 4pm, the
presentation will last about 40 minutes with a 20 minute Q&A
immediately following the presentation.