Hello Everybody! This week's post will cover the community comparison project. I choose to focus my project on Oceanside and Hempstead, but this post will reflect on Wantagh and Wyandanch. The districts are roughly the same size but have some serious differences. The majority of Wantagh students are white while the majority of Wyandanch students are black or hispanic/latino. From our studies throughout the semester we have seen that districts where a majority of the students are white traditionally are better performing. This rings true for Wantagh, they have a higher 4 year graduation rate as well as a higher standardized test scores than Wyandanch. This can be attributed to the fact that Wantagh has a higher budget and spends more money per student than Wyandanch Schools are funded by taxes and since houses in Wantagh are more expensive than Wyandanch they receive more school funding. . Personally I was not surprised when looking strictly at the numbers that Wantagh comes across as a better district then Wyandanch.
Upon reading Gabriella’s reflection it is clear that she and I share similar interpretations of the data. She stresses the importance of school funding and how the income of a district plays a large role in the quality of the school. She also notes that “When a community is united and is financially stable, students tend to do better in school”. Looking strictly at the numbers comparing Wantagh and Wyandanch this statement holds true.
Hey Emma, great blog! I enjoyed how you mentioned the major points within all our projects. I noticed that one school has more than the other. All schools receive equal funding, regardless of their location or status. Every school has students who perform better than others. Most of the time, before a school has problems with its students, it starts with the environment and atmosphere they are surrounded by. If a school lacks funds, whether it is an extracurricular activity or surveillance in the school, it can cause students to become curious. That leads them into trouble and builds up the bad reputation a school can have. I believe students do not just do things to do them. There must be a source and one’s environment plays a key role in the outcome of a student and even teachers. My two communities showed the same, but one was better funded or rounded than the other. Instead of ranking these schools, we need to assist the schools that need help. It is not fair that one school is better funded than the other, regardless of the circumstances. Every school deserves the chance and can do just as well as the other schools.
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