Week 3

Welcome Back!

I hope you've had an another amazing week! For some of you, this may be your last week before an exciting Spring Break! That being said, I will not be updating my blog next Friday, as I will also be enjoying some time spent with family and friends! In advance, thanks to everyone who has followed and commented on my posts thus far. I really appreciate all of the support! Sadly, this is my last day in D.C, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank the D.C students and staff for accommodating me during my stay and being of any assistance when I needed it. I've had a wonderful time here and I can't wait to share with the folks back home, how awesome of a school BASIS Washington D.C is. While BASIS schools may have their slight differences, from my experience on campus and the relationships I've built in the short span of time I've spent here, BASIS D.C has joined the rest of the BASIS community in developing, supporting, and sustaining a positive school culture!

In my last post, I provided a definition for school culture. As a quick refresher, school culture are the beliefs, perceptions, relationships, attitudes and rules that influence every aspect of how a school functions but, this also embodies issues such as physical and mental well-being of the students, orderliness of the school, and the degree to which the school embraces racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity. While here in D.C, part of my research has dealt with the last part of this definition of school culture-- the degree to which the school embraces racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity. Being that Washington D.C's diversity has a much different composition of ethnic groups, you can expect varying levels in the extent to which the school embraces or celebrates this diversity. That being said, the city of Washington D.C has been found to be one of the most diverse places in the United States. An article by The Washington Post goes as far as saying that, "racial and ethnic diversity is no longer a vicarious experience for Americans". This demographic diversity within D.C has impacted the way in which its local schools and communities approach this new from of inclusion and acceptance. 

So, in order to begin my research of how BASIS D.C embraces this diversity, one of the questions I included in the student survey's was, " Do you feel that your school embraces your ethnic culture?" The general consensus was "yes", with some left undecided or simply responded by saying they didn't know how to answer the question. 

However, in order to receive more insightful responses, I conducted an open dialogue with the senior class. In this setting, I received a variety of responses about a variety of things, one of them being this embracing of cultural diversity. First off, the majority  of this class is African American as is the majority of the student body, with fewer White students, and one student who is Latino. Most interestingly, students a part of this conversation who identified as white responded that they felt as though their culture was definitely embraced by their school. One of these students went further to say,"...if  a school has any significant patron of white students, then they typically have to embrace white culture simply because it's so dominant in America". As the conversation continued, students who were African American began to provide their insight into the topic being discussed. Most of these students agreed that their school recognized African American culture but didn't feel as though it was truly being embraced. They pointed out that while their school celebrated African American History month or that African American history is usually touched upon in the American History courses, briefly addressing well-known issues such as slavery of world-known figures such as Martin Luther King and Malcom X just to name a few, they felt as though more time should be spent on a topic that has a significant part in American History. Therefore, they were fostering in an idea that has recently lingered in American society and politics. That is, what is American history without the significant inclusion of African American history? Students continued the conversation by saying that they believed  part of the reason for certain things being left out was because they weren't going to be tested on it for the AP test--a test in which plays a huge role in the BASIS curriculum. Some pointed out that if there's a U.S history test, World History test, and a European History test, why isn't there one for African-American history? These students clarified their concerns and criticisms as issues that weren't specifically wrong with the BASIS model but, as an issue that America has faced on the national level in the past and the present. As our conversation neared an end, students expressed that they believe their school is doing what it can in order to meet the needs of all it's students, whether or not that need specifically has to deal with cultural diversity. However, being that BASIS is a charter school, it's offered with the unique opportunity to modify curriculum in order to address the needs of its students. This goes beyond the needs of just the BASIS D.C campus, where there is a larger African American population but, for students attending BASIS schools nationwide and internationally. 

Once again, I hope all of you have a wonderful break and I look forward to updating you again very soon!

Best,
-Eli

Week 1

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had an amazing week! Today was a very exciting day, as I traveled from Phoenix to our country's great capital, Washington D.C. This isn't my first time here but, for those of you who have not yet had the chance to visit, it's definitely a place you want to put on your bucket list.

In my last post, I mentioned that I would begin reading one of my pieces of literature for this project titled, "The Evolution and Revolution of DC Charter Schools: A Transformation of Public Education in Washington D.C." During my flight today, I began reading this book and to say the least, I found out some very interesting things about not only the charter schools in Washington DC but, charter schools in general. Josephine C. Baker, the author of this book, was a teacher for 25 years who taught at the local public schools here in Washington DC. That is until, she was asked to be a member of the DC Public Charter School Board. She had taken on this role in hopes to be a pioneer in the reshaping of an education system. DC public schools, like many other public schools today, were struggling to provide a high-quality education to their communities. In the face of many skeptics and opponents, she and her colleagues were faced with the challenge of creating new, high quality educational opportunities for students who desperately needed and wanted them.  

So far in chapter 1, Baker begins by laying down the basics of what are public charter schools. For those of you who don't fully understand what a public charter school is, let me inform you as to what that means. A public charter school is an independent school that is funded by its local jurisdiction. This then means that the programs offered at this school, are to be offered to the local residents within that jurisdiction, free of charge. When a school is categorized as being "charter", it therefore allows that school to develop innovative programs and approaches. These are vastly different approaches than what you would typically find at a public school, therefore making these charter schools independent of the traditional school system. However, there's a catch to all of this that I want to focus more on throughout the course of my project. That is, public charter schools are more accountable for its results with students, and failure to reach positive results can lead to closure of the school.

This is important to my research because, I believe this is part of the reason why the culture of BASIS is the way it is. As someone who has attended BASIS for four years, I now understand why my school made such a great deal to ensuring that it's students met certain standards. It wasn't because we were trying to only maintain a good rating but, my school was making an effort to ensure that it could continue to offer a high quality service to its community. However, in order for this goal to be accomplished, there has to be a common mentality amongst the entire school community that there is no room to fall short of these standards. And while instilling this mentality into your school community, you are in essence developing a type of school culture. One in which factors in the importance of academic excellence. This was definitely something that I saw throughout my experience at BASIS, and played out in the form of academic competitiveness between students. Now that everyone has this common mentality that is factored into the school culture, it's now left up to the students and their families to see whether or not they can find adapt to this academically challenging and competitive climate.

I look forward to continuing this book and keeping you all up to date on the details that I find most interesting, as well as some of the ideas that will help me in defining school culture and its impact on students. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend, and remember to check back here next Friday for my latest update!

Best,

-Eli