Community Inquiry Project Details

Topic:
How much of what students are learning in school today applies to everyday life skills for future success?

Data Type:
Qualitative
Interview
a. Students- Current, Dropouts, Graduates
b. Teachers
c. Administration- Superintendent/Principal (+20 years exp.)
d. Janitors
Observation
a. Facility- Inside and Out
b. Area/People Around the Facility- Few Block Radius
c. Student/Teacher Interaction- During and Outside of Class
d. Student/Student Interaction- During and Outside of Class
e. Teacher/Teacher Interaction

Interview Questions:
Teachers
1. Are you required to
a. Show or submit lesson plans of your curriculum?
b. Prove by documentation the use of the NJCCS within your curriculum plans?
c. If yes, how is the proof documented; on the lesson plans themselves or written on the board during the lesson.
d. If no, why is there lack of connection between the teachers, state curriculum and the school? Do you think that this connection is beneficial to the students and the school?

2. Do you feel that through your curriculum you are teaching your students the necessary life skills they need for future success post schooling? ie- Critical thinking skills, collaborative skills, reasoning skills, lifelong learning skills?

3. Have the standardized tests changed anything specifically about your curriculum and/or teaching style? If so, what has changed?

4. How important are standardized testing to you? Do you think it is beneficial to the students learning?

5. Have content area class been cut as a result of standardized testing? If so, what classes? Do you feel that these classes are important to the student’s well-rounded development?

6. What skills besides literacy and mathematical competence do you feel your students will need after graduation?

Administration-Superintendent
7. How has the budget been affected, if at all, by standardized testing?

8. Do you find yourself in Trenton trying to collect funding for your schools?

9. How important do you feel standardized testing is for the success of your schools and students?

10. Have you felt a true change in your schools, perhaps more pressure or stresses on yourself or the faculty due to standardized testing?

11.What steps are you taking to ensure that your schools meet their AYP?

Students
12. What is a standardized test?

13. How important are the tests to you?

14. How do the tests make you feel? Do you like them? Do you think that they will help you for your future? If so, in what ways?

15. Have you had any other experiences with tests? If so, what type of tests? Do you like those tests better?

16. Do you think that standardized testing really tests your true abilities and strengths?

17. Do you feel any changes in your classes as you have moved up through the grades about what you are learning?

18. Do you think what you are learning is going to be useful in the real world after you graduate?

19. What skills do you think will be important for you after you graduate?

20. What do you want to be when you grow up?

21. Do you feel that after receiving your diploma, you will have all that you need for success in the future?

22. What are you plans after graduation? Will you pursue further education (where to) or join the work force (in what line of work)?

23. How would you change school if you could?

Data Charts

1. Pie Chart representative of the races/ethnicity of the students and faculty of the school.

2. Pie Chart representative of the social classes and family make up of the school.

3. Bar Graphs representative of the performance of standardized testing broken up into the years, content being assessed, and scores.