Student Relationships In Urban Schools

High schools with 400 to 900 students tend to have more student academic success than the larger schools that house over 900 students (Irmsher, 1997). Also High schools with 400 to 900 students have lower dropout rates and a higher participation rate in extracurricular activities (Irmsher, 1997; Gewertz, 2001). Sampson and Marshall (2008) found the success of the small schools in their study was due to the strong relationships between the school board, community members, teachers, students, and administrators. At IHS we will set up a plan to nurture and develop the same type of high quality relationships that smaller rural schools follow. At IHS we will require parental and community involvement. Some ways to make larger urban schools feel …show more content…
A quantitative, descriptive study examined rising 6th graders entering middle school, and the physical, social, and emotional changes they go thru. Data were analyzed with regard to school type, gender and race. Findings suggest concern by most fifth graders heading into 6th grade middle school regarding issues associated with entering middle school, and confirming the need for programs to help new student with the transition to middle school (Bailey, Gahan; Giles, Rebecca M.; Rogers, Sylvia E. RMLE Online). Middle schools are usually larger than elementary schools, and students have to adjust to having numerous teachers instead of one primary teacher. Middle school students need to develop new skills to handle a lot of new situations in and out of school. Making the move from elementary to middle school, most likely means new classmates, and a new building too. For females the concern over undressing in front of others for P.E. was most frequently the highest rated area of apprehension, in this study. Given the physical changes that occur during adolescence this was not surprising. Results showed that body image was a big stressor for young adolescent females (Bailey, Gahan; Giles, Rebecca M.; Rogers, Sylvia E. RMLE Online). This study found significant effects of race, between White and African American …show more content…
A., & Weissberg, R. P. (2011), social and emotional competence includes self-awareness, control of impulsivity, working cooperatively, and caring about oneself and others. Social and emotional learning is developing the skills, attitudes, and values necessary to acquire social and emotional competence. Their study compared outcomes of students in social and emotional learning (SEL) programs compared with non-participants. Durlak and Weissberg (2011) are looking to find a reason for the lack of motivation in students and declining graduation rates. This study hypothesizes that if social and emotional development is promoted, students would learn better, have higher rates of achievement and behave better. The study evaluated thousands of students participating in various controlled published and unpublished studies. The universal results suggested students that participated in these programs had significant improvement in their social and emotional skills, and be implemented by the existing school staff and still be highly successful. Also, the better planned and organized the programs were, the more likely they were to be successful. The article concludes that in order to improve education and life outcomes of students, social and emotional learning programs can enhance the development of the student (Durlak & Weissberg,