Miami-Dade County Public schools pose to be the fourth biggest school district in the US. It has over 40,000 employees, around 345,000 students, and 392 schools (Schools, 2015). It is located at the Florida peninsula’s end to the south and stretches for over 2,000 square miles. The district covers vibrant and diverse communities that range from urban cities and municipalities to rural and sub-urban. There are more than 56 languages spoken by students within the district, which represent around 160 global countries (Schools, 2019). With this type of setting, various contextual factors that affect performances among students in Miami-Dade County Public schools are expected. This report examines how poverty and low socioeconomic status, ethnic classifications, gender, and school levels impact student’s performances.
Poverty and low socioeconomic status (SES)
Poverty and low socioeconomic status lead to a variety of social ills, which include lacking access to medical care, poor parenting, and impaired social capital. Students are affected by these factors, which leads to a depressed academic performance from students. SES does not only refer to the income levels, but also financial security, educational attainment, and the general perception of social class and social status. Quality of life traits are influenced by socioeconomic status, as well as the privileges and opportunities that people can afford within society. Various psychosocial and physical stressors characterize poverty. Besides, vast arrays of outcomes in people’s lifespan which include psychological and physical health can be predicted by the SES. Therefore, SES has a great contribution to the realms of social and behavioral science, which include advocacy, practice, research, and education.
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According to Doerschuck et al. (2016), children from a low-SES background join a high school with average literacy skills, and they are about five years behind learners joining from high SES backgrounds. By the year 2014, the rate of high school dropout among persons with 16-24 years was higher in low-income families (GarcCa & Weiss 2015). Besides, the rate of success among students from low-SES families in technology, science, mathematics, and engineering disciplines was considered to be lower in low-SES students compared to their counterparts from high SES families. The possibility of a 24-year old individual from the upper family quartile to achieve a bachelor’s degree is eight times higher than that of individuals from the low-SES class.
Studies show that students from low-SES backgrounds have a slow rate in developing academic skills than students with higher SES backgrounds (GarcCa & Weiss 2015). For example, students from low-SES groups have been identified to have poor language, cognitive development, memory, socioemotional processing, and poor earnings and health in adulthood. According to (Doerschuck, 2016), schools which are located in low-SES communities are under-resourced in most cases, which affects their academic progress and general outcomes. In 2018, for instance, the high school seniors noted that the rate of graduation had decreased. With the Miami-Dade County Public schools covering a diverse population, the dropout rate is influenced by different life aspects. Early intervention systems and improving the school system can minimize the impact of these risks, and therefore, more research should be done on the correlation between education and SES.
Ethnic classification
Student ethnic classification is affected by academic achievements, even after poverty is alleviated. For instance, in a study done on ethnic classification among students, Hispanic and Black students perform poorly (Dee & Penner, 2017). When it comes to ethnic groups, Asian Americans are the most educated in Miami and the United States at large, then the Anglos and the Latinos are the least educated. Most of the Miami-Dade County Public schools are seen as multicultural, but a clear difference between ethnic minority exists. Some factors contribute to poor or better performance among ethnic groups. Although other factors like gender, social class, and demographic features matter, ethnicity tends to have a major impact. Failure or success will be determined by the school setting. For instance, if teachers expect poor performance from a specific ethnic group, the students’ progress within that group is likely to be affected. The probability of teachers encouraging this group is low because they have already been classified as “failures” if not “not very able.”
Racism still exists in schools, and if a certain ethnic group is discriminated against, there is a possibility that an anti-school subculture will be produced where attitudes, values, and behavior will be set with the aim of opposing the school system. The opposition means that teachers will not be able to provide the needed support, and the possibilities of failure are high. Internal school factors may have effects that have the same intensity with outside school effects. These ethnic groups have other social conditions such as unemployed families and poor housing, among others, which can affect their achievements. Also, these ethnic groups have distinct backgrounds that affect them. For instance, the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis living within Miami have English as their second language, and they might find it challenging to learn in English (Dar & Resh, 2018).
Gender
Gender has been studied to be a major barrier affecting students’ achievements. For example, some research show that male will outperform female in technical subjects such as mathematics, and females are most likely to outperform males in other reading subjects such as English and Literature. There are also differences in social interactions within the classroom, and boys tend to be more interactive than girls, contributing more to class discussions and debates. Boys tend to ignore girls’ comments and ideas, especially when they are working together on certain projects (Andersson & Malmberg, 2015). On average, boys are less motivated than boys in elementary schools, which means that girls perform better at this level. This changes when they join high schools, and at this point, girls will choose courses with their gender, most probably arts and literature, while boys go for math and sciences. In Miami Dade county, the difference in degree fields attained by males and females and females still exists. However, women are shifting to pursuing science and business courses (Metropolitan Centre, 2019). The numbers have been increasing over the years.
However, in both sexes, individuals may make selections that run counter to the group tendencies, which is one of the impacts caused by stereotyping. The goal of each teacher is interacting equally with both sexes so that they might succeed, but some studies have found that there is a possibility that at times, there is variation in the manner teachers respond to the genders without realization (Anderson & Malmberg, 2015). The difference identified include “publicity” or visibility of conversations, behavior or actions that prompt teachers to either criticize or support a student and the overall level of attention given to each sex.
According to Gong et al. (2018), teachers interact less with girls and more with boys. These interactions are influenced by students’ grade levels and teachers’ personality (Gong et al., 2018). The difference can be because boys are more likely to engage in interactions than girls, as earlier stated. If boys are communicating more in some activities like a debate, then the teacher will be forced to pay more attention to this sex. In another explanation, the teacher may feel that boys are more likely to be involved in mischievous behaviors, interacting more with them to win their attention and keep them focused. Another possibility is that boys are more likely to interact using different styles and in different situations, and this offers a rich opportunity to interact with them.
Additionally, most teachers will maintain a greater physical distance when having a conversation with boys. The difference may be due to general gender expectations, where a nurturing expressive is common among girls, and for men’s talk, a business-like approach is adopted, especially where mixed-sex groups exist. If people are conversing across the classroom, they will be overheard by most people, but few will overhear them when they decide to have a conversation at each other’s elbow.
School-level factor
School-level factor has an impact on the organization’s achievement. Students attending high poverty schools are exposed to different risk factors considering these schools have been identified to be carrying high numbers of English language learners and the minority (Simon & Johnson, 2015). The school poverty deleterious effect harms students’ academic performance regardless of personal socioeconomic status. In 2014, State Impact analyzed a report where students in a low-income school within Miami-Dade’s were given teachers who were new to the profession. This will most probably affect their performance. Students attending affluent schools outperform those in underprivileged schools regardless of the personal situation they are in. In recent years, there have been several studies exploring which have suggested that there can be positive results if certain resources are specified to enhance students’ performance (Blanchard et al., 2016). Simon and Johnson (2015) also note that if teachers’ performance is measured by years of experience or degree advancement, the student performance may not be influenced by these aspects because the backgrounds of students differ with the academic values which are set by these schools.
Most of the Miami-Dade County Public school levels are located according to social class, although it is the trend across the United States. Analyzing these deeper, if a class has more than 100 students, for instance, there will be limited time for the teacher to understand the self-image of the student, which will make it easier to alter the student’s character. Most low-level schools have a large number of students. Investing in a small class size makes it easier for teachers to have an effective impact, and thus increasing performance. Referring to the earlier statement, if resources are used to make the groups smaller, the most obvious outcome is that the teacher will be able to learn the student’s self-image easily.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Some of these contextual factors are hard, almost impossible to control. In the school level factor, for instance, it might cost the society a lot to develop small teaching groups considering that these low-level schools are located in regions that are not economically stable. The SEED School of Miami was once recognized by the media for serving students from low-income backgrounds. Students who could not imagine joining a college were given a golden opportunity for career development. In other cases, like the ethnic classifications, antiracism campaigns can help improve performance among ethnic groups. Gender biases and stereotyping has been a social problem that has been extending further into schools. Something can be done to it, for example, motivating the girl child to take the technical classes according to their capabilities. For the boys, they can also pursue the arts and literature courses instead of struggling to fit technical subjects where the challenge can be tough.
References
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Blanchard, M. R., LePrevost, C. E., Tolin, A. D., & Gutierrez, K. S. (2016). Investigating technology-enhanced teacher professional development in rural, high-poverty middle schools. Educational researcher , 45 (3), 207-220.
Dar, Y., & Resh, N. (2018). Classroom Composition and Pupil Achievement (1986): A Study of the Effect of Ability-Based Classes . Routledge.
Dee, T. S., & Penner, E. K. (2017). The causal effects of cultural relevance: Evidence from an ethnic studies curriculum. American Educational Research Journal , 54 (1), 127-166.
Doerschuk, P., Bahrim, C., Daniel, J., Kruger, J., Mann, J., & Martin, C. (2016). Closing the gaps and filling the STEM pipeline: A multidisciplinary approach. Journal of Science Education and Technology , 25, 682-695. doi:10.1007/s10956-016-9622-8
FIU Metropolitan Center. (2019). The Status of Women in Miami-Dade County: Economic participation, opportunity and Equity . Retrieved from milcheva@fiu.edu
GarcĆa, E., & Weiss, E. (2015). Early Education Gaps by Social Class and Race Start US Children Out on Unequal Footing: A Summary of the Major Findings in" Inequalities at the Starting Gate". Economic Policy Institute .
Gong, J., Lu, Y., & Song, H. (2018). The effect of teacher gender on students’ academic and noncognitive outcomes. Journal of Labor Economics , 36 (3), 743-778.
Schools, M. D. C. P. (2015). Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Simon, N. S., & Johnson, S. M. (2015). Teacher turnover in high-poverty schools: What we know and can do. Teachers College Record , 117 (3), 1-36.
