Kingj527's Blog

The Answer

kingj527 — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 12:50:35 +0000

Hello again Word Press People! I have been relating my past blogs to the educational issue of low test scores in New Jersey schools, including my own. We know the problem, how wide spread it is, and how it effects people; now what should we do? Honestly, I believe the greatest way we can minimize average or below average test scores is by teaching more earlier and faster. In a lot of schools (especially my own) there is the education system of learning somehting and adding onto to that topic little by little throughout grade years. This should be eliminated. We should learn something new every year, and if a student has a problem they can take extra classes to help them with anything they proceed to misunderstand from previous years; however, the variety of learning will lead to fitting more into the curriculum. Also, learning more earlier like other nations (learning how to divide and multiply fractions in kindergarten for instance), will give students a jump start to handle more and leave High School with a better shot at excelling in college. If we do not do anything the whole entire world will lose. Though it is this generation’s education, we are the future and what we know trickles down to our children or the next generation. Not only the school systems, but the government must be convinced for a project like this to work because it is such a drastic change that the government must approve. It would really change out learning system, pace, and economy. The specifics in a changed school system includes adding new skills or curriculum becuase what we are learning may not apply to what is important or be way too behind the rest. By “way to behind the rest” I mean our middle schoolers beginning to learn algebra (maybe not even) while China’s students learn calculus 3. In John Shepler’s ”Our 19th Century Education” article, he explains how he feels our school systems are way behind which is my opinion. He states: ”If you are at this point in life or see it coming, you know that your educational background and even college credentials may not be enough to help you prosper independently. You need to add new skills.” This statement means that we may not be prepared for higher education that everyone pressures us to pursue, thus we need to add some new things. Either we fix the situation or we let it go and watch our nation fall deeper into mediocracy.

http://www.crabbucketrescue.com/educationalneeds.htm

Let’s Talk About…Scores

kingj527 — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 23:11:26 +0000

Hello again everyone! Remember the last blog I posted about Long Branch High School having issues with their SAT testing? Well I searched online for other blogs or online discussion about the topic and I found nje3.org. Kathleen Carroll from northjersey.com posted a blog about all of New Jersey’s schools and their tests scores from a range of third to 11th grades. I will admit she predominately speaks of the third through eighth grades (not high schools) but I feel this is significant nonetheless (in a way even more important). She explains how across the state, new tests are raising the passing standards; last year forty percent of fifth graders failed while two years ago that statistic was at 11 percent. In terms of math, 23% failed and two years ago the amount of failing fifth graders was 16%. Are the statistics getting better? No. Are these same students graduating? Yes. That is why this information is critical; the students not learning or understanding go on that way and then they get to high school where things get tougher. What happens on the high school level? The kids continue to misunderstand the work and fail tests…then fail the SAT’s. However, Carroll mentions that the amount of AP class students has risen over the year. This year the percentage is 18 around the state, when two years ago it was 15%. In Wayne Hills High School, the enrollment of AP students rose 4% from 25. I interpret this as worthless information until the amount of passing AP students rises. What does it matter that kids take the class if they can’t handle it? Also, light needs to be less shined on the AP students who take the class, pass, and go to college. Let’s assist the other students who need it. I agree with Kathleen Carroll that with expectations rising for all scores on NJ tests and kids failing, we will not get too far for the future. However, her part about AP students does not seem relevant at all.

http://www.nje3.org/?p=2492

Troubles @ My School

kingj527 — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 22:52:31 +0000

Every school has troubles and issues, concerns and flaws. My school’s biggest issue is our testing averges, including (most importantly) the SAT’s. From a 2006 survey on www.city-data.com it shows that my school’s mathematics average score was below state average (501) at 456, the verbal average sore below state average (481.2) at 429, and essay average score below average (480.5) at 414. This issue is so important because it it telling Long Branch and other schools around us that our graduating students possibly heading for college or going out into the world, are either not getting a good education, or not understanding their work/needs extra help. Other people should care because out community and everyone else’s is tied together; we are all the future and together we have to be educated and grow to prosper. Others schools where SAT scores is also a problem are: Perth Amboy, Asbury Park, and Neptune High School.

http://www.city-data.com/school/long-branch-high-school-nj.html

My School and Yours

kingj527 — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:58:45 +0000

I am, like many know already, from Long Branch High School. I will compare my school’s statistics to Roxury High School in Roxbury Township (Morris County) because I think it would pretty interesting to see the differneces and similarities of two high schools. The average school day for Roxbury High is six hours and thirtry-seven minutes, and for my school the average hours in school is 7. I think these statistics are significant because time that students spend in class and in the school environment is alwasys important. This time we spend in the classroom free yet costly if we waste it. The senior class size in Roxbury is 17 , and 15 in Long Branch. Our class sizes are crucial in High School, if they are too big students can not learn, if they are too small students can feel inferior (but it does depend on the student). However, it seems my school and Roxbury have comfortable sized schools. In high schools there are also a certain amount of students with disabilities: in Long Branch the percentage is 13.7%, in Roxbury it is 12.9%. I feel this statistic says a lot about the structure of the schools (are there many ramps for the handicap?, are there very few?). The language diversity of a school says a lot about the school and towns diversity. My school is more diverse than Roxbury; 60% of us speak English while the other 40% speaks Portuguese, Spanish, and others. Roxbury High School speaks 91% English and 3% Spanish. Next, we all know that in high school there are the students who do not finish adn decide to something else with their lives (drop out). In LBHS and Roxbury the rates are very similar; around 1% for only blacks and hispanics, therefore nearly 2% in all.

http://education.state.nj.us/rc/rc08/dataselect.

72 Years Ago…..

kingj527 — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:36:21 +0000

My honorable school, Long Branch High School, is located in Long Branch, New Jersey (no duh), and may be best known for our state championship wrestling team. However, does anyone know about the past (decades ago) championship teams? I thought about this and researched the topic on my school’s webpage. A minor, new thing I learned about my school as well is that on the webpage we have a “Blast from the Past” section so my question was answered almost immediately. It showed a photograph of the Long Branch High School State Championship Golf Team in 1937. Not only did I never know this but probably most people in my school never knew. This is very interesting to me because I (like many,)love sports and it is always interesting to learn about champions, especially ones that have something in common with you; in this case the common thing is our home town. Also, golf is a sport rarely talked about on the high school level. I do trust this source because I personally know some of the people who work on the website and I trust that my school and town would not lie about an achievement we take pride in.

Hello world!

kingj527 — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:26:16 +0000

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!