Aed Week 8 Assignement

Creating an At-Risk Program
AED/204
Darrell Campbell
November 27, 2011

An at-risk program is made for the students that disadvantaged and have a concern of having a low academic achievement as well as a high risk of dropping out of school before completed it. In order to have this plan be successful the entire staff of the school as well as parents and other specialty personal should take part in the program that will cover every student in the school. The program would take a lot of developmental time but it is worth it to find out what signs of an at-risk student. The entire student body would benefit from this program and if spread out to the district then it would not only effect one school but every school in the district. When the teachers, staff, parents and other specialty staff member work in each school to come up with a plan that would affect the student of that part of the district then all students can have a chance to be help when realized to be an at-risk student (Ogle, 1997). Some examples of indicators that a student might be at-risk that would be covered in this program would be students that live in a high growth rate or unstable school districts. The students that come from low income families and have low academic skills should also be covered in the report. Students with parents with little education or did not learn English as their first language (Rozycki, 2004). Students with low self-esteem are also at risk students. Any student that meets with these criteria’s need to be addressed in the at-risk student report and the implication of a program to help them (Ogle, 1997). When the students see that they can be help for something they cannot help themselves they will know that the school will do what it takes to give them an equal chance to learn what the school has to teach them. Having a specific program that help at-risk students will also show the student that even if they are different that it does not make them any less important than any other student in that district. The goal of this program is to promote and motivating students that may be at-risk students. Equal opportunities as well as high expectations for all students (Rozycki, 2004).The program must make clear concise rules and have a clear plan of achievable goals. The plan must also cover effective classroom management as well as a way to monitor the at-risk students. To have a successful program the program must have a certain emphasis on learning and making the learning meaningful for everyone involved in the plan. The program should also have parental involvement as well as engaging professional development. When having high expectation for all involved in program the keys is to have equal expectations from teachers and school as well as improving critical and conceptual skill of students and staff. To eliminate perceived ability levels must be eliminated and plan for shared responsibilities. In incorporating effective instructions and classroom management there must be a clear plan of action that involves constructivists approach and good classroom organization as a discipline plan for all students. Having various teaching styles can help to cover all learning styles of at-risk students. It is important to have a positive environment as equal opportunities for learning with emphasis on student choices. In monitoring the progress of students the results of the Title I and S.P.E.D programs should be evaluated and negative consequences should be on a separate report to have the ability to improve them. In the impact of professional development the program should promote new strategies and various teaching styles that encourage change and involvement of everyone involved in the education of every student (Rozycki, 2004). The program should have learning aspects such as heterogeneous grouping and accelerated learning abilities. An advanced thinking curriculum as well as cooperative learning environment with extended learning and new assessment strategies to help the at-risk student be successful. The parents of the students should be involved in development of the program to provide support to the teacher in teacher conferences and workshops that teach the parents what the students are learning and how to support the learning at home. Increased parental volunteering in the classroom as well as at school functions would also help to have the parents see what is being done for their child’s education and be able to help support the student as well as the teacher and staff can be a good partnership. The program should utilize social program such as community based mentoring programs such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of America as well as school based mentoring ("Big Brothers of America", 2008). Fund raising is a good way to get community involved in the helping of at-risk student as well as donation that will help with the supplies and equipment to get the at-risk student more involved and therefore more interested in getting the education they will need for a successful future. The program should utilize all the public and private programs to effectively improve student performance, get higher exams scores as well and reduce discipline and behavioral issues. This will also help to reduce the rate of drop-outs by at-risk students.
To implement the program there are steps that need to be made like the reviewing of state and federal regulations and obtaining appropriate approval and make the necessary changes to meet the regulations. The program needs to have a way to integrate tools and support that are needed for success as well as having funding objectives that will make the changes possible. The final step is to implement the program in a way that is well advertised to the public, parents and staff of the district’s schools. When making a program that will help at-risk student become successful student the staff and parents need to work together with the outside specialist to make sure that student understand that they are not forgotten. The program should not only support all the students but also be a key to teachers understanding what a student may be going through while trying to learn from a disadvantaged start. When focusing on at-risk students we must consider the student of low income and single parent homes and other things but in some cases the students of these homes can be smart self-achieving students that are not at-risk but rather very independent learners. Just because a student is poor does not make them harder to teach in all cases. To have a success program the teachers as well as parents and staff must be able to understand that all students are different and some factors may give a reason to look at them as at-risk until it is proven on an individual basis.

References

Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.dijkkypljvh/b.1539753/
Ogle, M.D. (1997). Critical issue. Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at700.html
Rozycki, E. G. (2004). Identifying the "At-Risk" Student. Retrieved from http://www.newfoundations.com/EGR/ATRISK.html

References: Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. (2008). Retrieved from http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.dijkkypljvh/b.1539753/ Ogle, M.D. (1997). Critical issue. Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/atrisk/at700.html Rozycki, E. G. (2004). Identifying the "At-Risk" Student. Retrieved from http://www.newfoundations.com/EGR/ATRISK.html