Introduction
This current projects deals with the budgeting of Norristown Area High School (NAHS). The Norristown high school was established in the year 1870 in the Borough of Norristown and in the year 1972, this school relocated to West Norrition Township. In recent year, the total population of this school was 1900 students in grades ninth to twelfth. This high school utilizes a modified block schedule which offers all core courses in a college prep and weighted honors format.
This school has entered into a partnership with Montgomery County Community College which offers a dual enrolment in a number of courses. NAHS has a full complement of girls and boys sports, musical groups, co-curricular and extracurricular activities which include army JROTC, cultural service and dramas clubs. In Norristown area, high school consists of 51 registered classrooms and the capacity of this classroom is 1275. At present, this school has one special class room and sixteen special educational seminars. This high school has ten science labs and the capacity of this science lab is two hundred. This school has one auditorium and the total capacity of this school is 1774.
- Enrolment
The current enrolment of this school is 500 to 550 student grade and 10 year projected enrolment is about 500 to 600 students per grade. On the other hand, the elementarily projected enrolment of 600 to 700 students per grade may impact high school after 10 years. The high school enrolment has surpassed the capacity; the student per classroom is high.
In recent year, it is observed that there is an increasing trend in American high school which helps to increase the price of the school. High school student enrolment fell nearly two per cent in the year 2012 to 2013. This is the first time an enrolment decline has happened since the 1990s. The high school population is dropping after more than a decade of Sharpe growth. Hardest hits are likely to be colleges that do not rank among the wealthiest or the most prestigious, and that are heavily dependent on tuition revenue, raising questions on their financial health (Cardy & Sumner, 2007). In the United States, there is a close correspondence between the age and grade of the enrolment at the elementary and secondary levels. Children who are enrolled at a grade below their model grade especially because of the grade retention which are more likely to drop out of school.
The recent report provided that a look at the prevalence of the children enrolled below the standard grade for their age. As per the 2011 ACS, the majority of the student aged six to seventeen was enrolled at their model grade of which eighteen percentage of the students enrolled below the standard grade and seventeen percent of the students enrolled above model grade. Male students are more likely to be enrolled below the standard grade than the female students (Schady & Araujo, 2006). On the other hand, the black students had the highest percentage of six to seventeen year olds enrolled below the standard grade and the Asian students had the lowest percentage of enrolment below the standard grade.
In the United States, all the students manage to complete high school. The students who leave high school without finishing for whatever reason are considered as dropouts.
The Census Bureau calculates two types of dropout rates. In the year 1993, the even dropout rate was first introduced. The report showing that the number of non-high school graduates were not currently enrolled in school but were enrolled in school in the previous year (Brown, 2005). The census bureau obtains an estimate of the number of the persons who are left the school in that period. The event dropout rate which captures the percentage age of the youth aged between 15 to 24 who dropped out of the grade 10 through 12 between one October and the next October.
Demographics info
Percent Enrollment by Ethnicity
American Indian/Alaskan Native (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of American Indian or Alaskan (not Hispanic) native students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Asian (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of Asian native students (not Hispanic) in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Black or African American (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of Black or African American (not Hispanic) students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Hispanic (any race)
- Definition:
- Percent of Hispanic students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Multi-Racial (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of multi-racial (not Hispanic) students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
White (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of white (not Hispanic) students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (not Hispanic)
- Definition:
- Percent of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (not Hispanic) students in the school based on October Student Snapshot enrollment
- Source:
- Pennsylvania Department of Education, Pennsylvania Information Management System (PIMS)
Poverty
If a child comes from a poor family then they are not able to concentrate on their studies due to hunger and lack of sleep or warm clothes. Hungry students are tired and have poor nutrition which affects their behavior. Poverty is one of the barriers to success. Poor students get stressed out because they have to do their home-work after working long hours. On the other hand, teachers encounter many challenges to supports the students and family which deals with poverty related issues (Schady & Araujo, 2006). Some students went to school with unmet health needs for the vision care, treatment of ear infection and poor nutrition and family of the student faced many barriers to accessing healthcare services to address the needs.
Adverse effect of Special education enrolment
When the school provides special education to a student then it enhances the operating cost of the student. The management of the school has to provide extra attention to the student for special education enrolment.
Data of school relating to student enrollment
As per the student activity funds, school code clearly indicates that every school district must have a policy for the students activity funds which provides reasonable rules and regulation for the students activity. Student fund should be used for an organization, management, control and financing other activities. Students funds activity must be align with the framework of state laws and regulations, board policy and administrative rules. There are several types of student’s activity funds such as student body activity accounts, petty cash accounts. On the other hand, faculty accounts, sunshine funds and booster club accounts are not the part of student activity accounts. Internal audit of students activity funds are conducted by district personnel.
Large school sizes effects student performance
Large classes normally consider the high quality and quantity of the interaction with the professors. In the environment of a large class, teachers are commonly unavailable to the student. If a student has any problem regarding the study material then they do not get the proper guidance from the teachers. On the other hand, there is certainly no time following the class for any speedy quarry and the workplace occasions are complicated which receive when completing with the large number of students. Most of the teachers leave their workplace hours and the lessons are taken by the teaching assistance (Yoppet al. 2009).
It is difficult for most of the students to get the time to schedule an appointment with the full course of load. On the other hand, there is less discussion in abig class. Most of the students turn out to be engaged in the subject in a small school. In a large class, the student might be significantly less most likely to become graded on papers and discussions. In a large class, the teacher may not get sufficient time to grade and read the papers for the huge section of student. This system also effect the result of the student because the student get the grade which is usually based on multiple selection exams with perhaps a number of short essay concern. This large school results a massive regurgitation learning which is not provide positive impact towards the student. Another aspect is, in large school student got the information and facts in a lengthy period of time.
In large schools, school management is a problem. This problem arises because the teachers are not able to establish the consistency which is required and which promotes good class room management (Lee, 2010). A school teacher struggles to handle the individual students’ needs that at times becomes difficult to do in a large classroom. In a large school, teachers suffer from ineffectiveness which deals with the fights between student and other disciplinary problems. The students who go to school with the most obstacles like family issues, lack of income and other personal problems are often placed in the large classes. The report suggested that low income American students have improved up to 10 per cent points when the students also improved in smaller classes. Most of the large schools are unable to meet the needs of the students because of lack of funds and a shortage of teachers. (Planty et al. 2009).
2. Special education
If the management is able to provide special education to the student then it requires a lot of skills, patience and training. Special education is needed for students who have different degrees of learning disabilities and require special attention by teachers and advisors. Special education is considered to be a challenging teaching position and it should be taken up by teachers who are fully prepared to help those students who need their talents and training the most (Jain, 2006).
Special education teachers have a difficult time while teaching because they have to educate students who have some form of disability or the other. They also have to work with the behavioral and emotional aspects of these students. In special education, classroom management is more difficult. The school management needs proper teaching staff who can teach these students effectively. One of the advantages of special educationist that it allows the students to be more natural in an environment than a self-contained class room.
For this reason the school needs extra space for these students (Zhou & Wu, 2009). The special education students need high skilled teachers who are required to have a bachelor degree and a state-issued certificate and license. The annual wage of special education teachers was $55060. If the school provides special education to 40 students then the school requires 5 special education teachers.
Special education students have to receive special service which they need. Some view of mainstreaming way for the school which saves money by downsizing the special education service. There is another issue of the appropriateness of the education children with the special needs may receive the traditional class room. On the other hand, many regular class room teachers provide little to no training in special education teaching and assessment methods and they may provide unrealistic demands on special needs children as a result( Lee, 2010). Special education can be seen as a practice that is unfair to the developing students. In some classroom teachers have to give more time and attention to the student with special needs which may leave a regular studentunattended who may be struggling with little or no help.
Having children with the special needs as classmates can be beneficial to typically developing children in many ways. Mainstreaming prepares non-disabled students for the real world to teach them about the diversity and helping them develop empathy. The practice of special education provides developing student with opportunity to form meaningful relationships with the students with special needs. Non-disabled children can also be helpful for special education students when peer tutoring models are put in place. Helping a child with special needs practice certain skills to the non-disable students which increases exposure to the given subjects (Ximei, 2005).
3. Test score or Academic goals
Many of the tests commonly used to diagnose a learning disability for the special education programs that are standardized. Test score allows the management of the school to make comparisons of the child performance on the different types of tests. This test helps the management to estimate a child strength and weakness compared to students overall ability (Adams et al. 2006). Test score enables the students to estimate how the child skills on the test compare to other students his age.
The management has to calculate the students tested in the norming process of the test development. Each score is assigned a value. Different performance levels are calculated which are based on the differences among the student scores from the statistical average and are expressed as standard deviations. Standard deviations are used to determine at what scores fall within the above average, average and below average ranges. These standard scores and standards deviations are different for different tests (Zhou & Wu, 2009).
Percentiles
These scores show how a student performance compares to others tested during test development. The student who got the score at the 50th percentile performed at least, on the other hand, 50 percent of students his age in the development of the test.
Z scores
These values range from +4 to -4 and that have an average of zero. In this case positive score are above average and the negative score are below average.
T scores
This score has a percentage of 50 and the standard deviation of 10. The student who got the score above 50 is above average and the student who got the score below 50 is below average (Common Dreams,2011).
Standardized test scores enable the management of the school to compare a student’s performance on different tests. In this case, all test scores are considered estimates and some more precise than others.
Test scores help the management to assess the students. Test scores measure the ability of the student to recall skills and concepts for the grade and subject being tested. In this test score compare the one student with another student in the same level of grade, this result of achievement test can show the teachers where the gap of learning is.
Within this information, the teacher of the school can understand the strength and weakness of the individuals and that adjust instruction to close these learning gaps between the student populations (Connell, 2014). On the other hand, the results of achievement tests are limited and cannot always show if the learning has taken place or if there was quality instruction. Many students who have the appropriate knowledge to score well on the exam may be poor test takers which can cause them to score lower than normal. On the other hand, many students may not understand the question or lack outside knowledge that could help them better comprehend questions. Most schools used standardized achievement tests which show that their students are making adequate yearly progress.
The result of the test may mean that the schools need to provide extra tutoring or service to develop a better career for the student and the school face strict sanctions, restructuring or removal of stuff if the student continues to perform poorly (Iss.umn.edu, 2014). On the other hand student also has the option to transfer to a better school if the school is not performing expected level.
The school has to involve the students by sharing their data with them from standardized test data to class room data (Fulbright.org.uk, 2014). The school has to hire more staff to provide better education to the students. On the other hand, the high school has to implement after school tutoring for the students. The school has to offer enrichment during the day to the students. The school has to set an expectation. The management has to make sure that the expectations are not set too low and demonstrate an expectation that all the students can achieve the objective of source. The school has to create a learning environment. Incorporate research based teaching and learning strategies.
4. Facility Constraints
The school has to employ 10 people to provide better facilities to the students. The school has to face different challenges to provide extra facilities. The school has to develop a new schedule which is betterment to the student. The management of the school has to provide extra training to the new staff. For this extra stuff, the management of the school has to provide extra accommodation facilities to the staff (Li-Yan, 2011). If the management of the school has employees to work on site then the school needs to provide work space, computer equipment, a desk and a chair. On the other hand, if the school management hires for off-sites then, the management needs to supply computer equipment and software to facilitate the project’s collaboration and communication.
Conclusion
For this project, the management of the school needs to acquire 10 teaching staff and 5 other staff. The management of the school has to pay $ 550600 to the teachers annually and $ 230600 to the other staff annually. The management of the company has to provide the basic facilities to the students so that they not only do their home work but also learn to respect others. The management of the school gets adequate funds from school general fund and student activity fund. For the advance learning process, the management of the school has to implement a software package. For this software, the company has to pay $ 2400 per month.
References
Books
Adams, P., Openshaw, R. &Trembath, V. (2006). ‘Score more’.2nd ed. Melbourne, Vic.: Thomson/Dunmore Press.
Jain, P. (2006).’ Special education’.1sted. New Delhi [India]: Pragun Publications.
Yopp, H. K., Yopp, R. H. & Bishop, A. (2009). ‘Vocabulary instruction for academic success’.3rded.Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Education.
Cardy T. & Sumner J.(2007).’Key issue in new student enrollment’.1sted.USA: Jossey-Bass.
Schady N &Araujo M. C.(2006).’Cash transfers, conditions,School enrollment, and child work: Evidence from a randomized experiment in Ecuador’.1st ed. USA:World bank publication
Brown D. J.(2005).’School choice ender open enrollment’.1st ed. London:SAEE.
Planty M., Hussar W. J. & Snyder T. D.(2009).’Condition of Education 2009’.3rd ed. London: Government Printing Office
Journals
Lee, J. (2010). ‘Trick or treat: New ecology of education accountability system in the USA’. Journal Of Education Policy, 25 (1), pp. 73--93.
Li-Yan, X. (2011).’ Student-oriented Education System in USA Universities——Comparison with Chinese Universities [J]’. Journal Of Educational Science Of Hunan Normal University, 1(2) pp. 025.
Ximei, Z. (2005). ‘The Characteristic and Inspiration of Curriculum System for Graduate Education in Science and Engineering Universities in USA [J]’.Studies In Foreign Education, 1(5) pp. 011.
Zhou, w. & Wu, x. (2009).‘The Reform of Vocational Education Management System in the Transitional Era of the USA [J]’.Journal Of Jiangsu Teachers University Of Technology, 9(3) p p. 007.
Websites
Common Dreams.(2011). Why the United States Is Destroying Its Education System. [online] Retrieved from: https://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/04/11 [Accessed: 27 Mar 2014].
Connell, A. (2014). Understanding the US Educational System. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.forumea.org/UnderstandingtheUSEducationalSystem.cfm [Accessed: 25 Mar 2014].
Fulbright.org.uk. (2014).US School System | Study in the USA | US-UK Fulbright Commission. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.fulbright.org.uk/study-in-the-usa/school-study/us-school-system [Accessed: 23 Mar 2014].
Isss.umn.edu. (2014).Guide to the US Education System. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.isss.umn.edu/publications/USEducation/ [Accessed: 27 Mar 2014].
