There have been various arguments discussing the impacts of school resources on the level of educational outcome to the students. It is essential to know whether the learning obtained from the teachers is enough to allow for achievement of better results by students. Does the amount of school resources influence how the outcomes of the student’s academics would be at the end? This paper will dwell on how the school’s resources affect the educational results of students. It will further look at the necessary resources required to enhance academic results and how they have been incorporated to impact the levels of performance. In accomplishing this, the paper shall take an in depth analysis of four articles discussing this contentious issue affecting majority of schools. It would be prudent if most school administrators knew the specific resources to be allocated to the school programs in order to achieve the required results. The study shall further point out these resources with their respective outcomes as anticipated by the students. In this case, school resources imply the various inputs channeled to the school and students in order to aid them in achieving their educational goals successfully. This maybe inform of money used to cater for educational activities or any other useful resources that maybe required in fostering the students learning process.
The article by the International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) demonstrates that the students’ socio economic background is the most influential factor on the educational outcomes of students. Those who face circumstances such as lack of books or reading rooms have low motivation to learn and thus their abilities are not fully utilized. The data specified in the study illustrates that in poor countries especially in most parts of Africa, an average of 8.7 on a total of 22 advantageous school resources were available in 14 Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ). It also proclaimed that a whopping 10% of the pupils have no desks to seat on. The study also illustrates that the proper nutrition for the students is also an important factor that can affect their educational outcomes (IIEP 17). This therefore requires that schools should avail the necessary food resources to ensure that the students are in good health in order to improve their learning abilities. The study recommends the establishment of school feeding programs especially in schools located in poor communities to improve their educational results. Another important factor identified by the study is the idea of enhancing security in the learning environment, and also at the students’ homes. It is assumed that students’ safety ensures that they do not experience any fear or anxiety when learning. In this regard, this leads to better academic outcomes. The study also suggests that it is vital that schools have a good number of good qualified teachers on all subjects. This would ensure that there is no overcrowding in classes and would result to individualized classes, which implies there would be an improved quality of education. Schools are also encouraged to formulate remedial learning measures which improve the students’ understanding, and thus impacts positively to their academic achievements (IIEP 21). Lastly, the study also proclaims that schools should engage students in social work in the community; this would be useful in ensuring that students gain the virtues of living with the poor in the society and also giving motivations to fellow poor students.
The third article by the Albert Shanker Institute suggests that money is very important in influencing the quality of educational outcomes for students. It asserts that students who tend to spend more money in school have a positive correlation to their academic outcomes. For this reason, the schools should devise ways of funding students to ensure that they get the right levels of spending that would influence on their educational outcomes. The article asserts that taxpayers in New Jersey spend $ 22,000 on each student in the Newark educational scheme. The study also suggests that teachers’ salary is also another resource factor that may affect the educational outcomes of students (The Albert Shanker Institute 17). It is important to note that a teacher’s characteristics are adopted by the students and this subsequently has an impact on their educational outcomes. Teachers will portray their desirable characteristics if they are getting good salary which is enough to compensate their hard work in the class. Schools should therefore provide resources to give better salaries to their teachers since this is crucial in determining the learning outcomes of the students. The study further suggests that apart from better paid teachers, it is also important that schools build up more classes for the students to ensure that the teacher to student ratio remains low. The classes are the resources that will be used by the students and which will have an influence on their educational outcomes (The Albert Shanker Institute 20). The study finally recommends that it is useful that schools receive funding from the state which will also help in the establishment of other vital resources which will have an impact on the students’ educational outcomes.
The last article by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (TACIR) suggests that apart from the normal school resources, that is teachers and classrooms, schools need to consider the following resources in their ownership to ensure they impact the educational outcomes of students. The physical classroom needs to have good lighting, better temperature control, and enhanced noise management in and out of the class. The school also requires resources which can be useful to the psychological nurturing of students, for instance color schemes, graffiti and well conditioned rest rooms. The study conducted researches on various cities and states and came out with some useful findings. In Washington, DC, 52 schools were surveyed and categorized as poor, good or excellent. In all the schools, an improvement in average of 5.5 % was noted. In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, a survey of 139 schools and student performance in mathematics was conducted. In North Dakota, a 1995 research on all 199 high schools in the state proved that students in schools with enhanced buildings performed well than those in substandard buildings. The analysis produced a positive correlation between the schools facilities and students achievement. The analysis also affirmed that there lies a positive relationship between the funding from PTA budgets and the establishment of school resources which is essential for students to achieve their educational outcomes. Lastly, the school can also institute instructional resources that would enhance the communication between the students and their teachers. This would also improve students’ access to the science labs, computers, and library (TACIR 22). These resources would have an impact on the educational outcome of the students. Most of these articles define school resources as the facilities put in place to enhance the quality of education provided to the students. They revolve around the fact that school resources are not characterized by the normal classrooms and the teachers. They go further to investigate the resources that should be set up to support the learning conditions for students and ensure that they impact their educational outcomes. A number of these articles recognize that poverty is a major hindrance towards the achievement of proper education and in this regard they specify the relevant resources that need to be incorporated to ensure that poor students achieve better educational results. Some of the resources cited towards alleviation of poverty among students include; provision of social work to the community by students, this would ensure that poor students are effectively developed by such programs hence influencing their educational outcomes.
Another resource identified by the studies is the provision of a feeding plan by the school to ensure that students get proper nutrition. It is presumed that poor students may lack food which is a basic requirement if they should concentrate with their learning. Provision of meals by the school would therefore go a long way in helping such students to learn well without any health issues. The consistency of these articles with the definition of school resources also comes into consideration when they regard school buildings as just an education reform. What needs to be formulated is how to modify these structures to make it certain that they will impact the students’ educational outcomes. This articles also appreciate the fact that the learning environment is crucial in determining the educational achievements made by the students. For this purpose, the articles advocate for a quality environment which fosters the teachers and students’ attitudes towards learning well without any impediments. It is therefore illogical to allocate resources on a physical environment that does not propagate quality education for the students. The articles also recommend for a sufficient number of qualified teachers as a resource that is essential in determining the educational outcomes in schools. The articles assume that the student to teacher’s ratio should be kept low in order to ensure that students receive quality education. They also advocate that overcrowding in classrooms should be reduced through construction of more classrooms. These shows that the articles are consistent with the definition and measurement of school resources, this is with regards to the resources that these articles put forward to be highly considered in attaining correct educational results.
The schooling outcomes examined by these articles include; improved students’ performance, enjoyment of school by students, attainment of non-academic skills and alleviation of poverty in the community. These outcomes are clearly defined along the school resources that need to be established in the learning environment. Students’ performance in this case is defined as the improvement in their academic standards by ensuring that they understand what is taught and that they are taught quality education that will impact them in their day to day livelihood. The articles believe that having the required resources in schools would help students to excel in their class work. This is measured by an improvement on the individual grades of the students. Another outcome that is realized by instituting the relevant school resources is the enjoyment of school by students. These articles recognize that many students do not like being in school due to the institutional framework that exists in many schools. Therefore, setting up the right resources which accommodate all students regardless of their social backgrounds is important in creating a positive attitude to them. The students require conditions that are not too harsh for them so that they can enjoy being in the school every day. This is measured by having an improved attendance by students and a reduction in the cases of students dropping out from schools.
Attainment of non academic skills involves students developing abilities that are not learnt in the classroom. This can be in the form of better performance in sports, acting or development of their inborn talents and so on. A school with the relevant resources can assist students to sharpen their personal abilities which could otherwise remain unknown to them. These outcomes can be measured by an increased number of students participating in non-curricular activities. Lastly, alleviation of poverty in this context refers to the process of improving students from poor backgrounds so that they get better living standards in their future lives. Schools should therefore set up mechanisms to ensure that poor students can learn well and get the best out of their educational course. This would affect their lives and help them live in enhanced conditions because of obtaining quality education. These can be measured by a close evaluation on the standards of living of people who have gone through the educational system in question.
In conclusion, the preponderance of the verifications portrayed by these studies proclaims that any differences in the definition and measurement of these factors would result to wrong conclusions by the school administrators and students. It is evident that schools can do much better if the necessary resources are laid down but this must be done with maximum attention to ensure an overall consistency in the formulation of these factors. Schools will also require sufficient funding from the authorities and the school bodies such PTA to help them realize the resources to be used by students. To make it certain that the school establishes factors that will be beneficial to the students, there is need for them to have a clearly defined methodology of allocating the resource factors. This would be fundamental in ensuring that differences arising from these factors’ definition and measurement are minimized. Establishment of resources that are not relevant to the students’ educational course would result into outcomes that are unhelpful to them and this would underrate the educational system in place. It would be wise for schools to have a glance of the previous studies conducted in various schools in order to reduce any discrepancies that may arise in the adoption of different resource factors. For instance, a wrong definition of a student’s academic performance would manipulate the school to avail resources which would not be handy for the students in getting improved grades on their studies. Other resources that can be considered in the achievement of learning outcomes include; embracing technology in schools, provision of apparatus to foster practical learning and formulation of study courses that are in harmony with the professional job requirements. These would help students to achieve the educational outcomes of being well versed with the current technology which is a prerequisite qualification in many jobs. Practical learning would also impact students by making them enjoy what is taught and also be in a position to apply that in their lives. These resources would have an overall outcome of producing all round students who will be equipped with a variety of talents and can therefore be hired easily in the job market.
Works Cited
International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP). Poverty and Education. International Institute for Educational Planning. France. 2008.
" Longitudinal Study of Young People in England ." Introduction to ESDS . N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Nov. 2012.
