Introduction
Founded more than 70 years ago, the Westside Community Schools is an award-winning district (District 66) situated in Omaha, Nebraska. The schools serve a broad range of school-going children from pre-school to 12th grade. In the academic year 2013-2014, the district recorded an enrollment of 6, 173 pupils (Westside Community Schools, 2016). Westside comprises ten neighborhood elementary schools (pre-school and kindergarten), a secondary Career Center for grades 10-12, a middle school for grade 7-8, and a high school for grades 9-12 (Westside Community Schools, 2016). Westside also operates Before- and After-School Age programs such as full-day care services, preschool learning, extended learning, and toddler programs (Westside Community Schools, 2016). Westside operates within a wider school district community with which it shares the same geographic boundary. It consists of the total population within and outside the school district but confined within the state of Nebraska. This paper analyzes and compares the demographic statistics of both the school district and the community to generate findings that can best address the issues facing students and their families.
The most recent school demographics available are for the year 2013-2014 (pupils (Westside Community Schools, 2014; Westside Community Schools, 2016). Conversely, the community data is based on the American Community Survey of Nebraska conducted in 2009 (ProximityOne Organization, 2016). The demographic characteristics under investigation include race/ethnicity, age, language, gender, religion, income/socioeconomic status, unemployment rate and educational attainment. The data are presented in tables below.
Analysis and Findings
The gender distribution in the schools is somewhat equal, with the male population slightly outweighing the female population by only 1.38% (see graph 1). This ratio is similar to the community where girls slightly exceed the boys by only 1.6%. According to the figures, some female children are not in school as shown by the higher female population in the community than in the schools. The reasons for this shortfall in enrollment may be the poor socioeconomic status of the respective families or a preference for male over female education.
Westside enrolls children as young as 18 months in its pre-school programs, and the average age at graduation from high school ranges between 17 and 19 years. Given a minimum age of 2 years and a maximum age of 19 years, the median age of school-goers at Westside is 10.5 years. There are about 5,623 (91.09%) grade 1 to grade 12 students enrolled in the school are aged between 5 years and 19 years (see graph 2). This figure excludes children enrolled in pre-school and kindergarten because the community data does not provide the numbers for these two groups. Instead, it provides the total number of children aged below five years old, including those not eligible for school enrollment. Conversely, the surrounding community constitutes about 6,772 (20.24%) pupils aged between 5 and 19 years. This difference of 1,149 (i.e. 6772 minus 5623) implies that the parents either enroll their children in other schools apart from Westside or do not take their children to school at all for various reasons such as poverty and cultural incompatibility. The second category may be associated with the immigrant population from poverty-stricken Hispanic countries like Mexico, who lack sufficient income to fund their children’s education. Westside schools reflect the ethnic patterns evident in the community.
White is the dominant race, followed by African Americans, those of two or more races, Asians, American Indians or Alaska natives and native Hawaiians or Pacific Islanders. In the community, other ethnic groups apart from the ones listed constitute 0.8% and did not form part of the school population. These racial patterns are typical of most American states where Caucasians secure better jobs and income that enable them to send most of their children to the right schools such as Westside while minority groups strive to make inroads in all the sectors of the economy such as education and employment. Given the ethnic distribution in the schools, it is no surprise that the majority of students (98%) speak English while only 2% speak English as a second language in their homes. The reason for the extensive English usage stems from its use as the official language for teaching in American schools. The 2% of non-native English speakers use Spanish, Somali, Chinese, Nepal, and others. This category of pupils has ties with immigrant communities and international students studying in the state of Nebraska. The language patterns in the neighboring community follow similar patterns with English language dominating at 91.5%, flowed by Indo-European languages, Asian and Pacific languages, Spanish, and other languages respectively.
The students at Westside fall into two main socioeconomic categories based on whether they can afford lunch meals. The first group includes students who qualified for the free and reduced meals (31.31%). These children may come from low-income households that cannot afford the meals provided in the schools. The second group assumed to come from high-income households, comprises students who did not qualify for such programs (68.69%). In contrast, the community data provides the income distribution of various homes, including any additional earnings such as social security, retirement income, and supplemental security income. The median household income in the community surpassed the standard median income prescribed by the government ($55,373 minus $51,939), indicating an improvement in the overall socioeconomic condition of the neighboring population. Some low-wage households received food stamps and cash public assistance income. This segment may correspond to the student population that qualified for the free and reduced meals in school.
The religion data for both the schools and the community were unavailable. While the 2013-2014 statistics do not indicate the unemployment patterns in the schools, the community data provide an indication of the employment status of the working population. From the data provided, the majority of civilians 94.64% (16,771) engage in gainful employment out of a total labor force of 17,748 (67.7%) people, while 5.36% (949) are unemployed. The unemployment rate is generally low probably because of job creation initiatives started by the local government or private investors. The rest, 0.1% (28), are part of the armed forces. The rest of the population (32.3%) that do not form part of the labor force includes children and the elderly. Lastly, the highest educational attainment in Westside is a high school graduation, spanning grades 9 to 12. The number of students in high school was 1,923 (31.15%) while the rest constitutes the pupils in Middle school, kindergarten, and pre-kindergarten. In contrast, the community data contains additional information on educational attainment beyond high school graduation. Accordingly, 22.5% (5026) students manage to finish high school, while 6.1%, 27.5%, and 16.5% secure associate’s degree, bachelor’s degree, and a graduate degree respectively. Overall, the community appears to value higher education as a means of a better life for their children.
Implications
The findings have several implications for both the Westside Schools and the community. First, the education stakeholders in the district should conduct extensive awareness campaigns in the community to encourage parents to enroll their female children in school to close the gap between the two sets of gender distribution data. By teaching to value the girl-child education, females will be able to compete on an equal footing with their male counterparts in both the education and job sectors. Second, the local government can partner with private investors in creating employment opportunities for minority populations to improve their socioeconomic status and enable them to fund their children’s education. Self-employment and small business training programs can benefit the community and assist in increasing the income accruing to households and families. To this end, the schools can ease the free meals eligibility requirements to cater for more students from poor backgrounds. Besides, they can include business-oriented skills in their curriculum to equip students with the knowledge on how to become self-employed. Third, the schools can increase its enrollment of students from minority groups to meet its diversity goals. Moreover, it can include the optional study of other languages such as Spanish or Chinese in the curriculum to encourage the English-speaking white population to learn about other cultures for mutual integration. When other minority ethnic groups feel that Westside values their culture, they will be more receptive to the idea of enrolling their children in the schools. Lastly, Westside can partner with the local government and other stakeholders in offering college scholarships to students who excel in high school. Such programs will increase the number of students joining higher education institutions for various degree certifications.
References
ProximityOne Organization. (2016). Westside Community Schools, NE (3178660) DP1 General Demographic Characteristics. Retrieved April 11, 2016, from http://proximityone.com/acs/dpne/dp1_3178660.htm
Westside Community Schools. (2014). A Snapshot of Westside Community Schools. Retrieved from http://westside66.org/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/701798/File/Westside%20Infographics%20Brochure.pdf?sessionid=236fb817c34810c7593d4c29ac49529d
Westside Community Schools. (2016). District Demographics Overview. Retrieved April 11, 2016, from http://westside66.org/modules/cms/pages.phtml?pageid=66901
