Tips to Increase Funding for Public Education

Recently, there have been reports that governments have slashed funding for public education, and this caused a lot of school districts to ask parents for help, and most parents responded to this call. Though, what can be done to encourage more donors to fund public schools? To answer that question, we have gathered some of the best tips to increase funding for public education.

1. Encourage the in-group to include the out-groups
When school leaders require the parents to raise money as a way to support the academic programs of their kids, this would drive wedges between the schools. A change like this can be much worse if the school district is heavily divided across lines of race, class, and citizenship status– just like the case in Santa Monica and San Francisco.

The solution? The in-group should be redefined in a way that people with many differences would be included. Research shows that the warmth a person feels toward and from another group can be completely predicted with the help of a competitive intent.

For instance, stereotyping immigrant children as taking resources away from the native-born would trigger a competitive mindset, racial discrimination, and would even negatively influence the potential donors. On the other hand, if education leaders would explain that immigration is an important part of American identity, then giving to public schools might make them feel better.

2. It should be easy and effective
To expand the circles of compassion and empathy, people should get over the assumption that donating money to public schools would be costly, emotionally tiresome, or wouldn’t even make a huge difference at all. This would curb their compassion and disengage.

Although empathy and compassion do come naturally for most, there are cases where people may unconsciously switch them off if they believe that their help would be useless and meaningless. As a way to encourage funding across school districts, parents and donors should know that their money would make a huge difference.

Also, showing the benefits of prosocial actions could give the assurance that the donations aren’t dropped in the bucket of large-scale infrastructural problems. Simply put, it would make them consistently help.

3. It should be specific and personal
Research shows that statistics nor abstractions don’t really motivate people to give most of the time. They are motivated by certain human qualities, such as faces. This is known as the “identifiable victim effect.” People would rather give to those they can identify, rather than to those who appear to be vague.

To encourage funding, it’s ideal to increase the extent to which the givers can allocate their funds to specific recipients, instead of having hundreds of dollars pool into an amorphous fund that gives the idea that their hard-earned money isn’t being used for a good cause.

Basically, allowing the sponsors to pick a classroom in a specific town, and donate directly to that classroom would be more personal.

4. Tell a good story
Specific stories, like ones with interesting characters whose lives have changed because of help, could trigger social connection. That said, stories don’t only communicate information, but they also build community and empathy.

Knowing someone else’s story, where they came from, what they do, and what you probably have in common could build a relationship, and gap bridges.

5. It should be voluntary
People don’t like the feeling of being forced to give. In fact, this can be the greatest barrier to the equitable distribution of both charitable funds and taxpayer.

However, if only school districts would take these important steps, then it would expand the in-group, making it more personal and effective. People should feel motivated that it would encourage them to contribute as a whole, and a lot would benefit from what they are going to give.

This is what the schools should be doing– enlist the corporations and individuals to shift charity to the most disadvantaged school because this would motivate the people to opt in.

Final Words

These are just some of the lessons that can be applied by school districts to raise more funds to support public school education.

Ultimately, the problem of under-funded schools can’t be resolved by charity alone; politicians and taxpayers should make education a priority. However, these principles can still help as it takes small steps to sustain and improve American public schools.

Keep reading about Tips to Increase Funding for Public Education at The Personal Website Of Will Radle

from Will Radle http://www.willradle.net/tips-increase-funding-public-education/

Significance of Extracurricular Activities for Children in Public Schools

Extracurricular activities like sports and art programs among others occur outside a normal classroom experience. They make it possible for students to improve their skills or establish their non-academic capabilities. They offer students the opportunities to learn the significance of individual & group responsibility, teamwork, completion, physical strength & endurance, diversity, as well as a sense of culture & diversity. In addition, extracurricular activities provide students with a reinforcement channel for lessons they have learned in class by giving them the chance to exercise their academic skills in real-life application. For this reason, extracurricular activities are considered necessary programs for a well-rounded education. On the other hand, most schools are eliminating extracurricular activities mainly because of lack of funds.

Common Benefits of Extracurricular Activities

Behavior– There has been a lot of research on the effect of extracurricular activities in students. Most researchers agree that students who take part in such activities perform better in class, have better relationships with their friends and educators, and have a greater chance of a leading healthy active lifestyles during their time after leaving school. According to research, the time after school is considered the most dangerous one as it is the time students engage in victimization and violent activities. Moreover, the ages between 12 and 17 are those that usually get involved in such poor behavior during the time. Since extracurricular activities mostly take part during this time, they are great at curbing students’ bad behavior. Children start learning about making their own decisions when they reach nine years of age. As a result, it is between the age of 9 and 17 years that they need to take part in extracurricular activities. This ensures that they remain under supervision, guidance as well as taking part in enriched learning experiences during their everyday life. This way, it is possible for them to resist unhealthy behaviors, for instance, criminal activities, gang involvement, and drug & alcohol use among other ill behaviors.

Better grades & positive attitude towards school – Academic performance is predicted by self-esteem. School loving students do well in class as they are motivated, unlike those who hate school. Taking part in an extracurricular activity program after school is quite motivating unlike using the time to complete homework. After school extracurricular activity programs give students a chance to form a positive as well as voluntary connection to the school.

Encourage school completion– Students, who participate in extracurricular activities love school, perform better and are most likely to complete school. Participation in extracurricular activities is even more advantageous for students who are at a higher risk of failure compared to normal achievers. This happens to be very important for students from groups with a high dropout rate, for instance, those with disabilities as well as those belonging to ethnic minorities.

Specific Extracurricular Activities and Their Benefits

Sports Programs

According to research, it is vital that students access sports as well as games. Sports programs help students in weight control, self-esteem, problem-solving , social competence, and as mentioned earlier, enhance their academic achievement. Again, sports programs result in reduced rates of teen pregnancies, juvenile arrests, and school dropout among other unwanted outcomes. They as well create important opportunities for student’s contribution to their schools as well as their whole community.

Art Programs

Art programs are very important, particularly in learning. Everyone uses art as they grow and live in the world. According to research, art programs are very important for students because they help in motor skills, language development, decision making, as well as in visual learning. Art education teaches students on interpreting, criticizing, as well as utilization of visual information and the manner in which to form choices on it’s basis.  Knowledge on the visual arts, for instance, graphic symbolism, is significant as it helps students become smart consumers as well as sail across the world full of marketing logos.

Music Programs

Everybody loves listening to music, singing, or even playing instruments. In spite of all these, music programs are being eliminated in most schools. Students benefit a lot and in various ways from music programs. Music programs help in mastery and memorization, student’s work improvement, increased coordination, sense of achievement, success in society, emotional development, learning pattern recognition, fine-tuned auditory skills, preparing for the creative economy, relaxing, creative thinking development, and teamwork among others.

Conclusion

Extracurricular activities play a significant role in the lives of students. They positively affect students’ behaviors, school completion, overall performance, socials aspects as well as positive aspects to form successful adults. Though most schools are eliminating extracurricular activity programs in schools, they should consider how they impact education. It is important to find ways to make extracurricular activities part of student’s everyday learning.

Keep reading about Significance of Extracurricular Activities for Children in Public Schools at The Personal Website Of Will Radle

from Will Radle http://www.willradle.net/significance-extracurricular-activities-children-public-schools/

Benefits of full day kindergarten vs. half day for children in the United States

Benefits of full day kindergarten vs. half day for children in the United States

It is natural for parents to want only the very best for their children, which is why more than half of the total of 3 million students in kindergarten are enrolled in full-day programs in the USA. The research has shown full-day kindergarten activities to be more efficient in imparting value education and essential skills than half the programs.
The findings of the study can be attributed to the simple fact that children who have been enrolled in a full day program to participate in many activities that involve reading, doing mathematics, participating in arts and crafts, and learning social studies.

Full-day versus half day – which one to choose?

An entire day developmental program offers a more relaxed atmosphere for the children so that they can take part in creative activities as well as build social skills along the way. A complete program leaves time for extracurricular activities like field trips, doing projects, playing games, and visiting the activity centers. Students who have had difficulty in the past due to delayed development, limited preschool experiences, or disabilities can have another chance in improving core areas that they might have missed out on learning in the past.

Students who attend a complete entire day curriculum have been observed to fulfill increased academic achievement and show more intuition for problem-solving. Even though there are people who chose half day programs over full-day because they feel it caters to the short attention span of children, numerous studies have shown that children can freely adapt to longer routines.

Advantages of full-day kindergarten

• Greater long-term achievement
• Greater achievement of children who have disabilities or have a low-income background
• Fewer grade retentions
• Higher scores in reading in the earlier grades
• More time spent in personalized instruction
• More time spent in casual play, less time in larger groups
• Greater social skills among children who are disadvantaged or belong to low-income families
• Higher independence and increased self-esteem
• Varied experiences in a calm and relaxing environment
• Teachers have more time to promote both formal and informal learning
• Children can focus better due to a lower portion of their daily education routine engaged in transitions to or from class
• Children who need special care and have low-income families tend to do well here

Statistics and trends

Statistics show that the percentage of children enrolled in full-day programs has more than doubled contrasted to children who are in half-day kindergarten since 1977. It has risen from 28% of all kindergartners in the year 1977 to 77% in 2013. A particularly steep increase was noticed between the years 1996 and 1998, and between the years 2002 and 2006. A study found that children enrolled in full-day programs earned higher scores on standardized math as well as reading tests through the second grade. A meta-analysis conducted recently also discovered that kindergartners in full-day programs were more likely to have greater attendance, improved self-confidence, and the ability to communicate and maintain social standards; on the downside, they also showed signs of a lack of positive attitude toward school.

Factors that influence the family’s decision

Some families considered a quality half day curriculum to be adequate for academic development and readiness for school while on the other hand, there are also families who are of the opinion that extra time spent in community settings of a full day program is beneficial for their children. Leaving personal preferences aside, it has been found that children who have had limited opportunities for learning, and social experiences might benefit from being enrolled in full-day kindergarten as it is the best opportunity to make up for lost time. There is absolutely no evidence at all that might suggest that the entire day programs might be harmful to the children.

Are half day programs any good at all?

As discussed earlier, half day programs also have their merits but it is clearly not as effective as a full day curriculum. So it can be said that children will benefit more if they learned in a relaxed environment throughout the day rather than trying to cram lessons in half the time, which might cause fatigue and leave children uninterested in further lessons

Keep reading about Benefits of full day kindergarten vs. half day for children in the United States at The Personal Website Of Will Radle

from Will Radle http://www.willradle.net/benefits-full-day-kindergarten-vs-half-day-children-united-states/

Public Education Underfunded in Fairfax County, VA

Public Education Underfunded in Fairfax County, VA

Fairfax County Public Schools have joined an ever-growing list of school districts from around the nation of school districts coming up short on funding for children’s education. This lax funding is affecting public education at every level, from kindergarten through grade twelve, and is indicative of a much broader issue. All across the Commonwealth of Virginia, public education funding is being cut – with potentially devastating consequences lurking just down the road for our future workforce and economy.

Bad Formulas Cost Virginia Schools $800M Per Year

During the recent economic recession, Virginia’s cash-strapped government altered the formulas that it uses to determine how much money needs to be spent on each school district. The result of this alteration was that the government reduced by more than half a billion dollars annually the funding that formerly went to Virginia’s public schools. With the state economy on the rebound, however, most of these formulas have not been restored to their previous levels. Researchers at the Richmond-based Commonwealth Institute have gone on record as suggesting that the current formulas applied to calculate the needs of individual school districts ignore the actual cost involved in providing an education to a student.

The implication being made is that these changes in public schools’ funding allocations were designed, not to provide a temporary economic boost during lean times, but to provide long-term annual investment reductions under the guise of an austerity measure. As the Commonwealth of Virginia’s largest jurisdiction, Fairfax County has been hit the hardest: viewed objectively, a reduction in the proportion of state funding spent on public education leaves more students behind in Fairfax than anywhere else in Virginia by way of a sheer count of heads.

Supporters of a recent proposal by Governor Terry McAuliffe, that more funds be allocated to support the hiring of additional teachers, argue that Virginia’s funding changes suggest a lack of understanding as to how education works – an inability to grasp the fact that certain resources are necessary to ensure a well-rounded education, and that small changes can have a ripple effect over time as the absence of key personnel and once-funded programs are applied to successive generations of students.

Local Issues in Fairfax County

Current legislative concerns regarding the allocation of funds to the Fairfax County educational system can be viewed here.

Many concerned individuals view these proceedings with a healthy degree of skepticism. They point to the overwhelming abundance of language suggesting that current cuts in funding – which are demonstrably the result of changes initially made for purely financial reasons – are due to a variety of other reasons in the present day.

The Republican-led Virginia state legislature strongly opposes any additional funding for public education. They say that current funding is adequate, that any issues are due to mismanagement, and that cuts in spending are the result of assessments as to how a given school district is performing.

To many, this sounds a bit too evasive; it is a given that the formulas for assessing public education spending incorporate the performance of school districts into their consideration. Revisiting the point doesn’t explain why, post-recession, said formulas have not been restored to their previous state.

Keep reading about Public Education Underfunded in Fairfax County, VA at The Personal Website Of Will Radle

from Will Radle http://www.willradle.net/public-education-underfunded-fairfax-county-va/