2. 1. Issue- Number of youth at risk of
dropping out of school and who are, in
fact, dropping out.
3. • I think this has the most influence on secondary students. We
want all our students to graduate high school or receive a GED.
A diploma opens up many doors and opportunities that
someone without a diploma can never have a chance at. This
issue affects a secondary student that I know because the top
three ethnic groups that are affected by drop outs are
Hispanic, American Indian/Alaska Native, and Black at my
current school African American and Hispanic students make
up more than half of the school population.
• U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education
Statistics. (2012). The Condition of Education 2012 (NCES 2012-
045), Table A-33-1.
4. 2. Challenge- Provide a structured
learning environment with well
understood and frequently
rehearsed procedures.
5. • I think this is the second most important because once
you have that structured learning environment
everything else seems to fall in place like classroom
management and all the chaos is gone. I think it is very
important that students know what to expect when they
walk into your class every day, they shouldn’t have to
guess at how their classmates are going to behave today.
Frequently rehearsing procedures should start on day
one and be followed through continuously. Students
should know where today’s work is located, where to
turn in homework, what to do if they have a question,
what to do if they need to go to the bathroom, or need a
pencil, etc.
• Kellough, R. D., & Kellough, N. G. (2011). Secondary
school teaching: A guide to methods and resources (4th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
6. 3. Trend- Elimination of “F” grades,
sometimes with the substitution of
the “I” (incomplete) grade,
focusing on providing students
with continuing and additional
opportunities to succeed.
7. • I haven’t heard of this trend before but I think this
would help with a student’s self-esteem a lot or at least
encourage them to keep trying. I have some students
that experience difficulty with learning no matter how
hard they try. I have even had some that have told me,
“What’s the point of trying? I’m already failing
anyway.” At least this would encourage students to
keep trying and not to give up.
• Kellough, R. D., & Kellough, N. G. (2011). Secondary
school teaching: A guide to methods and resources (4th
ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
8. 4. Trend- Establishing lower grades
and high school partnerships to
ease the transition for students
into the ninth grade.
9. • This would affect all the 8th
graders at my school. We are a K-
8 school but we operate on an elementary school level.
Middle school students have to walk to all their classes with
their teachers, they go to lunch with their teachers and they
stay with the same classmates from class to class. I feel that
this will put our students at a disadvantage when they go to
high school next year, they will be given all this freedom that
they have never had before. I think it would help if the 8th
graders got to visit the high school to take a tour of the
campus so they won’t be in such as shock when they get
there. The guidance counselors do come around and help
them register for classes before they go to the high school
but I think more can be done to make the transition easier.
• Kellough, R. D., & Kellough, N. G. (2011). Secondary school
teaching: A guide to methods and resources (4th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Allyn & Bacon.
10. 5. Issue- School buildings and facilities
that are outdated and needing
upgrading and repairs.
11. • I picked this issue because the appearance of the school buildings
gives our students a sense of pride. This is one issue that is really
dear to me because it needs to happen at our school. The school is
very old and the building my class is located in has been there since
the beginning. There have been many updates to the rest of the
schools such as new buildings but there are two that definitely need
to be updated. In some cases it can come down to the overall health
and safety of the students. One example that happen to me this
year, in early September I had the wall unit air conditioner on before
the students had entered the classroom and it caught on fire. If
students had been there one of them could have been burned
because there is a desk right under it.
• Kellough, R. D., & Kellough, N. G. (2011). Secondary school teaching:
A guide to methods and resources (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Allyn & Bacon.
