New Jersey like all states is unhappy with his current education outcomes. Whether the subject is science or English, from the federal government to governor, to the school superintendent, to the administrators and teachers, there is a general agreement that things need to improve and that students need to be better prepared for this competitive new world. This new world is defined by right opportunities, but also by great challenges that will manifest is headwinds but young people trying to make their way productively through their lives.
Diverse children in a library with their teacher
After School Programs Really Work
Schools get a chance to educate students from the early morning until mid-afternoon. After that time the student can select how best to spend his or her time. It can be assumed that part of this time will be spent on homework and there may be extracurricular activities including band, Sports or one of the mini clubs at the school. This however leaves a majority of the school students placed in environments with they are probably not learning anything that might be beneficial to their future. In short, this is wasted time. What has been proven time and again throughout the country is that after school programs where kids are placed in an additional learning environment, contributes greatly to their test scores and preparedness for life after school.
Schools Need to Expand Their Concepts about Teaching
What is clear is that education must play a key role in the preparation of students. Beyond its traditional role education must also provide inside and support the students at every age, socioeconomic, and intelligence level. For this reason those that work in and around the school system must change their roles from educators only, to life advancement support staff. What this means is that there must be a unified effort to engage and motivate students to achieve their highest potential. Merely allowing them to graduate even if they have great grade scores, too often leaves them unprepared University life or going directly into the job market.
Parents Have a Big Role to Play
Educators like Jay Eitner know that the key to any student doing exceptional in school is usually having parents who are actively involved in their education. Parents provide a stabilizing and supportive Foundation for most children. When they are involved in their child’s education, it says to the child, that they are both important and expected to perform well. In this scenario kids typically respond positively. Today, parental involvement is even more critical. With kids being so easily distracted by technology, peers, and other outside influences, parents need to plan even more heightened role. This might mean the parents choose to volunteer at the school, create clubs with other parents that meet regularly to discuss their kids, and the parents keep in close touch with their kid’s teacher in order to have an up-to-the-minute understanding of how their children are doing at school. Staying in touch with the teacher these days is easy because of social media and other 24-hour means of communicating. So parents need to take it upon themselves to be as active as possible because of the positive differences their involvement has been proven to make.
The combination of these factors if they are implemented will greatly improve education outcomes in New Jersey. As you can tell it demands an involvement from all of those interacting with students.
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