Study Document
School Overcrowding
Curriculum
Brady, K.P, Balmer, S., & Phenix, D. (2007). School -- Police Partnership Effectiveness in Urban Schools: An Analysis of New York City's Impact Schools Initiative. Education and Urban Society, 39(4), 455 -- 478.
This article is about safety in schools, especially in the schools of teenagers, such as middle schools and high schools. The article begins by stating a number of reasons or factors that have contributed to the increased violence in schools, particularly over the past two to three decades. The authors propose that one of the factors contributing to increased youth violence in schools is due to overcrowding. Brady et al. present statistics from past empirical studies as part of the review section of their article, and then they proceed with their own study of this theory in New York City schools, public mostly, but private schools are also taken into consideration.
Brady et al. propose partnerships among schools and local law enforcement, to additionally promote other activities and outlets for energy that might otherwise turn into violent outbursts. They also propose these kinds of partnerships as a way to more closely monitor violence in schools. The article is both a literature review and an empirical study. Their initiative was supported by Mayor Bloomberg, the School Chancellor, and by Ray Kelly, the NYPD commissioner. In this study, the researchers collected data over a few academic years with specific focus upon NYC public high schools.
Despite nationwide decreases in school crime and violence, a relatively high and increasing number of students report feeling unsafe at school. In response, some school officials are implementing school -- police partnerships, especially in urban areas, as an effort to deter criminal activity and violence in schools. (2007, 455)
Graves, J. (2010). The academic impact of multi-track year-round school calendars: A response to school overcrowding. Journal of Urban Economics, 67(2010), 378 -- 391.
This focus of this article is about the impact of overcrowding on standardized test scores. The author proposes that a countermeasure to low scores and overcrowding is to implement multi-track year-round school calendars. Graves theorizes that this kind of change to the schedule would lessen the pressure on students and teachers and with this relief of pressure, the schools would be better environments where the students would be more likely to excel and perform better on tests. This study was conducted in California; the duration of the experiment was eight years. The article describes and synthesizes data collected for nearly a decade in public schools, focusing upon…
Sample Source(s) Used
This article is concerned with educational equity within California schools. Ready et al. uses the civil case Williams v. California as precedent as a backdrop or context for their discussion to take place. The first section of the article explains why and how to monitor and study high school size. This is fairly new type of research -- specifically studying the size of high schools and the impact of size upon school culture, test scores, etc. For these authors, battling overcrowding is an issue that is a part of school reform.
Overall, the authors conclude that school overcrowding is real and measurable, as well as qualitative insofar as the various social and academic outcomes for students. The authors present a few models that are strategies to counterbalance overcrowding. They also strongly propose social stratification, creating schools within schools as a way to deal with overcrowding. The final discussion questions many important issues, including whether inequality in schools is inevitable and whether is any effective way to combat overcrowding in a way that does not put any student at a disadvantage.
By no means do we suggest that all students' experiences in school should be identical. Our definition of educational equity does not include such homogenization. On the other hand, we suggest that schools should not transform the social differences students bring to school into academic differences. We strongly advocate reforms that are associated with rising achievement, and achievement that is equitably distributed by race, ethnicity, class, or family origin. Reforms that raise achievement of children at the lower end of the distribution without damaging those at the top are ones toward which we believe our nation should strive. (Ready et al., 2004, 2011)