Feedback from August 8th Youth Forum

We're late, but we hope you still take the time to read the feedback, and to send us even more comments.

Responses to the Request to Give a Homework Assignment to Schools

Dialogue & Relationship-Building

• [Sponsor] a dialogue between the teachers and the students about caring, compassion and learning
• More dialogue and communication between teacher and students needed to help teachers make their classes more fulfilling
• Tell the students about life experiences to push the students
• Have a teacher sit and have a one-on-one relationship
• Be more helpful to one another
• Teachers need to help their students in whatever need they have because some students need more help than others
• For Career High School: Teachers who are positive role models and share their experiences in order to motivate and guide students
• Find ways to provide feedback on students on a weekly or monthly basis to their parents / guardians.
• Plan dialogues between teachers, students, administrators and parents facilitated by Community Mediation
• Increase relationship building between the adults and students in a school
• Teachers make time for your student. Help them understand their worth.
• Kids want teachers who are emotionally involved and there for their students – not those who hand them a worksheet and read a magazine while they do the work.
• There should be more conversation about the expectations of the teachers, students and parents. Maybe an informational newsletter about graduation vs. college-entrance requirements; student-parent conferences.
• There needs to be more information sharing.
• Some teachers are extremely helpful in giving extra attention to students who need it or ask for it. But, some teachers are not approachable or helpful – teacher training is needed.

Reaching All Students

• Commit to developing and supporting people with all different perspectives and learning styles
• Learn more about the cultures that their students come from to better understand their behaviors and why they don’t achieve as they should

Social diversity

• [Provide] general motivation to all students, not only those who are doing well in their grades
• I would like to see a system that better supports the needs of teachers, accountability that ensures quality teachers in our schools, and teachers that provide opportunities for all youth. No favoritism, encourage all youth to do their best so that youth can realize and reach their full potential, not just those that are the “star students”.
• Motivate everyone to do better not just the kids who are most likely to succeed.
• Watch out for the quiet but eager learner. Teachers should always be ready to help the student who asks… even when asking ever so quietly
• How do you bridge the gap for the ones that fall between the cracks?
• [Teach to] different learning styles

Exploration by Schools & Teachers

• Describe what changes you would make to your school to make it more challenging and fulfilling to all the students
• Go to the other classes that are known for excellence and learn better ways to teach students certain skills needed not just in the classroom but also out of school
• Find out the ratio: for every household/student who has a set of parents/parent that cares, how many don’t or are not involved or not respondent.
• [Sponsor] a forum with teachers to discuss “why some teachers don’t care?” What’s different about teaching now than before?
• Challenge yourself at something you are not good at and plan what you want in life.
• Challenge yourself at something that you’re not good at. Write an essay on how you felt doing it. What changed? What you did, and would it be something that you could do on a regular basis?

School Staffing

• Seek out the kids in the non-magnet schools who are at the high schools in New Haven and pair them up with a mentor – establish an on-going relationship where they meet – to discuss life, school, ambitions and managing life as it unfolds for them – spend time together – commitment of time and presence
• Use student teachers more to help connect parents and teachers
• For all the large urban school districts: what guidance and support is available to students? How many guidance counselors are available? What is the counselor / student ratio? What professional development opportunities are available to teachers to better engage students in learning?
• Value the role of the guidance counselor and decrease the ratio of students to guidance counselors. Have the same student – guidance counselor relationship last for the full 4 years of high school- explain how the relationship can and should work
• Increase availability of guidance counselors
• Make sure there are at least 2 to 3 guidance counselors in each school (elementary, middle school and high school).
• Increase the number of guidance counselors and make sure they know their kids and help them think about the steps they need to take to be prepared for life after high school
• Assure more support services for all children, especially grades 4 to 9.

Motivate Learning

• Find out students’ interests and gear the learning towards those interests
• Instructors of courses should develop two ideas to make their subject more meaningful in today’s world.
• Have fun with learning
• Let the school know to push everybody and to not push certain people
• Challenge more in work all around
• Find out what students consider fun ways to learn that are still effective and implement them
• Make their school more engaging and warm. I am encouraging them to have their students want to come to school and to have teachers who care about their students more than their jobs
• Train the teachers in how to involve the students in their learning process – less lecture / more interactive learning to help the students learn how to learn.
• Schools in the urban communities: Work harder to motivate the youth. From the youth that I spoke with, what resounded and was reiterated the most was that their schools had low expectations for them, so they didn’t motivate or push the students. The schools basically need to CARE.
• Have to interest and engage youths in developing meaningful knowledge and life skills
• Help teachers (through pre-teacher prep and/or in-service) to create engaging classroom instruction and find a personal passion for their subject matter. Youth can tell when teachers do (or don’t) care about what they’re teaching and it makes a huge difference in how the kids feel about the subject matter
• Hire teachers or train existing educators to have high expectations for students and be prepared to empower pupils to meet these expectations
• Keep high expectations for all young people in high school
• Encourage all young people to go to secondary education: college, training, etc.

Standardized Testing Concerns

• [Build] better skills for standardized testing, classes to teach more about standardized testing like CAPT.
• Go to a class to learn the proper skills needed to teach students how to pass standardized tests
• Stop teaching to the standardized test
• Demand that the government prove that the standardized tests really predict future success
• Try to find a way to get kids to graduate without the “no child left behind” and the graduation test
• Kids and parents are sick of teachers having to “teach to the test.” Standardized testing sucks the life out of a creative curriculum.

Courses of Study

• Have set specific courses for certain types of professions or something along the lines of a certain profession that each student wants, like computer or science or teaching itself
• Find ways to place all students in at least one college track course in both math and English or in math, English and science.
• Integrate classes across subject areas
• Move / have a national / universal school system with the same lessons. If that cannot come to pass, eliminate SATs
• Have physical education classes a choice
• Give text books that are relevant and appropriate to each grade level
• [Offer] some new classes and career choice paths for more than one major
• [Offer] physical education and healthy lifestyle classes
• Kids want a well-rounded curriculum so they can have a better knowledge of what they need to follow the best path towards something that will help them in the future. They need a path.
• Find a way to connect topics or subjects in school to real life situations – either those currently pertinent to teens or to a future career path they may choose

Social Development & Enrichment Activities

• For Jonathon Law School in Milford: there are so many clubs yet no one knows about them because your options are so poorly advertised. Law should make the programs more known especially to the freshman coming in and just starting their high school careers.
• Require students to write a short reflective essay. Things to include: what was the most valuable thing(s) I learned in school this year? How have I improved from my start in September academically, socially, etc.? Am I prepared for the next level?
• [Offer the] opportunity for involvement to all students
• Help all students develop a set of values for life
• Create a context of appreciation for continual learning and not just a focus on content of subjects and courses, which may be irrelevant to the needs of tomorrow, by the time the students graduate
• Teach the truth
• For West Haven High School: find a way to accommodate ALL students in school activities (rather than catering to “involved” students). All students should have a voice and not have their voice drowned out by louder, more outgoing voices.
• [Provide] required time for social development
• [Provide] creative classroom activities in which students can show different kinds of knowledge and skills including social skills
• Focus on every child’s overall healthy development, not just grades.
• Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each student and identify opportunities for all students
• Develop programs that will cater to the needs of most students

Overall Comment

• My group (2 youths) loved their schools. They had no complaints. The group also explored many of the programs within the 2 large high schools too. Actually, I came here expecting to hear awful reports. I am amazed and so happy that there are so many great programs in high schools.

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