Public City School Reform in Baltimore is a current weapon used to open up the city. Segregation in schools was reputed in the 50’s yet integration is still not achieved in today’s City Schools. Open-minded Parents who choose to live and raise kids in the city that are who are for exposing their children to a diverse city life, still do not send their kids to a Public city school. Parents that can afford to pay for private school will to give there kids an opportunity in the workforce or college. Without the funding for good private schools, parents feel forced to move to the suburb to raise kids. Public City schools are often seen as run down, and dangerous especially in Baltimore, an urban city with crime and one of the lowest literacy rates. City teachers take on a role as officer, and mediator between children; jobs that are often too hard and it becomes priority over teaching to make sure the students are in line over teaching. Many teachers view the children as hopeless, which can only perpetuate the student’s lack of interest. I don’t believe it is fair to blame a parent who wants the best for there kids, but sending their kids to private school does further the divide of class in the city.
One of the charming views of Baltimore City is that it can fix its problems with slogans. One of the most current reforms to be put into action is “Great Kids Great Schools;” the City School Transformation and the ARRA (American Recovery Reinvestment act)”. In 2001 Baltimore Public School System set up a program to create 8 innovation high schools and convert nine high schools into smaller neighborhood schools. Its aim was to create strong academic rigor in small supportive structures. All though was effectively for specific schools it could not achieve the scale needed. On February 17, 2009 The AARP was signed as part of Obama’s economic recovery plan. This allows the opportunity to toward providing an equal opportunity for education to all demographics by stimulating innovation in education. The aim of both is to improve student achievement through school improvement and reform(www.urban.org). The plan increased funding in schools for a specific two year plan to demand College and career ready standards and assessments for all students, distribution of effective teachers, intensive support and intervention for lowest performing schools and the increase of Pre-K. It set up for rewards – Higher Education Teacher Quality Partnership Grant, and Teacher Incentive Fund mostly for schools in need of assistance.
This plan allows for an open city by creating resources available to students based on characteristic of the school and need. It allows for improvement instead of closing of a school district as unmanageable it opens it to reform and further use, calling for the communities’ role in school decisions. Education proves to cut down crime rates but opening children’s options, and hope of a career. Cutting down crime is what the closed city is often based on so with less fear of crime comes with more options for an open city. This plan thus far has already increased test scores, graduation, enrollment in AP courses, attendance, and afterschool arts programs that give children and activity to become an outlet to be engaged in. The goals of this program are to educate school leaders to know the need of current staff to determine gaps in the workforce to create more highly trained teachers. With these reforms the hope is to have more students and parents choose City Schools over other options. And with the reforms of the school system it will be desirable to high performing principals and teachers
ARRA becomes a weapon of inclusion by taking steps to reform the school system and fix gap between children and families living in the city. The outcome is that when children have the option to chose there future because of equal opportunity of education there would be less crime, poverty, and moving from the city. It would become possible to bring children of different backgrounds together on a non-exclusionary basis. The interaction with a diverse classroom could also lead to tolerance of different ways of life by children and their parents.
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