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Valerie Quintana
Professor Sorensen
ETHS-2430
4 May 2014
Building for Success
As of the year 2000 there was a great number of high school drop outs, over the years we
have seen a decrease in the amount of drop outs within the Hispanic community. Thanks to
several of these realistic strategies and programs institutions have provided. I have also have
come up with a few solutions of my own. I decided to name my project Building for Success
because we should be focusing on why kids drop out not that there are so many drop outs. So
building are the solutions that will help those kids realize that they can and are capable of
success.
The problems that cause such a great deduction of high school graduate were these, some
students felt that they needed to help provide for the family, many didnt have the physical and
mental resources, and several werent getting that moral support thats supposed to be provided
by those close to them.
I took the time to ask a few high school students, each from a different grade and asked
them why the idea of dropping out even comes to mind.
Students:
I personally am self-motivated to keep going but it would be even better to have
someone tell me that Im proud of you, keep up the good work, I know that sort of sound
cheesy but at least I know that someone is aware of all of the accomplishments that I am
making. - Senior
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I know what I am capable of, sometimes it is hard to carry on the expectation that my
teachers have on me when I dont have the things that I need to complete my assignments.-
Junior
Its hard for me to attend school when I dont have the basic necessities to go. Or even
that I wasnt able to eat that morning or will during lunch and I really dont like they call the
breakfast and lunch free because its embarrassing for me to go and get it. So its hard to focus
in class, when youre hungry.- Sophomore
As they said society makes it hard for one to succeed. Many students lack security,
confidence, and value through those years of high school. I will say that high school is a rough
place and if you dont know who you are, its even harder to set goals and strive to achieve them.
This article from pewhispanic.org presents a table of the amount of drop outs 1999-2000 and
2011-2012.
Young Hispanics Dropping
Out of High School
BY RICHARD FRY & PAUL TAYLOR
The newly released October 2012 data from BLS also indicate that young Hispanics are
much less likely to drop out of high school than they were in 2000. In October 2012 there were
134,000 Hispanic recent high school dropouts. By definition these were Hispanic 16- to 24-year-
olds who reported not being enrolled in school in October 2012 but were enrolled a year earlier
and did not have a high school diploma. This compares with 101,000 recent Hispanic high
school dropouts in October 2000. Although the absolute number of Hispanic recent high school
dropouts has risen, there are many more Hispanic students enrolled in school in October 2012
compared with October 2000. (pewhispanic)
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Now days everything is done digitally. Everything must be typed, in MLA format, and
turned in online. Well at least that was how my high schools was in Texas. I found an article
from buisnessweek. com. They talk about the state of California giving money to school districts
to purchase IPad for their students to rent. In Texas I rented a netbook and so did everyone else.
There was insurance that you also had to purchase in case you broke it could be replace.
The iPad Goes to School
By Devin Leonard October 24, 2013
In September, the Los Angeles Unified School District began carrying out a $50 million
plan to equip 30,000 students in 47 schools from kindergarten through 12th grade with an iPad.
Giving kids iPads sounds like installing candy machines on every desk, or worse, Xboxes. The
educators naturally disagree. They spent $678 per iPad, loading them up with software from the
Pearson (PSO) educational group and locking them down so that students couldnt wander
around the Internet unchaperoned. (buisnessweek)
Prodi viding these tablets will cost a lot of money but there is no way the kid can say that
they couldnt do their homework because they dont have a computer at home. Also if their
parents find that they cant afford to rent it the school usually makes ways where they can pay
the rent on at month to month basis. As for finding Wi-Fi, a lot of us kids that just barely moved
into the state didnt have internet set up yet so we would either go to a friends house and also
there are several places that provide internet access, Starbuck, McDonalds, etc. So it just really
depend on if the individual really wants to get that assignment done and done on time. If youre
willing to make the extra effort and show the teacher that you care to turn things in and
complete.
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Responsibility, coming from a lower class and seeing others have things that you can
afford is a story that many share. Also seeing a single parent struggle to support their kids is
something at several children see every day. Many students will feel that they need to help their
families. Another income to the family helps a great deal. Colleges provide Job Boards, these are
usually known to be a part of the college faculty, within the counseling department. Theyre
people who find part time jobs for students who have to go to work and school at the same time.
High schools should add these coordinators to their counseling staff for students who feel that
they need to either need to pay for their own stuff or who have responsibility to help contribute
for their family. I think that the Counseling Centers should provide these Job Boards within high
schools, so kids can go and try to get a part time job that works with their schedule. So that they
dont have to just get a job and not go to school.
School, my mother says act like that school is your job and your grades are your money.
But its really hard to see it like that when youre 15. We spend five days a week there and seven
hours a day learning and I remember spending at least four hours doing homework after school. I
know that this will be seen to some as bribery but I think that students should bet receiving
money for attendance and good grades, not saying that all kids are just ditching class. Students
spend seven or more hours at school. Its basically a job, if we get them in a routine of getting to
school on time and showing up for class every day and also turning assignments on time then we
will be preparing them for the adult work. The expectations of the work atmosphere. This article
goes over who would pay for this idea, has it been tried before, if it works, and if people think
that its a good idea.
Paying kids to come to class: One school's 'last-ditch' plan
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A Cincinnati high school is giving seniors $25 a week to simply show up on time and
stay out of trouble. Will that really work?
By The Week Staff | February 14, 2012
Who's paying for this?
Private donations and federal Workforce Investment Act dollars managed by Easter Seals
are financing the $40,000-a-year program. If the rewards system is successful, Easter Seals says
it already has a grant to extend the program through next year.
Has this been tried before?
Yes. Individual schools and even whole school districts have tried similar rewards-based
programs for years. The incentives vary. Some Albuquerque and Fort Worth students get a shot
at a new car; kids at a Lowell, Mass., high schools earn a $1,200 laptop for good attendance, or
for getting into college or the military; and various schools around the country offer cash for
attendance or good grades. Britain has paid some lower-income students monthly stipends for
attendance and performance for more than a decade.
Does it work?
Sometimes. Harvard economist Roland Fryer Jr., who's conducted incentives programs at
several large, urban school districts since 2007, says the programs tend to be successful if they
reward behaviors like attendance, but not good grades. In a 2005 look at several programs,
ABC's Good Morning America found that some programs like the Lowell laptop giveaway
did really well, while others had more modest results.
So... is paying students to attend school a good idea?
If the programs are well-designed, yes, says Hedy Chang at the Attendance Works
initiative. "Research and common sense tell us that school attendance is critically important to
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student achievement," and paying students "just to show up" can be part of the solution. Are you
kidding? Says Peter Spevak at the Center for Applied Motivation. Rewarding students for
something they're "supposed to do anyway" actually "undermines internal motivation," which is
bad for the student and bad for society. Look, I'd love kids to attend class "for the intrinsic
value," says Harlem Children's Zone founder Geoffrey Canada, whose Promise Academy high
schools pay students up to $120 a month for showing up and doing well. "And until then, I'd love
them to do it for money. I just want them to do it."(theweek)
Moral support, or just support in general. I had my mother and father to tell me that I can
do things because they knew that I could do it. Growing up this helped me get through a lot, I
cant imagine what I would be if I didnt have someone saying that you can do it. I know that
several will not be getting the support from home so since the achievement is to do excellent in
school the support should be coming from school. I think that counselors should be providing the
support. We only meet with them, well what I remember was twice a month and it was only
about the classes that I would be taking the next year. So to provide support the school would
have to have Counseling Sessions, this is where we would have the Counselors meet with the
student once a month to ask how they are doing and how they are going about everyday
activities. It helps to build a relations with an authority figure and also to help give self-
confidence and motivation. This would cost about $87,000 a year per counselor. This is how
much they get paid, this session should just be part of their counseling. Usually kids would have
to approach the counselor to get help but really what kid is going to go to and adult that they
dont even know and tell them their problems if they wont even tell their own parents. If the
counselors mad the effort to show kids that someone does care then it would be easier for kids to
share because they know someone cares what becomes of them.
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I was able to interview a few counselors from different school districts and shared my
idea with them.
Counselors Input:
I would be willing to meet with each student that I am assigned each month to ask how
they are doing and build a relationship with them throughout the years so if they find themselves
struggling or think that they need help they will think to come to me.
Isnt that what we should be here for? I mean thats the whole reason why I became a
counselor, to help kids and to help them succeed.
Kids need that extra support, it build confidence and motivation, to know that someone
actually cares who and what they are and what they can be.
We all know how hard it is to keep up with the curriculum in school. I struggle with my
math classes in Jr. high but in high school everything seemed to flow. Several kids will fall
behind and will find that they will never be able to catch up with their class. I think that we can
all remember when a kid would be pulled out of class for speech therapy or for extra reading
classes. Well I think that we should have something like that in high school where if you teacher
see that you are falling or struggling in a certain area they will send you to a room where a
certified teacher would help you one on one and also go over what you would have missed that
day in class. Also schools should provide Supplementary classes, when a kid knows that they are
struggling in a subject or just school in general they dont really or maybe they just dont know
how to get the help they need. Yes schools offer after school help but some dont have the time
or are embarrassed to go and get the help. So these sessions are offered for the other day they
dont have their core class if they are on an A, B school day schedule. The states that have all
eight classes in one day the student will be taken out of the class during that period to work with
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a certified teacher to get the help that they need. The total for the tutoring will cost $87,000 a
year.
Theres been a debate going on,
Should the government provide more funding to schools with higher academically
achieving students?
45% Say Yes, 55% Say No
Funding should be provided for special programs for high achieving schools and
students.
We need to provide funding to keep our highest achievers at the top. This should be
determined by not only schools performance overall, but by individual students. If there is a
group of excelling students that happen to be at an average school, these students should have the
programs necessary to advance them. If a school has an overall outstanding record, than it should
be rewarded.
Supporting poor performing students
I believe that the government should sponsor poor performing students and intelligent
students equally because reason being students perform poorly it is because of the financial stress
they have and their concern of where does the future lie for them if their parents can not pay for
their fees. Further more looking at the employment rate is very low in this country and the once
who have the jobs, don't use it to their best ability (e. G.) Our education system whereby teachers
have the gut's to tell students that they are doing us a favor by teaching us and yet there are
dedicated people who would like the children succeed in life.(debate.org)
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Overall, we want to see a decrease in drop outs in general, a nation. Its going to take a
lot of money but doesnt everything? Anyways its for a good cause, our nations future, the
more students succeed the better the next generation comes out and the greater we will work
together as a community.















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Work Cited
Leonard, Devin. "The IPad Goes to School." Bloomberg Business Week. Bloomberg, 24 Oct.
2013. Web. 05 May 2014. <http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-24/the-ipad-
goes-to-school-the-rise-of-educational-tablets>.
"Paying Kids to Come to Class: One School's 'last-ditch' Plan." The Week. N.p., n.d. Web. 04
May 2014. <http://theweek.com/article/index/224389/paying-kids-to-come-to-class-one-
schools-last-ditch-plan>.
"Should the Government Provide More Funding to Schools with Higher Academically
Achieving Students?" The Premier Online Debate Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
<http://www.debate.org/opinions/should-the-government-provide-more-funding-to-
schools-with-higher-academically-achieving-students>.
"III. Young Hispanics Dropping Out of High School." Pew Research Centers Hispanic Trends
Project RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014. <http://www.pewhispanic.org/2013/05/09/iii-
young-hispanics-dropping-out-of-high-school/>.