Field Blog 2

Today when I went to Heights High, I found out that attendance is rare in this class. I come to Heights High from 8-9:30 usually so I see two classes. The students in first period slowly trickle in. At my first observation, I thought that there were around 15 in the class. Today the teacher told me that the class is supposed to have 28 students in it. She said that usually she has around 15-20 students on any given day. It is hard for students to arrive at school on time due to busing. The high school got rid of high school busing due to budget cuts, so students either must find a ride to school, walk, or rely on public transportation. When students take public transportation, they are at the mercy of the system. If the buses are behind they will be late and if they miss the bus they may have to wait a long time for the next bus. There may also not be a bus that comes to them. Because of this, many students are late, and have bad attendance. We learned on a field trip to Noble elementary that they have received a lower rating. I think that the lower rating affected their funding for the school. I think that school funding should not be based off tests. Students need busing so they can learn. It is not a student’s fault that they cannot find a ride to school. Today the students were taking a test. There were 13 kids at the start of class, and by the end of class there were 18 kids. Right when the students came in, they grabbed the homework packet and then took the test. The teacher allowed students to stay after class to finish the tests if they came in late, but only 3 kids stayed after class. I witnessed one kid turn in a blank test. I have noticed that this student is always on his phone during class, so he did not understand the material for the test and did not know any answers, in my opinion. Ms. Russell was very helpful to the students, answered questions and made sure that no one was cheating during the test.