A Socioeconomic Snapshot
For this project, the setting is Brenda Cheshire's school, Loganville Elementary
School. There are 523 students currently enrolled, with the following breakdowns:
157 – 3rd grade
182 – 4th grade
184 – 5th grade.
32% of students are eligible for free or reduced lunch programs. This is an increase from 24% eligibility last year. (Source: Loganville Elementary School Status Report, 3/2006)
To get a broad idea of the socioeconomic range of our population,
we searched according to the zip code that the school serves. While there
is only one zip code that attends the school, some of the zip code also reaches
across into Gwinnett County, and this is generally some of the most affluent
population in the zip code according to the Census 2000 maps.
Here are some general statistics about the entire zip code, 30052, according
to the 2000 census reports.
Total Population: 34,967, 67% urban, 33% rural
Over 95% of the inhabitants are white, with 3% African American and 2% Hispanic or Latino.
Average size of a family is 3.23 persons.
Out of 11,827 households, 8438 are married couples. (71%)
4,565 households have children under 18.
235 households with children under 18 are run by single men, 607 by single
women.
Here are the more pertinent points for SES:
Median Value of a home is $128,900, well above the U. S. average
of $119,600.
The median family income is $61,470, compared to the U. S. average of $50,046.
This may seem to indicate that many of the people here are doing well for themselves, and indeed some of them are. But looking closer at some other statistics reveals several subpopulations of note. Also, we must keep in mind the drastic recent climb in children eligible for free and reduced lunch, which happened more recently than available statistics. Also, a very affluent part of this ZIP code doesn't’t attend this school.
Of the 12,267 housing units in the area, 1491 are renter occupied (12%).
Of the 901 Hispanic or Latino people living in the zip code, 277 are renters (31%).
Between 20 and 32% of renters spend over 35% of their gross income on rent.
1,783 people are below the poverty level. (5.1%) Of the children under 18, in most areas, 6-9% live below the poverty level. In some areas, up to 13% of kids are in poverty.
Sources: factfinder.census.gov (Census 2000 reports)
nces.ed.gov
Our Project
For our project, we decided to target a small population of the school that appears to be underserved by the Media Center. Even though the current demographic of the school is predominantly white, the number of students of other ethnicities is growing steadily. The ESOL students currently in the school do not utilize Media Center services or materials on a regular basis. Our project involves examining policies and practices in the School Library Media Center and investigating how those policies may be modified or publicized to encourage greater accessibility to and usage of the Media Center by ESOL students. According to Sleeter and Grant, “children are particularly hard-hit by poverty and teachers tend to teach 'business as usual' and not accommodating the lack of experiences before presenting material” (1994, p. 4) . We are hoping that the one on one instruction and interaction with the students and their parents will fill the gap and help them to participate in the Media Center while helping us to understand how to meet their needs effectively.
Our investigation began with a thorough review of the Media Center in terms of student use, policy and practice. We began by contacting the ESOL teacher to investigate the problem and to get insight into the problem as well as solicit ideas for possible solutions. Since this is an ESOL teacher with no prior experience teaching ESOL students, she was unable to offer suggestions to address the problem, and did not show much awareness that the lack of use was a significant concern.
We decided to create a survey to be completed by administrators and teachers of ESOL students to see if they could offer any insights into possible solutions for the lack of use issue.
Information Gathering and Planning
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