Ecological Portfolio
When I begin to consider my identity, I start from the outside and work myself inward. On the surface, I am a black woman who is an introvert with extrovert tendencies around people I am comfortable around. I view myself as headstrong and resourceful while also needing to be told exactly how to do something when needed. I am a joy to be around and love all things music and creativity. If I’m being honest, most of the time the inside reflects the outside, and other times it's flipped. When starting the assignment, I didn’t know where to start exactly until I saw the implicit biases test. Immediately I jumped straight in and selected 8 tests to take using an electronic spin wheel. I used the spin wheel for several reasons. Number 1 was that it was the fastest route to getting the assignment done promptly as well as curing my indecisiveness when it came to choosing which one to start with.
Upon completing the biases test, I was able to learn and unpack more and more about myself. The implicit biases test sparked a flame in my spirit to do some serious digging into why I may feel the way that I feel and how I view the world. I have come to the realization that my biases are parts of me that I choose to embrace or keep buried amongst other things. When choosing education as a career path, I chose to embrace and maintain my biases. As an educator, I must possess and hone the skill of keeping my personal beliefs and opinions at bay when teaching controversial topics such as civil rights and injustices. By keeping my opinions at bay, I give my students the room to formulate their conclusions based on the evidence they collect.
Although I keep most of my opinions to myself, if I am asked about a certain topic, I will be open and honest with my students. In my teaching philosophy, I stated that I will always remain true to myself to become the best version of myself for my students. They will look at me as a guide during their time of need and the best way to do so is to create an environment, as well as a community, that is not only conducive for learning but also warm, welcoming, and comfortable for anyone who walks in. Being honest and firm with the students is one of the many ways to get students to respect you as their teacher and mentor, especially during middle school. In doing so, I believe it is important to become an open book essentially even when it comes to failure.
The traditional middle school experience can be difficult to manage and navigate without the right support or guidance. And in this guidance, I believe that students need to learn how to fail, reassess, and try again. In life, plans don’t always go how we want them to so we are constantly adapting. A prime example would be lessons for a unit. If I spent all night creating a beautiful and productive lesson for my students and I got to work the next morning and the lesson didn’t hit the way I planned it would with my first period, during my transition time I would adjust. I firmly believe in teaching students that same model. If at first they don’t succeed, try again. And if it didn’t work that time, reassess and try once more.
Gwinnett County District Demographics
School and Community Data
Race and Gender Statistics: Summerour Middle School (1st), Pinckneyville Middle School (2nd) , Duluth Middle School (3rd)
State Funding
Georgia provides different levels of funding for students in different grade levels. It does so by applying multipliers to the base per-pupil amount for students in four different grade spans. The base amount is multiplied by 1.6719 for students in kindergarten, by 1.2945 for students in grades 1-3, by 1.0389 for students in grades 4-5, and by 1.0315 for students in grades 6-8. Students in grades 9-12 are funded at the base amount. The state also provides additional program-based allocations to support students who are struggling academically, and these allocations differ by grade level. First, the state applies multipliers to the base amount for students enrolled in the Early Intervention Program. This multiplier is 2.0670 for kindergarten students, 1.8174 for students in grades 1-3, and 1.8119 for students in grades 4-5. Second, the state applies a multiplier of 1.3573 to the base amount for students in a remedial education program; this funding is available only for students in grades 6-12 with identi0ed de0ciencies in reading, writing, or math.
For English-language learners: Georgia provides increased funding for English-language learners. It does so by applying a multiplier of 2.5880 to the base per-pupil amount for these students. All students enrolled in programs teaching English to speakers of other languages are eligible to receive this supplemental funding.
*Link to the information http://funded.edbuild.org/state/GA*
Discipline Statistics for Summerour (Racial Demographic)
Discipline Statistics for Pinckneyville (Racial Demographic)
Discipline Statistics for Duluth (Racial Demographic)
GADOE CCRPI Readiness
What is readiness? According to the Georgia Department of education's website, readiness for middle school is the measure of student data to determine whether students are participating in activities that prepare them for college or their next steps in their life. The indicators for middle school include above grade-level reading, student attendance, and beyond the core.
-Summerour middle school received an overall readiness score of 80.6, a district score of 87 and a state score of 82. Our overall at or above grade-level reading score is 60.22% with 39.78% of the school's population being below grade level. Summerour has an 84.83% attendance and 96.77% of their population is apart of beyond the core classes which include fine arts, world language and career exploratory.
-Pinckneyville middle school (1,310 students) received an overall readiness score of 84, a district score of 87 and a state score of 82. Their overall at or above grade-level reading score is 70.81% with 29.19% of the school's population being below grade level. Pinckneyville has an 81.55% attendance and 99.57% of their population is apart of beyond the core classes which include fine arts, world language and career exploratory.
-Duluth middle school received an overall readiness score of 84, a district score of 87 and a state score of 82. Their overall at or above grade-level reading score is 68.93% with 31.07% of the school's population being below grade level. Pinckneyville has an 84.33% attendance and 98.76% of their population is apart of beyond the core classes which include fine arts, world language and career exploratory.
*Link to information*: https://ccrpi.gadoe.org/Reports/Views/Shared/_Layout.html
Breakdown by Race: Summerour
Breakdown by Race: Pinckneyville
Breakdown by Race: Duluth
Final Analysis
August 5, 2024, was the start of my immersive experience in teaching at Summerour Middle School in Gwinnett County, GA. I began this new journey with no expectations and hopes of having a great school year. I am happy to report that the school loved me and I am loving it back. When tasked with collecting, interpreting, and analyzing data from multiple sites and sources I needed some help. It took me days to comb through and find what information was essential and what data I wanted to present to you all. Summerour is a predominantly Hispanic/Latinx school and I wondered if it was like that across the county or just in my community. I decided that I would start my research on the racial demographics in the county.
Coming from a small town in south Georgia I had some preconceived notions about what the racial demographic of Gwinnett County looked like. When I moved to Gwinnett County in August of 2021 I was somewhat shocked to see such a large population of Hispanic/Latinx community members. Gwinnett County houses a large population of multi-language learners and those numbers translate over to the schools' population. I was also surprised to see only 16.3% of Summerour’s population was white, due to my preconceived notions. I realized that my notions were incorrect and I needed to change those. I took the time out of my weekend to explore the community that I was now a part of. I was met with an immersive experience of Hispanic culture and food. Gaining this experience helped me form deeper connections with my students as well as forming new relationships in the community. Every community offers different assets so I did more digging into what the schools in the county have to offer.
I looked into two other schools outside of mine, Duluth Middle School and Pinckneyville Middle School. Pinckneyville Middle is 3.3 miles away from Summerour in the neighboring city of Peachtree Corners. Similarly to Summerour, Pinckneyville has a high Hispanic/Lantinx population. Based on the data I've collected on Pinckneyville, their school population is a few hundred smaller than Summerour but they score similar to Summerour. In location, school size, academics, and race demographic Pinckneyville is more similar than different. Duluth Middle is also one of our neighboring schools that is 4.1 miles away from Summerour that has similar statics. I found it refreshing to see so many amazing schools where the minorities of our society were the majority.
After seeing how similar these schools are on the surface, I decided to take a look into their discipline data by gender and race. I didn’t include the gender data points because I didn’t find it relevant but the link is attached under the images if you’d like to look yourself. Due to all of the schools having a high Hispanic/Latinx population, the majority of the discipline infractions went to either Hispanic students or black students. These discipline infractions include harm to other people (fighting), repeat offenders, and even electronic smoking/vaping just to name a few. Every offense has some sort of consequence like in-school suspension (ISS), alternative school, or detention. While looking at the data from all three schools I noticed that the schools have a higher number of ISS than other forms of discipline. To me, that shows that the school still wants the students to get their education while enforcing their rules and regulations. I believe this is one cause of having a high college and career readiness score.
The Georgia Department of Education gives each school in Georgia a score based on their students' participation in activities that are designed to prepare them for college or their careers. Each of the three schools received a score from the state of Georgia, the district, and the admin staff at the school. All schools received a state score of at least 84. I have the data breakdown by race above. From what I interpreted each school has a 90%+ of their student population involved in some type of career readiness class. Gwinnett County is doing an amazing job of preparing not only the students but the school as well for the future.