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Brookshire_Community-School and Collection Analysis
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Community & School Analysis
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Community and School Analysis Mark Brookshire UNCG LIS693 Fall 2018
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Table of Contents General Community Charlotte Data Pineville Data Comparisons of Different Communities Cultural Resources District Summary of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Funding Schools Students Personnel Curriculum Technology Media Services Department School Summary of South Mecklenburg High School Student Data Staff Data School Characteristics Strengths & Challenges Collection Analysis Collection by Holdings Collection by Value Assessment of Collection Holdings Analysis of an Emphasis Collection Currency & Core Comparison Curriculum Alignment Circulation & State of Collection Findings on Emphasis Collection Collection Management Plan Development Rationales Purchasing Plan References Appendix
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The author’s school is South Mecklenburg high school, part of the CharlotteMecklenburg school district in the southern portion of Mecklenburg County, which serves both Charlotte and Pineville, one of the towns around the fringe of Mecklenburg County; however, Pineville accounts for less than 50% of the area in Mecklenburg County served by the school. The school, founded in 1960, reflects modern Mecklenburg County through its diverse student and staff population, and also by the communities that surround the school. Charlotte Data Charlotte’s growth as a city has created a unique mixture of communities where people hovering at the opposite ends of the economic spectrum live very close to each, sometimes as close as across the street. According to the United States Census Bureau’s American Fact Finder (2010), Charlotte’s population in 2010 was 731,424 persons with an ethnic mixture of 50% Caucasian, 35% African-American, 13% Hispanic, and 5% or less of all other racial types. There were slightly more females than males living in the city in 2010 with a median age of 32 years for males and 34 years for females. Further data indicates that 98% of the population have housing and of that slightly over half, 57.4%, live in owner-occupied housing as opposed to renting. The most current data from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2016) shows the labor force works mostly in occupations related to management, business, science, or the arts with the leading industry category being educational, health care, or social services. The unemployment rate for the same time period was at 8.5% across the city with 12.2% of all families with earnings below the poverty level and a median household income
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at $55,599. This same survey shows that in persons over 25 years of age just under half, 49.4%, have earned some form of college degree. In the 18 -24 year old category, most of them are enrolled in college of have an Associate’s degree. Poverty rates based on educational attainment runs 12-29% for individuals holding less than a Bachelor’s degree or who never finished high school. Pineville Data Pineville is a small township in the southern end of Mecklenburg County with a total population in 2010 of 7,479 persons according to the United States Census Bureau’s American Fact Finder (2010) and reflecting the racial make-up of Charlotte with 62% Caucasian, 22% African-American, 20% Hispanic, and 5% or less of other racial types. More females live in the town than men, but here the median age for men was lower at 31.9 years opposed to 38.5 years for females. Once again most of the population, 97.3% live in households, but here most are in rental units at 69.4% versus owner-occupied at 30.6%. The data from the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2016) shows most of the population working in the same types of occupations and industries as those in Charlotte. The unemployment rate was slightly lower at 7% with 7.7% of families having income below the poverty level and the median family income of $64,115. In terms of education, about 3% less of the population have a college degree in comparison with Charlotte for those persons over 25 years of age, but once more most of the 18-24 year olds are enrolled in college or have complete an Associate’s degree. Poverty rates for Pineville residents are less than 8% for all persons having at least some college classes, but for high school graduates and drop-outs the poverty rate is between 15 – 39%.
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Comparisons of Different Communities The statistical data shows the school’s communities populated by similar heterogeneous mixtures of persons; however, looking past the data reveals that this section of Mecklenburg County is one of extremes from both East-to-West and North-to-South. To the east of the school are larger subdivision filled with a variety of home designs currently selling for $250k - $500k or more according to a search on Zillow.com (2018), and this section includes the Quail Hollow Country Club that hosts a Professional Golfer’s Association tournament every year. These neighborhoods maintain an appearance that reflects the economic status one would expect, but this is only in the northern portion. In the southeastern section, the neighborhoods tend to be smaller with more of a cookie-cutter appearance to the subdivisions. In the same search on Zillow.com (2018) it revealed a higher percentage of foreclosure homes than in any other area around the school. This means that the eastern side of the school community is marked by extremes socio-economic status, but everyone is living in a suburban setting. The western side of the school community includes small isolated subdivisions of more expensive houses, but on this side there are more apartment communities and rental houses, as this is more of the Pineville area that has a higher percentage of rental as indicated by the data shown earlier. In addition, the further west one goes from the school the more rural the town of Pineville becomes. This section also includes a majority of the commerce found in this area of the county; with a hospital and clusters of small office parks for small offices or service type businesses.
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Cultural Resources The Charlotte area contains a wide array of cultural offerings across the county, but in this area of focus around the school there are not very many. There is one public library branch in this area, one large park, one greenway, and one county-ran public golf course. Pineville does have a State Historic Park site in the James K. Polk House. This park includes buildings and grounds where visitors can experience how President Polk grew up in the early nineteenth century. There are quite a few churches of many denominations in this area, both large and small. The local community college has a campus in this area in addition to some smaller colleges like Devry and local cosmetology schools, but the county as a whole includes UNCC, Queens College, Johnson C. Smith University, Pfieffer University, and other smaller colleges like Devry. District Summary of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools The Charlotte-Mecklenburg school (CMS) district is one of the largest in North Carolina, serving as a unified district for the city of Charlotte, the incorporated towns surrounding Charlotte, and the residents of Mecklenburg County’s rural areas. CMS schools, like most school districts across the country, has had to adapt over issues of integration, technology, funding, and now competition with the charter school movement. The goals of CMS as a district are best related through the tag line found on almost all documents and communication tools the district uses, “Every Child. Every Day. For a Better Tomorrow.” (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, n.d.) as the primary focus in everything done by the employees is supposed to meet those three qualifications. This summary presents a snapshot of the district as it exists now in the
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2017-2018 school year in terms of finding, school structure, the students, district staffing, the curricular models, technology, and the oversight of the school media coordinators. Funding CMS is a public school system that relies on funding from traditional sources such as the United States federal government, the state of North Carolina, and Mecklenburg County to try and achieve the mission of the district, “…to maximize academic achievement by every student in every school (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools , n.d.). The budget report for the 2017-2018 school year shows CMS collected just over $1.4 billion dollars primarily from those sources at 9%, 60%, and 30% respectively (2017, pg.13-14). The budget report also discloses 82% of that revenue is used for salaries and employee benefits (2017, pg. 13) as CMS is the third largest employer in the county with a total workforce of 18,143 persons (2017, pg.91). In terms of perpupil expenditures, the district expects to spend $9,532 on each of the projected 147,910 students in the district for the 2017-2018 school year (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Schools CMS currently operates 176 schools in the district. A majority of them follow a traditional tiered structure of 93 elementary schools, 44 middle schools, and 36 high schools (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). At this time there are 12 schools that run from Pre-K-8 or K-8, one K-12, one 6-12, and three alternative schools (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). There is not a common average in terms of size for the schools in the district. With some schools over 60 years old or older and some brand new, each school reflects a unique character created by the staff, students, and community in and around the school. The schools are divided into 10 learning communities which, according to the CMS website (n.d.), help students because:
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The structure of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools learning communities is intended to better support high schools and schools that feed into them. Organizing our learning communities in this way allows many of our students to be in the same learning community from kindergarten until graduation from high school. Such stability helps students to achieve at high levels and graduate on time. Six of the ten learning communities are based on geographic locations in the county, but the remaining four are performance-based for both the lower and higher performing schools that have similar challenges or successes. According to data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (n.d.) on Free & Reduced Meals Applications, 75 schools in the district are Title I schools in the 2016-2017 school year. Students The breakdown of the projected students for this year include children from 183 different countries, speaking 197 different native languages (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Racial demographics show African-Americans make up a majority of the district’s students at 38%, while Hispanic and Caucasian students only account for 24 and 29% respectively (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Across the district in the 2016-2017 school year, 59.27% of the total student population is classified as an economically disadvantaged student based on data from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction on Free & Reduced Meals Applications (n.d.). Personnel Of the total workforce stated above around 18,000 workers, 14,414 are teachers and student support staff in the schools with another 1,551 persons in the schools as administrators or
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office staff (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). The number of teachers mentioned above average 10.6 years of experience with 5,458 have advanced degrees and 1,128 are National Board Certified as well (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Outside of the schools, the district offices are organized as a typical for-profit corporation under the auspices of the District Superintendent and his 16 member executive leadership team overseeing 86 different instructional or support service departments (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, n.d.). There is not a licensed school media coordinator at every school in the district, but most schools at least have one media assistant to maintain the collections and perform basic circulation duties. Curriculum CMS follows the mandated state standards for the core content as well as the career and technical education courses for all grade levels. The latest data on student achievement from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (n.d.) from the 2016-2017 school year, for Endof-Course or End-of-Grade testing, showed that 52.2% of the overall student population was either college or career ready and that 61.2% were grade-level proficient. The same report showed achievement along racial demographics where Asian and Caucasian students outperformed Hispanic and African-American students in being grade level proficient - 80-85% versus 46-50%. The district has nine magnet programs in 47 schools (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Magnet options focus on entrepreneurship, middle college and early college in collaboration with Central Piedmont Community College, International Baccalaureate, world languages or language immersion, STEAM schools, visual and performing arts, and military or global leadership & public safety (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, n.d.). Across the district,
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students are able to take 35 different advanced placement courses for potential college credit (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, 2017). Technology The district has purchased laptop computers enabling access for all students in grades 412 according to the latest CMS budget report (2017, pg.6). Most classrooms have either a mounted projector or an interactive board with projector as part of the technology tools provided by the district. The district has invested in a variety of digital tools across all grade levels like Edgenuity, Canvas, Discovery Education, and Castle Learning (Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, n.d.) to offer options in how students learn and interact with content. Some of the goals for the Technology Services department for the current school year include expanding the use of Canvas by teachers, provide training for teachers on digital teaching tools, and obtaining certifications in digital citizenship at every school as reported in the current budget (2017 , pg.135). Media Services Department The district level department that oversees the school media coordinators and media assistants is part of the Personalization & School Partnerships division and employs four people. These individuals do the cataloging functions for the schools, create purchase orders for supplies and books, lead professional development for the media coordinators and assistants, and act as support personnel for new school media coordinators. School Summary of South Mecklenburg High School South Mecklenburg High School graduated its first class in 1960. Over the next 58 years, this school has grown like the community surrounding it; golf courses, apartment complexes, and mansions in sub-divisions have replaced the acres of farm land that surrounded the school. The
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campus covers six acres with buildings that mix old mid-century institutional with lots of tile and exposed pipes and new contemporary with a sanitized feel. Both the mission and vision statements focus on the students and staff, with two key phrases that the author feels encapsulates the goal of the school. In the words of Dr. Furr (n.d.), the Principal, “…prepare students for success in a competitive world. Student growth is the highest priority.” Student Data Like the landscape, the students have changed through the years as well. The first graduating class reflected the time period in that this was a white school of students from a European heritage. Now the student population is divided almost equally between males (49%), females (51%), Caucasians (35.3%), African-Americans (24.2%), and Hispanic (33.8%) students (School Improvement Plan 2017, pg.9). Assessment data for 2016-2017 from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (n.d.) shows that based on one test give on one day 60% of the tested students were college and career ready (CCR) and 68.8% were grade level proficient (GLP). This data set breakdown that information by race and ability as well. Overall the Caucasian students had the highest ratings at 83.6% and 88.1% respectively for CCR and GLP, but the African-American and Hispanic students were closely matched at 42.1 – 56.2% for both CCR and GLP scores; the economically disadvantaged students (EDS) fell within that same range as well. In addition, the students with disabilities (SWD) and limited English proficiency (LEP) scored similar results, 19.1 – 25.5% across both CCR and GLP. These assessment scores would one to think that a large percentage of the students are struggling to graduate during their time at South Mecklenburg. This is not the case based on 10 year longitudinal reports of the 4-year and 5-year cohort graduation rates from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (n.d.) in that African-Americans, SWD, and the EDS
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have a higher percentage of 4-year cohort graduates over the Hispanics, LEP, and Caucasian groups who had better rates in the 5-year cohort. The only group to have a declines in either cohort graduation rate was the LEP group who lost 2.9 & 2.5% respectively. Another data set commonly used to get a limited picture of a school is the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction’s report on Free & Reduced Meals Applications (n.d.) where the latest report from 2016-2017 shows that between 35 and 40% of the 2,974 students were eligible for either free or reduced lunches. Based on the assessment data and the meal application data, a majority of the EDS students are the ones qualifying for free or reduced meals. Looking at this data as a set shows that while assessment data is in-line with common perceptions, the graduation rate highlights the achievements of the other two-thirds of the student population. Just as the data reveals unexpected successes, being a part of the staff allowed the author to experience the unique environment of the school. Staff Data While the entire staff is in excess of 200 people, 191 are certified as teachers, Principal, Assistant Principle, Deans, facilitators, and counselors (School Improvement Plan 2017, pg.11). The instructional support staff includes EC and ESL assistants, a media center assistant, school nurse, security, and various secretaries (Faculty & Staff page, n.d.). In looking at the classes offered, there are the traditional core content areas and physical education. In addition to a Navy ROTC program, the career and technical education (CTE) department offers a wide range of classes from automotive technology, culinary, marketing, business education, and engineering (Faculty & Staff page, n.d.). The school also has a strong world language department that acts a final step for students in language immersion magnet middle schools in the southern part of the
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county. Languages taught cover Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and Chinese (Faculty & Staff page, n.d.). The School Improvement Plan (2017, pg.11) indicates that 57% of the teachers have advanced degrees with three of those as Doctorates; in addition, 14 teachers have National Board certification. The Plan also outlines the experience of the staff, which is reflective of the student demographics, 34% are new teachers with