Urban Schools and Communities
Conduct an in-depth analysis of a selected community in New
York and its corresponding public school district. You will obtain quantitative data from several online websites
and write a narrative profile describing the demographic characteristics of your selected community and district.
The assignment will also require you to provide a brief personal reflection on the school/district (if it is one with
which you have direct experience), or to locate and discuss 1-2 article(s) in the media that describe(s) a current
educational issue in the community.
Instructions
- Pick a community in New York state that you would like to investigate. Students often choose to
examine the community in which they grew up (and the school district that they attended), but this is not
mandatory. If you are not from New York, or if you would prefer to explore another community, you are
free to pick whichever community in the state interests you the most.
a. Note that data may be limited or unavailable for very small communities; in that case you may
want to choose a larger nearby community.
b. If you attended a charter school or private school, you will probably need to research data for the
public school district in your community (rather than the individual charter school) as charter or
private school data may be limited or unavailable. - Determine the official name of the public school district in your selected community.
- Locate the following websites:
a. The official website for your selected public school district
b. www.census.gov/quickfacts
c. https://data.nysed.gov
Writing the paper
Imagine that you were asked to write an article describing the demographic and social characteristics of your
selected community and school district. The newspaper is particularly interested in reporting the following
themes: - How the demographics of your selected community compare to New York state as a whole
- How the demographics of your selected school district compare to those for New York’s public
education system as a whole - How the demographics of your school district compare to those for your community
In other words, you will be explaining to the newspaper’s readers to what extent your community is
representative of the state; to what extent your school district is representative of the state’s student body; and
to what extent your public school district is representative of its surrounding community.
The newspaper is also interested in getting a brief (roughly 1-2 paragraphs) “on the ground” perspective on
what it is like to live in that community and/or to attend the public schools in that community (if applicable, of
course). If you did not live in or attend school in your community, then you may locate 1 or 2 articles online
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that discuss a schooling-related issue in that community and write a brief summary of that issue and why it is
important to the community.
Your paper should address all of the questions highlighted below. You are certainly welcome to include other
data (not mentioned below) that strike you as interesting. But your write-up should, at a minimum, answer the
following questions. You should incorporate your answers into readable paragraphs (much like you’d find in a
newspaper), not merely answer them in a list. Feel free to answer the questions in whichever order makes the
most logical sense. - What is the population of your community? (U.S. Census website. Tip: Choose the most recent year
available and state it in your write up. For example: “In 2014, the population of Happytown was 20,000
residents.” In general, for this assignment it is a good idea to use the most recent year for which data
are available. If you need to use older data for some questions, that is fine; just note it accordingly.) - What is the dominant racial/ethnic group in your community? What racial/ethnic group has the second
highest proportion of residents? The third highest? Etc? How does the demographic profile of your
community compare to the state as a whole? (U.S. Census website.) - What percentage of the adults age 25 and older in your community lack a high school diploma? How
does this compare to the state as a whole? (U.S. Census website.) - What percentage of the adults age 25 and older in your community have earned at least a college
diploma (bachelor’s degree)? How does this compare to the state as a whole? (U.S. Census website.) - What is the poverty rate in your community? How does it compare to the state as a whole? (U.S. Census
website.) - What is the median household income in your community? How much more or less is it than the median
household income for the state as a whole? (U.S. Census website.) - Compared to the state as a whole, does your community have a greater or lesser proportion of people
who were born in a foreign country? What about the percentage of people who speak a language other
than English at home? (U.S. Census website.) - How many K-12 students are in your public school district? (NYSED – Enrollment Data)
- What are the dominant racial/ethnic groups in your public school district (and the second, third, etc.)?
How do these proportions compare to the racial demographics for the state’s public school system?
(NYSED – Enrollment data) - How do the racial demographics for your public school district compare to the racial demographics for
your community? If they seem relatively similar, why might that be? If they are rather different, why
might that be? (NYSED – Enrollment data) - What proportion of the students in your public school district are (a) English Language Learners; (b)
Students with disabilities; and (c) Economically Disadvantaged? How do these proportions compare to
those for the state as a whole? Would you have predicted these proportions based on what you know
about the composition of your community as a whole? Why or why not? (NYSED – Enrollment data)
3 - What is the overall high school graduation rate for your public school district? [Hint: Just use the “Grad
Rate” percentage.] How does it compare to the state as a whole? (NYSED – School data/HS
Graduation Rate) - Does the high school graduation rate in your community differ considerably based on group
characteristics (i.e., by gender, race/ethnicity, economic disadvantage, etc)? (NYSED – School data/HS
Graduation Rate) - Were you able to find the website for your public school district? How easy is it to navigate? Imagine
that you and your family just moved into this community. Would you be able to tell what you need to do
to enroll your child in school? What kinds of information does the site offer? Is there any information
that you would want to have that seems to be missing? - Are you able to tell whether your community has any public charter schools?
As noted above, after you address these questions, you should take 1-2 paragraphs to reflect on your own
observations as a member of that community and/or school. Or you may describe for the reader 1-2 articles that
discuss an educational issue in that community.