Jessica and Louise

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We would like to construct a simulation/survey for prospective students of many ages to engage in, in respect to the type of school they would want to receive their education from. Society focuses heavily on the needed reform and social change in the Hartford Schools.  This focused attention is primarily based on the influential factors affecting the children in the school system, neglecting the demands and opinions of the actual students attending these schools. School children must be comfortable in their environment in order to attain a valuable education and a successful academic experience.

These are five critical points we must examine about students. We would like to know from the perspective of the students:
1. Desired outcome (expected future achievement)
2. Curriculum based activities students would like to engage in
3. Form of instruction in classroom (Ex. Montessori, or testing prep. Etc.)
4. Role of teacher (amount of guidance)
5. Classroom setting: coed, same sex, etc.

Student Demographics are equally as significant to determine the appropriate schooling environment:
*Where one lives
*Transportation
*Parental/caregiver support etc.

Factors that could impede the potential success of this simulation would be:
*Early private school waitlists and public school space availability
*Family influences
*Economic situations

Readings:
We plan to share readings that will give insight on current educational practices in each type of school setting. Readings will include a range of educational inequalities, such as the reasons for drop out rates and school enrollment rates. Our objective is to enhance students’ input on their individual education in hope of promoting motivational incentives.

Web Project will include the following aspects of education:
1.      Various types of schooling
2.      Data base statistics (freely accessable form UNESCO)
3.      Family economics
4.      Student demographics

Helpful visuals will include (in video and photo form):
Classroom exercises and activities in different school settings.

Jessica’s Exercise 6

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(Hansen, Susan. Oral history interview on West Hartford, CT and restrictive covenants , by Candace Simpson for the Cities, Suburbs, and Schools Project, July 22, 2011. Available from theTrinity College Digital Repository, Hartford Connecticut (http://digitalrepository.trincoll.edu/cssp/).

(Hartford Times Collection: States: Conn: Newspapers & Periodicals: Hartford Times: Negro in Hartford Essay Nov. 261963)

In the video shown above, Susan Hansen is interviewed as a West Hartford resident. She discusses the fact that eleven years ago she had gotten a job in West Hartford and wished to move there from another town. Hansen finally found a home directly behind Webster Hill School, which she likes very much. She and her husband had been looking for a better school district, as  they had a child with special needs. She said the area was comfortable for them. Interestingly, when a document was presented to her about racial segregation in the neighborhood by a Trinity College student, she was shocked. She said she had been completely unaware of the segregation when purchasing the home – it seemed real estate agents did not bring this up (perhaps intentionally?).

I chose to add this photo because, according to the text with the photo, it shows a black woman (prospective buyer?) with a white man (realtor?) looking at a house that is for sale. The text states that  The description indicated that housing choices were very limited for blacks in all white neighborhoods,  but were available in neighborhoods that were already mixed.

In Both the video and photograph, the whites showed racial discrimination in their neighborhoods.

CT Percentage Affordable Housing by Town

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The map shows the distribution of Affordable Public Housing in the state of Connecticut by town. It appears that this data set covers only the central part of the state, excluding both the Eastern and Western areas (including the largest city, Bridgeport). The data shows that affordable housing is concentrated in the larger cities, Hartford and New Haven, which would be expected because of the concentration of lower income residents there. I would expect to see a similar distribution in other states.

Exercise 3 Graphical Presentation

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In chart 1, we show the full range from 0-100%, which makes the change in percentage of the data seem smaller. In chart 2, the scale ranges only from 40-80%, which makes the full change in percentage seem larger. Even though the percent change is the same in the second chart, the change appears to be much more dramatic (larger) because of the scale of the chart. One can be mislead if they are not checking the scale values carefully.