Characteristica_of_at_Risk_Students

Each and every one the categories are all very important and play a major role in every study. The one the category of at-risk students that I choose was the family stability. This to me is one that stands out not only because I am a woman and a mother but because it is a fact that society itself cannot change and in my opinion just keeps on growing. I thin it keeps on growing for the mere fact that woman are being stronger and standing up for themselves when they face unhealthy circumstances for their children and themselves. There are many single woman that are trying to raise there children on there own, and more than half of them are working minimum wage jobs and sometimes even working two jobs just to support the house hold, just as our reading indicated. Trust me there is no wrong in that because we as parents just want the best and try to give the best to our children. Working so much just to make ends meet is causing to have less time to dedicate to their child’s school, school work, attendance and their education as a whole. Sadly because of this, family stability, and SES are now an issue for at-risk students and drop out rates at a high. Statistics state that 50% of low-income/ family stability exceed the drop out rates; compared to general population. YISD (Ysleta Independent School District) has a cohesive and comprehensives system or program for assessing and reporting student’s performance. In 2009 a low-income program was introduced to help students achieve higher than average on there test scores, attendance, and extra curricular activities. It starts of by conducting an intensive five-day orientation program and this fallow by each individual being assigned a student as a mentor, this being part of the program. The mentor shows the child the support and attention they deserve and are lacking for X reason at home or at school. I think this program is beneficial to the child because it helps them build there self esteem, drop that wall, and boost there confidence. Without confidence within them every task seems impossible or extremely difficult to achieve. This boost comes from better grades in school, understanding the lessons being taught not feeling lost or confused because they have that one on one time and individual attention that they lack. Many students are embarrassed to be placed in a special education class and seem to become more rebellious towards the situation, with this program I believe that this will be avoided and again the motivation and positive attitude will help them realize that they are not alone and no need to be in the statistics just because they are categorized as at-risk students. By breaking down the program into different components, needs, and individualized placing the achievements are endless for these children. I think it’s the extra push they need to succeed in life, and reaching out to the student just in time before the tipping point. The program success can speak for itself. In 2010 the Ysleta Independent School District was one of the five national finalists for the 2010 Broad Prize for Urban Education, a prominent education prize awarded to the school district with the most improvement in student’s achievement among low-income and minority students. YISD is proud of how well the program is achieving as assuring all there members as author Alan M. Blankenstein’s theory says “Failure is not an option”. The school district knew there was a strong sense of urgency to help and meet the needs of at-risk students and action was taken. I am extremely proud to say that I belong to this school district, and I as everyone knows it is far from being accomplished 100% but it is a great start. There are many young children not just in this school district that need our help and I hope that many of us that are fortunate can help make a difference in each of our communities. Having programs such as this one has made a world of difference in many students lives and I hope the school districts, communities, and state will continue to show there support and help create many more programs.