Author: Daniel

 

Key Partners -Teachers -Counselors -Faculty	Key Activities -Assign students to a cluster -Assign a teacher/faculty to each group -Assign student leaders -Carry out program -Revise and improve program every year	Value Propositions -Integrate freshman into the school -Increase school pride -Allow students opportunities to lead -Increase student involvement in Clay -Inform students about activities and happenings at Clay -Give students more of a voice in how the school runs	Customer Relationships -Feedback loop from students -Surveys and meetings throughout	Customer Segments -Potential incoming students -Transfers and new students -Existing Clay students
	Key Resources -Classroom time for groups to meet -Software to track or manage the program -Apparel/wristbands to help identify groups -Teacher/faculty supervisor		Channels -First day, meet clusters -Weekly meetings (homeroom) -Email blast to leaders with agenda for each meeting
Cost Structure -Salary for counselor/program leader -Extra pay to teachers that support the program			Revenue Streams -Increased enrollment due to competitive advantage

User Scenarios Clay Clusters (Picture of storyboard)

Entice: Students are drawn into the school by the new mentorship program in place, Clay Clusters. Parents love that their kids get connected to school as freshmen, and that they have older mentors they can look up to. Students appreciate the friendly competition of the clusters, and enjoy having older members around the school who can look out for them and give them advice.

Enter: On the first day of freshman orientation, freshmen are placed into one of the many clusters around school. They meet their junior and senior leaders, and learn about how they can utilize the clusters program to help them succeed at school. They learn about athletic events, tutoring opportunities, service events, and everything else going on at school.

Engage: As they go through the year, the cluster groups meet regularly to talk about student life. This could include events, disciplinary issues, academic questions, and everything in between. They get engaged with the group and can use the members as a resource. As they get more experience at Clay, they can be shaped into leaders themselves and help freshman in the coming years.

Exit: When students graduate, they will hopefully still be connected with the members of their clusters through the years. They can become alumni resources for students to help with college or employment information in the future.

Extend: Perhaps some students from the program will come back to Clay to help improve the program, or help Clay increase enrollment in other ways. Ultimately, a program like this would encourage students to become more connected to their school, and take pride in Clay. This will have the short-term result of helping the student experience, and the long-term effect of making Clay look like a more attractive school for parents and students in South Bend.

 

Subject- What is the story about?

Our team is tackling the issue of low-enrollment at Clay High School, and trying to find opportunities for innovation in the student experience.

We came in trying to find ways to market Clay better, but came to realize that a major part of increasing enrollment involves improving student life, and making sure that all their needs are met.

 

Goal- What do you want to achieve with this story?

Ultimately, we want to present an idea to Clay on a program or activity that could help with their dwindling enrollment numbers. Even if it is just a prototype, we want the teachers and administrators to better understand where they can improve their school. Ideally, this would help Clay students feel more connected to their school, and through word of mouth, they could attract more and more younger students to Clay.

 

Audience-

Clay Administration and Teachers

 

Before – what does your audience think, feel, know, want, before they have experienced your story

They know that there could be improvements to the way that they market to school to potential students.

They understand the public high school system in South Bend

They are frustrated that Clay isn’t getting the recognition they deserve as an academic center.

They know what solutions they’ve tried, and what has failed in the past.

They want a solution that they can implement into their school. Ideally, it would be a way to entice students to come to Clay over other schools.

Set the scene – what do you need to introduce?

Stakeholders

Ethnographic Research

User Quotes

Guiding Principles

Takeaways

Make your point

Different possible prototypes

How each might be carried out at Clay

Potential challenges they could face along the way

Implementation strategies

Conclusion

Recommend one of our prototypes

-Increase enrollment by making freshmen feel more connected through the Clay Clusters

After

Clay better strives to meet the needs of incoming freshmen, making them feel more connected to the community from the start

Clay has more tools to better market themselves to the community, and show why they are an excellent high school

Clay is able to connect with local middle schools that could serve as feeders to entice younger students to attend their school

 

 

 

Prototype Plan  

Consider the setting  

• Our prototypes are centered around the experience of students at Clay High School. For this reason, it would most likely be valuable to prototype with them present, to understand how our solution can best address their complex needs.
• Although it might be useful to sketch out a general outline for how we will structure our various solutions, it will ultimately be most valuable for us to see how our ideas would play out with actual students.
• Maybe we could draw small focus groups of Clay Students and ask for feedback on our initial ideas and designs as we go along the process.
• It could work to run a focus group experiment in a classroom at Clay. We could test our mentorship program idea from our Clay Connections solution this way.

 

Define what to test  

• We would need a great deal of feedback from the students, parents, and teachers at Clay.
• From the teacher perspective, we would be seeking feedback regarding the feasibility of our plan. If we have this grand idea of a new system/process we want to implement, but it would be impossible for teachers and administrators to do, then our prototype will need to be revised.
• As for the students, we would want to know if they would even be interested in having some sort of “Family System”, or Clay Day. Obviously there will be people who resist the ideas we present, but if there is a sweeping majority of people that would not support our designs, then we might need to consider alternative solutions.
• In regards to the parents, we want to know if our proposed ideas would be enticing for them in terms of the betterment of their children’s education and general school life. As parents do have a big influence on which school a student attends, it would also be important to cater their needs even if that means we have to consider alternatives.
• Ultimately, it is also important to get feedback on how our ideas could help solve some of the underlying issues of the school. Perhaps when we’re gathering feedback about the effectiveness of our designs, we might discover a new need that we can meet.
• Goals for our design:
  • Help students feel more comfortable and safe in school, to ensure they can focus on aspects like academics and extracurricular activities.
  • Help students across class and academic level feel more connected at Clay.
  • Enhance the reputation of Clay by bringing true improvements to the school, rather than utilizing deceptive marketing.
  • Help Clay better advertise the best elements of the school, to increase the likelihood of parents enrolling their students in the school.

 

Define feedback activities

• Focus group: We will conduct an interactive focus group. Since it is important that the solutions we propose are appealing to the general student body, this group should include students, parents, teachers that represent various ethnographies of Clay. Throughout the process participants should be able to express concerns, support, or even alternatives to our prototypes.
• Trial Clay Day: For our prototype of Clay Day we would want to find a way to use a classroom for a few periods of a school day. We could partner with one Clay teacher to run a mock Clay Day where we raise money for some cause that Clay is currently working with. We could sell raffle tickets to allow the students to participate in the Clay Day activities that would involve watching a movie or playing games for a class day instead of doing normal classroom activities. By doing this we would be able to learn if a Clay Day fundraising type activity is something students are able to participate in economically, and we will learn if the incentive for raising money is something students are interested in. Also something interesting would be to see if word spreads throughout the school day of Clay Day and students not in the class we conduct the prototype in show desire to participate in the Clay Day activity. We really want to see what kind of Clay pride could potentially come out of a day like this. We would be using a pop-up shop type approach for this prototype.
• Option 1 Design the brochure: For our brochure prototype, we would partner with an art class, preferably a graphic design class, and ask the students to design a marketing brochure for Clay. This could be a one-day activity or even be an assignment. Students will be asked to include proud aspects of Clay that they would want prospective students to know. Our team will not only observe the brochures that the students make but also observe the process. Thereby, we will be able to learn if this type of activity is something students are willing to participate in. If the results are good, we could even develop the prototype further by making a Clay Brochure Committee, similar to an yearbook committee, in which students will participate in a year-long project to make a new brochure or update it.
• Option 2 Design the brochure: Principal Eid wanted us to come up with a physical prototype of a brochure that could potentially be used at Clay High School in the future. For our prototype of the brochure we would mock up a brochure based on what Clay High School could look like if they implemented our ideas. We would focus on aspects of Clay that Principal Eid wants to see a bigger focus in the brochure, such as academics, but we would also showcase the growing Clay Pride and Clay Connections that result from activities such as Clay Day, Clay mentorship programs, and the Clay language program. We could title the magnet program of Clay the “liberal arts magnet” in this brochure. This brochure could be shown to many different Clay users such as administration, teachers, current students and parents, and prospective students and parents to receive feedback. We want the students to feel that Clay is a smart school and is providing competitive opportunities to succeed in various extracurricular areas.
• The Clay Connection is a tough one to prototype because it is more about the building of a long-term relationship between Clay High School and some of the local middle schools and Notre Dame. The best way for us to prototype this right now would be to have students from Notre Dame come to Clay to participate in an afterschool tutoring or coaching program. This prototype would be cost efficient because Clay would not have to worry about transporting students to Notre Dame on short notice. To run this prototype we could have our group act as the tutors from Notre Dame coming to help at Clay. We could put flyers around Clay advertising for a one day tutoring and college advice session being held by Notre Dame. We could see what students think of a program like this and see if the turnout is any better than any current tutoring going on at Clay currently. If students do like this program maybe it is something that would add to Clay being a smart school that does well to prepare kids for college because of the connection with Notre Dame.

Create solution evaluation matrix

User Value Criteria:

1. Easy for students to support the idea
2. Does not detract from other essential goals of Clay
3. Enhances student experience
4. Creates a more safe and welcoming school
5. Increased enrollment at Clay

Provider Value Criteria

1. Easy to implement into Clay
2. Not overly expensive
3. Does not further damage the reputation of Clay
4. Still allows teachers to focus on teaching

 

Criteria	A	B	C	D	E	T	F	G	H	I	T
“Clay Pride”	4	4	3	4	2	17	3	4	4	2	13
“Clay Marketing”	2	4	1	2	4	13	3	3	2	4	12
“Clay Connections”	2	3	4	3	4	16	2	2	4	4	12

 

Design Criteria for Clay High School

Design Goals

• We have multiple users in this situation, with both the parent and student perspective. We view the student as the customer in this situation.
• Students want to get a number of different things out of their high school experience, but every student is unique in their needs
• Certain basic functional needs must be met for students, such as having bathroom doors on the bathroom stalls, and feeling safe from fights and harassment. We will present guiding principles through the lens of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs to reflect how some of these basic needs are currently unmet, preventing students from taking full advantage of their opportunities.
• The design needs to provide a result that does not mislead students, but rather helps to make Clay the best school possible, and to accurately portray all that Clay High School can offer to potential students. 

User Perceptions

• There are aesthetic attributes necessary to succeed with the target customer. Clay High School needs to fix the bathroom stalls that do not have doors and they need to create a more vibrant, welcoming environments in the school.
• The Clay High School reputation needs to be improved. Clay is often perceived to be solely the Fine Arts school that does not focus as much on academics, despite them having numerous AP offerings and strong standardized test scores.
• Clay is perceived to be an unsafe school, and reports in the media suggest that fights are common.
• One perception we have discovered when talking to students is the “gay Clay” perspective. This seems to both help and harm the school at times as some students want acceptance for everyone and others are put off by the image.

Problems/Needs/Opportunities

• Our target users, high school students and their parents, have many needs with regard to their high school.
• Students may want to be challenged, want to grow, want to feel safe and comfortable, and want to prepare themselves for the future. Parents likely want their students to be happy, safe, and academically challenged.
• Current pain points with regard to selecting high schools might be informational voids, conflicting opinions from parents, negative press about certain schools, negative experiences in their current school, and negative interactions with staff or faculty.
• With the emergence of social media and online information about schools, parents might have a difficult time choosing a specific school for their child. Sometimes, too much information can lead to inaction and frustration.
• As more students explore the options of private schools, public schools as a whole are having a difficult time attracting and retaining kids, especially when they have a negative reputation due to fights, thug culture, or a lack of resources in the classroom.

Functional Attributes

• Every student that goes to high school will have a unique experience. In this sense, there will be a unique user case for each individual student.
• The primary issue relating to compatibility is the way in which a student fits into a certain school. One student might thrive in a large, busy school, while another might prefer a smaller, more personalized experience. This has to do with Clay in their ability to market themselves as a school that appeals to a large audience, rather than simply a niche group of students interested in the arts.
• Essentially, Clay will likely be appealing to a few primary groups of students
  • Students who attend Clay because it is close to their home
  • Students who attend Clay because of recommendations by friends or siblings
  • Students who attend Clay because of its magnet program and commitment to the arts
  • Students who attend Clay for reasons other than the three above (lack of uniforms, sports, CTE courses, etc.)
• Clay can either focus on improving the experience for students in these existing groups, or create a “new group” by finding a way to draw in students. This could include new program offerings or courses, but most likely it will just involve marketing certain elements of the school more effectively. It seems like the AP program could be a good candidate for this.

Constraints

• We could face constraints from the South Bend Public School district. There could be certain marketing tools or proposed changes that are not allowed by the district.
• Clay High School has budgetary issues to deal with and it does not seem that our solutions can be very costly.
• Change often takes a lot of time, and implementing it within the semester might be challenging.
• Principal Eid and the rest of the staff might not agree with our conclusions relating to the issues facing the school.
• We don’t necessarily fully understand the dynamics of the school, and although we have strong research and data from interviews and surveys, it is hard to fully grasp the complex challenges of a school in just a few weeks of working with them.

For my analogous immersion experience, I decided to replicate the process that a parent might take when seeking information about high schools. For my experience, I chose the internet as the primary source of information, although brochures, parents nights, and recommendations often supplement this process. I mostly treated this process as an information search, and tried to better understand the ways in which a parent might look for information about a school

 

1. Search: South Bend Schools

2. Narrow search to: South Bend High Schools

3. Compare the rankings of each public high school in South Bend. The thing that sticks out are the low rankings across the board for the four schools (none above 5). If I saw that as a parent, that might lead me to seek more information about public schools in neighboring areas, or private school options.

4. If someone recommended Clay high school to me, or if I wanted more information about that specific school, I would go next to the reviews. The reviews for Clay are fairly positive, and seem to paint it in a good light. As a parent, it would be encouraging to read real reviews from parents and students.

5. At this point, I might extend the search to nearby cities, like Mishawaka, to see what other options exist. Principal Eid mentioned that they lose a lot of kids to Penn High School. This makes sense, considering their ranking here is a 9, which is almost double that of the public high schools in South Bend.

6. If education is my number one priority, I might consider looking at only Blue Ribbon schools, to see if there were any in my area.

7. Once I narrowed down a school that I wanted to learn more about, I would go to their website. 2 things stand out when searching for Clay. For one, the school’s official website is only the 5^th thing to come up on google. Secondly, the news article regarding a recent fight is right below it, which could be problematic if a parent sees this in their preliminary search.

8. The website looks slightly outdated. Maybe have more than two pictures on the front page, and cycle through them a little quicker? I don’t think the website is bad, but it could use some modernizing.

9. I would also be interested in seeing some statistics about Clay. Perhaps numbers on diversity, or graduation rates, or college admits. This might be a good section to add to the website, or the “About Us” section.

10. Lastly, it would be important for me to know that the staff was strong. Because of that, I would likely do a search to find information about teachers or principals. One example website I might use would be RateMyTeachers.com

 

It’s very difficult to track the complete cycle of a parent choosing a high school for their child, since it’s such a lengthy and unique process. They might start to be influenced before their child is even board, and they will likely be flooded with information from a number of different sources. The analogous immersion experience I undertook highlighted some ways that Clay can better leverage their online presence to show parents all they have to offer. Their website is strong, but could definitely do more to highlight the elements that Principal Eid is really passionate about.

Expert Interview – Danny Cohen

Date: 3/3/2017

Type: Expert interview with Admissions Officer at Notre Dame

User: Alyssa is an admissions office assistant director at Notre Dame. Her region is Southern California and New Mexico, and I originally met her in Los Angeles. She had some great insight regarding the specifics of admission, and the way that AP and IB programs compare.

Age Range: About 30

(Interview conducted over email)

Summary of Interview:

I began by asking Alyssa how colleges compared the rigor of AP and IB programs. Her answers were:

• Students are encouraged to take either AP or IB courses of they are offered
• If a student can receive an IB diploma, their high school will be considered “most rigorous”
• AP and IB Higher Level courses are viewed on the same level.
  • IB Standard level is less rigorous

I also asked Alyssa what the perception of South Bend schools were.

• She had positive things to say about all high schools in South Bend
• Many St. Joseph County students apply to Notre Dame
• Public vs. Private schools do not affect admissions decisions

Alyssa noted that the paths of students are not compared across high schools.

• If a student can follow their passion in a magnet program, then Notre Dame would take this into account in their admission decision.

Significant Quotes:

“If a student has the ability to receive an IB Diploma, we will consider their high school curriculum to be “most rigorous” in our admissions review process.”

“When comparing an AP course to an IB course, we view AP and IB Higher Level on the same level”

“We hope that students have chosen to challenges themselves to the best of their abilities, based on what is offered at their specific high school.”

“Notre Dame has a great perception of the high schools ​in the South Bend community, both public and private”

“We evaluate each applicant based on the path they have chosen to take within their specific high school, and do not compare them to the paths other students take at different high schools.”

“A student’s choice to be a part of a magnet program is great, and really is a benefit to the student in their ability to pursue their passion(s)”

Entire Transcript:

1) How do colleges compare AP and IB programs? If a high school has an IB program but a low rate of students that actually get a diploma, is that still regarded highly by universities? Is the number of AP courses offered by a high school used as a consideration for admissions?

​ We encourage students to take Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate courses if those courses are offered by their high school. If a student has the ability to receive an IB Diploma, we will consider their high school curriculum to be “most rigorous” in our admissions review process. When comparing an AP course to an IB course, we view AP and IB Higher Level on the same level, and IB Standard Level on a less rigorous level. We evaluate each applicant solely based on the high school they choose to attend. If one high school offers 20+ AP courses, we would never expect a student to take all of them. However, if a high school offers 3 AP courses, we would encourage the student to take all three, if possible. At the end of the day, we hope that students have chosen to challenges themselves to the best of their abilities, based on what is offered at their specific high school.

2) (This might be hard for you to answer as the SoCal recruiter, but I’ll ask anyways)  What is the general perception that the admissions office has of South Bend Schools? Does the university have a high number of applicants from the city of South Bend? Are the public schools seen as less competitive in admissions considerations vs. the private schools like St. Joe’s or Trinity?

​ You are correct in that my expertise is more geared toward the knowledge of Southern California and New Mexico high schools, but I do know that Notre Dame has a great perception of the high schools ​in the South Bend community, both public and private. We do receive a large number of applications from St. Joseph County, in large part due to the proximity to Notre Dame’s campus (that is common of all colleges/universities). We never compare applicants across high schools, so a student’s choice to attend public vs. private would not impact their Notre Dame admissions decision.

3) Does the admissions office take into consideration when schools have “Magnet Programs” such as the ones in South Bend? I’m not sure if you’re familiar with them, but each of the 4 has a concentration of either Engineering/Medicine/Arts/IB. Would a school such as Notre Dame value an IB school more than an Arts school in terms of admissions considerations, or is it more based on the path of the student?

​ I’ve briefly touched upon this in my first two responses, but ​we evaluate each applicant based on the path they have chosen to take within their specific high school, and do not compare them to the paths other students take at different high schools. For example, we do not expect all students to be artistic, musically gifted, the Student Body President, and the Captain of three sports teams. A student’s choice to be a part of a magnet program is great, and really is a benefit to the student in their ability to pursue their passion(s).

4) What would be the process if a High School wanted to invite Notre Dame to a college fair, or to present to prospective students?

​ ​This is actually very easy! The high school guidance counselor should reach out to their Notre Dame admissions counselor (found on our website) to request a high school visit. When we travel during the months of September and October, we visit 3-5 high schools during each day. If Clay High School (or any other high school you might be working with) wants to invite us to their College Fair, they should pass along an electronic invitation to our office via email. The team of local admissions volunteers (usually alumni, but not limited to) reviews and RSVPs to the invitation. Rarely do Admissions Counselors attend College Fairs, as we have teams of phenomenal admissions volunteers who are eager to work these College Fairs on our behalf.

Card Sort – Danny Cohen

Date: 2/28/2017

Type: Expert interview with Parent and President of Holy Cross School Board (Including Card Sort)

User: Brian is the parent of 2 daughters, one in 5^th grade and one in Prekindergarten. He is the president of the Holy Cross School Board. As the interview progressed, it became clear that he was more of an expert than I realized before, so I got some good insight about enrollment from him. Overall, most of the content of the interview was based around the card sort, though.

Age Range: About 40

Occupation: Facilities Director at Notre Dame

Summary of Interview:

We began with a card sort, where Brian ranked the 4 public high schools in the area in order of where he would likely send his daughters. The ranking was:

1. Adams
2. Clay-Riley-Washington (All equal)

The only one that Brian had specific knowledge of was Adams, and that was through conversations with peers and friends who were considering sending their kids to that school. He admitted that he did not have a negative image of the other 3, but was more lacking information about them.

We then moved onto the ranking of magnet programs. The ranking was:

1. IB
2. Engineering-Fine Arts (Tied)
3. Medicine

Brian noted that he was intrigued by the potential of an international program like IB, and its ability to help immerse kids in their academic experience. With regard to engineering and fine arts, he noted the importance of a wide breadth of experience when it comes to education, and how specializing in a certain field can sometimes be limiting for kids. He also commented that his kids’ interests and desires would definitely be a factor in deciding schools.

After this, I had Brian rank the internal factors of a school that were most important to him. The ranking was as follows:

1. Diversity-Course Offerings-College Preparedness
2. Academic Difficulty-Fine Arts-Strength of Staff
3. Friends-Sports-Facilities-Technical/Career Classes

In his Holy Cross School community, diversity was a huge factor for him, both racial and socio-economic, and he will be looking for that as a parent when looking at schools for his kids. He also noted the importance of college preparedness for his kids. Finally, he was adamant on the significance of a wide offering of courses, and a diverse academic experience for his kids.

The next card sort we did was a ranking of the factors that would most turn Brian AWAY from a particular school. In order of most important to least important, he ranked:

• MOST SIGNIFICANT: No AP/IB Programs-Negative Press/Publicity-Fights-Lack of Arts-Low Graduation Statistics-Lack of Academic Rigor
• LESS SIGNIFICANT: Bad Teachers-Few College Admits-Gangs/Thug Culture-Lack of Sports
• (Partway through, he changed the second group to “What do I doubt, or what do I want to know more about”)

Regarding the negative factors about a school, Brian noted his reluctance to believe things until they are backed up by facts or data. As a president of a school board himself, he noted how events can be wrongfully spun in a negative light. Clearly he is going to be very active in his pursuit for information about schools for his kids, and his insight shows how many parents consider a number of different factors when evaluating schools.

The final card sort was related to sources of information that he would use when deciding on a school for his kids. The ranking was:

1. Recommendations-Family Ties
2. Brochures/Marketing Material-Statistics
3. Parent Nights

Brian described that the ranking was more of a process, where he would begin with the sources at number 1 and then work down to 2 and 3.

For him, recommendations are important, but he would be inclined to dig into multiple sources to gather all the possible information. As a school board member himself, he noted the importance of not simply believing everything you hear, and instead digging deeper and asking questions that can lead to more accurate conclusions. The role of a school board should be to facilitate information between parents and the school, and make sure that everyone is informed about the experience that their child could have at a school.

Recommendations/Insights:

• While enrollment is an issue, it’s important to remember that sometimes, families leave schools for reasons that are outside of the control of the school. If people aren’t happy with the diversity at Clay, then Clay shouldn’t necessarily try and change who they are to keep these families. In his mind, schools are strengthened by diversity, and as a diverse school, Clay should seek out families that are looking for this and draw them in.
• Holy Cross is trying to introduce an immersion program at their school where students participate in a two-way immersion track, to support the high Latino population at the school.
• Rather than just thinking about how Clay should change, Brian encouraged them to become more aware of who they are, and highlight and enhance those elements.
• At their last info session, 100% of the people that attended were personally invited. This data supports the importance of peer recommendations, and the way in which word-of-mouth is a powerful tool for sharing information and driving decisions.
• Use parents as resources! Create a group or club where parents can go into the community and “sell Clay”, and help highlight the positive elements of the school.
• For High Schools, feeder schools are extremely important. If possible, Clay should consider partnering with elementary and middle schools to support programs that they have already instituted for their kids. For example, Holy Cross is beginning a two-way immersion program where kids become bilingual through their traditional education. If Clay were to introduce a program that continued this education through high school, they would have a high likelihood of attracting all those graduating students from Holy Cross who want to continue this educational experience. Creating ties with feeder schools is crucial for supporting enrollment.

Significant Quotes:

“Adams is in close proximity to where we live, and I’m aware of a number of families who have had children go to Adams, or are considering going to Adams… Generally positive about different programs they offer.”

“This is more of an information void than an actual ranking. I haven’t explored them in the same way as [Adams].”

“Adams is our default public school option based on proximity and familiarity.”

“Specific familiarity of what goes into an IB program is something I’d need a little more information on.”

“Certainly I would want my child’s feedback…. Their happiness or success in a program could tip the scales a little bit.”

“For some families, these [magnet] labels might be important, and for others not so much”

“Racial and socioeconomic diversity enriches the classroom, enriches the school community, enriches a lot of the other pieces. I very much value that.”

“Study anything, do everything could apply at the high school level as well.”

“It’s going to be important to me as a parent that the school prepares my student for college.”

“I would be drawn to data… That could be a number that could be significant, but I’d want to dig a little deeper.”

Regarding technical classes: “I don’t see this particular coursework as being applicable right after high school.”

“This is a rumor mill category. This is data that I could gather that could be a factor.” (Relating to negative factors that might influence his decision)

“A lack of arts would be a gap in the experience or education that I would want for my children.”

“Is the negative press and publicity true?”

“I think it’s possible if the people I trust were vocal enough that I would already dismiss the school.”

“If I heard something negative, I would explore how the school is handling it.”

“I would be drawn in by positive information about the school, but would want the negatives to be addressed at a parent night or meeting.”

“We’ve had some dwindling enrollment over the last decade.”

 

 

 

Date of Observation: 2/28/2017

Location: Clay High School

Type: Immersion Experience

Event: Multicultural Celebration Assembly (Students and Parents)

Event Description: This assembly was put on by teachers and students, and it was a celebration of diversity at the end of Black History Month. There were different sketches, poems, songs, and performances throughout the assembly.

Takeaways:

Strength of Diversity

This assembly was entirely dedicated to the celebration of diversity at Clay High School, and the importance of speaking out against intolerance. It is clear that Clay has a diverse population of students, and they are making an intentional effort to celebrate the different backgrounds of Clay students. As Principal Eid has acknowledged, Clay must celebrate their diverse student body, in order to encourage kids from all different backgrounds to attend.

Role of Teachers

Most of the performances were done by Clay teachers, and the excitement and applause for them showed the students’ appreciation for their teachers’ participation. Since teachers have some of the most direct contact with students, it is crucial that they find ways to connect with and encourage their kids. This assembly was one way of doing that, and it seemed to be a great success.

Parent Involvement

Parents were also invited to come to the assembly, and watch alongside their students. This reinforces the importance that parents have in their High School Students’ experience, as they have the capacity to support and bring their child to events around the school.

Low Student Participation

Although the assembly was well-run and encouraging, the gym was mostly empty. Speaking to Principal Eid, he commented that kids sometimes have a hard time coming to events like these, due to transportation challenges. This makes me wonder if there are other events around school that might have a better turnout if Clay offered more busses and transportation solutions.

 

Individual Interview 2 – Danny Cohen

Date: 2/22/2017

Type: Individual Interview with former St. Joe student currently at Notre Dame

User: Sean O’Brien is a junior at Notre Dame studying Accounting, originally from South Bend, IN. He attended St. Joe High School, a private school in South Bend. Young Jae and I conducted an interview in North Dining Hall, where we asked him some questions about his reasons for choosing St. Joe, and his perception of Clay High School.

Summary of Interview:

Entice:

What enticed him to attend St. Joe versus the other options?

• Religion: Catholic education was important to him
• Best academic high school in the area
• College Preparedness: 20+ kids to Notre Dame every year
• Family ties; multiple relatives went to St. Joe, including mom
• Determined from very early on that he was going to St. Joe
• Only one of two private schools in South Bend

It was clear from early on that Sean was going to St. Joe. With the family ties, Catholic education, and strong academics, it was the clear choice for him. In both the two interviews I conducted about high schools, family ties played a major role in determining where the student would go to school.

Enter:

Sean didn’t describe specifically how he began his high school experience, other talking a little bit about the feeder nature of education, where he went to an elementary and middle school that led into St. Joe. He is originally from Clay Township, and lived across from an elementary school that fed into Clay, so he had a lot of friends at Clay.

Engage:

Sean played football in high school, and took 5 AP classes in his time at St. Joe.

We didn’t speak much about his exit and extension after high school, but he went to Notre Dame and would very likely send his kid to a high school similar to St Joe in the future.

One of the interesting points that Sean touched on was the voucher program, which is a program that allows parents to send their kids to Catholic Schools for a greatly reduced price. He suggested that this might lead to some students who would normally attend a public school instead going to a private Catholic School, for the perceived superior education.

Sean also described the public school system in South Bend as being poorly run and managed, although he wasn’t able to go into a lot of details about that. It seems to be more of a talking point that public high schools in South Bend are bad, rather than actually one supported by hard facts.

Sean also discussed the issue of IB and AP, and why IB was perceived as being superior. He described the way in which IB candidates are separated from the rest of the school, and pursuing the honors track. However, he also conceded that the idea of an IB program is actually a farce in South Bend, since so few kids actually get the diploma. He called the IB program “a joke”, since the classes weren’t any more difficult than other classes.

Sean also talked about how sports were such a significant factor for parents when choosing where to send their kids. For parents of athletes, a major consideration for them is the quality of the sports team at the school, which I didn’t consider a potentially major factor until our interview with Sean.

There are definitely issues of race with regard to Clay’s enrollment, and Sean addressed how the school went from being predominantly white to much more diverse. He didn’t specify why this could have an effect on enrollment numbers, but this is definitely something we will look more into.

Significant Quotes:

“My friends chose Clay because it’s right by their house”

“A lot of professors send their kids to Adams, since it’s in the ‘Old Money Neighborhood’”

“I don’t think Clay has the thug culture that the others do. It’s probably one of the safer ones”

“Adams sends kids to Ivy League schools”

“Public education in South Bend is… very poorly run, and there are a lot of issues there”

“The schools are not managed well, some have problems with gangs and violence. That’s the perception, that they’re not great”

“The best public school around is Adams, because they have the IB program. They’re the best off of the four public high schools.”

“Back when you couldn’t go to every school, Clay was the best public school”