Category: Clay High School – Team A

Ethnographic Summary

David Weaver

Quick Bio: Senior at Clay High School. Heavily involved in CTE, specifically Construction and Transportation. Attended Brown Intermediate. Gets A’s and B’s in classes.

Date: March 3, 2017

Location: Clay High School Auto Shop

Type of observation: Interview

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

Age: 12^th grade

 Why did he choose Clay High?

• Brother and sister attended Clay High, so the decision was already made for him.
• David also lives nearby.
• CTE Programs best fit his interests

Environment:

• During what the CTE instructor considered an “off-day”, where students were working on cleaning up equipment.
• Two other classmates were working with him, with several students walking in and out of the room. Some welding CTE students came by to drop off a tire rack they had created in the other class.

Notable comments:

• Used to be in ROTC, but program was cancelled while he was attending.
• Planning to go to school like Ivy Tech to further CTE education.
• Guidance counselors are involved in his development, and likes the teachers he has had.
• Studied at Riley briefly for a construction CTE course; worked in an actual house for real world practice

Key Insights:

• Program does a good job already with preparing students for immediate employment, and instructors can help students get scouted into their jobs.
• CTE could be a really valuable resource and marketable program for those not as interested in academics.

Ethnographic Summary

Jackson Jones

Quick Bio: Freshman at Clay High School. Wide Receiver for Freshman/JV team, and plays basketball and baseball. Attended Clay Intermediate.

Date: March 3, 2017
Location: Clay High School Cafeteria

Type of observation: Interview

Team participants: Conducted interview alone

Age: 9^th grade

Why did he choose Clay High?

• Didn’t really have much of a say; his father was a huge Clay Colonials fan and used to be a big high school athlete when he attended Clay.

Environment:

• Last period of lunch in the Café O’ Clay, the cafeteria on campus. Less than a dozen students were actually eating something.
• Dozen students were roughhousing nearby

Interactions:

• Was hanging out in the cafeteria with Macey Ginzer, who is also a freshman and is deeply involved in sports like Jackson. The two are close teammates, as Macey is the quarterback who sees Jackson, the wide receiver, as his “go-to guy”.
• His basketball coach interrupted the interview, and managed to persuade him to drop trying out for baseball this season. Wanted him to focus on basketball so he can develop into a varsity player, rather than playing JV for three different sports. Coach wants him to follow his father’s footsteps.

Notable comments:

• Being an athlete doesn’t automatically keep you from being involved with the Fine Arts programs on campus. Jackson is definitely interested in dance, singing, and acting. While he identifies sports as the most important activity in his life, fine arts comes as a close second.
• Teachers have been somewhat detached with his development; Jackson suffered from a concussion earlier last season and had to miss several days of school, but never received extra help to help get back on track. Ended up struggling with the course and drop down to a subpar GPA.
• The LGBTQ community is a factor in a lot of reasons why people he knew is transferring of Clay. The transfer students are not necessarily homophobic, but LGBT students often bully others and pester others. Clay is also commonly considered to be a “gay school” according to other research.
• Jackson doesn’t feel safe walking down certain parts of the campus. However, he’s learned which parts to avoid or how to defuse a situation whenever he’s approached by someone he doesn’t know, based on experience.

Key Insights:

1. Sports do have some pull power when it comes to deciding schools, like it did in Jackson and his father’s case. But athletes can also be intrigued and motivated by other quality programs, like fine arts, despite the stereotypes that might counter this idea.
2. There should be a test on how much quality teachers bring to their students. Jackson believes that a lot of students transfer out because they don’t feel attended to and begin to dislike their teachers. Jackson was grateful when one of his teachers did help him out during his injury, so being able to engage and support students in situations is a key way to retain those enrolled.

Interactive Immersion – The Card Sort

 

The Card Sort was conducted on Friday 3/3 at Clay High School during the school day.

The set of cards included the options:

–        Safety, the Arts, CTE, Athletics, Dual Credit, Reputation, Appearance, Diversity, Community and Academics

When we conducted the card sort, myself (or Faisal or Michael) would ask a student (or occasionally a teacher or school worker) to read and order the cards, ranking them based on the question,

“What does Clay High School do best?”

Observation: We received a variety of responses from the students, in a variety of different formats. Many students were curious what we were doing and wanted to help, this means that we may have had some bias by choosing students who were interested/engaged.

The most common trends were:

1. The Arts, CTE and Academics consistently ranked near the top of the list. This was interesting as Clay does not have a reputation for being an academic school among people in the community.
2. Athletics and Reputation were pretty consistently near the bottom of the list. This is consistent with our other research.
3. Safety was usually located near the center of the card sort spectrum. Sometimes appearing closer to the best and sometimes to the worst.

Below are two examples:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Analogous Immersion – Madi’s College Decision

The Process:

When I sit down to think about my college decision I remember it being quite the process.

Stage 1: I hadn’t put a lot of thought into the decision prior to High School, and in the first two years of High School I also didn’t think about it a lot – I only knew I wanted to succeed, and that I had a few schools that to me equaled success.

Stage 2: Over the summer before junior year, I remember incessant googling.

–          Best colleges in the United States… in Michigan… in the East… etc.

–          Best colleges for Business… for Liberal Arts… etc.

–          Most beautiful college campuses

–          If you can think it, I googled it. And after lots of googling, you start to notice patterns.

Stage 3: Then junior year we were faced with the decision at the end of the year, and the apps at the beginning of the year.

I was noticing patterns, and compiling lists of all the schools I was considering. I compiled criteria and tried to narrow down long lists. I talked to counselors, teachers, friends, and pulled out the common app and started to fill out essays. Then, once I had a decent sized list formed, I wanted to talk to people, so the school visits began.

Stage 4: I visited schools on the East Coast, the University of Michigan, Vanderbilt, Notre Dame, and Michigan State University.

The visits entailed me learning a lot more about what each institution offered, what life was like on campus

I wrote up spreadsheets, and tried to figure out where I “fit”. The following are the criteria I considered in my spreadsheets:

The Factors:

–          Price

–          Faith Life

–          Academics

–          Job Prospects

–          Alumni Network

–          Location

–          My Parent’s Opinions

–          Safety

–          Ratings

–          Reputation

 

The Options:

–          I applied to eight different schools, and remember thinking that I could have applied to so many more.

–          I was so indecisive, and despite having tons of criteria and spreadsheets and reflections, it still felt like I wasn’t sure I had done enough.

–          I felt highly informed, but like there was still so much I did not know, and could not know until I attended any of these places as a school.

The Emotions:

–          Falling in love with places over and over again. Looking around, and feeling shock and awe that I would be privileged enough to attend these kinds of places – this is a feeling that students deciding between a lot of schools might feel, but slightly less relatable.

–          Being fascinated by the college students and their lives – this could be equivalent to how intermediate school students feel visiting high schools.

–          Overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information, or disappointed by the lack of proper information – I’m sure intermediate parents and students feel this.

–          Nervous that I wouldn’t fit in or have friends.

–          I was fighting with my parents a little bit over where to go, and over my procrastination of the decision. I’m sure some students feel tension with their parents when making the decision.

–          Worried about every aspect listed above under factors.

 

Five E Framework:

Entice – online articles, word of mouth, reputation, media, books, common app,

Enter – common app (we do not know anything about what it is like to actually choose a school or register for a school? Must add to our research questions.)

Engage – filling out the common app, finding letters of recommendation, etc.

 

For the purposes of this project, I think that Entice, Enter, and Engage are probably going to be foci of the project, so I only cover those three here.

Faisal Shariff

Age: 21

Hometown: Granger, IN

Senior Science-Business major, Poverty Studies minor

Middle School: Private – The Montessori Academy at Edison Lakes

When choosing a high school to attend, my parents and I did quite a bit of exploration of both the public and private schools in the area. I shadowed at Adams and Trinity while taking a tour of St. Joe and Penn. My parents wanted an academically rigorous school that would prepare me for college. But they also wanted a school with diversity and a decently-sized student body. My middle school had a graduating class of ten. Clay was an option as well but never really under serious consideration.

Adams seemed like the logical choice in South Bend given the IB program. I had a lot of friends from my middle school who were Adams-bound. The school felt diverse, the mock trial team was known to be amazing. I had heard about one teacher, Mr. Longenecker, a science teacher who was supposed to be phenomenal.

Trinity is a small catholic private school. It wasn’t particularly diverse. But we had friends that were enrolled at the school and had heard good things about it. It was clear that the students got  lot of individual attention. I think I didn’t end up choosing Trinity because I wanted something different from my middle school experience.

St. Joseph also seemed like a good option with rigorous academics and a strong science program. It had a medium sized student body. It wasn’t particularly diverse socioeconomically given that it was a private school. This turned my parents off a bit I believe.

Penn: People call this school, Penn University because it has a student body of 3,600 students. This fact could be intimidating but also a taste of the real world and could provide an enriching environment to learn in from people with different backgrounds. It has a plethora of resources and countless activities and clubs. Additionally, it is known to be pretty competitive. This school was also in my district.

 

In the end, I think academic rigor was the priority along with safety and a rich learning environment. Penn, St. Joe and Adams were the finalists. I think we realized that we could get as good of an education at public schools so it might not be necessary to pay the high private school tuition, even though my family is financially stable. Further, with Penn being in my district, transportation wouldn’t be a big issue. We did go against the grain a bit in terms of not listening to peer-reviews of the high school, however, which is unique from most situations according to the literature.

Date: March 3, 2017

Type: Expert Interview

Location: Phone Interview

Expert: Dr. Maria McKenna

Expert/User Characteristics:

• Senior Associate Director of Education, Schooling, and Society.
•  Assistant Professor of the Practice for Education, Schooling, and Society and the Department of Africana Studies. She is also a Faculty Fellow with the Institute for Educational Initiatives at the University of Notre Dame.
• Married, mother of four, two children in High School at Adams
• PhD
• Mother

http://iei.nd.edu/people/iei-fellows/maria-mckenna/

Faisal Shariff interviewed Dr. Maria McKenna on the phone.

Faisal: What factors do you think most parents consider when making a high school choice? Is a choice made or is it assumed?

Professor Maria McKenna: “First of all, I don’t think you can think about this situation from a deficit-minded perspective. Parents are working with whatever knowledge they have..the history of South Bend and their own children. You have to assume that every parent is trying to make the best decision for their child with the information that they have available.

The decision-making process has to do a great deal with the information they have available. Parents will tell you that they want a school that’s safe, that is going to push their child-this will be said in a lot of different ways: “rigorous, a place with high expectations, make him do his work, pushing child to be best C

 of themselves”

1. Safety
2. High Expectations/Rigor
3. Programs to keep students busy/out of trouble

Literature on school choice says that parents choose schools based on word of mouth and what friends say.

“Choosing a school in South Bend is like a game of telephone”

F: What do you know about Clay High school?

MM:

• “Its a vibrant viable school not just for the arts but for students also interested in AP courses and the AP track to allow them to earn dual credit”
• “School in what many people would say is a pretty stable neighborhood”
• “School with enormous potential to own its identity”
• “As someone who does a lot of research on schools, and school choice, I was equally impressed with Clay as with Adams when talking with guidance counsellors and school leaders. What’s striking is how much I might not have known if I had not reached out and called the guidance office.”

“Parents who are pleased with the program are the best mechanism for bringing people into the door that you have”

F: What do you personally consider as a parent?

MM: “Three things. Strong leadership- a visionary leader at the front, you walk into the building and feel like they are gonna care about my kid and know who they are. When you walk around the school, you see teachers laughing and joking around with each other versus disciplining them. Third, whatever academic institution it is, I want it to be academically rigorous. When we were choosing, we let the kids pick with a little bit of coaching. But if I had a choice, I would have put them in clay. It was the most impressive in terms of the full package – arts, athletics, caring community, and dual credits. My kids chose something different because their friends chose something different, which we respected and were fine with.

 

• “Clay is underselling itself”
• “Clay is one of the best kept secrets in south bend, and we need to crack open the nut and not have it be a secret”

What do we need?

• The thing that I have that other parents might not is the access and wherewithal to get information. Others don’t have the same social capital or networking potential.

Thoughts on South Ben School Corporation

• South Bend has to sell diversity as a strength
• Clay needs to stop being afraid, and need to stop trying to be like adams
• Play up the fact that its an arts institution
• “Parents need to know where there are safe places for there kids to be that are diverse”
• Demographics of South Bend: 70% on free/reduced unch
  • More than 60% are students of color
• “Clay is a unique and proud place for children to grow”
• “Need to play up the fact that they have dual credit program to the parents who do have the option to pay for private schools”

Thoughts on how to reach out to parents, students, recruitment

• Need to realize that some of the parents are not high school graduates or are English language learners
  • Tailor the print materials to that
  • Readability of actual text
  • Key talking points that parents can walk away and remember
  • Ex: That’s how Trump won. He had a clear, concise, defined message

Key takeways

1. Assume that every parent is making their best effort to equip their children to succeed.
2. Clay is not second fiddle to Adams. It is a good school with a lot to offer academically, extracurricularly, diversity-wise, and with the arts. It has a good community and would be a great place for a student to learn and grow.
3. Understand your target. Target all of the middle schools in the SBSC. Clay needs to build the reputation of the school where all those students want to go.

Key quotes:

“You have to assume that every parent is trying to make the best decision for their child with the information that they have available.”

“Parents pick schools based on word of mouth, based on what their friends say”

“Choosing a school in South Bend is like a game of telephone”

“Have to figure out a way to get information out into all pockets of the community to show them what Clay is about”

“Parents who are pleased with the program are the best mechanism for bringing people into the door that you’ve got”

“Clay is underselling itself. Clay is one of the best kept secrets in South Bend”

“Learn a lesson in precision and concise thinking from Trump and this most recent election”

High School Visit on Friday 3/3/17

Short Interviews:

Mr. Smith – One of the adult employees of the school.

*** He just sat down as we were about to converse with Principal Eid and started to give his opinions on everything, so this was not a formal interview, but below are my documented notes.

–          There is a Fear Factor.

–          The bottom 1% of students are the ones who cause all the problems, and they are where all the focus is

–          There are policies called Age Placement that mean that even if a student fails middle school, if they are high school age, they must be in the high schools.

–          Clay has the highest rate of suspension and expulsion, but they think that is a good thing.

–          The importance of safety is extreme.

–          “High School is a microcosm of society”

–          There are fights like nothing you have ever seen at Clay.

–          They are trying to build a culture of respect, but it doesn’t really exist yet.

–          With Trump and Devos who knows what is going to happen, they are trying to pull students out of public education.

–          He says marketing is great, but you can only do so much. We need real change and new programs.

 

Jacob Williams – Sophomore

Favorite Part of Clay: his CTE classes (cooking and welding)

Favorite Regular Class: gym, followed by English.

He doesn’t even pay attention to the Art Magnet aspect of Clay

Thinks Classes are hard.

 

Jayden Riffle – Junior

–          Favorite Academics: English and History

–          CTE Course: Welding

–          He thinks that there is a lot of talent at Clay, but he isn’t a big arts person himself.

–          He thinks classes at Clay are easy.

–          He thinks he will go to college, and said Clay is helping him figure it out.

–          Favorite part: The Community

 

Melina Andino – Junior

–          Favorite Part: nothing

–          The sports all suck, we should get new coaches

–          Not involved in the arts

–          Favorite Academics: English Honors (she has the best teacher)

–          Her classes are easy and she doesn’t take AP’s

Maythe Ortega – Junior

–          Favorite Part: can’t think of anything

–          Sports: Baseball and Basketball are good

–          She is involved in the arts programs

–          Taking CTE – culinary arts

–          Favorite Academics: Marine Biology

–          Easy classes, no AP’s

Adam – Sophomore

–          Sports at Clay are all right

–          Favorite Class: Geography

–          He likes art and CTE, taking those classes next year

–          Easy classes, no AP’s

Cameron – Freshman

–          Plays sports – football, wrestling, and track

–          The arts programs are all right

–          He wants to take automotive CTE

–          Some of his classes are hard

–          I showed him the cards, and he told me he can’t read well.

 

Safety Patrol Person:

“South Bend schools need to get away from magnets and put everyone in blocks. Magnets hurt enrollment, and destroy the loyalty in the schools. Adams gets all the top kids.”

 

Professors of the CTE Classes:

–          CTE is an offering only at Clay, but it is open to students at all four High Schools.

Louise Melander – dental careers (2-year program, students earn 6 credits).

–          Smaller number of students, most of whom are tremendously dedicated.

–          They push their students, but have to teach to the middle (some students have experience, some none.)

–          “CTE is a well-kept secret. All of the students in Welding already have jobs.”

Barb Wieczorek – Intro to Health Careers and EMS (6/7.5 dual credits respectively)

–          The students are highly motivated, and grade driven.

–          They have to attend summer school to get into the CTE programs because they are half day courses.

–          90% of the students go into the field of medicine.

–          “CTE is the only reason some students are still in High School. It makes them feel like they have found a purpose.”

–          Only 5/30 and 3/9 students are from Clay HS.