Barriers to Attendance

When you think of your high school days you may remember the excitement of freshman year and even better, the thrill of knowing that you’ll soon be attending college. But for a lot of adolescents in New York City high school brings a whole new level of complexity and stress even before they start their freshman year.

In eighth grade students apply to as many as 12 high schools they would like to attend out of the hundreds that exist in New York City. The city’s high schools have different focuses (technology, arts, etc.) and differing levels of academic requirements (some are highly selective according to exam scores, grades, etc). Given the diversity of options students need a lot of guidance in determining which schools will make the best fit for them. What I have seen often in working with inner-city high school students is that they did not apply to schools which are the best fit according to their interests, academic standing, and/or location; they may have applied to certain schools for the wrong reasons (i.e., the schools their friends applied to); and in some cases they were not accepted into any of the schools that they chose. It’s key for parents to guide their children’s selection of high schools and to be knowledgeable about what schools will be best fit in terms of academics, focus, and location. And, of course, students' grades and attendance rates in middle school play a crucial role in determining which high schools they can attend.

From my experience working with high school students, the daily commute is one of the biggest “barriers to attendance”. Some of our students travel up to two hours each way to school every day. The commute is exhausting and unsafe in neighborhoods that are desolate during early morning hours, and when combined with other issues like being forced to look after siblings, being bullied, and health problems, it dissuades students from attending school. The more school such students miss the more disengaged they become from their education. It’s a slippery slope that all too often leads them to being held back and dropping out from school altogether.

Part of my job is to find ways to get students motivated to come to school despite the hardships they face. I do this by engaging students in activities they show interest in and by building a sense of positive community through our small counseling groups, which provide students with a safe environment where they can share about the issues in their personal lives. The groups also help make school a place where students feel they are listened to and supported. For other students just knowing that Partnership with Children social workers are aware if they have shown up for school or not helps them feel cared for and acknowledged. These seemingly small measures go a long way in motivating high school students to come to school and to do their best.

These are just a few of the factors contributing to the complexity of attending high school in New York City. In my next post I’ll write about helping our students understand the system of earning academic credits and how credits impact their standing in school and potential to graduate in four years.

Creativity, Expression and Trust

Last week was full of great surprises. In our newly formed Art Group the students worked on a project in which they created visual representations of islands. The challenge given to the students was to draw and collage images of islands. Working in groups of three they had to determine what items were necessary to survive on their islands, what items they would want to leave behind on the islands, and then draw or collage images of those items. In some ways their work was very literal. For example they included images of money and explained that they’ll need money to buy food and pay rent. On the other hand they also thought of the islands as surreal utopias where no one would ever grow old.

As an experiment we played mellow R&B music during part of the session to discover what impact it would have on the students’ creativity. Rather than distracting them the music had a calming effect. The students seemed to go into their own internal, creative worlds and focused on creating their islands rather than conversing with each other about off-topic subjects like school gossip. The use of music actually leads into our next session which will be focused on the impact of music on ones emotions and how it can subsequently shape the type of art work one creates.

I also sat in on the Young Men’s Group and came away inspired by the sense of respect the students have for one another and how they let their guards down and shared their emotions during the session. I saw a dramatic change from the students' behavior in school, where they are very concerned about being perceived as weak and put on a tough persona with their peers. The topic the students were discussing which was put forward by the social worker who leads the group, was healthy relationships.

Many of the students have single mothers and spoke about the abusive relationships their mothers had with their fathers and how this impacted them as children witnessing domestic violence. A couple of the older students are fathers themselves, and spoke about their struggle to manage the responsibilities of school, part-time jobs, and fatherhood. I was so impressed with the students openness and truly happy to see that they’ve created a safe space to talk with each other and share about their personal struggles in and outside of school.

Art as Expression

We started Partnership with Children's first Art Group! The process of making objects and images is, I hope, going to excite our students and get them re-engaged in school. We've got 10 kids signed up, all of whom have low attendance. Each session will include a little art history, and then will focus on an art-making activity that weaves in social and emotional skills like team-work, problem-solving, and respecting others' opinions.

In the first session we did our standard introductions and ice-breaker activities so everyone could get to know one another and start building a sense of trust. The next session, called “On an Island”, should be really interesting because the students will have to imagine they are stranded on islands! Working in groups of 2 or 3, they will have to think about what they need to survive on their islands. Then they have to create a drawing of the island and all of the items they have decided they need to live. Since they are working in teams the students have to listen to each others ideas, which can be a real struggle for teenagers. It will definitely be interesting to see what they come up with and how they learn to work together to complete their "islands"!

The next session we’re going to explore how music impacts emotions. We’ll play different genres of music and have the students draw and paint to explore how the music shapes the type of art work they create. We’re hoping this activity helps the students delve more into the various emotions they experience and how to express those emotions in a positive way.

Can’t wait to see what the students create!