My Big Idea for the final is further expression of my midterm big idea, defining my interest in family and discipline. For this project, family breaks down to parent/guardian and discipline, specifically, drills down to “at risk” students. “At risk” students are children who may have environmental reasons why they are unable to perform to their full potential. It is my intent to provide a possible solution to some issues of educating “at risk” students, for further emphases on maximum participation from the parents. I propose a website that provides opportunities to elevate students to successful graduation from K-12 to high school and assist with preparation for college.
Daily, I ride by a yard sign at an elementary school and it says, “A child educated only at school is an uneducated child.” I agree and deduce that most parents attempt to educate their children prior to kindergarten; however, too many are unsuccessful and unequipped. Therefore “at risk” students and their teachers begin their relationship at a disadvantage. According to research done by the RAND Corporation, many parents hand their children over to teachers and school administrators expecting them to just complete the education process. A Rand Corporation research report states, “A series of assessments for a recent nationally representative kindergarten cohort indicate that disadvantaged children enter school lagging behind their more advantaged peers in terms of the knowledge and social competencies that are widely recognized as enabling children to perform at even the most basic level. Substantial gaps are evident for disadvantaged children in measures of reading and mathematics proficiency, in pro-social behaviors and behavior problems, and in readiness to learn. For example, although 18 percent of children overall are not familiar with basic conventions of print or writing (e.g., knowing that English is read from left to right and top to bottom, or where a story ends), that fraction is 32 percent for children whose mothers have less than a high school education but only 8 percent for children whose mothers have a college degree or higher. Other risk factors include being in a single-parent family, a family that has received welfare, or a family that does not speak English at home. Thirty-one percent of this kindergarten cohort had one of these four risk factors; another 16 percent faced two or more of them.”
These children start out behind and often can not catch up. I propose that the school system can make a difference by not only starting to educate children from kindergarten, but include mandatory education for parents simultaneously to begin continuous improvement of parenting. I have been influenced by my first grandchild, and expect her to graduate high school with parental support and go off to college well prepared.
Described below, overall website infrastructure, visual strategy and context envisioned:
· Title: The Learning Legacy/The Virtual Art Gallery, artistic teamwork promotes continuous improvement for the education of children.
· Home page:
o Animation of artwork
o One central home page for proposal 1
o Split screen for proposal 2
· About Us: Parents, students, teachers and administration working together as a team for continuous improvement for the education of children.
· The Virtual Art Gallery:
o The Gallery will be a world renowned place for artist, critics and collectors to conduct art business transactions online.
o The Gallery will be a showplace for any and all artists, including students, show work on consignment.
o Self sufficient financially (Art sales, grants, business advertisement, sponsor)
§ Gallery: Artwork/Consignment Sales- Shopping Cart-accepting Visa, Master Card and American Express credit cards
§ Advertisement sales- Participation requested, OSU Fisher College School of Business
§ Grants and donations
§ Sponsor- Ohio State University
· Business Partners:
o The Gallery will be a world renowned place for artist, critics and collectors to conduct art business transactions online.
o Self sufficient financially (Art sales, grants, business advertisement, sponsor)
§ Gallery: Artwork/Consignment Sales- Shopping Cart
§ Advertisement sales- Participation requested, OSU Fisher College School of Business
· Artists:
o Consignment only
o Artist must provide acceptable photo(s)- Staff Photographer available upon request by appointment
· Student & Parental Legacy: Separate links to complete curriculum
o Mandatory participation from parents, children, teachers and school administration as a team, responsible to graduate successful students- High School & College.
§ Parent teacher conference discussion follow up to online participation
§ Sample online curriculum for parent
· Essay and multiple choice- Sample topic kindergarten bullying
· What do you think your child should know about bullying?
· When and who should explain how to react to a bully?
· When and who to advise of consequences of being a bully to the child?
§ Sample online curriculum for child
· Multiple choice- Have you been bullied?
· Are you a bully?
· Do you know a bully?
· Can you discuss this problem with your parent?
o Annual milestones- monitored and met as each child receives the necessary guidance for success through K-12.
o Team effort: Parents, teachers, school administration and students
o Team members will have direct and educational dialog when child starts kindergarten and ongoing utilizing the Learning Legacy curriculum.
o This website is a great way to team up with parents for the catch up needed for some “at risk” children. Yes, better late than never.
§ Rand Corporation study: Early home literacy-building activities that are associated with better school performance in kindergarten and beyond include reading to a child regularly (3 or more times a week); teaching children letters, words, and numbers; and telling stories or teaching songs and music. Among children ages 3 to 5 in 2001, 16 percent are not read to regularly at home. Among children whose mothers have less than a high school education, that fraction rises to 31 percent, compared with just 7 percent for children whose mothers have a college degree.
o Continuous improvement for Parents, children and the school system.
o Parental requirement - complete online training minimum once per semester based on individual child progress and behavior issues.
o Context designed with age of child, evaluation of child progress and other factors, for example: existence of discipline problems, etc.
§ Curriculum based on semesters and designed by Sociologist and Psychologist to be proactive for discovery of any and all issues.
§ Participation requested- OSU College of Sociology & Psychology
§ Curriculum designed by Sociologist and Psychologist to be proactive for discovery of any and all issues.
§ OSU College of Sociology & Psychology participation
· Events Calendar:
o Calendar with relevant art shows, due dates for completion of online program for the team, etc.
· Contact Us- Contact Person, Address, Phone number
Research References: When researching other websites, I was reminded; keep it simple and less is more. The back end of the site will do all grunt work, unseen to users. Initial Programs installed: Grading, Artwork upload, shopping cart and one or more database(s) to store valuable, vital research data for continuous improvement evolution.
· Childrenatrisk.org
· Bridgesforkids.org
· Armsoflove.org
· Atriskchildren.org
· Rand.org
o The RAND Corporation is a non profit research organization providing objective analysis and effective solutions that address the challenges facing the public and private sectors around the world. These are excerpts from a research brief describing work for
RAND Labor and Population documented in
Early Childhood Interventions: Proven Results, Future Promise by Lynn A. Karoly, M. Rebecca Kilburn, and Jill S. Cannon
· Parenting- Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood in History and Society
· Parenting the At Risk Child- Blog by Dr. Liane J. Leedom, MD
· US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census
