During my summer, I will be working with the Detroit Public Schools Community District (DPSCD). Their mission is to provide a good education to the children of Detroit. As the organization continues and rebuilds, it hopes to not only increase good educational practices to children in these public schools but to actively seek ways that can benefit the educational wellbeing of these children. One of the ways is through enrollment – which is a major part of my research. We are trying to increase enrollment rates of students within the district as means of counteracting obstacles to learning such as chronic absenteeism.
Other projects I’m excited to be a part of include the Ambassador program and a dismissal policy project. The Ambassador program is a way to spread awareness and perform community outreach. It involves faculty, students, and volunteers actively spreading the word of DPSCD and having the community understand what these schools have to offer to their families. As for the dismissal policy project, this will be my third focus where I will be looking into other schools and districts and evaluating their dismissal policies. The project is about analyzing the common themes of suspension and expulsion processes.
Now that my first week is over, I find myself progressing at a faster rate. I am past the preliminary background research phase in some of my projects and I am being tracked into preparing surveys and potential interview questions that will consume my latter part of my internship. I’m excited as I realize my own progress and hear about the progress of my cohort as I feel like I am getting the opportunity to pursue research somewhat independently and participate in unique projects I had not even considered.
Your placement sounds so valuable and incredibly interesting. I also just passed the preliminary research stage and I am ready to move forward. I can’t wait to hear more about your placement!!
It sounds like you’re doing great work here! This past school year I worked with young kids in Ypsilanti but it was an after-school program, so while it was different, I still focused on a lot of things and processes that could be implemented to maximize benefits that the children would receive. How does your organization plan to increase enrollment? I agree that that is such an important benefit to the educational well being of kids!
Their main effort is keeping Detroit students within the public schools. In a paper I read by Wayne State, it said about a quarter of students go to schools outside of Detroit Public Schools – whether that may be charter schools, private, out-of-district schools, etc. Their goal is to increase outreach and awareness towards the positive changes and programs they are offering to bring back these students.