Alternate Route to School Effectiveness and Student Achievement

Book excerpt: While socioeconomic status does affects students success, both in academics and in future status in adult life, it does not have to be the only deciding factor. In his study, Alternate Route to School Effectiveness and Student Achievement, Dr. Patrick Chudi Okafor discusses the need to enhance school climate as an alternate to socioeconomic status in promoting students success. He also investigates the climate in New York City public schools as the means of schools survival, development, and growth, as it affects both school effectiveness and student academic achievement. He further considers schools, teachers, parents, communities, and governments with respect to their roles in students academic development and growth.These considerations, among others, led Dr. Okafor to offer solutions to the issue of failure associated with low socioeconomic status at a time when more children are falling within this bracket and the gap between the rich and the poor continues to widen. A quality learning environment presents a strong stimulus for societal change, development, and growth. By basing the overarching framework of his study on openness of the school and family systems, Dr. Okafor builds on the idea behind the saying, It takes a village to raise a child. The academic relationship between the home and the school must be improved to guarantee sustainable student academic performance and the home climate is a major contributor to what children bring to school, just as the school climate is a major determinant to how it is transformed.