I graduated from The Ohio State University in 2007 with an undergraduate degree in Family Resource Financial Management (Financial Advising) and UNF in 2016 with a Master's degree in Curriculum and Instruction. I served as a substitute teacher in Ohio for approximately one year before making the decision to move to Jacksonville in 2010. Since that time I have been at Sandalwood High School teaching mathematics including algebra 2, liberal arts math, geometry, geometry honors, and algebra 1. I have served as the Mathematics Department Chair, Assistant Athletic Director, and coached girls basketball for three years. I am currently a member of the AVID site team, the Early College program, and head coach for the girls flag football team. I have learned a tremendous amount in my first nine years as an educator and continue to learn every day. I love what I do and the children whose lives I make an impact on whether academically or personally speaking. During the 2015-2016 school year I earned the right to be named the Sandalwood High School Teacher of the Year. I live my life by the following quote, “Success is not a goal, it is a byproduct. Success is not merely a goal that is reached, but when that goal is achieved another goal is set." I expect the same from my students.
There are many futile attempts to remedy the ills of our educational system when a core issue to be rectified is parents. Each year, I see the positive effects of strong parental involvement on the educational outcomes of children. Conversely, I see the negative effects of parents who do not make education a priority. I cannot effectively educate students if parents do not prioritize education in the home. It is akin to a parent bringing a child to the physician for an ailment. The parent must support the physician’s recommendations, along with prioritizing health in the home, for the child to successfully heal. Parents must prioritize their roles and responsibilities in the education of their children to assist teachers in their quest to provide a quality education to students. Teachers simply cannot do it alone (Downey, 2015).
After 325 pages of charts, tables, and text, one gets to the enduring summary of the Coleman Report (1966).
Taking all of these results together, one implication stands out above all: that schools bring little influence to bear on a child’s achievement that is independent of his background and general social context; and that this very lack of an independent effect means that the inequalities imposed on children by their home, neighborhood, and peer environment are carried along to become the inequalities with which they confront adult life at the end of school (Hanushek, 2016). I cannot do my job alone. Thank you for your support.