What do good schools look like? In part four of Educational Foundations, the authors of the article selections ask educators to take an honest look at what a successful school should resemble. The article, “The Idea of Summerhill”, written by A. S. Neill, describes the philosophy of an alternative school called Summerhill. This school provides its students with a student centered education, where the students have the freedom to choose what they will learn. The article, “Success in East Harlem”, written by Deborah Meier, describes how the educators at Central Park East school built a strong, teacher-run school where the educators can put their student’s needs first. The article, “Beyond the Deficit Paradigm”, written by Kelly Donnell, explains that educators can improve their schools overall environment by not blaming students and parents for academic deficiencies. Instead, educators can form an environment where community and student assets assist in…show more content… However, letting students make choices about how they want to learn is also related to classroom involvement. Incorporating both freedom of choice and student interests into the learning environment will increase student involvement. Therefore, the academic success of the students should increase. The Summerhill school is an excellent example of what can be produced when student interest and choice is built into such a learning environment.
In the article, “Success in East Harlem”, Deborah Meier explains the importance of giving teachers time to become personally acquainted with their students. Teachers that are well acquainted with their students will be better at tailoring the learning curriculum to their students’ needs and interests. At Central Park East school, this is the first thing that the teachers strive to do, and this is an important part of what makes this school