Garrison middle school is a title 1 school in the Baltimore city public school system. 99.3 % of the students were African American according to the school systems website. The rest (0.7 %) were Hispanic, Asian and Whites. 93 % of the students received free lunch and breakfast. The student enrollment for the 2004/2005, 2005/2006 school years were 808 and 876 respectively. The school had a total of 56 teachers.

Garrison middle school was performing poorly in reading and mathematics. The school had failed to meet the states’ Adequately Yearly Progress for three years (2004 to 2006). The data on the table shows the performance levels in reading for the six and seventh graders at Garrison middle school for two years (2004 and 2005).

I believe strongly that the performance levels at Garrison is Influenced largely by the lack of commitment by parents and teachers towards students success. Conducive learning environment where the learning process is uninterrupted by students misbehavior is an essential component for students to demonstrate the highest levels of  understanding. When this is lucking, the result more often appear in the students’ mediocre performance in standardized tests at all levels.

The chaotic nature in the classroom is directly linked to how the parents value education. Whenever children are constantly told the strong value of education by the parents…..most often they come to school well prepared and hence allowing the process of learning to take its course. This has been lacking at Garrison  Middle school for the past few years and is reflected of the students’ performance on the Maryland  State Assessment report-card.

The other factor affecting reading performance at Garrison is student mobility. The Baltimore city school system students are highly mobile and that affects their learning process. They move from school to school with teachers of varying levels of teaching ability. This interferes with their progress in learning.

Furthermore, Garrison middle school is a revolving door for teachers. Most teachers spend one to two years and then  move on to do other things or to teach at less stressful schools. This leaves Garrison with less qualified teachers and veteran teachers who are “burned out” and could careless with what is happening to their students in terms of learning.

Garrison had only 45 % of highly qualified teachers for the three years (2004 to 2006). Most classes were taught by unqualified teachers working on conditional certification. This had negative consequences in terms of student performance levels as reflected by the Maryland State report card.