Pre-course Survey Results
The pre-course survey was given during the first few days of the course, before the start of any of the units pertaining to the history of the city of Newark. Of the 32 students enrolled in the course, 29 students and their families completed, signed, and turned in the informed consent forms that allowed Dr. Puicón to use their responses for the purposes of this research project. Of those 29 students, only 26 completed the pre-survey.
The pre-survey consisted of a series of multiple choice and open-ended questions that gauged the following:
How much (or little) students knew of the major moments in black and brown history in the city of Newark
Their basic knowledge and analytical skills related to primary and secondary source analysis
Introduced the professor to their writing styles and strengths
How much (or little) students knew of community groups/projects going on in the city of Newark
Asked students to reflect upon their initial feelings and thoughts on what Newark meant to them
It is important to note that for the Spring 2023 Innovative Newark course, 100% of students enrolled were Year 2 students, or seniors (grade 12), and thus were on the verge of completing their fourth year at Bard Early College - Newark, and their second year of the Associate's Degree program. This means that students in the course were familiar with the basic IWT practices and techniques used during Language & Thinking but also dispensed by professors through the entire academic year.
Pre-survey results included the following observations:
76% of students responded that they knew only a few things about the city of Newark and 24% of students responded they knew almost nothing about the history of Newark. These were the two lowest choices possible of the 4 in terms of knowledge breadth (see image below) which means that 100% of students were not very familiar with the history of the city of Newark prior to enrolling in the course.
In terms of demographics, a majority of students (81%) resided in the Central, South, and West Wards, which are closest to the Bard Early College - Newark campus but also historically some of the poorest wards in Newark.
A little more than half of the students enrolled in the Spring 2023 had lived in Newark their entire lives (58%). The rest had migrated to the city sometime during their childhood.
Only 6 students out of the 26 who responded could name an important figure in the history of the city of Newark, with students naming celebrities such as Shaquille O’Neil or Whitney Houston as the figures they could name. The rest of the students responded that “I do not know” any important figure in the history of the city of Newark nor what their contribution to the city’s history had been.
Students’ first focused freewrites related to Newark occurred during the pre-survey portion of the course. Students responded to the following prompts:
Fill in the blank: Newark is known for…
Do you see Newark as a city of promise? Why or why not?
Are you proud of the people from the city of Newark? Why or why not?
Students responses to the first focused freewrite mainly revolved around students’ feelings about Newark as they saw it and how they themselves perceived the city to be. They were not repeating stereotypes they had heard about the city as Dr. Puicón asked this specific question in class after viewing the responses. The pre survey (and post survey) provided students a chance to “keep it real” and offer their honest opinions and thoughts about Newark in a safe environment. The pre-survey was not graded in any way.
Students' responses were also split down the middle regarding that statement “Are you proud of the people from the city of Newark? Why or why not?” Some students remarked on the people they knew personally in the city and the wonderful accomplishments they had achieved, while others did not see the people or products from Newark as a reason to celebrate, as evidenced in their responses below:
Despite the responses above, about half of the students maintained optimism about their city and whether or not Newark is a city of promise, the latter left to their interpretation. A majority of students believed in a positive future of the city, despite the circumstances around them. The other half did not see the city of Newark as anything with promise and instead expressed their intentions of leaving the city behind upon graduation.
Attendance post-pandemic continues to be an issue the Newark Board of Education grapples with. Part of the goals of the course and research project are to see if by providing students with varied course selection based upon student need (see previous section on About Course - Background & History), student attendance will improve. Studies proved that increased student attendance results in decreased poverty and reduced inequality. A school leadership goal at Bard Early College - Newark is to improve daily attendance among upperclassmen, who were deeply impacted by the pandemic in terms of attendance. After the height of the pandemic and with the return to in-person learning, student daily attendance rates dropped district-wide, especially among upperclassmen. Therefore, an internal goal for students in the course included for students to meet or beat Newark Public School district daily attendance average of 92%. 100% of students met that requirement in Innovative Newark in the Spring 2023.
In the pre-survey, students also responded to a series of focused freewrites related to attendance to gauge students’ reasons for not coming to school. Students responded to the following prompts:
Does this course motivate you to come to school (BE HONEST)?
Do you feel like the course selections in the school make you motivated to come to school everyday? Why or why not?
What are incentives that the school could provide to improve your attendance in every class?
Students' responses to the fourth focused freewrite revealed that an overwhelming majority of students did not feel motivated to come to school everyday. Most did it because they had to, and felt that the school (Bard Early College-Newark and/or Newark Public Schools) could do better in providing a motivation for them to attend school - whether that was through rewards, better course selection, opportunities to venture out into the community, etc.
In contrast, 92% of students replied favorably to the question - does this course motivate you to come to school - 53% of students responded that they felt that Innovative Newark seemed like a great course and a great opportunity with another 39% somewhat interested in the material listed in the syllabus.
Among the ideas students came up with in terms of how the school could motivate students to come to school included:
“Do more fun activities, give us classes we are interested in, give us classes we asked for, not the ones we didn't want.”
“Classes that are more interactive than just work and lectures.”
“Field trips”
“More hands on and community building activities.”
“Try to make the course interesting and relate it to things we are familiar with today.”
Overall, students' responses in the pre-survey shows apathy towards school and coursework in general, with students knowing very little about the history of Newark. Students were eager, however, to begin learning about the history of Newark while generally having mixed feelings towards their city. Only half of students responded with hope for the future of Newark while the other half did not.