School Observation: Springfield Gardens Middle School

The focus of this school observation is PS 59, Springfield Gardens Middle School in New York City. The observation was conducted in three separate settings: a math class, the cafeteria, and the school's main office. The goal of the observation was to gain insight on the relationships between different stakeholders in the school community, including teachers, students, staff, administration, and parents, and how these relationships influence the connectedness of the school environment. The assumption is that school connectedness as summarized by Blum (2004), can be measured by the presence or absence of factors such as positive student-faculty rapport, high academic expectations, and publically displayed efforts to strengthen school culture and safety. The observations of the school, thus, considered school connectedness as evidenced by student-teacher rapport, exhibition of student work, teaching methods, and classroom comportment, and interaction between staff members. In addition, student body and...
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