Hillcrest High School is a public school located at 160-05 Highland avenue, Jamaica N.Y. Hillcrest High School was founded in the year 1972 and is a District 28 school. Hillcrest is located near Parsons BLVD and Jamaica Ave. Although it is overcrowded, there is a lot of cultural diffusion happening inside the school. Hillcrest is a "STEAM" (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) school with eight small learning communities (Hillcrest Web,2018) . It is also one of the many high schools that offers the largest College Now programs.
The mission statement of Hillcrest High school is “Supporting all students, each and every day” (Hillcrest Web,2018) . The mission statement of Hillcrest High School affects teaching and learning in the school because it assures a student that he or she can learn at ease when they have a problem. Also, it engages teachers to support students while teaching .Surrounding the high school, you have a great number of restaurants, convenience stores, a flower shop, and not forgetting you have Jamaica avenue. The building of Hillcrest High School is located on a hill of land and is across the street from residential homes and a Catholic Church. In Hillcrest, community service were a graduation requirement. The Catholic Church would be a way so students could complete their community service at the soup kitchen. Gaining community service would assist children in learning because it would give them an outside experience to keep with them. The streets and avenues surrounding the school are busy every morning and evening. Generally, while class is in session the roads are quiet. To the back of Hillcrest High School, there was also a public elementary school.
The stores around Hillcrest High School create a resourceful environment for students. If you were hungry in the morning you could buy something from one of the many deli options that you had. Also, deli’s were a place you could leave your cell phone because they were not permitted inside the school. Restricting cell phones in schools affected learning and teaching positively because it prevented disruptions and cheating in classrooms .This created convenience for students who needed their phone when they were on their way home (Personal Experience). Restaurants included, Al Mehran, Dunkin Donuts, Crispy Tasty, and multiple pizzeria's. Students would find food to eat on their way home or before they had their college now class. Besides restaurants, there were also some shopping stores on Jamaica avenue. Students often gained jobs that were close to Hillcrest. These factors affect students learning in a positive way because it created convenience for them, that they did not have to stray far and waste time. It also created jobs for students in need, so they could come to school and work.
There is also Jamaica Multiplex. This affected learning in a negative way for students. The reason being, is because students would cut school to go and see a movie. So all together, you could say that there were a lot of recreational openings around Hillcrest for students to cut or relax after school. Students were also offered student metrocards if they were financially disabled or far from school. This affected learning in a positive way, because students would be able to attend school on time, especially if they lived far from Hillcrest High School. Some busses near Hillcrest are Q1, Q110, Q111, Q112, Q113, Q114, Q17, Q2, Q20A, Q20B, Q24, Q25. The trains “F” and “E” and other forms of public transportation near Hillcrest on Hillside Ave and Parsons BLVD, also affected learning in a negative way. Academically if there are train problems, students would reach very late to class and miss out. Personally, if you wanted to leave school and miss your classes for recreational desire, then this would be a bad effect. Students who "cut" their classes would generally end up failing their classes and lowering Hillcrests' passing rate.
The small learning communities includes; Humanities, Biz-Tech, Teachers of Tomorrow, Pre-Med, Public Service and Law. Newcomers, Health Sciences, and Theatre. Most of the small learning communities are self-explanatory according to their name (Hillcrest Web, 2018). Newcomers is a program where students from all over the world who did not speak English were accepted. I feel this beneficial to add because around Hillcrest High School, there are a lot of cultures being mixed. If you were new to the country, Hillcrest High School was the recommended school because of the Newcomer SLC (small learning community). These small learning communities affected learning in a positive way because they created a path for students to begin choosing according to their career. Not everyone was placed in a Small Learning Community that they wanted for their future career (Personal Experience).
Classes usually begin at 8AM every school day. There are two types of schedules you could have. You could have a 1-8 periods or some 2-9 periods. A 2-9 period would end later in the day at 3:45PM. Students relatively arrived at school by public transport. Busses, trains, taxi's, school bus, and or your parent or guardian. Depending on the weather, when you arrived on Hillcrest grounds, you would either wait outside for the doors to open or walk straight in and begin to be scanned. There are four scanners. Boys and girls were separated at times to be scanned. When I attended, for the first two years, you could not use cell phones (Personal Experience). If you were caught with a cellphone or any metal object, it would be confiscated, and your parents would be called up to retrieve it. The principal and security guards were always waiting to greet you after scanning. Children who received free lunch received free breakfast as well. This helped children who were hungry or who did not eat before coming to school due to leaving home early to reach to school on time. At Hillcrest, 72% of students who were economically disadvantaged used the free lunch program (U.S News, 2016). I can also say that I was one student who did (Personal Experience). Hillcrests' total enrollment are 3,289 students (U.S News, 2018). When I began classes at Hillcrest, I created acquaintances with students from Bangladesh, India, Singapore, Haiti, and Mexico. In schools that I attended prior, I never met someone from Haiti or study with them (Personal Experience). To expand further, Hillcrest ethnicity percentages are 34% Asian, 30% African American, 2% American Indian, 29% Hispanic, and 3% white (U.S News, 2018). The diversity in ethnicity affects teaching and learning because it broadens the learning and experiences for students. It creates a more open-minded quality in all students about others and their cultures. At Hillcrest we would have culture night and all students from all different backgrounds would get together and share food, music, and dances. As a student, you learn and interact more (Personal Experience). Sometimes you even adopt certain habits from another's culture. Teaching and learning is also affected because there is a melting pot of opinions and viewpoints.
Another factor that affects teaching and learning is the school curriculum. When I was in my Junior year at Hillcrest, the common-core standards were now being implemented in Hillcrest High School (Personal Experience). The common core although rigorous, has its good and bad effects on learning and teaching. It would push students to be more college ready and prepared to have some experience with college level. To support my personal experience further, according to Junioracievement.org it said “To this end, the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) were established “to define the knowledge and skills students should achieve in order to graduate from high school ready to succeed in entry-level, credit-bearing academic college courses and in workforce training…” (Junior Achievement.org). This quote directly explains that the common core is used for college and career readiness and impacts learning in a positive way because college readiness is a beneficial outcome for a student. Being unprepared for college is one of the many reasons the common core was created. This way of curriculum affected teaching because, teachers had to learn to adjust to new teaching standards and methods. These standards offered more skillful and questionable thinking. Students are now being taught to look at situations differently. Also, even in math students are learning how to solve math problems differently and learning why they compute the steps that they take in solving various mathematics problems. Sometimes it would make learning and grade achievement levels difficult for students (Personal Experience).
School key personnel members included, principals, assistant principals, teachers, deans, guidance counselors and security officers. Principal David T. Morrisons’ daily routine was to come into classrooms and see that students were learning and the learning standards were being carried out (Personal Experience). His duty as a principal affected the teaching and learning in classrooms in a positive way. To explain further, teachers and students would be on task all the time and students. Principal Morrison was also helpful and respected (Personal Experience). Teachers, who are an important part of a school affected learning and teaching heavily. If a teacher cares enough to push his or her students for the best then this affected teaching and learning in a positive way. However, in all fairness not all teachers cared about a students best interest (Personal Experience). 91% of teachers in Hillcrest work collaboratively (Department of Education, 2018). This contributes to teaching positively because teachers can converse about mutual students and work together to better their understanding of learning content in the classroom. Also, it helps a student’s learning because if something is wrong with a student, then a solution or plan could be created to better the student’s learning.
Deans in Hillcrest High School were always an asset every school day (Personal Experience). They would prevent interruptions, keep students in class, prevent them from “cutting” and disengage physical or verbal fights. Prevented or stopping a verbal argument between two students or a student and a teacher was necessary. This way teachers could conduct their class without interruption and students could continue learning. Very often, physical fights would happen in Hillcrest (Personal Experience). Security guards were also key in keeping children inside school. If you were caught cutting, your parents were called into school. Prevention of cutting by security guards and Deans were important (Personal Experience). When cutting classes were prevented, the student’s learning would not be affected negatively because they would be present in the class and this would improve the attendance rates of the school. 87% of Hillcrest attended school everyday and 33% were chronically absent (Department of Education, 2018). Deans also had a special room called “The Sweep Room” for students roaming in the hallway or cutting class (Personal Experience). This affects a students learning negatively because they would miss class while being in the building. On the other hand, it taught students a lesson for cutting or being late to class.
Guidance counselors were a students’ best friend. Guidance counselors affected teaching and learning in a positive way because they were the school personnel that a student would go to if they had problems with something. For example, if a student was having difficulty with a class, the guidance counselor would recommend extra help and or remove the class when in danger or failing. I interviewed the counselor of the Media, Arts and Music SLC. Ms. Dejean explained that she is proud to assist students in any way possible and even though she is not a teacher, she is a mentor (Dejean,2018). This attitude and action of guidance counselors affect teaching and learning in a positive way because even guidance counselors work with teachers to seek the best interest of the student.
One of the many special programs that Hillcrest offered was the “College Now” program. In Hillcrest, this was encouraged immensely because as soon as you passed your English regents with a grade of 75 or higher, you were able to take college classes (Personal Experience). There was also an AP (Advanced Placement) program offered. These programs affected learning in a positive way because it pushed students to learn outside of their comfort zone and be prepared for college. If you gained college credits for core requirements in college, then you were a step ahead to declare your major when you began college. I took several college courses and advanced placement programs and as a student, I learn to work with others outside my classroom (Personal Experience). Also, I attained skills that would be helpful in college. I also observed that other students as well were gaining responsibility with college assignments and making connections with their classes in high school and college now course (Personal Experience).
If we chose to take these classes in college, depending on financial status, they were expensive. 82% of Hillcrests' students are economically disadvantaged (U.S News, 2018). The graduation rate for Hillcrest is 76% (U.S News, 2018). “LYFE” was the name of our school daycare for students who were adolescent parents as well (Personal Experience). This affected learning because it helped students earn a diploma, while they were being adolescent parents. The LYFE center did not affect teaching as much as it affected the learning of students.
Not every school is perfect or has the same contextual factors of Hillcrest High School. Any public school is affected by its surrounding factors. These factors as one can see, affects the teaching and learning taking place in and out of school. To conclude, from my personal experience I can look back in retrospection and see that attending Hillcrest High School was not a negative choice that affected my learning. Hillcrest High School is surrounded by many encouraging factors and I always recommend middle schoolers to attend. Many may have negative feedback or viewpoints of Hillcrest High School. It takes motivation and hard work to have the best learning and teaching in any school and factors in and around play a strong part (Personal Experience).