` Contextual Factors Analysis 1

Contextual Factors Analysis

Kali Hopkins

The University Of Maine at Farmington

This semester, I am doing my student teaching at Oxford Hills Comprehensive

High School (OHCHS), located in Paris, Maine. I will work in a high school English
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classroom that provides 9 and 12 graders different learning opportunities within the

classroom. I will work with both senior students in AP classes, as well as college prep

classes for seniors and a group of freshmen who struggle with reading. Each student

can choose from one of the nineteen different vocational programs offered at OHCHS.

While every student has a different home life, every student attending OHCHS is given

the same opportunities to grow and succeed through the school.

Located in western Maine, Paris is a small town with a population of “5,183”

(Paris, Maine) people. The high school takes in students from eight different towns, all

coming from Oxford County. The school district has an enrollment number of “3,420”

(Paris, Maine) students. The school district consists of “one comprehensive high school,

which includes nineteen technical programs (grades 9-12), one adult education center,

including college education programs, one middle school (grades 7 & 8), [and] eight

elementary schools (pre-K to 6)”, (Paris, Maine). As of the 2018-2019 school year,

Oxford hills high school has 1,028 students enrolled with 259 in 9 grade, 256 in 10

grade, 240 in 11 grade, and 273 in 12 grade (“School Directory Information”, NCES).

The county's population, poverty rate, and annual income for each family can

affect how students learn and what kinds of access they have. Oxford County’s

“population [is] 57,230” (“Oxford County, ME”, Data USA) people, with a “poverty rate

[of] 15.2%” (Oxford County, ME). Each town's population ranges from 1,000 to 4,500

people. “The 15.2% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Oxford

County, ME (8.59K out of the 56.5K people) live below the poverty line, a number that is

higher than the national average at 13.1%.” (Oxford County, ME). The largest

demographic for those living below the poverty line are women aged 55-64 (Oxford
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County, ME). Since there are so many families that live below the poverty line, it can

affect how students are doing within the school. Some kids will be working to help their

families pay the bills, other students will struggle with access to food, and some won't

have proper school supplies or clothes. The following graph shows how many people

are living below the poverty line in Oxford County by separating the population into two

groups: male and female.

The county consists of a majority of white people and there is very little diversity.

Students who grow up with such little diversity can grow up to view the world a certain

way. If they ever move to a more diverse county or town it can be a culture shock for

these students. Students need to be educated about different cultures within the school

to have a better understanding of how the world works. “In 2017, there were 50.2 times

more white (non-Hispanic) residents (54.7K people) in Oxford County, ME than any

other race or ethnicity” (Oxford County, ME). The next largest ethnic population is “two

or more races (1.09K +/- 160 people)” (Oxford County, ME). The third-largest ethnic
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group in white (Hispanic) (465 +/- 147)” (Oxford County, ME). The following chart shows

a breakdown of each ethnicity within Oxford County.

Even though the county has 15.2% of people living below the poverty line, the

county’s median household income is $44,582, which is a “5.65% growth from the past

year” (Oxford County, ME). The annual household income is continuing to increase

within this county. “The largest industries in Oxford County, ME are Health Care &

Social Assistance (3,987 people) Retail Trade (3,416 people), and Manufacturing (2,983

people) and the highest paying industries are Mining, Quarrying, & Oil & Gas Extraction

($102,708), Utilities ($46,161), and Public Administration ($44,779)” (Oxford County,

ME). With the industries listed above, “the most common job groups, by the number of

people living in Oxford County, ME, are Office & Administrative Support Occupations

(3,071 people), Sales & Related Occupations (2,246 people), and Construction &

Extraction Occupations (2,121 people)” (Oxford County, ME). The following diagram
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shows how each job group is broken down by the percentage of people who work within

each group and subdivision of that group.

With the county’s high poverty rate the school is eligible for Title One funding.

For schools to qualify for Title One funding, “40% of its students must be classified as

low-income by the United States Census” (“Title I: Explained.” Lexia Learning). Title

One is one of the largest government funding sources for both public and private

schools. The program “dates from 1965 and its main purpose has been to help

underprivileged children meet challenging state academic standards. In other words

schools with a student base that are lower-income are provided with title 1 funding to

help those who are behind or at risk of falling behind, aiming to bridge the gap between

low-income students and other students”(Clark, Laura. “What Are Title 1 Schools? We

Explain: Student Debt Relief.” Student Debt Relief ). Title One funding can be used to

improve a school’s curriculum, their different instructional activities, increase staff, and
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improve programs that the school has. Due to both the school and counties’ lack of

funding students can miss out on educational opportunities along with additional skills.

Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School uses a majority of its Title 1 funding for

literacy programs at the high school. To graduate OHCHS students must have an

eighth-grade reading level. Some students come into high school with a third or fourth-

grade reading level. If a student is not at an eighth-grade reading level then they are put

into a literacy class where they can improve their reading skills. Once a student reaches

an eighth-grade reading level they can test out of the class. This process can take half

the year or the student could be in the literacy classes for all four years of high school.

At the high school level, there is currently town funding to assure that each

student attending high school has access to 1:1 technology. The middle school currently

participates in the Maine Learning Technology Initiatives (“Maine Learning Technology

Initiative (MLTI).” Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI)). This assures that all the

students and staff attending the middle school have access to apple alternative

technology.

While the high school relies on town funding, it can make it harder for students to

get up to date technology. For example, the freshmen this year were given old

computers from past students. The school had ordered new computers for the incoming

students but they ended up being back-ordered until December. These old computers

run at a very slow pace, the cameras are very low quality and tend to not work for the

students, and each of these computers is behind on updates. On one hand, it is an

amazing opportunity for the students to have access to their computers, but on the other

hand, what are they benefiting from having computers that don't work that well.
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Making sure that students have their technology they can take home and have

access there is extremely important, especially now during a pandemic. Having it so

students have access to this technology ensures that they have a way to participate in

zoom meetings for classes when they are not in person. It also assures that if the

district does end up closing the school down for in-person classes, students will still be

able to attend electronically. Being able to bring these computers home can also give

the rest of the family access to a computer. It can allow parents or guardians to

participate in our classes and contact teachers if needed.

When students are invited into a google classroom, their parents are invited as

well. This allows for parents to be an active participant in the class and directly contact

the teachers if they need to do so. Another way for parents to get in contact with

teachers is by calling them directly at the school. Calls are forwarded to a teacher and if

they do not answer then the teacher will receive an email that copies the message that

a parent wished to leave. Some parents choose to participate in google classroom while

others choose not to.

Due to COVID-19 the amount of students we are allowing into the school itself is

cut in half. This has caused the school to change the attendance for each student this

year. This school year students are grouped into two pods by their last names. For

example Pod A consists of students with the last names A-K and Pod B consists of

students with the last names L-Z. There are some exceptions where students are

switched to another pod due to scheduling issues, family conflicts, conflicts with other

students, etc.
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The school has decided to break the students up into two groups to limit the

number of students in the building at one time. While we attend school in person there

is always a pod of students that are in person while the other pod zooms into the class

for a check-in unless the school decides to hold classes virtually that day. While the pod

is in person we can't do that much group work in the classroom but while a pod is

remote then we can put the students in break-out rooms on zoom.

Scheduling is also different this year due to COVID-19. Classes begin at 7:35

every day. Each class is around an hour-long except for the lunch period. The lunch

period is two hours long with an hour lunch incorporated into the period. Students,

depending on what class they are in, will have lunch in the first half of the period or

during the second half of the period. There are now twelve minutes between each class.

The twelve minutes is broken up into four sections. For example, freshmen would go at

the first bell, sophomores at the second bell, juniors at the third bell, and seniors at the

fourth bell. Each grade level gets three minutes to get to the next class. Having the

twelve minutes between classes also allows for the teachers in the room to wipe down

each desk with antibacterial wipes. We are also getting plexiglass to put on our tables

and desks to separate students from each other. For my classroom, the plexiglass is put

in the middle or end of a table so students have something separating them.

Due to COVID-19, the school decided to take offices, teacher lounges, break

rooms, etc. and make them into more classrooms so us educators would be able to

keep the students at the proper distance to follow the school guidelines. My mentor

teacher has one of the larger classrooms in the school. Rather than have desks for

students, there are long tables. We are trying to have it so there is only one student at
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each table but due to the number of students in certain classes, we are having to seat

two students at some tables. There is an abundance of books around the classroom on

multiple bookshelves. Some of the bookshelves that are in the classroom were made by

past students. The screenshot below is a virtual version of the classroom my mentor

teacher and I use.

This year, the school district has decided to offer free lunch and breakfast to

every student until December. Students are also allowed to take home free meals for

the days that they are remote. This ensures that every student is given access to food in

such a low-income area. Normally “Maine students are eligible for free and reduced

breakfast and lunches if their household income is 130% (free) or 180% (reduced) of

the federal poverty guidelines” (“Search Maine School Database: Free and Reduced

Meals” Press Herald). In Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School, “54.06%” (Search

Maine School Database: Free and Reduced Meals”) of students are eligible for either

free or reduced breakfasts and lunches. That is over half of the students who attend this

school district. These numbers speak to the needs of the students and the community in

general. Many students can come to school hungry and the only meal they will be

getting is when they are at school. This can affect students' ability to learn while in the
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classroom. The following chart shows the number of students eligible for free and

reduced lunch.

The following table shows information about a group of students that I will be focusing

on and

completing multiple lessons with.

Student Gender Age Pod Gifted and IEP/504 Medical Issues Other Notes
Group Talented

1 F 17 A Academic Asthma

2 F 17 A

3 M 18 A

4 M 17 B

5 M 17 A Academic

6 M 17 A Bee Allergy
(requires epi-pen)

7 F 17 A
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8 F 17 A Artistic

9 M 18 A Academic

10 F 17 A Artistic

11 M 17 Always
Virtual

12 M 17 A 504 Celiac Disease,

Shellfish Allergy,
Diabetes (insulin-
dependent)

13 M 17 B Academic
and Artistic

14 F 17 B

15 F 17 B

16 F 17 B Academic
and Artistic

17 M 17 B Academic

18 F 17 B

19 F 17 B

This group of students takes part in an AP Literature class for their final English

credit needed to graduate. A majority of the students are motivated and ready to

complete any work given to them. Assignments are given both in person and posted on

google classroom. Assignments consist of class discussions, writing prompts, quizzes,

tests, book reactions, and essays. For the most part, students are good at turning things

in on time but there are some of the assignments that are posted on google classroom

being turned in late by a small portion of the class, but they do get done eventually.

Student 12 is an active participant in almost everything. They are always on time

to class and even stay after sometimes to talk to Mrs.Bell and me. They are willing to
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share their ideas and thoughts on the novels we have read and contribute to class

discussions. When they do stay after class they are willing to talk about what was

discussed during class or share more ideas and thoughts that they had. When they are

on zoom they are still willing to participate in class discussions.

In this class Pod A tends to be more talkative in general. For instance, everyone

usually participates in class and shares their thoughts out with everyone. Pod B tends to

be a quieter class. There are about three students in the class that tend to lead the

class discussions. When asked students will participate but they usually need to be

prompted.

Work Cited

“School Directory Information .” NCES ,

Https://Nces.ed.gov/Ccd/Schoolsearch/school_detail.Asp?
Search=1&SchoolID=231077000361&ID=231077000361.

“Oxford County, ME.” Data USA, datausa.io/profile/geo/oxford-county-me/.

Paris, Maine. www.city-data.com/city/Paris-Maine.html.

Clark, Laura. “What Are Title 1 Schools? We Explain: Student Debt Relief.”
Student Debt Relief Student Loan Forgiveness, Student Debt Relief | Student Loan
Forgiveness, 3 Oct. 2019, www.studentdebtrelief.us/student-loans/title-1-schools/.

“Title I: Explained.” Lexia Learning, 10 Nov. 2018,

“Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI).” Maine Learning Technology

Initiative (MLTI) | Department of Education, www.maine.gov/doe/learning/ltt/mlti.
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“Search Maine School Database: Free and Reduced Meals.” Press Herald,
www.pressherald.com/interactive/search_maine_school_database_free_and_reduced_
meals/.

Rose, Jeremy. “A State-by-State Guide to Free and Reduced School Meal

Programs.” The Daily Meal, The Daily Meal, 15 Aug. 2019,
www.thedailymeal.com/eat/free-school-lunch-breakfast-every-state/slide-24.