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Gang Policy: Are you Down?

Public Policy Analysis

Ms. Yanik

School 23

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Introduction

Intro into understanding process of making a policy

Suppose you have just received your progress report and it seems that you are about to fail Ms. Yanik’s history class this semester. You asked your teacher why you are failing. You burst into Ms.Yanik’s room and proclaim at the top of your lungs “WHY AM I FAILING YOUR CLASS?” Ms. Yanik, your caring teacher shows you her grade book indicating all of your failing test grades, incomplete homework, and failing projects.

You then think about what is actually causing your current failure. You think about your current policy (attitude or plans to carry out) about studying for history class. ( For example: I put basketball before studying for the test, I stayed on the phone for 4 hours instead of studying, I was passing notes during class, and I stayed up late playing video games all night).

You then think about how mom is going to ground you all summer and say to yourself, “I gotta do something!” So you then think of ways to come up with a solution so that you do not fail this semester because you have a hot date on Saturday and you want to go away with your friend for vacation.

What policies can you make to address your problem?

Which one makes the most sense? Which one is most effective?

What would be your new policy for history class so that you do not fail?

This is a scenario that you face and have the power to change. You are a policy analyst and a policymaker. YOU have the power to recognize a problem and change it!

Now, you living in Yonkers have a way to the negative in your neighborhood into a positive.

You have been arguing with your mother all weekend for those brand new Jordan’s and she could not afford to buy for you. She and dad work two jobs and can’t even pay you for watching your younger sister at home. You have been saving up money for the past 5 months to buy those sneakers. Your younger brother too has been wearing a pair of dirty broken in sneakers all year and he has complained as well of the ridicule by his fellow students.

Text Box: One day you walk into school ready to buy those Jordan’s after school that you had your heart set on for all these months and decide to put that money into a more secure pocket. All of a sudden as you walk down the staircase toward your next class you get tackled down to the ground by five guys. By the time you get a look up you see that it’s the gang that everyone in school fears. You try to fight them off but four hold you down and one holds a box cutter to your throat. You really have no choice but to give them the money that they saw you but into your pocket. They then punch you in the eye to show you not to struggle against them again.

Text Box: Later at lunch you see your girlfriend being harassed by one of the guys from the gang that just jumped you in the stairway. He’s trying to touch her and she tells him to stop because she has a boyfriend but he keeps on. You tell him to back off and respect her but then you see ten guys rising up getting ready to jump you again in front of all your friends that act like they don’t know you anymore. You decide you have no other choice because you see that one guy is reaching into his jacket for what looks like a gun. You turn and walk away.

Text Box: You walk to your next class and see your younger brother in the hallway. He has on a pair of brand new Jordan’s! You question him and he says a friend at school gave them to him. You are suspicious so you search his bag and find drugs and a gun. He cries that he had no choice the gang at school told him to carry it for them or else they were going to kill him. He thought it would be better if he could make some money and be safe in school because he was protected. You are mad at him but understand why someone his age would make that decision.

When you walk into your history class your teacher and

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she notices your black eye. You refuse to go to the nurse because she is going to write up a report but you’re tired of being hassled by the gangs that hang around school. You talk to your teacher to see what you can do about it. You have a long talk with her and you both decide you need to do some research. You agree to put together a presentation with a couple close friends. Your job will be to give the presentation to the principal. You want to make her aware of the problem, but you also want to offer some solutions to the problem. If your presentation is good, she wants you to give it to some people in Yonkers Central office so that the problems can also be addressed in other schools in the district.

Read on for some suggestions.

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Task

As you do the research for your project you will follow the steps of the Public Policy Analysis (PPA) on the TIPS website. After completing your research you will put together either an oral presentation or a PowerPoint presentation which you will present to the class and then to the principal.

A) Oral Presentation-The oral presentation should be approximately 10 minutes long and demonstrate each of the skills you learned about the PPA.

B) PowerPoint presentation- The presentation should be at least 10 slides and each step of the PPA must have at least 1 slide that fulfills the requirements of the rubric. It should be approximately 10 minutes long and demonstrate the skills you learned about the PPA.

Process

(6 Steps of the Public Policy Analysis (PPA)

Step 1 -Define the problem

What is the problem that you plan on addressing?

Step 2 -Gather evidence

How do we know that this is a problem?

Step 3 -Identify causes

What causes this problem that you plan on addressing?

Step 4 -Evaluate an existing policy

What policies already exist on your problem?

Step 5 -Develop solutions

What new public policy do you want to create?

Step 6 -Select best solution

Decide the best policy to use to solve the problem.

Your group will use these worksheets as resources to complete your presentations.

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References

Search engines

https://www.google.com

Text Box: http://www.yahoo.com

http://www.altavista.com

http://www.ask.com

www.infoseek.com

Text Box: www.webcrawler.com

Specific Web sites

http://projects.edtech.sandi.net/staffdev/tpss99/mywebquest/index.htm

http://www.fightcrime.org/press/miJulyRelease.html

http://www.waveamerica.com/schools/sdiscussionguide.htm

http://www.gangwar.com/textonly/news12.htm

http://ncjrs.org/jjgangs.htm

http://www.gangwar.com/textonly/news11.htm

http://www.nagia.org/Crips_and_Bloods.htm (This site contains statistics)

http://eric-web.tc.columbia.edu/digests/dig115.html

http://www.gate.net/~rwms/UniformRay.html

Evaluation

PowerPoint Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content	Covers topic in-depth with details and examples. Subject knowledge is excellent.	Includes essential knowledge about the topic. Subject knowledge appears to be good.	Includes essential information about the topic but there are 1-2 factual errors.	Content is minimal OR there are several factual errors.
Organization	Content is well organized using headings or bulleted lists to group related material.	Uses headings or bulleted lists to organize, but the overall organization of topics appears flawed.	Content is logically organized for the most part.	There was no clear or logical organizational structure, just lots of facts.
Originality	Product shows a large amount of original thought. Ideas are creative and inventive.	Product shows some original thought. Work shows new ideas and insights.	Uses other people's ideas (giving them credit), but there is little evidence of original thinking.	Uses other people's ideas, but does not give them credit.
Presentation	Well-rehearsed with smooth delivery that holds audience attention.	Rehearsed with fairly smooth delivery that holds audience attention most of the time.	Delivery not smooth, but able to maintain interest of the audience most of the time.	Delivery not smooth and audience attention often lost.

Oral Presentation Rubric

CATEGORY	4	3	2	1
Content	Shows a full understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of the topic.	Shows a good understanding of parts of the topic.	Does not seem to understand the topic very well.
Preparedness	Student is completely prepared and has obviously rehearsed.	Student seems pretty prepared but might have needed a couple more rehearsals.	The student is somewhat prepared, but it is clear that rehearsal was lacking.	Student does not seem at all prepared to present.
Enthusiasm	Facial expressions and body language generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic in others.	Facial expressions and body language sometimes generate a strong interest and enthusiasm about the topic in others.	Facial expressions and body language are used to try to generate enthusiasm, but seem somewhat faked.	Very little use of facial expressions or body language. Did not generate much interest in topic being presented.
Speaks Clearly	Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, and mispronounces no words.	Speaks clearly and distinctly all (100-95%) the time, but mispronounces one word.	Speaks clearly and distinctly most ( 94-85%) of the time. Mispronounces no more than one word.	Often mumbles or can not be understood OR mispronounces more than one word.
Time-Limit	Presentation is 5-6 minutes long.	Presention is 4 minutes long.	Presentation is 3 minutes long.	Presentation is less than 3 minutes OR more than 6 minutes.
Evaluates Peers	Fills out peer evaluation completely and always gives scores based on the presentation rather than other factors (e.g., person is a close friend).	Fills out almost all of the peer evaluation and always gives scores based on the presentation rather than other factors (e.g., person is a close friend).	Fills out most of the peer evaluation and always gives scores based on the presentation rather than other factors (e.g., person is a close friend).	Fills out most of the peer evaluation but scoring appears to be biased.

Conclusion

You should have learned from this web quest that gang violence is major social problem in Yonkers. You have seen the gravity of the problem for all concerned. You also have learned the role of the Public Policy Analyst. This person examines social problems and finds solutions that improve the lives of all in the community. As an American citizen YOU have the power to do this. Let’s hope your investigation will make a difference.

Standards

Standards Addressed in Web Quest

English:

ES #1: Language for Information and Understanding

ES #2: Language for literary response and expression

ES #3: Language for Critical analysis and evaluation

ES #4: Language for Social Interaction

Social Studies

SS # 5: Civics, Citizenship and Government

SS # 3; U.S. History