Child Poverty in Rochester, NY

Webquest project

By Diane Meade

Cobblestone School

 

 

INTRODUCTION:

“Rochester City School District and many of its families face difficult conditions. According to 2000 census data, out of America's 245 largest districts, Rochester had the 11th highest child poverty rate, with 38 percent of its children ages 0-17 living below the poverty line.1 Of the nearly 37,000 students enrolled during 2002-03, 78 percent qualified for the free lunch program . .”

(taken from:  http://www.ed.gov/admins/comm/suppsvcs/sesprograms/report_pg13.html )

 

The city of Rochester has one of the highest child poverty rates in New York State.  You are consultants working with the Rochester city council charged with studying the child poverty problem and creating a new policy(ies) to address the problem.

 

 

THE TASK:  

You are to research the problem and create a ten-slide PowerPoint presentation that shows your findings.  Your slide show must focus on the problem of child poverty that currently exists in Rochester, NY.  You are to use the 6-step public policy analyst (PPA) approach outlined below which can be reached using the link: http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/welcome.html

This type of analysis includes the following steps:

 

1.       Define and describe the problem

2.       Gather evidence for this problem

3.       Identify the causes for this problem

4.       Describe and evaluate past public policies and present-day

Rochester public policies regarding the problem

5.       Develop alternative policies that would address the problem

6        Select the best public policy/solution for this problem.

 

 

THE PROCESS:

You are to work independently to research and give a presentation on the problem of child poverty in Rochester, NY with proposed policy suggestions.  Refer to the following guidelines for the completion of your research and presentation: 

 

 

Guidelines for your 10-slide PowerPoint Presentation:

Ø      Your 10 slides should be original

Ø      Your slide show must consist of 9 slides and 1 credits slide

Ø      Your first 9 slides must focus on the 6-step public policy approach (PPA) and should include at least one slide per PPA step

o       http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/tips/welcome.html

Ø      One slide should include an Excel graph or pie-chart to illustrate the factual data

Ø      Your last slide or the “credits slide” must contain your name and a list of the sources you used

Ø       You must also submit the “slide boards.”  These are the printed copies of your PowerPoint slides

Ø      You are to present your slide show in front of the class on the scheduled presentation date

Ø      Your oral presentation must be a dynamic talk that enhances your slide show - Avoid reading the slides to the class

Ø      Your slide show should have pictures from “Clip Art” and pictures that you downloaded from the Internet

Ø      Each slide should use color in the background and/or font

Ø      At least one slide should use “Word Art”

 

Research Questions:

1)      List some children’s agencies that exist in Rochester, NY

2)    Explain these agencies’ missions

 

 

Resources:

 

 TIPS on PPA

http://www.maxwell.syr.edu/plegal/TIPS/welcome.html

   General Search Engines

www.google.com

www.yahooligans.com

www.about.com

www.metacrawler.com

www.altavista.com

www.lycos.com

www.amazon.com (For downloading pictures)

 

    Child Poverty in Rochester sites:

        Faces of Hunger in Rochester

          www.thirdpresbyterian.org/outreach-service/hungerfaces.shtml

        Innovations in Education:  Creating Strong Supplemental Educational . . .

          www.ed.gov/admins/comm/suppsvcs/sesprograms/report_pg13.html

        Legal Aid Society, Golisano Children’s Hospital at Strong Partner . . .      

www.urmc.rochester.edu/pr/news/story.cmf?id=787

        Projects – JOSANA Neighborhood Renewal – Flower Cit Habitat for . . .

          www.rochesterhabitat.org/projects/pr_JOSANA.shtml

        St. Joseph’s Villa helping at-risk youth in Rochester NY

          www.stjosephsvilla.org/youth_endowment.asp

        District Profile

          www.rcsdk12.org/district/profile.htm

        MCTP Youth Profile

          www.metrocouncil.us/youth_profile.html

 

 

Evaluation:

 

You will be assessed on the quality of your PowerPoint slide show and your oral presentation based on the following rubric. The criteria listed in the rubric below provide a clear understanding of what is expected.  Your own originality and creativity counts for a large part of your slide show.  Allow your own creativity to shine through in both your slide show and your oral presentation!

 

 

 

4

3

2

1

PPA Policy

Followed

All 6 steps of the PPA process were followed and all questions were answered completely with rationales clearly stated.

At least 4 steps of the PPA process were followed and most questions were answered completely, with rationales somewhat clearly stated.

Not all steps of the PPA process were followed, and/or only some questions were answered, and/or rationales were not clearly stated.

All steps were not followed and/or questions were not answered completely.

Web Sites

Research

Excellent use of a variety of references which are relevant and support proposed policy

Many references which are relevant and support the proposed policy

Some references which are relevant and support the proposed policy

Not enough references which are relevant or support proposed policy

Power Point

Presentation

Exceptional amount of data presented in a logical and organized format to support the proposed policy

 

Sufficient amount of data presented in a logical and organized format to support the proposed policy

 

Some data presented in a logical format to support the proposed policy

 

Insufficient data presented to support the proposed policy

 

Conventional Use of Standard English

Proper use of mechanics of writing (i.e. sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, etc.) complete with vivid word choice

 

Overall proper use of mechanics of writing (i.e. sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, etc.) with few errors with some descriptive words

Somewhat proper use of mechanics of writing (i.e. sentence structure, spelling, punctuation, etc.) with several errors and/or lack of descriptive words

Many spelling and/or punctuation errors or lack of descriptive words

  Originality

The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrate a high degree of creativity and originality.

The ideas expressed by the body of work are mostly creative and original.

The ideas expressed by the body of work demonstrate lack of creativity and/or originality.

There were no creative or original ideas expressed in this project.

 

This web quest focuses on the following New York State ELA Standards:

 

Standard 1:  Language for Information and Understanding

Standard 2:  Language for Literary Response and Expression

Standard 3:  Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

Standard 4:  Language for Social Interaction 

 

This web quest focuses on the following Social Studies Standards:

Standard 2: World History

Students will use a variety of intellectual skills to demonstrate their understanding of major ideas, eras, themes, developments and turning points in world history and examine the broad sweep of history from a variety of perspectives.

 

 

Conclusion:

Through extensive Internet research, analysis and evaluation you have become an expert on the effects of child poverty on Rochester City school children.  You have studied and analyzed the extent of the problem and current policies in place to deal with the problem.  Drawing from this information, you came up with what you feel would be a more effective policy.

 

As you worked on your Web Quest project, you’ve had to read for information and understanding, critically analyze and evaluate the information, respond and express your knowledge and conclusion through the creation of your PowerPoint, and utilize your communication skills through your presentation.

 

In order to complete this project successfully, you’ve needed to plan, manage your time, and work hard to follow a set schedule in meeting deadlines and achieving your goals.  Congratulations on a job well done!