Ecological Study
Part 1: Introduction-Description of the School Environment
Community Context
The city of Duluth is in the western region of Gwinnett County, surrounded by the cities of Lawrenceville, Norcross, and Suwanee. With an estimated population of 27,926 people The City of Duluth is the 36th most populated city in the state of Georgia out of 622 cities (United States Census Bureau, 2012). With slightly less than 10 square miles Duluth’s vast population lives closely amongst each other with 2,661 people per each square mile (USCB, 2012). With a 5% increase in population since 2010 Duluth continues to grow rapidly and also diverse. Duluth is composed of four main races White (48%), Asian (22%), Black (20%), and Hispanic (14%) (USCB,2012). This diverse community gives students and adults the opportunity to be cultural competent and plays a constant role in the schools. As teachers consistently use the diversity of their students to their benefit in the history classes that I have observed. In the city of Duluth almost 40% of the population ages 5 and above speak another language other than English at home. There is definitely a language barrier in the schools, I observed a girl who had a translator follow her all day because she was not able to speak or understand English.
School
Duluth High School is located in the northern region of the city. It was built in 1958 and consisted of only 12 classrooms with an enrollment of 200 students. The original gym that is still in use today was constructed in the 60’s along with the development of more classrooms. In the 1980’s their enrollment continued to increase leaving with a grand total enrollment of 1,200 students. Leading to the addition of new courses such as fine arts, foreign languages, AP courses, gifted programs and computer programs.
In the early 2000’s a variety of changes were made with the construction of their new gym that connects to the old gym, with this development coaches now have...