How Does Varsity Girls' Soccer Support the Mission Statement of A High School in Eastern Pennsylvania?

Abstract

Recently enforced federal education laws that provide money in return for academic progress and improvement began a significant movement of increasing school accountability within every community across the United States. Since the passing of No Child Left Behind in 2001, school stakeholders have been bound to executing educational reformations to raise the achievement rates of their student populations. Public school leaders have created comprehensive strategies in response to the pressures faced from federally created accountability systems. Public school officials have used many strategies to better communicate to community members and school district stakeholders the types of achievement that take place within their school. The redevelopment of school district mission statements across the United States is one such strategy that has been well documented over the course of the last fifteen years. The mission statement of a school district is a valuable tool used to openly communicate to all stakeholders what students will achieve upon graduation. The mission statement encompasses all school sponsored curricular and co-curricular student activities. This study examines the current components included within a mission statement from an Eastern Pennsylvania school district. The specific current components included within the mission statement are defined as 21st century learning skills and this study determines if a specific co-curricular activity supports or does not support the current mission statement. According to the Glossary of Education Reform, co-curricular activity is any activity that complements what students are learning in school (2014). This is a case study that takes an ethnographic approach to explore the awareness and assessment of the current components included within the school mission statement through questionnaires, focus groups, and individual interviews. Student athletes of a specific co-curricular activity, their parents/guardians, and their coaches are involved in the questionnaire, focus group and individual interview processes.%%%%Ed.D., Educational Leadership and Management – Drexel University, 2017