Community+Analysis

 **751: Literacy, Libraries, and Literature**

(19 KB)


 * I. Introduction **

Johnsonville, South Carolina is a small, rural town that you would pass through on your way to bigger and better places. I spent my formative years in that small town, fantasizing about the day that I could get to a movie theater in less than sixty minutes. Nestled within this town, you can find Johnsonville Elementary School (JES), which is the focus of my assignment. My interest in this school has to do with its rural locale and how it manages to maintain itself within a district that boasts to be “...ranked in the top 10 percent in all subject areas” within the state of South Carolina (“About Us,” para 7). In viewing the South Carolina State Department of Education's most recent annual report card for the Johnsonville School District, it seems that it is the high school that pushes the district into its stellar standings.


 * II. Demographics **

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city of Johnsonville is home to a population of 1,499 people and only has a total area of 1.6 square miles. The population is predominantly white at 74.8%, African American at 21.9%, with the races of Hispanic, Asian and multiple races rounding out the rest of the 4%. The city also has an overwhelming amount of residents who only speak English at home at 99.2% (“Fact Sheet”). This statistics raises a question of how alienated some residents must feel if they are not native English speakers and whether or not that is amplified within the schools. Also according to the Census Bureau, is that 19.2% of the entire population is below poverty level with the highest percentage of the population (21.3%) making between $15,000 – $24,999. Again, the issue of ruralness comes into play and how it affects the population as well as the schools. The city's main employer, Wellman Industries, is a factory that manufactures plastic packaging resins, thus branding most of the population as a labouring class. It used to be a joke while I was growing up that everyone had a mother who worked at the school and a father who worked at Wellman. It seems that not much has changed.

 JES enrolled 620 students, grades 4K – 4th grade, for the 2009/2010 school year. According to the school's annual report card, the ratio of male to female students was about 50/50 of the 3rd and 4th grade students that took the PASS test. Of these students, a staggering 146 of them were offered subsidized meals, sadly mirroring the socio-economic information gathered from the U.S. Census Bureau. Also of note is the report card's “limited English proficiency” number and “Hispanic” number both being 6.


 * III. Conclusion **

Johnsonville, South Carolina is one that proudly boasts of the hard workers that inhabits its city limits. But it is the ruralness of the town and the limited monetary funds of its labouring class that has its elementary school fighting to make quality education available to children. While programs such as Head Start and an after school program were implemented to prepare and help the children be better acclimated to a school environment, it seems as though more can be done during school hours to help those who struggle with reading, learning and communication.

**Bibliography **

About Us. (n.d.). //Johnsonville// (par. 7). Retrieved June 8, 2011, from

 http://www.cityofjohnsonville.com/aboutus.htm

Fact Sheet. (n.d.). //U.S. Census Bureau//. Retrieved June 8, 2011, from http://factfinder.census.gov

Johnsonville Elementary. (n.d.). //Report Card Portal//. Retrieved June 8, 2011, from http://ed.sc.gov/topics/

 researchandstats/schoolreportcard/2010/Elementary/comprehensive/E2105047.pdf

Johnsonville High. (n.d.). //Report Card Portal//. Retrieved June 8, 2011, from http://ed.sc.gov/topics/

 researchandstats/schoolreportcard/2010/High/comprehensive/H4302043.pdf

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Johnsonville Middle. (n.d.). //Report Card Portal//. Retrieved June 8, 2011, from http://ed.sc.gov/topics/

<span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"> researchandstats/schoolreportcard/2010/Middle/comprehensive/M2105049.pdf