Dave Brown

Education 302-303
Professor Keeley
October 17, 2016
Context
East Grand Rapids High School is part of the East Grand Rapids Public School District,
and feeds from East Grand Rapids Middle School. It is located in East Grand Rapids, MI, right
across from Reeds Lake and East Grand Rapids Middle School. East Grand Rapids was just
recently ranked to be the best suburb in Michigan by Business Insider this Summer (Martin).
With the Public Library lakeside, East Grand Rapids is mostly residential and has a stretch of
shops called Gaslight Village. The students at East Grand Rapids are in the 9th-12th grade range,
and live in town.
East Grand Rapids is about 3 square miles in total, and has a population of 11,258 (City
Data). As of 2014, about 48% of the population is male, while 52% is female, and the medium
household income is estimated to be $102,516 and $240,910 for a house/condominium (City
Data). A large portion of adults 25 and older are highly educated with 99.2% with a high school
degree or higher, 77.9% with a bachelors degree, and 34.2% with a graduate/professional degree
(City Data). As for race and ethnicity, 0.2% are American Indian, 0.6% are black/African
American, 0.7% are Hispanic, 1.4% are Asian, 1.6% are multiracial, and 94.8% are white (City
Data). Lastly, crime rates are very low with only 80 crimes reported in 2014 (City Data).
East Grand Rapids High School serves grades 9 through 12, and is a public high school.
The students are all from the East Grand Rapids area, and are mostly from upper-middle class
socioeconomics. In fact, 93.7% of the student body is ineligible for the free-and-reduced lunch

plan (StartClass). In 2015, U.S. News ranked them #424 in their national ranking, and 5 th in
Michigan (U.S. News). The school has a total enrollment of 985 with a 21:1 student to teacher
ratio, and 95% graduation rate (U.S. News). They are above the state average in math and
English proficiency at 68% proficiency in math and 84% proficiency in English (U.S. News). Of
the student population, 90.4% are white, 2.0% are Hispanic, 2.8% are Asian, 3.6% are
black/African American, 1.1% are multiracial, and 0.1% are American Indian (StartClass).
In the school and classroom, East Grand Rapids High School is very unique. The school
has about 24 extracurricular activities for both male and female students, and the students are
very involved in them. They have a performance arts center, technology lab and a swimming
pool. During the middle of the class day, all students and visitors are required to check in at the
main office. The classrooms are set up in their own wings, which are based on subject, but for
some reason Ms. Edisons math classroom is separate, in between the foreign languages and
social studies wings.
Ms. Edisons classroom is set in a way that she finds will be most proficient in teaching
her students. She has a smart board, math terms board, extra laptop computers, calculators, and a
phone cubby, which holds the students phones to minimize distractions. The students all have
and use laptops so that they can use online resources and programs while in class. Ms. Edison
uses programs such as Schoology, Quia, the textbook website, and Google Drive often.
As for the individual classes, Ms. Edison has a planning period, an algebra class, a
geometry class, and a lunch period in which I stay for (the lunch period is optional). The algebra
class has 23 students, of which 15 are female and 8 are male, and 20 students are white, 2
Hispanic and 1 Asian. One student is English as a secondary language. The geometry class has

28 students, of which 12 are male and 16 are female, and 1 student is Hispanic, 1 is Asian, 3 are
black/African American and 23 are white. One student is English as a secondary language.
Granted, these demographics are known through observation so I am not certain, especially if
there are multiracial students.

Works Cited
City-Data.com. city-data.com. Onboard Informatics, 2015. Web. 3 Oct. 2016. <http://www.citydata.com/city/East-Grand-Rapids-Michigan.html>.

East Grand Rapids Public Schools. http://www.egrps.org/. East Grand Rapids Public
Schools, 2016. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.

Martin, Emmie. http://www.businessinsider.com/best-suburb-every-state-2016-7.

Business Insider, 8 July 2016. Web. 15 Oct. 2016.

StartClass. http://public-schools.startclass.com/l/44683/East-Grand-Rapids-High-School.
Graphiq, May 2016. Web. 3 Oct. 2016. <http://publicschools.startclass.com/l/44683/East-Grand-Rapids-High-School>.

U.S. News. http://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/michigan/districts/east-grandrapids-public-schools/east-grand-rapids-high-school-9896. U.S. News, 2015. Web. 3

Oct. 2016.