1. Chap. 4) Sociological Perspectives
1.1. Theoretical Perspectives Concerning the Relationship Between School and Society
1.1.1. Functionalism
1.1.1.1. Interdependence of the social system
1.1.1.2. One part articulates with another to produce energy to make society work
1.1.1.3. Society held together by shared values
1.1.1.4. Schools socialize students into the appropriate values
1.1.1.5. Schools responsible for social and economical problems
1.1.2. Conflict Theory
1.1.2.1. Do not see the relation between school and society as problematic
1.1.2.2. Schools are social battlefields
1.1.3. Interactional Theory
1.1.3.1. Critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives
1.1.3.2. believe functionalism and conflict theory are abstract and too general
1.1.3.3. Microsocialogical
1.2. Five Effects Of Schooling
1.2.1. Attitude
1.2.1.1. Highly educated people are more likely to be liberal in their political and social attitudes.
1.2.2. Employment
1.2.2.1. High school graduates make an average of $20,000 less than people who graduated from college.
1.2.3. Tracking
1.2.3.1. Directly affects development. High ability students receive better teachers while lower track students become alienated
1.2.4. Gender Inequality
1.2.4.1. It is thought women receive a subliminal message men are superior to women because most teachers are female and most principals are male.
1.2.5. Student Peer Group
1.2.5.1. If a child is labeled, whether positive or negative, it will effect them as adults.
2. Chap. 5) Philosophy of Education
2.1. Existentialism
2.1.1. Key Researchers
2.1.1.1. Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre, Maxine Greene
2.1.2. Genetic Notions
2.1.2.1. "Individuals placed on earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter."
2.1.2.2. "People must create themselves, and they must create their own meaning."
2.1.2.3. People are continuously creating chaos and order.
2.1.3. Goal Of Education
2.1.3.1. To focus on the needs of the individuals
2.1.3.2. To stress individuality
2.1.3.3. to teach children at a young age the troubles of the world
2.1.4. Role Of The Teacher
2.1.4.1. Must take risks
2.1.4.2. Continuously working to enable their students to be "wide awake"
2.1.4.3. Tremendous responsibility and intensely personal
2.1.5. Method Of Instruction
2.1.5.1. The teacher must discover each child's individual learning style
2.1.5.2. Posing questions, generating activities, and working together
2.1.6. Curriculum
2.1.6.1. Humanities based
2.1.6.2. Lean toward literature, art, music, and drama
2.1.6.3. Believe in exposing students to problems at a young age
3. Chap. 6) Schools as Organizations
3.1. Elements of Change
3.1.1. School processes
3.1.1.1. In order for there to be change in the school processes, there must be new ways of thinking. Teachers must be at the forefront of educational change, and the very definition of the profession must be redefined.
3.1.2. School Cultures
3.1.2.1. Changing the culture of a school in order to make the school more learner centered require time, effort, intelligence, and good will.
3.2. Major Stakeholders
3.2.1. Federal Level
3.2.1.1. Senators: Doug Jones and Richard Shelby
3.2.1.2. House of Representatives: Bradley Byrne, Martha Roby, Mike Rogers, Robert Aderholt, Mo Brooks, Terri Sewell
3.2.2. Local Level
3.2.2.1. Senator: Steve Livingston
3.2.2.2. House of Representatives: Tommy Hanes
3.2.2.3. State Superintendent: Michael Sentance
3.2.2.4. Representative on State Board: Mary Scott Hunter
3.2.2.5. Local Superintendent: Jay Reyes
3.2.2.6. Members of Local School Board: Julie Gentry, Patricia Stewart, John Esslinger, Hollie Thompson, and Jason Williams.
4. Chap. 8) Equality of Opportunity
4.1. Impacts of Educational Outcomes
4.1.1. Class
4.1.1.1. Class impacts educational outcomes because the longer a child is in school, the more out of pocket cost for the parents. Teachers label students by the way they speak. Students of lower class speak plain English, and students of a higher class speak a more advanced English. Therefore, teachers label students by their class. There is a direct relationship between parental incomes and student performance.
4.1.2. Race
4.1.2.1. Race impacts educational outcomes because the drop out level for African-Americans is double that of white students. The Hispanic drop out level is more than triple that of white students. The reading levels of the different races have large gaps as well. A student's SAT scores depend on a student's reading level, and scholarships are received by high SAT scores. Minorities do not receive the same educational opportunities as white students.
4.1.3. Gender
4.1.3.1. Gender does not play as large of a role in the educational outcomes as it used to. Females are known to be better at reading and writing, and males are known to be better at math. Conservatives argue the decline of the male achievements is due to "feminizing." Society discriminates against women occupationally and socially.
4.2. Coleman Study 1982: When comparing average test scores, private schools scored higher on every subject.
4.2.1. Opinion 1: The results are significant, but in terms of significant differences in learning, the results are negligible.
4.2.2. Opinion 2: Subsequent studies have found the same results as Coleman. Private schools are better, especially for low income students.
5. Chap. 10) Educational Reform
5.1. School-Based Reforms
5.1.1. School-Business Partnerships
5.1.1.1. Business donate money to promote economic growth. In return, the schools strive to improve test scores. This partnership brings publicity to the business as well. Ex) Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)
5.1.2. School-To-Work Programs
5.1.2.1. These programs are intended for non-college bound students. They prepare children for the work force. These programs give students the opportunity to explore different careers. Theses programs are funded by the government; however, the states control how the money is spent. Each work-to-school program must contain three elements: 1) School based learning 2) Work based learning 3) Connecting activities.
5.2. Societal, Economic, Community, or Political Reforms
5.2.1. Mayoral Control of Urban Districts
5.2.1.1. Mayoral control centralizes governance into the mayor's office rather than placing the control on a school board. This reform eliminates corruption, promotes efficient management and budgets, increases student achievement, and reduces political battle over election of school boards.
5.2.2. Dryfoo's Model of Full Service Schools
5.2.2.1. Full service schools focus on meeting the needs of the family rather than only focusing on the needs of the individual student. They provide multiple service which include adult education, clinics, drug and alcohol programs, etc.
6. Chap. 3) History of U.S. Education
6.1. Public School Reform
6.1.1. Due to Horace Mann, the first state public school was established in 1839.
6.1.2. Mann argued the concern for stability, order, and social mobility.
6.1.3. Many people opposed the idea of a public school funded by taxes.
6.2. Historical Interpretation of the U.S. Education
6.2.1. Democratic-liberals View of Education
6.2.1.1. believe the school system provides equality of opportunity for all
6.2.1.2. believe in expansion of opportunity and purpose
6.2.1.3. "provides a place for everyone who wishes one, and in the end yields one of the most educated populations in the world"
6.2.1.4. believes there is a place in education for everyone because diversity broadens the learning spectrum
7. Chap. 2) Politics of Education
7.1. Four Purposes of Education
7.1.1. 1. Intellectual
7.1.1.1. Cognitive skills
7.1.1.2. History, Literature, Sciences
7.1.1.3. Create a higher order of thinking
7.1.2. 2. Political
7.1.2.1. Learn to obey laws
7.1.2.2. Teach love for ones country
7.1.2.3. Prepare students who will contribute to political order
7.1.3. 3. Social
7.1.3.1. Bring various cultural groups together to teach them to function jointly
7.1.3.2. Teach the values and behaviors of the society
7.1.4. 4. Economic
7.1.4.1. Find an occupation and prepare for it
7.2. Liberal Perspective of the Role of the School
7.2.1. Each student holds a unique quality that can be helpful in society.
7.3. Conservative Perspective of Unequal education Performance
7.3.1. Individuals succeed or fail based on their own intelligence and hard work.
7.4. Radical Perspective of the Definition of Educational Problems
7.4.1. Education system failed everyone except the wealthy, white, heterosexual male
7.4.2. Schools have taught the students to conform to society
7.4.3. Education system does not have equal opportunity
8. Chap. 7) Curriculum & Pedagogy
8.1. Curriculum Theory Which I Advocate
8.1.1. Humanist Curriculum: reflects the idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts is the cornerstone of an educated citizen, and the purpose of education is to present to students the best of what has been though and written. All students regardless of whether they are going to college should be liberally educated and should study English, foreign languages, mathematics, history, and science. This curriculum focuses on the Western heritage.
8.2. Dominant Traditions of Teaching
8.2.1. Mimetic
8.2.1.1. The mimetic tradition believes the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students. This is best done by the didactic method which focuses on lectures. The mimetic tradition believes in transferring knowledge from the knower to the learner.
8.2.2. Transformative
8.2.2.1. The transformative tradition believes in changing the students in a meaningful way. This tradition believes there is more to education than only transferring knowledge. This tradition rejects the authoritarian relationship between a teacher and students.
9. Chap. 9) Educational Inequality
9.1. Cultural Differences Theory
9.1.1. Anthropologist John Agbu argues African-American children do less well in school because they adapt to their oppressed position in the classroom. He states there is a "Job Ceiling" for those students. Also these students have the burden of acting white.
9.1.2. Working class and non-white students are faced with resisting the dominant culture of the schools. These students tend to embrace an anti-school culture. This leads to the students dropping out of school and entering the work force too early.
9.2. School-Centered Explanations for Educational Inequality
9.2.1. School Financing
9.2.1.1. Affluent suburban schools bring in more money than public schools in poor inner cities based on property tax values. This leads to the suburban schools having more money for each student. Proponents argue funding should be equalized by federal aid.
9.2.2. Gender and Schooling
9.2.2.1. Schools devalue connectedness and caring that women posses, and they reward competition which males posses. Feminist believe schools should socialize both boys and girls to value connectedness and caring.
9.2.3. Effective School Research
9.2.3.1. In order to prove the location and social status of the school is not the reason for the school failing, there must be evidence a school of the same social status is prospering. For example, if a suburban school is compared to a poor school and the suburban school is doing better than the poor school, the poor school needs to be compared to another poor school who is prospering to prove the school is not failing due to those circumstances. For a school to succeed, it must posses high expectations, strong leadership, monitoring of student learning, high degree of instructional time, and flexibility by teachers to adapt to new situations.
9.2.4. Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices
9.2.4.1. Schools in working class neighborhoods are more likely to have authoritarian pedagogic practices with social efficient curriculum. Schools in middle class neighborhoods are less authoritarian and more students centered. Their curriculum is humanistic liberal arts college prep. Upper class neighborhoods attend elite private schools with authoritarian teachers and a classical humanistic college preparatory curriculum.