1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Pragmatism
1.1.1. Generic Notations and the Key Researcher
1.1.1.1. Dewey's Pragmatism was where children could learn two skills. Externally and from books, traditional methodology that enables them to operate cooperatively in a democratic society.
1.1.1.2. Goal of Education
1.1.1.2.1. A vision rooted in social order he did not see ideas as separate from social conditions. He thought of his goal to aim more towards the current day and to integrate children into not just any type of society but a democratic society.
1.1.1.3. Role of the Teacher
1.1.1.3.1. The role of a teacher is not to appear as the authoritator but to assume the peripheral position of facilitator
1.1.1.4. Methods of Instruction
1.1.1.4.1. Learning in groups and individually, learning to ask questions about what they want to learn, now called the problem-solving or inquiry method. Formal instruction was abandoned and tables and chairs that could be grouped replaced the nailed to the floor furniture. Giving the flow of the classroom a more natural way and less traditional.
1.1.1.5. Curriculum
1.1.1.5.1. There are controversies among the ideas of Dewey's traditional discipline-centered curriculum. Howard Gardner felt that between the needs and interests of the children and then the traditional discipline was a balance. and Egan felt it was compromising, based on imagination and intuition.
2. Educational Reform
2.1. School Based Reforms
2.1.1. School-Business Partnerships: Schools and businesses are working together to benefit students; in hopes for revitalization of the economy.
2.1.2. School-Work Programs: Giving students the opportunities to explore different careers and see the basic skills and knowledge needed to obtain the degree needed for a particular career.
2.2. Other Reforms and Their Impacts on Education
2.2.1. School Finance Reform demanded more funds for the lower class and giving a more efficient education
2.2.2. A theory of educational problems and reforms examined multiple issues with in the schools but one example was No Child Left Behind formed by George W. Bush.
3. Curriculum & Pedagogy
3.1. Curriculum Theory
3.1.1. Social efficiency curriculum is a theory that students from all backgrounds with different or various learning methods receive different types of schooling. Meeting each students needs the best we can academically.
3.2. Traditions of Teaching
3.2.1. The transformative tradition focuses on the transformation of the students' character and ideals rather than the older tradition of shaping their beliefs.
3.2.2. The mimetic tradition is a five-stage sequence that corresponds to the way children naturally learn. It follows the flexible and natural stages students move through when they come to understand and master ideas and skills.
4. Equality of Opportunity
4.1. Class, Race and Gender Effects
4.1.1. Racism plays a critical role in how minority students access and experience learning. Like race, gender can be used by a sexist society to throw up a barrier to women's development and negatively affect their learning experiences. As a result, women are often seen as lacking. Class, lack of access to financial resources, effects educational outcome due to gaps in reading, writing, and even housing situations.
4.2. Responses to the Coleman Study 1982
4.2.1. High School Achievement: Alexander and Pallas (1983, p. 122) interpretation is the difference between Catholic and public schools are statistically significant
4.2.2. Where a student goes to school speaks to their race and social class and that the race and class are responsible for gaps in student achievement. (Borman and Dowling)
5. Sociological Perspectives
5.1. Theoretical Perspectives
5.1.1. Functional Theories
5.1.1.1. The earliest sociologist to embrace a view on the relation on school and society was Emile Durkheim. He recognized that education had taken different forms at different times and places, he believed that education, in virtually all societies, was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony. For Durkheim, moral values were the foundation of society.
5.1.2. Conflict Theories
5.1.2.1. In this view, the glue of society is economic, political, cultural and military power. Conflict sociologists do not see the relation between school and society as unproblematic or straightforward. Where as functionalists emphasize cohesion in explaining social order, conflict sociologists emphasize struggle. This theory compares schools to battlefields, where student struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators and so on.
5.1.3. Interactional Theories
5.1.3.1. This view is the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives. The difference is that the two above are abstract theories and emphasize structure and process at a very general macro sociological level of analysis.
5.2. Five Effects of Schooling on Individuals
5.2.1. Employment
5.2.1.1. Graduating college will lead to greater employment opportunities. The general finding masks a great deal of variation when examining the relation of education level and income level.
5.2.2. Teacher Behavior
5.2.2.1. Teachers have a large impact on student learning and their behavior. They wear many occupational hats seeing as they have as many as 1,000 interpersonal contacts each day with children in and out of their classroom. Children that are "labeled" by their teachers can influence actual performance
5.2.3. Inside the Schools
5.2.3.1. All students study the same curriculum. It is a fact that the curriculum placement inside the school has a direct impact on the probabilities of students attending college.
5.2.4. Student Peer Groups and Alienation
5.2.4.1. The adult culture of the teachers and administrators is in conflict with the student culture. This conflict can lead to alienation and even violence. There are four major types of student in college: careerists, intellectuals, strivers, and the unconnected. This should be evidence alone, once evaluating each type of student, that student cultures play an important role in shaping students educational experiences. Schools are more than mere collections of individuals; they develop cultures, traditions, and restraints that profoundly influence those around them.
5.2.5. Knowledge and Attitudes
5.2.5.1. Nobody argues that schools have no impact on student development, but there are sharp divisions among researchers about how significant school effects are, when taking into consideration their social class background. Generally it is found that the social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level. Though another study indicated the more education a student had the more likely they were to read books, articles, newspapers and take part in political and public affairs, causing them to be more liberal in their political and social attitudes. So, even taking into account the importance of individual social class background, more years of school lead to greater knowledge and social participation.
6. Educational Inequality
6.1. Cultural Differences Ttheory
6.1.1. Working class and nonwhite students being resistant and embracing the anti-school culture.
6.1.2. African American students performing less as they progress in their academics and embrace or adapt to their oppressed position in society.
6.2. School Centered Explinations
6.2.1. School Financing comes from local, state and federal sources. Most of the financing comes from the state and federal. Meaning more affluent high class communities are able to provide for their schools needs versus the lower class communities, causing unequal funding.
6.2.2. Effective School Research, the concern with unequal educational performances of the working class and non-white students.
7. Politics of Education
7.1. Four Purposes of Education
7.1.1. Intellectual
7.1.1.1. to teach basic cognitive skills
7.1.1.1.1. SUCH AS: Reading, Writing and Mathmatics
7.1.2. Political
7.1.2.1. to inculcate allegiance to the exhisting political order; to prepare citizens who will participate in this political order; to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order; and to teach children basic laws of society
7.1.3. Social
7.1.3.1. to have school systems help social problems; to work as one of many institutions
7.1.3.1.1. SUCH AS: family and church for social cohesion to socialize children to various roles, behaviors, and values of society.
7.1.4. Economic
7.1.4.1. to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train and allocate individuals into the division of labor
7.2. Perspectives
7.2.1. Roles of the School
7.2.1.1. The Radical Perspective of schools is to perpetuate the society and to serve the interests of those with economic wealth and political power.
7.2.2. Explanations of Unequal Performance
7.2.2.1. Radical and liberals suggest, schooling has not sufficiently provided a reduction in inequality of results, and as educational achievement is closely related to student socioeconomic backgrounds then the explanation of why certain groups perform well in school is a crucial one.
7.2.3. Definition of Educational Problems
7.2.3.1. Conservative perspective argues the decline of standards, cultural literacy, civilization, and authority.
8. History of U.S. Education
8.1. My choice of Reform
8.1.1. The reform movement that made the most difference to me was section in our book on page 67. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School, which took place from 1820-1860. The Industrial Revolution, aided the Westward expansion to settlements of Oregon and California by 1850. The struggle for free public education was led by Horace Mann who left his high paying job as a lawyer to lobbie for a state board of education. This kicked off reforms for public schools, teacher training schools and the first state normal school in 1839. Historians viewed Mann as one of America's greatest educational reformers.
8.2. My Choice of Historical Interpretation of U.S. Education
8.2.1. Technological interpretation: According to this interpretation the growth and structure of the U.S education has represented an accommodation to the labor-training needs generated by the growth and structure of skill requirements in the economy.
9. School as Organizations
9.1. Major Stakeholders
9.1.1. Federal Alabama senators are Richard Shelby and Doug Jones and House of Representative is Mo Brooks. State senator William Holtzclaw and house of representative. The state superintendent is Michael Sentence and representative on state school board is Kay Ivey. Local superintendent is Dr Trey Holladay, and all members on local school board include president Russell Johnson, vice president Beverly Malone, and board members Tim Green, Scott Henry, Shannon Hutton, James Lucas and Jennifer Manville.
9.2. Elements of Change
9.2.1. School Processes: AVID, Advancement Via Individual Determination, at AHS is an elective for students in grades 9-12. There is an application process that includes an interview before program acceptance. The AVID elective is the core of AVID secondary. It targets students in the academic middle–B, C, and even D students–with the desire to go to college and the willingness to work hard. Typically, they will be the first in their families to attend college, and come from groups traditionally underrepresented in higher education. These are students who are capable of completing rigorous curriculum but are falling short of their potential. AVID places these students on the college track, requiring them to enroll in the most rigorous courses that are appropriate for them, such as Honors and Advanced Placement
9.2.2. School Cultures: The Athens City School Board has set a motto for Athens, "A community connected by education". The cultural aspects of these schools are warming, swell with Golden Eagle pride and base the foundation on the students academic abilities. You can walk into a school and know immediately whether you want to be there or not. Athens city schools, as a teacher and a student, is where I want to be.