1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Pragmatism
1.1.1. Definition: Philosophy that encourages people to find processes that work in order to achieve their desired ends
1.1.2. Generic Notions
1.1.2.1. Children were active, organic beings, growing and changing, and therefore required a course of study that would reflect their particular stages of development
1.1.3. Goal of Education
1.1.3.1. Dewey believed that school should provide "conjoint, communicated experience"- that it should function as preparation for life in a democratic society
1.1.4. Key Researchers
1.1.4.1. George Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) William James (1842-1910) John Dewey (1859-1952)
1.1.5. Role of the Teacher
1.1.5.1. The teacher assumes the peripheral position of the facilitator
1.1.5.2. Encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement course of study
1.1.5.3. Writes curriculum and must have command of several disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum
1.1.6. Methods of Instruction
1.1.6.1. Children should start their mode of inquiry by asking questions of what they might want to know
1.1.6.2. These methods are called problem-solving or inquiry methods
1.1.7. Curriculum
1.1.7.1. Core Curriculum or an Integrated Curriculum
1.1.7.2. A certain subject that could be investigated by the students could yield problems by being solved with using math, science, history, reading, writing, music, art, wood. or metal working, cooking, and sewing - all the academic and vocational disciplines in an integrated, interconnected way.
2. Schools as Organizations
2.1. Teachers, Teaching, and Professionalization
2.1.1. Teachers are responsible for student learning. If they are not responsible, how will they improve in terms of student learning.
2.1.2. Who Becomes a Teacher
2.1.2.1. New teachers enter the profession after completing a university or college teacher education program.
2.1.2.2. The student will teach for a semester prior to entering a classroom.
2.1.2.3. A Highly Qualified Teacher: has a college degree, Full certification or licensure, and they will also have demonstrable content knowledge in the subject they are teaching. Most states require teachers to pass a test such as the Praxis II.
2.1.3. The Nature of Teaching
2.1.3.1. Teachers must be skilled in many areas of technical expertise and human relations.
2.1.3.2. The roles that teachers are expected to play in their professional lives.
2.1.3.2.1. Colleague, friend, nurturer of the learner, facilitator of learning, researcher, program developer, administrator, decision maker, professional leader, and community activist.
2.1.4. Underqualified Teachers
2.1.4.1. One requirement of the NCLB Act is that every classroom must have a highly qualified teacher.
2.1.4.2. Many teachers are teaching out of their field of expertise.
2.1.4.3. Out-of-field teaching: It is when classrooms are staffed with teachers who are not highly qualified in the specific subject taught.
2.1.5. Teacher Professionalism
2.1.5.1. A teacher's socialization is very limited compared to other professions. There is little evidence that the socialization processes associated with being a teacher are highly professionalized or represent standards of behavior the same as other professions.
2.1.5.2. For a teacher to be truly professional, they must share in the important decisions within the schools.
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
3.1. Mimetic Tradition
3.1.1. Based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transit specific knowledge to students.
3.2. Social Meliorist Curriculum
3.2.1. Developed in the 1930's
3.2.2. Writings of Dewey, who was concerned with the role of the schools in reforming society.
3.2.3. Response to the growing dominance of the social efficiency curriculum.
3.2.4. Two college teachers were the most influential of the social meliorist
3.2.4.1. George Counts and Harold Rugg
3.3. Dr. Vic. Wilson
3.3.1. Hartselle City Schools Superintendent
3.4. http://www.k12academics.com/education-theory/curriculum-theory#.VQT3X_nF-T8
4. Equality of Opportunity
4.1. Students with Special Needs
4.1.1. In the late 1960s, parents with children who had special needs put pressure on the education system to serve their children more appropriately and efficiently,
4.1.2. Sometime they were not treated fairly and sometime treated as if they were not part of the school at all.
4.1.3. In 1975 Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Law.
4.1.3.1. Includes six basic principles
4.1.3.1.1. The right to access public education programs
4.1.3.1.2. The individualization of services
4.1.3.1.3. Principle of Least restrictive environment
4.1.3.1.4. the broadened services to be provided by the school and procedures for determining them
4.1.3.1.5. The general guidelines for identifying disabilities
4.1.3.1.6. The principles of primary state and local responsibilitites
5. Educational Inequality
5.1. Cultural Difference Theories
5.1.1. Working class and nonwhite students
5.1.1.1. May arrive at school with different cultural dispositions
5.1.1.2. Oppressed minority
5.1.1.3. Theorist acknowledge the impact of student differences. However, they do not blame working-class and non-white families for educational problems
5.1.1.4. Attributes
5.1.1.4.1. Cultural differences to social forces such as poverty, racism, discrimination, and unequal life chances.
6. Educational Reform
6.1. 1980s to 1990s were periods of significant debate and reform for the U.S. Education
6.2. A Nation at Risk
6.2.1. Government leaders, educational reformers, teacher organizations, administrators, and others attempted to improve the quality of U.S. schools
6.3. President Bush's No Child Left Behind
6.4. President Obama's Race to the Top
6.5. Two waves of reform
6.5.1. First- concern with the issues of accountability and achievement
6.5.2. Second- targeted the structure and process of the school itself by placing more control in the hands of local schools, teachers, and the community
7. Politics of Education
7.1. Conservative
7.1.1. Traditionalist
7.1.1.1. They think that they should stick to the basics. Pass on the best of what was and what is.
7.1.2. Believes that the role of the school is essential to both economic productivity and social stability.
7.1.3. Believes the role of the school is to provide the necessary educational training to ensure that the talented and hard- working people receives the tools necessary to increase economic and social productivity.
7.1.4. Must compete in society in order to survive, and the individuals progress is dependent on the individuals initiative and drive.
7.1.5. http://search4clarity.com/education/perspective/conservative
7.1.6. Developed by sociologist William Graham Sumner. He looked at human and social evolution as adaptation and changes to the environment.
7.2. Liberal
7.3. Radical
7.4. Neo- Liberal
8. History of U.S. Education
8.1. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School
8.1.1. Horace Mann
8.1.1.1. Led the struggle for free public education
8.1.1.2. He was a successful Lawyer until he quit
8.1.1.3. In 1837, he became the Massachusetts legislature's first secretary
8.1.1.3.1. He held this office for 11 years
8.1.1.4. His reports were models for the public school reforms
8.1.1.5. In 1839 the first normal state school, and teacher training school, was established in Lexington, Massachusetts
8.1.1.6. His arguments reflect the concerns for stability, order, and social mobility
8.1.1.7. The faith and support that many people give to the U.S. public schools now have came from Horace Mann's belief that schools can change the social order and that education can foster social mobility
8.1.2. Definition: Schools should exist and be equal for all children. Regardless of social status, race, religion, and gender
9. Sociological Perspectives
9.1. Conflict Theories
9.1.1. Conflict sociologists will not see the relationship between schools and society as unproblematic or straightforward.
9.1.2. Schools are similar to social battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and others.
9.1.3. Karl Marx
9.1.3.1. Founder of the conflict school in the sociology of education
9.1.3.2. 1818-1883
9.1.4. http://sociology.about.com/od/Sociological-Theory/a/Conflict-Theory.htm
9.2. Effects of schooling
9.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes
9.2.1.1. Sociologist of education strongly disagree about the importance of schooling in terms of what knowledge and attitudes that students acquire in school
9.2.1.2. In most cases, the higher the social class background is in the student, the higher his/her achievement level is
9.2.2. Employment
9.2.2.1. Graduating from college will lead to better employment opportunities
9.2.2.2. Education alone will not explain the differences in the levels of income
9.2.2.3. 1986
9.2.2.3.1. 54% of 8 million college graduates in the U.S. entered professional and technical jobs