1. Curriculum
1.1. Heavily biased curriculum covering the humanities to help evoke responses to move to a new levels of awareness.
1.2. Expose students at a young age to problems, possibilities, horrors, and accomplishments that humankind is capable of producing.
2. Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1908-1961)
3. The higher the social class the higher achievement level
4. Politics of Education
4.1. My Political Perspective and Vision of Education
4.1.1. Conservative Perspective
4.1.1.1. Conservative thinking originated from 19th century Social Darwinist thoughts.
4.1.1.2. Conservative thinking is the process that enables the strongest to survive and that the weak would have to adapt to survive. (William Graham Sumner)
4.1.1.3. Conservatives believe free market competition is most economically productive and is most respectful to human needs.
4.1.1.4. Free market capitalism allows for maximum growth and individual liberty in competition with minimum potential abuses. (Smith and Friedman)
4.1.1.5. Conservatives view that individuals are rational people that decide on a cost-to-benefit scale.
4.1.1.6. Conservatives believe an individual has the capacity to earn or not earn their place in society, individual drive is what separates the strong from the weak, and solutions to problems should be addressed at the individual level.
4.1.1.7. Ronald Reagan ascended the conservative viewpoint(1980-88) arguing that welfare state policies and government intervention in the economy was the heart of American discomfort. His presidency was characterized by free market capitalism, eliminating government regulations, and reducing social programs.
4.1.1.8. Conservatives believe students must compete to survive and that their human progression is dependent on their initiative and drive.
4.1.2. Traditional Vision of Education
4.1.2.1. Traditionalists view schools as necessary to the transmission of traditional values of U.S. society.
4.1.2.2. Traditionalist look for schools to instill hard work, family unity, and individual initiative.
4.1.2.3. Traditionalists believe schools should pass on the best of what was and what is.
5. Philosophy of Education
5.1. Philosophy
5.1.1. Existentialism and Phenomenology
5.1.1.1. Key researchers
5.1.1.1.1. Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
5.1.1.1.2. Martin Buber (1878-1965)
5.1.1.1.3. Karl Jaspers (1883-1969)
5.1.1.1.4. Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1986)
5.1.1.1.5. Maxine Greene (1917-2014)
5.1.1.1.6. Edmund Husserl (1859-1935)
5.1.1.1.7. Martin Heidigger (1889-1976)
5.1.1.2. Existentialists pose questions as to how their concerns impact on the lives of individuals.
5.1.1.3. Generic notions
5.1.1.3.1. Phenomenologists focus on phenomena of consciousness, perception, and meaning, as they arise in a particular individual's experiences.
5.1.1.3.2. People must create themselves and create/find their own meaning.
5.1.1.4. Goal of education
5.1.1.4.1. Education should focus on needs of individual and stress individuality.
5.1.1.4.2. Education is an activity liberating the individual from a chaotic, absurd world.
5.1.1.5. Role of teacher
5.1.1.5.1. Intensely personal role that carries tremendous responsibility.
5.1.1.5.2. Teacher role is to help student understand the world through posing questions, generating activities, and working together.
5.1.1.6. Method of instruction
5.1.1.6.1. Every student has a different learning style and it is up to the teacher to discover what works each student.
5.1.1.6.2. Buber's I-thou approach: Teacher and student learn together in a non traditional, non threatening "friendship."
5.1.2. Pragmatism
5.1.2.1. Curriculum
5.1.2.1.1. Follow Dewey's core curriculum.
5.1.2.1.2. Curriculum changes when social order changes and as student's needs and interests change.
6. Sociology of Education
6.1. Theoretical perspective concerning the relationship between school and society
6.1.1. Functional Theory
6.1.1.1. In a well-functioning society, schools socialize students into the appropriate values, and sort and select students according to there abilities.
6.1.1.2. Emile Durkheim is among earliest sociologists to embrace the functional point of view.
6.1.1.3. Moral values are the foundation of society.
6.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
6.2.1. Knowledge and Attitude
6.2.1.1. Schools where students are compelled to take academic subjects and where there is consistent discipline, student achievement levels go up.
6.2.1.2. More years of schooling leads to greater knowledge and social participation.
6.2.2. Employment
6.2.2.1. Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
6.2.2.2. The amount of education is weakly related to job performance.
6.2.2.3. Possession of a college degree is significantly related to higher income.
6.2.3. Education and Mobility
6.2.3.1. Private school diplomas are considered an mobility escalator because of the educational route.
7. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School, pushed for a free public education.
8. A Societal reform: Chicago Page 540-541
8.1. Must needs: Change in leadership, parent-community ties, professional capacity, student-centered learning climate, and instructional guidance.
8.2. 5 elements needed in the US Education System: Meaningful learning goals; intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems; equitable and adequate resources; strong professional standards and supports; and schools organized for students and teacher learning.
9. 20 years of research by the Consortium of Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago found that the combination of school, community, and societal reform was necessary for reducing the achievement gap.
10. Hispanics gradual rise closed the gap between white achievement. African American achievement closed the gap as well. There is still room for progress.
11. History of U.S. Education
11.1. My Most Influential Educational Era: Equity Era (1945-1980)
11.1.1. 1954- Brown vs. BOE
11.1.1.1. Repealed 1896 Plessy vs Ferguson.
11.1.1.2. The Court's ruling desegregated schools.
11.1.2. 1972- Title XI
11.1.2.1. Prohibits the discrimination of gender.
11.1.3. 1975- Disabled students are admitted to public education.
11.2. Conservative Interpretation
11.2.1. Conservatives have analyzed the historical tensions between equity and excellence and have, in common, a vision that the evolution of U.S. education has resulted in the dilution of academic excellence.
11.2.2. The Conservative Perspective critics pointed out failure to fulfill social goals without sacrificing academic quality.
11.2.3. The Conservative Perspective is accused of ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.
11.3. More Historical Moments
11.3.1. 1821- First public high school, Boston English, opens.
11.3.2. 1855- First kindergarten class is available in the United States.
11.3.3. 1896- Plessy vs. Ferguson
11.3.3.1. "Seperate, but equal."
11.3.4. 2002- No Child Left Behind
11.3.4.1. Standardized Testing
11.3.4.2. Increased Accountability
11.3.4.3. State-wide Assessments
11.3.5. 2015- Every Student Succeeds Act
11.3.5.1. State Driven
11.4. College and Career Ready Standards
11.5. Other Notes
11.5.1. Free public education was led by Horace Mann.
11.5.2. Opposition to Public School: Roman Catholics founded their own schools because they opposed the Protestant ethos.
12. Curriculum and Pedagogy
12.1. Historical Curriculum Theory
12.1.1. Social Efficiency Curriculum
12.2. Sociological Curriculum Theory
12.2.1. Functionalist Theory
13. Educational Reforms
13.1. A school-based Reform: Charter Schools Page 522-524
13.1.1. Charter schools first began in Minnesota in 1991 and has spread to 41 other states plus DC and Puerto Rico.
13.1.2. Charter schools are not regulated by any level of government. They must achieve better scores to remain teaching their style. Trial and error.
13.1.3. Public charter schools coming to Alabama as soon as Fall 2016 according to al.com
13.2. School-centered explanation: School Financing Page 428-431
13.2.1. Kozol's Savage Inequalities (1991) compared funding from public schools in nice suburbs and poor inner-city schools.
13.2.2. There have been many court cases in States about the school financing inequality. Notable cases in Texas and California.
13.2.3. In a 5-4 decision, Texas deemed it not unconstitutional to use property taxes as a basis for school funding. Justice Marshall argued that the decision was a commitment to moving away from equal opportunity.
14. Equality and Opportunities
14.1. Educational achievement of one marginalized population:
14.1.1. Hispanic Average NAEP Reading and Math scores from 1973-2008 have gradually increased with bumps in the road on the way there. Ranging from age 9 to 17.
14.1.2. Low Parent/School involvement in the Hispanic community, especially in high poverty areas. Page 362
14.2. Response to the Coleman Study:
14.2.1. Geoffery Borman and Maritza Dowling publish the third and final response to date to the Coleman Study of 1966 in 2010.
14.2.2. They found that where a student attends school is often related to race and socioeconomic factors. Page 369
14.2.3. They found that racial and socioeconomic population in schools has a greater effect on student achievement than a students race and class. Page 369
14.2.4. Biggest take-back: eliminate high-level segregation in schools.
15. Schools and Education
15.1. Federal Legislators
15.1.1. U.S. Senators: Richard Shelby and Jeff Sessions
15.1.2. U.S. Representative: Mo Brooks
15.2. State Legislators
15.2.1. Governor: Robert Bentley
15.2.2. State Senator: Bill Holtzclaw
15.2.3. State Representative: Danny Crawford
15.2.4. State Superintendent: Tommy Bice (retiring)
15.2.5. State School Board Representative: Mary Scott Hunter
15.3. Local School Systems
15.3.1. Athens City Schools
15.3.1.1. Superintendent: Trey Holladay
15.3.1.2. School Board President: Russell Johnson
15.3.1.3. School Board Vice President: Beverly Malone
15.3.1.4. Members: Chris Paysinger, Jennifer Manville, James Lucas, Scott Henry, Tim Green.
15.3.2. Limestone County Schools
15.3.2.1. Superintendent: Tom Sisk
15.3.2.2. School Board Chair: Earl Glaze
15.3.2.3. Members: Marty Adams, Anthony Hilliard, Bret McGill, Charles Shoulders, Edward Winter.
16. Educational Inequality
16.1. Sociological explanation of unequal achievement: Cultural Deprivation Page 423
16.1.1. Suggests that working-class and nonwhite families often lack cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, and arrive at school at a significant disadvantage.
16.1.2. Oscar Lewis (1966) notes that the poor have a deprived culture that lacks the value system compared to the middle-class
16.1.3. The cultural differences theory emerged from the failure of the genetic differences theory and the cultural deprivation theory.