1. Politics of Education
1.1. Particular Perspective
1.1.1. My particular perspective is liberal. Which is defined as a political or social philosophy advocating the freedom of the individual, parliamentary systems of government, nonviolent modification of political, social, or economic institutions to assure unrestricted development in all spheres of human endeavor, and governmental guarantees of individual rights and civil liberties. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/liberalism?s=t
1.1.2. I believe that Americans have the freedom to choose to do, be, and believe whatever they want to believe. This right was fought for by men and women who did so with thoughts that one would be able to be free to be themselves and survive the best way they know how; without fear of being prosecuted or judged for the things they believe are significant to their life and the lives of their families.
1.1.3. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberalism/ This is a link to an article written by the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. It tells of the ways that liberalism has evolved over the years and the many ways it applies to education.
1.2. Vision of Education
1.2.1. My vision of education is a progressive vision. Progressive is defined as a way of developing a system that "teaches the child, not the subject". http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/progressive+education
1.2.2. Education has changed with time and with this change came new ways to view the layout of which one may follow when developing a plan to teach students. Progressiveness is a way of creating new ways to reach out to each student and teach the way the students understand. No one student is the same as another and all students do not learn the same way. It is our job as educators to figure out the best way the students learn and teach in that way.
1.2.3. http://www.uvm.edu/%7Edewey/articles/proged.html This is a link to an article written about the brief description of progressiveness in education. "Today, scholars, educators and activists are rediscovering Dewey's work and exploring its relevance to a "postmodern" age, an age of global capitalism and breathtaking cultural change, and an age in which the ecological health of the planet itself is seriously threatened. We are finding that although Dewey wrote a century ago, his insights into democratic culture and meaningful education suggest hopeful alternatives to the regime of standardization and mechanization that more than ever dominate our schools."
2. Schools as Organizations
2.1. The Nature of Teaching
2.1.1. Teaching is a process that facilitates learning. Teaching is the specialized application of knowledge, skills and attributes designed to provide unique service to meet the educational needs of the individual and of society. http://www.teachers.ab.ca
2.1.2. In addition to providing students with learning opportunities to meet curriculum outcomes, teaching emphasizes the development of values and guides students in their social relationships. Teachers employ practices that develop positive self-concept in students. Although the work of teachers typically takes place in a classroom setting, the direct interaction between teacher and student is the single most important element in teaching.
2.1.3. http://www.teachers.ab.ca/About%20the%20ATA/Governance/PolicyandPositionPapers/Position%20Papers/Pages/Nature%20of%20Teaching%20and%20Teaching%20as%20a%20Profession.aspx
2.2. Professionalization
2.2.1. According to an article written by the ATA or Alberta Teaching Association, professionalism is a complex and elusive concept; it is dynamic and fluid. Six generally accepted criteria are used to define a profession.
2.2.1.1. 1. Its members have an organized body of knowledge that separates the group from all others. Teachers are equipped with such a body of knowledge, having an extensive background in the world and its culture and a set of teaching methods experientially derived through continuous research in all parts of the world.
2.2.1.2. 2. It serves a great social purpose. Teachers carry responsibilities weighted with social purpose. Through a rigid and self-imposed adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which sets out their duties and responsibilities, teachers pass on their accumulated culture and assist each student under their care in achieving self-realization.
2.2.1.3. 3. There is cooperation achieved through a professional organization. Cooperation plays an important role in the development of the teaching profession because it represents a banding together to achieve commonly desired purposes. The teaching profession has won its well-deserved place in the social order through continuous cooperation in research, professional preparation and strict adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which obligates every teacher to treat each student within a sacred trust. Teachers have control or influence over their own governance, socialization into teaching and research connected with their profession.
2.2.1.4. 4. There is a formal period of preparation and a requirement for continuous growth and development. Teachers are required to complete a defined teacher preparation program followed by a period of induction or internship prior to being granted permanent certification. This period includes support for the formative growth of teachers and judgments about their competence. Teachers are devoted to continuous development of their ability to deliver their service.
2.2.1.5. 5. There is a degree of autonomy accorded the professional. Teachers have opportunities to make decisions about important aspects of their work. Teachers apply reasoned judgment and professional decision making daily in diagnosing educational needs, prescribing and implementing instructional programs, and evaluating the progress of students. Teacher judgment unleashes learning and creates the basis for experience.
2.2.1.6. 6. The profession has control or influence over education standards, admissions, licensing, professional development, ethical and performance standards, and professional discipline. As professionals, teachers are governed in their professional relationships with other members, school boards, students and the general public by rules of conduct set out in the Association’s Code of Professional Conduct. The code stipulates minimum standards of professional conduct for teachers, but it is not an exhaustive list of such standards. Unless exempted by legislation, any member of the Association who is alleged to have violated the standards of the profession, including the provisions of the code, may be subject to a charge of unprofessional conduct under the Discipline Bylaws of the Association.
3. Curriculum and Pedagogy
3.1. Curriculum theory (CT) is an academic discipline devoted to examining and shaping educational curricula. There are many interpretations of CT, being as narrow as the dynamics of the learning process of one child in a classroom to the lifelong learning path an individual takes. CT can be approached from the educational, philosophical, psychological and sociological disciplines. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curriculum_theory
3.2. Major Stakeholders in District 7. State Senator- Jeff Session, House of Representative- Robert Aderholt State Superintendent- Thomas R. Bice Local Superintendent- Anthony Olivis
3.2.1. Included
3.2.2. Included
3.2.3. Excluded
3.3. My approach to curriculum will be to plan and prepare. I will specify my objectives using a well planned out syllabus and accommodate to meet the specific needs of every student in my classroom.
3.4. Pedagogic Practice Teachers are best placed to engage in effective pedagogical practices when they can competently select and use high quality resources and/or approaches that have been built around a strong evidence base. http://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/EffectivePractices/effective-practices/effective-pedagogical-practices?view=featured
3.5. With a strong awareness of what has been demonstrated to be effective, the choice of particular pedagogical approach, or the selection of a particular program, will then depend on the response to identified student learning needs. http://www.cese.nsw.gov.au/EffectivePractices/effective-practices/effective-pedagogical-practices?view=featured
3.6. I will choose a pedagogic practice that fits perfectly with every student based upon my knowledge of the way the students learn the best. By understanding the way my students learn the most efficiently, I will have a better understanding of what approaches and practices to use in order to reach their attention. This will help to provide them with the material in a way they will better understand
4. History of U.S Education
4.1. A major reform movement that won widespread support was the effort to make education available to more children. The man who led this movement was Horace Mann, "the father of American public schools." http://reformmovements1800s.weebly.com/education.html
4.1.1. Action points sign-off
4.2. Thomas Galludet, who developed a method to education people who were hearing impaired, opened the Hartford School for the Deaf in Connecticut in 1817. At about the same time, Dr. Samuel Howe advanced the cause of those who were visually impaired. He developed books with large raised letters that people with sigh impairments could "read" with their fingers. Howe headed the Perkins Institute, a schools for the blind, in Boston.
4.3. "Education consists of leading man, as a thinking, intelligent being, growing into self-consciousness, to a pure and unsullied, conscious and free representation of the inner law of Divine Unity, and in teaching him ways and means thereto." -Froebel
4.3.1. Froebel said that Education had two aspects: the teacher was to remove hindrances to the self-development or “self-activity” of the child, but he was also to correct deviations from what man’s experience has taught is right and best. Education is thus both “dictating and giving way.” http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179408/education/47603/The-pedagogy-of-Froebel
4.3.1.1. International wars, together with an intensification of internal stresses and conflicts among social, racial, and ideological groups, characterized the 20th century and had profound effects on education. Segregation took it toll during the early 20th century causing there to become different schools for black children and schools for white children. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/179408/education/47641/Establishment-of-nationalistic-education-systems#toc47644
4.3.1.2. During the 1950s segregation by race in public and private schools was still common in the United States. The South had separate schools for African Americans and whites and this system had been upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States in Plessy v. Ferguson (1896). In the North no such laws existed, but racial segregation was still common in schools. Segregation usually resulted in inferior education for blacks. Average public expenditures for white schools exceeded expenditures for black schools. Teachers in white schools generally received higher pay than did teachers in black schools, and facilities in most white schools were far superior to facilities in most black schools.http://www.servintfree.net/aidmn-ejournal/publications/2001-11/PublicEducationInTheUnitedStates.html
5. Sociological Perspectives
5.1. Theoretical Perspective
5.1.1. Functionalism
5.1.1.1. The three social theoretical perspectives concerning education are Functionalism, Conflict Theory, and the Interpretivist Approach. For this blog post I will discuss the “Education and Societal Inequality: Race, Gender, Class, and Ethnicity” and “Education as Cultural Transmission” themes to illustrate and compare the three social theoretical perspectives concerning education and how they contribute to an understanding of the sociology of education. http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2008/08/three-social-theoretical-perspectives.html
5.1.1.2. The functionalist perspective, for example, can be found in the prejudice reduction dimension of Banks’ multicultural education typology. As cited by Banks, the prejudice reduction dimension of multicultural education “is designed to help students develop more democratic attitudes, values, and behaviors.” When students develop more democratic attitudes, values, and behaviors they become more socialized and are better able “to adapt to the economic, political and social institutions of that society” (Feinberg and Soltis). http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2008/08/three-social-theoretical-perspectives.html
5.1.2. Conflict Theory
5.1.2.1. it’s the cultural deprivationists approach that focuses on social class and the culture of poverty that best demonstrates the conflict theory approach. According to Banks, “social scientists developed the culture of poverty concept to describe experiences of low income populations and in education this concept became known as cultural deprivation or the disadvantaged.” http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2008/08/three-social-theoretical-perspectives.html
5.1.3. Interpretivist Approach
5.1.3.1. The interpretivist perspective can be found in both the content integration and the knowledge construction dimensions of Banks’ multicultural education typology. Content integration, according to Banks, “deals with the extent to which teachers use examples, data, and information from a variety of cultures and groups to illustrate key concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories in their subject area or discipline.http://ihec-djc.blogspot.com/2008/08/three-social-theoretical-perspectives.html
5.2. Impact of Schooling
5.2.1. Teachers Matter Most
5.2.1.1. I believe that teachers matter most. There are many things that effect the impact on schooling individuals, such as the students individual characteristics and family and neighborhood experiences. But it is been proven that the teachers have the biggest impact on students.
5.2.1.1.1. "When it comes to student performance on reading and math tests, a teacher is estimated to have two to three times the impact of any other school factor, including services, facilities, and even leadership." http://www.rand.org/education/projects/measuring-teacher-effectiveness/teachers-matter.html
5.2.2. Parent Involvement
5.2.2.1. Parental Involvement also plays a vital role in the success of students and their effectiveness in the classroom.
5.2.2.1.1. William H. Jeynes wrote an article called "Parental Involvement and Student Achievement: A Meta-Analysis." In this article he discusses his findings on the topic of parent involvement within the lives of students. His study showed that on average students who had more parental involvement earned higher academic achievements.
5.2.2.1.2. After reading the articles I have come to find that the involvement of the parents and the efforts of the teachers are two primary effects that have made the greatest impact on the lives of students
6. Equality of Oppurtunity
6.1. Formal equality of opportunity might obtain in a variety of social settings. As defined here, this ideal does not presuppose that the production and distribution of goods and services are organized through a market economy with private ownership. For example, an autocratic society, in which economic life is organized by the commands of the autocrat, could satisfy equality of opportunity to this extent: the post of autocrat is open to all applicants, and selection is determined by the fitness of applicants for autocratic performance as indicated by the comparative merits of their applications. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/equal-opportunity/#ForEquOpp
6.2. This system of shared responsibility creates what one might term a form of “aggregate individualism,” that is, a group that behaves and makes decisions in a decidedly individualistic manner, each community individually acting and making decisions believing that it and it alone (its authorities, its parents and its citizens) is ultimately responsible for the children of its own community.
6.2.1. Given the structure of the US system there are two such types of communities in which such aggregate individualism occurs – states and local school districts.
6.2.2. Two types of the American individualism are at work within US education — the individualism of student talent and perseverance and the collective individualism of states and locally controlled community-based school districts
6.2.3. John B. Carroll’s model argued that an individual cannot learn a task if he or she is not allowed enough time to do so. Carroll thus introduced OTL as a measurable concept that represented allocated learning time.
6.2.4. http://education.msu.edu/epc/forms/Schmidt_et_al_2009_Equality_of_educational_opportunity.pdf
7. Education Inequality
7.1. The problems of education inequality are deeply rooted throughout American history. In the South segregation was upheld in the Supreme Court in the Plessy vs Ferguson Case in 1896 which mandated that schools be segregated into black and white. In the North there were no segregation laws, but school officials deliberately drew up districts with the intent of segregation.
7.1.1. Dependencies
7.1.2. Milestones
7.2. Segregation caused inferior education for blacks because the districts in which they were schooled in had less money. This meant that the schools could not afford quality teachers or sufficient facilities. It was not until 1954 when the Supreme Court unanimously ruled in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka that racial segregation in public schools was unconstitutional, thus reversing the position it had held since 1896
7.2.1. Funds for Elementary and Secondary Education
7.2.2. 
7.2.3. 
7.2.4. 1940
7.2.5. 1999
7.2.6. 
7.2.7. Local
7.2.8. 68%
7.2.9. 44%
7.2.10. 
7.2.11. State
7.2.12. 30%
7.2.13. 49%
7.2.14. Federal
7.2.15. 2%
7.2.16. 7%
7.2.17. (Racial Inequality)
7.3. In 1983 a federal commission report entitled, A Nation at Risk, presented statistics suggesting that American students were outperformed on international academic tests by students from other industrial societies.
7.3.1. One of the latest reforms, No Child Left Behind, was passed by President George W. Bush in 2002. This reform challenges schools to achieve results that are driven by the students test scores on state
7.3.2. Number of School Districts in the U.S. 1940: over 117,000 2000: fewer than 15,000 (Racial Inequality)
7.3.3. http://cte.rockhurst.edu/s/945/images/editor_documents/content/PROJECT%20INEQUALITY%20STUDENT%20PAPERS(Listed%20Alphabetically%20by%20P/cordes.pdf
8. Educational Reform
8.1. Our work at the US Department of Education aims to make sure that students throughout this country have the education that they deserve – an education that will give every student a genuine opportunity to join a thriving middle class. A crucial part of that work is supporting, elevating and strengthening the teaching profession.
8.2. Early Reforms- Georgia's first major statewide education initiative came in 1916, when the General Assembly enacted legislation that made school attendance compulsory for all children between the ages of eight and fourteen.
8.2.1. In the 1950s and 1960s, the issue of education and education policy revolved around attempts to resist federally mandated integration. By the 1970s integration was a fait accompli, and K-12 education now took the largest share of the state's budgetary outlay. Leaders began to contemplate the many problems associated with education and took a keener interest in improving the state's schools. Nonetheless, actual operating policy remained largely the domain of local governments.
8.3. The A Plus Education Reform Act of 2000 was crafted by Governor Roy Barnes on the basis of a report issued by a special task force in his first year in office. It provides for an independent office of accountability charged with developing testing standards for all K-12 students and coordinating the distribution of information on test results by issuing report cards on schools and school systems.
8.3.1. Students-Children in grades one through three were targeted for early intervention programs, and smaller class sizes were mandated in the primary grades. All schools in the state are required to have advisory councils of parents, administrators, and community members.
8.3.2. Teachers-Teachers were directly affected: salary enhancements are guaranteed to teachers who complete national certification, and certification is revoked for teachers who receive unsatisfactory ratings for any two years in a five-year span. In perhaps the most controversial aspect of the act, tenure for public school teachers was eliminated.