1. Educational Inequality
1.1. Functionalist
1.1.1. 1. Believe that the role of schools is to provide fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and brightest individuals
1.1.2. 2. The vision of a just society is one where individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation are more important than ascriptive characteristics
1.1.3. 3. Expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results
1.2. School Financing
1.2.1. 1.There are vast differences in funding between affluent and poor districts
1.2.2. 2. Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state, and federal sources
1.2.3. 3. The more affluent communities are able to provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts
2. Sociological Perspectives
2.1. Relationship between School and Society
2.1.1. 1. Schools socially and culturally reproduce the existing society through the systematic socialization of its youngest member.
2.1.1.1. Example: The Pledge of Alligance
2.1.2. 2. Schools promote gender definitions and stereotypes when they segregate learning.
2.1.3. 3. The Equal Education Opportunity is a key element in the belief system that maintains that the U.S. is a land of opportunity where hard work is rewarded.
2.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
2.2.1. 1. Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities
2.2.2. 2. The higher social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level will be
2.2.3. 3. More years of schooling leads to greater knowledge and social participation
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Educational Achievement and Attainment: Females
3.1.1. 1. Females achieve at higher levels in reading at ages 9, 13, and 17
3.1.2. 2. Females achieve at slightly higher levels in mathematics at age 9 and lower levels at age 13 and 17
3.1.3. 3. Females achieve at lower levels in science at ages 9. 13, and 17
3.2. Response to the Coleman Study
3.2.1. 1. Organizational differences between schools were not particularly important in determining student outcomes when compared to differences in the student body between schools
3.2.2. 2. Students who attended schools that were predominately middle class were more likely to do better on tests of achievement than students who attended school where middle class students were not a majority
3.2.3. 3. Coleman's findings are controversial
4. Curriculum and Pedagogy
4.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
4.1.1. 1. Related to the needs and interests of the student rather than society.
4.1.2. 2. The curriculum emanated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationships between the child and the curriculum.
4.1.3. 3. It hasn't been very influential in U.S. schools, but has been in teacher educational programs
4.2. Social Meliorist Curriculum
4.2.1. 1. The radical wing of progressive education
4.2.2. 2. developed in the 1930's out of the writings of Dewey--- who was concerned with the role of the schools in reforming society
4.2.3. 3. George Counts and Harold Rugg were the most influential of the social meliorists who were two Teachers College
5. Philosophy of Education
5.1. Generic Notions: Philosophers pose difficult abstract questions that aren't easily answered
5.1.1. Materials
5.1.2. Personel
5.1.3. Services
5.1.4. Duration
5.2. Key Researchers: Plato, Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, and George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel
5.3. Goal of Education: To change lives, transform
5.4. Role of Teacher: analyze and discuss ideas with students in order for students to move on to new levels
5.5. Method of Instruction: Teachers lecture, Students are encouraged to discuss, analyze, and synthesize
5.6. Curriculum: Study of classics (great literature of past civilization that illustrated contemporary concerns
6. Schools as Organizers
6.1. Governance
6.1.1. Senators
6.1.1.1. Jefferson Sessions
6.1.1.2. Richard Shelby
6.1.2. House of Representatives
6.1.2.1. Mo Brooks
6.1.3. State Superintendent
6.1.3.1. Tommy Bice
6.1.4. State School Board Representative
6.1.4.1. Robert Bentley
6.1.5. Local Superintendent
6.1.5.1. Casey Wardynski
6.1.6. Local School Board
6.1.6.1. Huntsville City Schools
6.2. Comparison to One Country: Great Britian
6.2.1. Education was considered to be a responsibility of the parents
6.2.2. All schools were private
6.2.3. Wealthy families hired tutors
6.2.4. Poor families had no schooling
7. Politics and Education
7.1. Conservative
7.1.1. 1. Capitalism: Positive effect
7.1.2. 2. Work hard and will do good
7.1.3. 3. return to basics, traditional curriculum
7.2. Traditional
7.2.1. 1. Hard Work
7.2.2. 2. Family
7.2.3. 3. Unity
8. Educational Reform
8.1. No Child Left Behind
8.1.1. 1. Centerpiece for George W. Bush's educational policy
8.1.2. 2. Annual testing is required of students in grades 3-8 in reading and math plus at least one test in grades 10 through 12; science testing to follow
8.1.3. 3. States and districts are required to report school-by-school data on students test performance
8.2. Full Service and Community Schools
8.2.1. 1. Full service schools focus on meeting students' and their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs
8.2.2. 2. It is designed to target and improve at-risk neighborhoods
8.2.3. 3. It also is aimed to prevent problems as well as support them
9. History of U.S Education
9.1. Brown v Board of Education
9.1.1. 1. May 17, 1954 the Supreme Court stuck down racially segregated schools
9.1.2. 2. "Separate but Equal"
9.1.3. 3. This case was actually a consolidation of 5 jurisdictions.
9.2. Committee of Ten
9.2.1. 1. Recommended that all high school students study a core of academic subjects.
9.2.2. 2. Carnegie Units to be implemented in schools throughout the country.
9.2.2.1. Adoption of the same core courses
9.2.3. 3. Turned into the cardinal principles