1. Politics of Education
1.1. Perspective- Conservative:
1.1.1. Conservative perspective: believes in personal responsibility, limited government, individual liberty, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.
1.1.1.1. Conservative perspective: believes the role of government should be to provide people the freedom necessary to pursue their own goals. Conservative policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.
1.1.1.1.1. Conservative perspective: policies generally emphasize empowerment of the individual to solve problems.
1.2. Vision- Progressive:
1.2.1. Progressive view of education: emphasis on learning by doing, and hands on projects.
1.2.1.1. Progressive view of education: strong emphasis on critical thinking and problem solving.
1.2.1.1.1. Progressive view of education: emphasis on group work and development of social skills. Emphasis on collaborative and cooperative learning pages.
1.2.2. Traditional vision of Education: tend to view schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society, such as, hard work, family unity, individual initiative, and so on.
1.2.2.1. Traditionalists believe the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is.
1.3. Other important information from Chapter 2:
1.3.1. The specific purposes of schooling are intellectual, political, social, and economic. These purposes refer to their role within existing society.The specific purposes of schooling are intellectual, political, social, and economic. These purposes refer to their role within existing society.
1.3.2. The conservative, liberal and radical perspectives all look at educational issues and problems from distinctly different vantage points. The neo-liberal perspective supports some of the tenets of both the liberal and conservative positions.
1.3.3. The purposes of education, in general, and schooling, in particular, are concerned with the type of society people wish to live in and the type of people that we wish to live in it with. Ultimately, the purposes of education are directed at conceptions of what constitutes the "good life" and a "good person". These are questions that have been at the center of philosophical inquiry from Plato, to Aristotle, Marx, Freud, and Dewey.
1.4. Other Political Perspectives:
1.4.1. Liberal Perspective: insists that the government involvement in the economic, political and social arenas is necessary to ensure fair treatment of all citizens and to ensure a healthy economy.
1.4.1.1. Liberals believe that individual effort alone is sometimes insufficient and that the government must sometimes intercede on behalf of those in need. .
1.4.1.1.1. The liberal perspective on social problems stresses that groups rather than individuals are affected by the structure of society, so solutions to social problems must address group dynamics rather than individuals alone
1.4.2. Neo-Liberal Perspective: Neo- liberal reform is often a synthesis of conservative and liberal perspectives.
1.4.2.1. Neo-liberal reformers have critiqued failing traditional urban schools and attribute their failures to teacher unions and their support of teacher tenure and layoffs based on seniority and the absence of student, teacher and school accountability to ensure improvement.
1.4.2.1.1. During the past decade, neo-liberal reforms have significantly received attention as the latest solutions in policy discussions of urban school reform and efforts to reduce the achievement gap.
1.5. Radical Perspective: Radical believe a socialist economy that builds on the democratic political system would more adequately provide all citizens with a decent standard of living.
1.5.1. Radicals believe that the capitalist system is central to U.S. social problems. They also recognize that the capitalist system is not going to change easily and, furthermore, that most Americans support it.
1.5.1.1. Radicals also believe that social problems are structural in nature, and that they are caused by the structure of U.S. society and therefore the solutions must be addressed to this structure, not as individuals.
1.5.1.1.1. This link contains useful information pertaining to the different political perspectives on education: www.eera-ecer.de/ecer-programmes/pdf/conference/6/contribution/17733
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Progressive Reform in U.S. Education
2.1.1. The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to 1920s.
2.1.2. The progressive era in education was part of a larger Progressive Movement, and extended from the 1890s to the 1930s. The era was notable for a dramatic expansion in the number of schools and students served, especially in the fast-growing metropolitan cities. After 1910 that smaller cities began building high schools. By 1940, 50% of young adults had earned a high school diploma.
2.1.3. In most American cities, Progressives looked for ways to eliminate waste and promote the Efficiency Movement in the schools by emphasizing growth and the use of expertise.
2.2. Progressive Education and John Dewey
2.2.1. The leading educational theorist of the era was John Dewey (1859-1952), a professor at the University of Chicago (1894–1904) and from 1904 to 1930 at Teachers College, of Columbia University in New York City.
2.2.2. Dewey was a leading proponent of "Progressive Education" and wrote many books and articles to promote the central role of democracy in education. He saw schools not only as a place to gain content knowledge, but also as a place to learn how to live.
2.2.3. The purpose of education was not so much the acquisition of a predetermined set of skills, but rather the realization of the student's full potential and the ability to use those skills for the greater good. Dewey notes that, "to prepare him for the future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities."
2.2.4. Dewey insisted that education and schooling are instrumental in creating social change and reform. He notes that "education is a regulation of the process of coming to share in the social consciousness; and that the adjustment of individual activity on the basis of this social consciousness is the only sure method of social reconstruction.". Although Dewey's ideas were very widely discussed, they were implemented chiefly in small experimental schools attached to colleges of education. The problem was that Dewey and the other progressive theorists encountered a highly bureaucratic system of school administration that in general was not receptive to new methods.
2.2.5. There is a great article that gives more information on this topic at this link:http://www.k12academics.com/history-education-united-states/progressive-era#.VfG7CdFREdU
2.3. The Democratic- Liberal School
2.3.1. Democratic-liberal believe that the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
2.3.2. Democratic- liberal historians suggest that each period of educational expansion involved the attempts of liberal reformers to expand educational opportunities to larger segments of the population and to reject the conservative view of schools as elite institutions for the privileged.
2.3.3. Historians such as Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawrence A. Cremin are representatives of this view.
2.3.4. Although democratic-liberals tend to interpret U.S. educational history optimistically, the evolution of the nation's schools has been flawed, often conflictual march toward increased opportunities.
2.4. Other Important Notes from Chapter 3
2.4.1. From its very inception, the school wqas changed with assuming roles that once were the province of family, church, and community.
2.4.2. The school continues to serve as a focal point in larger issues of societal needs.
2.4.3. There is little consensus on the motives for school reforms.
2.4.4. The theme of utilitarianism as the purpose of education can best be seen through an examination of the ideas of Benjamin Franklin, who, in 1749, published "Proposals Related to the Education of Youth in Pennsylvania. "
2.4.5. Utilitarian components of the curriculum would be practical aspects of mathematics, such as accounting and natural history and biology.
2.4.6. The civic motive for education is best illustrated through the ideas of the prominent American statesman, Thomas Jefferson, who fervently believed that the best safeguard for democracy was a literate population.
2.4.7. The struggle for free public education was led by Horace Mann of Massachusetts. Abandoning a successful career as a lawyer, Mann lobbied for a state board of education, and when the Massachusetts legislature created one in 1837, Horace Mann became its first secretary, an office he occupied for 11 years.
2.5. History of Education Timeline
2.5.1. This link is for a timeline of American Educational History. It is full of events that have been significant to the history of U.S. education. .http://www.eds-resources.com/educationhistorytimeline.html
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. There are three major theories about the relation between school and society: functional, conflict, and interactional.
3.2. Functional Theoretical Perspective
3.2.1. functional sociologists begin with a picture of society that stresses the interdependence of the social system.
3.2.2. These researchers also examine how well the parts are integrated with each other.
3.2.3. Functionalists view society as a kind of machine, where one part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work.
3.2.3.1. Emile Durkheim (1858-1917).
3.2.3.1.1. The earliest sociologists to embrace a functional point of view about the relation of school and society was Emile Durkheim.
3.2.3.1.2. Emile Durkheim virtually invented the sociology of education the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
3.2.3.1.3. While Durkheim recognized that education had taken different forms at different times and places, he believed that education in all societies was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony.
3.2.3.1.4. For Durkheim, moral values were the foundation of society.
3.3. Conflict Theoretical Perspective
3.3.1. In this view, the glue of society is economic, political, cultural and military power.
3.3.2. Conflict sociologists do not see the relation between school and society as unproblematic or straightforward.
3.3.3. Whereas functionalists emphasize cohesion in explaining social order, conflict sociologists emphasize struggle.
3.4. Interactional Theoretical Perspective
3.4.1. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
3.4.2. The critique arises from the observation that the theories are very abstract, and emphasize structure and process at a very general level of analysis.
3.4.3. By examining the micro-sociological or the interactional aspects of school life, people are less likely to create theories that are logical and eloquent, but without meaningful content.
3.5. Three effects of schooling on individuals
3.5.1. Knowledge and attitudes- The higher the social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level will be. Other research indicates that differences between schools in terms of their academic programs and policies do make differences in student learning.
3.5.2. Employment- Most students believe that from graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities, and they are right. Research has shown that large organization such as corporations, require high levels of education for white collar, managerial or administrative jobs.
3.5.3. Education and mobility- Most Americans believe that more education leads to economic and social mobility; individuals rise and fall based on their merit.
3.6. This link provides further information on the Sociological Perspectives of Education: http://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/a-primer-on-social-problems/s14-02-sociological-perspectives-on-e.html
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Existentialism and Phenomeology
4.1.1. Generic Notions:
4.1.1.1. Because existentialism is an individualistic philosophy, many of its adherents argue that it is not a particular school of philosophy at all.
4.1.1.2. Existentialists believe that individuals are placed on this earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter.
4.1.2. Key researchers:
4.1.2.1. Sartre believed that "existence precedes essence"- that is, people must create themselves, and they must create their own meaning. This is done through the choices that people make in their lives.
4.1.2.2. The founder was Soren Kierkergaard. He rallied against the scientific, objective approach to existence.
4.2. Goal of Education
4.2.1. Existentialists believe that education should focus on the needs of individuals, both cognately and affectively.
4.2.2. They also believe that education should stress individuality, and it should include discussion of the non-rational as well as the rational world; and the tensions of living in the world.
4.2.3. They emphasize the notion of possibility, since the individual changes in a constant state of becoming.
4.2.4. They see education as an activity liberating the individual from a chaotic, absurd world.
4.3. Role of Teachers
4.3.1. Existentialists believe that teachers should understand their own "lived worlds", as well as that of their students in order to help their students achieve their best.
4.3.2. They believe that teachers must take risks, expose themselves to resistant students, and work constantly to enable their students to become "wide awake".
4.3.3. The role of the teacher is an intensely personal one that carries with it tremendous responsibility.
4.4. Methods of Instruction
4.4.1. Existentialists and phenomenologists would abhor "methods" of instruction as they are currently taught in schools of education.
4.4.2. They view learning as intensely personal.
4.4.3. They believe that each child has a different learning style and its up to the teacher to discover what works for each child.
4.4.4. The role of the teacher is to help students understand the world through posing questions, generating activities, and working together.
4.5. Curriculum
4.5.1. They would choose curriculum that was geared toward humanity.
4.5.2. Literature especially has meaning for them since literature is able to evoke responses in readers that might move them to new levels of awareness.
4.5.3. Art, drama, and music also encourage personal interaction.
4.5.4. They also believe in exposing students at early ages to problems as well as possibilities, and to the horrors as well as accomplishments humankind is capable of producing.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. http://www.legislature.state.al.us/aliswww/Senator.aspx?OID_SPONSOR=86031&OID_PERSON=7718
5.2. Alabama Govenor:
5.2.1. Robert Bentley
5.3. State Senate District 6 Representative:
5.3.1. Larry Stutts
5.4. House of Representatives District 3:
5.4.1. Marcel Black
5.4.2. Johnny Mack Morrow
5.5. Alabama State Board of Education Representative for District 7:
5.5.1. Jeffery Newman, Vice President District 7
5.6. Alabama State Superintendent:
5.6.1. Tommy Bice
5.7. Local School System:
5.7.1. Colbert County Schools
5.8. Local Superintendent of Colbert County Schools:
5.8.1. Anthony Olivis
5.9. America's Education Organizations compared to Great Britain's:
5.9.1. All schools in Great Britain prior to the nineteenth century were private.
5.9.2. For poor children there was no schooling, and wealthy families usually hired tutors to educate their children.
5.9.3. In 1944, free primary and secondary education was provided for all children.
5.9.4. The educational organizations are becoming increasingly race and ethnic stratified as Great Britain, and especially London has become increasingly multicultural, with a dramatic influx of immigrants.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. The Developmentalist Curriculum:
6.1.1. The developmentalist curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of the society.
6.1.2. This curriculum originated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum,.
6.1.3. It also originated from developmental psychologists such as Piaget, and it emphasized the process of teaching as well as its content.
6.1.4. The developmental curriculum stressed the importance of relating schooling to the life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful manner.
6.1.5. The teacher, from this perspective was not the transmitter of knowledge but rather a facilitator of student growth.
6.1.6. It also stressed flexibility in both what was taught and how it was taught, with the emphasis on the development of each student's individual capacities.
6.2. The Transformative Tradition:
6.2.1. The transformative tradition defines the function of education more broadly.
6.2.2. Proponents of this tradition believe that its purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way, including intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally.
6.2.3. Transformative educators do not see the transmission of knowledge as the only component of education and thus they provide a more multidimensional theory of teaching.
6.2.4. They reject the authoritarian relationship between teacher and student and argue instead that teaching and learning are inextricably linked.
6.3. Other Notes from Chapter 7:
6.3.1. Curriculum and pedagogy are not objective phenomena, but rather must be understood within the context of their sociological, philosophical, political, and historical roots.
6.3.2. The curriculum represents what particular groups think is important and, by omission, what they believe is not important.
6.3.3. Only through an understanding of the complex issues involved can you become active and critical curriculum makers rather than passive reproducers of a curriculum into which you have no input.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational Achievement and Attainment of Students with Special Needs:
7.1.1. The field of education has mirrored the debates about equality of educational opportunity and the concern with the appropriate placement of students with special educational needs.
7.1.2. In the late 1960s, parents of children with special needs began to put pressure on the educational system to serve their children more appropriately and effectively.
7.1.3. In 1975, Congress passed the Educational of All Handicapped Children Law, which included six basic principles:
7.1.3.1. 1. the right of access to public education programs
7.1.3.2. 2. the individualization of services
7.1.3.3. 3. the principle of "least restrictive environment"
7.1.3.4. 4. the scope of broadened services to be provided by the schools and a set of procedures for determining them
7.1.3.5. 5. the general guidelines for identifying disability
7.1.3.6. 6. the principles of primary state and local responsibilities
7.1.4. By the mid- 1980s, the efficacy of the law became a critical issue for policy makers and advocates of the disabled.
7.1.5. in the late 1990s, critics of special education pushed the regular education initiative (REI), which called for mainstreaming children with disabilities into regular classes.
7.1.6. Today the field of special education remains in conflict. The field of disability studies has emerged to challenge convention therories in the field.
7.1.7. As we move ahead in the 21st century, it is imperative that educational researchers provide empirical evidence to inform placement decisions.
7.2. The Coleman Study (1966) Response Round 1:
7.2.1. There were two major responses to Coleman's findings.
7.2.1.1. On one hand, other sociologists examined and reexamined Coleman's data.
7.2.1.2. On the other hand, a group of minority scholars, led by Ron Edmonds of Harvard University, set about the task of defining those characteristics of schools that made them effective.
7.2.2. Edmonds argues strongly that all students could learn and that differences between schools had a significant impact on student learning.
7.2.3. The response basically states that where a child goes to school has little effect on his or her cognitive growth or educational mobility.
7.2.4. During the 1970s, this debate continued and some researchers began to examine the effects of magnet schools on student learning, arguing that schools that were innovative, learner centered, and mission driven could make a difference in what students learned and how they learned it.
7.3. Other notes from Chapter 8:
7.4. From the available evidence, one can conclude that although educational attainment is directly related to economic achievement, the reason for this relationship has very little to do with the technical competence but a great deal to do with social acceptability.
7.5. Concerning educational attainment and economic achievement, college graduates are likely to earn higher salaries that high school graduates.
7.6. Although there is disagreement about the effects of integration on achievement, there is considerable evidence that students in highly segregated schools have lower achievement and graduation rates and that minority students in integrated schools have higher levels of achievement.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Functionalists
8.1.1. Functionalists believed that the role of schools is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and the brightest individuals, regardless of family background.
8.1.2. The functionalist 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 based on particularistic methods of evaluation.
8.1.3. Functionalists expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results, but these results ought to be based on individual differences between students, not on group differences.
8.1.4. Functionalists also believe that unequal educational outcomes are the result of unequal educational opportunities.
8.1.5. For functionalists, it is imperative to understand the sources of educational inequality so as to ensure the elimination of structural barriers to educational success and to provide all groups a fair chance to compete in the educational marketplace.
8.1.6. The functionalist perspective has been the foundation of liberal educational policy in the U.S. since the 1960s.
8.2. Between School Differences: Curriculum and the Pedagogic Practices
8.2.1. The effective school research points out how differences in what is often termed school climates affect academic performance.
8.2.2. Much of this research looked at differences between schools in inner city, lower socioeconomic neighborhoods in order to demonstrate that schools can make a difference in these communities.
8.2.3. A number of theorists believe that there are significant differences between the culture and the climate of schools in lower socioeconomic and higher socioeconomic communities.
8.2.4. Berstein (1990), suggested that schools in working-class neighborhoods are far more likely to have authoritarian and teacher-directed pedagogic practices, and to have a vocationally or social efficiency curriculum at the secondary level.
8.2.5. Schools in middle-class communities are more likely to have less authoritarian and more student-centered pedagogic practices and to have humanistic liberal arts college prepatory curriculum at the secondary level.
8.2.6. Upper-class students are more likely to attend elite private schools, with authoritarian pedagogic practices and a classical-humanistic college prepatory curriculum at the secondary level.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-Business Partnerships
9.1.1. During the 1980s, business leaders became increasingly concerned that the nation's schools were not producing the kinds of graduates necessary for a revitalization of the U.S. economy.
9.1.2. Several school-business partnerships were formed , the most notable of which was the Boston Compact in 1982.
9.1.3. In 1991, the Committee to Support Philadelphia's Public Schools pledged management assistance and training to the Philadelphia's School District to restructure and implement a site-based management plan.
9.1.4. In return, the city promised that by 1995 it would raise the test scores of its graduates and improve grade promotion rates.
9.1.5. Other school-business partnerships include scholarships for poor students to attend college and programs where businesses "adopt" a school.
9.1.6. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation has contributed hundreds of millions of dollars to small schools and more recently to teacher effectiveness.
9.1.7. School-business partnerships have attracted considerable media attention, but there is little convincing evidence that they have significantly improved schools or that , as a means of reform, school-business partnerships will address the fundamental problems facing U.S. education.
9.2. Mayoral Control in Local School Districts
9.2.1. A popular reform implemented over the past decade is mayoral control of urban districts.
9.2.2. Similar to state takeover, mayoral control has been a favored neo-liberal reform, with urban mayors and business leaders arguing that centralizing governance into the mayor's office is more effective and efficient than traditional elected school boards.
9.2.3. Proponents argue that mayoral control eliminates corruption, leads to effective and efficient management and budgets, increases student achievement, and reduces the political battles that come along with electing school boards.
9.2.4. Critics argue that it has not increased achievement significantly, is undemocratic, and has reduced community and parental involvement.
9.2.5. Good governance is necessary but not sufficient for meaningful educational reform, and mayoral control is not the only form of good governance.
9.2.6. The evidence on wheter or not mayoral control is a positive or negative factor has been mixed up until this point.