1. Schools as Organizations
1.1. Decentralized school system
1.1.1. Each state maintains its autonomy, authority, and responsibility regarding education. The federal government has very little input regarding individual schools.
1.2. Willard Waller, an educational sociologist, asserted that schools are separate social organizations due to:
1.2.1. Schools have definite population.
1.2.2. Schools have a clearly defined political structure.
1.2.3. Schools represent a central network of social relationships.
1.2.4. Schools are permeated with "we" ideal rather than "me" ideal.
1.2.5. Schools each have a definite culture that is specific to the individual school.
1.3. In Great Britain there are five stages of education: Early years, Primary, Secondary, Further Education and Higher Education. Great Britain has a highly centralized national curriculum and system of national assessment.
1.4. France is highly centralized, the government controls the educational system all the way to the individual classrooms.
1.5. Schools in Japan are widely regarded as the benchmark of educational effectiveness.
1.5.1. Many Japanese students are exposed to Double Schooling which includes two sets of educational systems: the traditional public school and the informal school called the "study institution"
1.6. Germany sorts children at a young age and tracks them into three part system of secondary education. The three educational systems prepare students for Blue collar service positions, lower level white collar positions, and Academic preparation for high level professions.
1.7. Finland's educational system has been highly praised for providing students a superior education. Some of the factors that support Finland's success include high test scores, emphasis on formative assessment rather than standardized tests, the elimination of tracking, a focus on all students achieving a high level of academic success, and rigorous teacher education programs.
2. Curriculum and Pedagogy
2.1. four types of curriculum
2.1.1. Humanist
2.1.1.1. based on idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts is the basis of an educated society. This view of curriculum purports that the purpose of education is to present students the best of what has ever been thought or written.
2.1.2. Social efficiency
2.1.2.1. Pragmatic/progressive in nature, with a belief that different groups of students have different needs, and should recieve different types of education to meet those specific needs.
2.1.3. Developmentalist
2.1.3.1. Based on progressive educational practices. John Dewey and Jean Piaget emphasized the importance of the process of teaching along with the curricular content. Focuses on the needs and interests of each individual child at each particular developmental stage.
2.1.4. Social Meliorist
2.1.4.1. Based on the social reconstructionist theory that schools should work to change society and help solve fundamental social problems.
2.2. Piaget's theory of cognitive development.
2.2.1. 1. Sensorimotor. 2. Preoperational. 3. Concrete operational. 4. Formal operational.
2.3. Conflict theory- theorists believe curriculum is a reflection of ideology, they do not believe that schools teach liberal values such as tolerance and respect.
2.4. hidden curriculum--includes norms that are taught to students through implicit rules and messages, but is not written in the official curriculum.
2.5. null curriculum-- specifically left out from being taught in schools.
2.6. didactic-- method of teaching which relies heavily on lectures or presentations as the main form of communication
2.7. Dialectic-- the means of communication in this approach which uses questioning and question/answer sessions as the main knowledge transmission.
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Caste Stratification
3.1.1. Occurs in agrarian societies that defined in terms of some strict criteria such as race or religion.
3.2. Estate stratification
3.2.1. Occurs agrarian in societies where social level is defined in terms of hierarchy of family worth.
3.3. Class stratification
3.3.1. Occurs inndustrial societies that define social level in terms of a hierarchy of differential achievement by individuals, especially in economic pursuits.
3.4. Coleman report was an influential and controversial stud. Based on an extensive survey of educational opportunity, was mandated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and directed by the sociologist James Colman.
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. Functionalists
4.1.1. expect that the process of schooling will produce unequal results, but that the results should be due to individual differences between students, not on group differences.
4.2. Conflict
4.2.1. believe that the role of schooling is to reproduce instead of eliminate inequality (the assertion is consistent with data that shows educational outcomes that are strongly linked to family background.)
4.3. (Student centered or Extra-School) explanations of inequalities focus on factors outside of school such as family, the community, culture, peer groups and the individual student.
4.4. Interactionist theory
4.4.1. suggests that we must understand how people within institutions such as families or schools interact on a daily basis in order to comprehend the factors explaining academic success or failure.
4.5. School centered or within--School explanations of inequalities focus on factors within the school such as the teachers, teaching methods, curriculum, ability grouping, school climate and teacher expectations.
5. Four Main Educational Problems
5.1. Achievement Gaps
5.1.1. Social Class, race/ethnicity, and gender
5.2. Reduction in literacy
5.3. Crisis in Urban Education
5.3.1. inequity in finances and staffing crisis
5.4. Assesment Issues
5.4.1. Is one high stakes test an accurate measurement of achievement?
6. Politics of Education
6.1. Conservative viewpoint
6.1.1. Traditionalist
6.1.1.1. Asserts that schools are necessary for the transmission of traditional U.S. values in society, such as hard work, individual initiative, and family unity.
6.1.2. originates in the 1800"s based on social darwinism
6.1.3. Individuals must compete in the social environment to survive.
6.1.4. Viewed as the most productive economic system.
6.1.5. Maintains a positive view of U.S. society and social problems.
6.1.6. Define educational problems as decline of standards, cultural literacy, values, and authority.
6.2. Liberal
6.3. Radical
6.4. Neo-liberal
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Benjamin Franklin called for an education for youth based on secular/utilitarian studies rather than traditional studies of religion and classics.
7.2. Thomas Jefferson believed the best safeguard for democracy is literacy.
7.3. Horace Mann argued that universal public education was the best way to turn children into responsible citizens.
7.3.1. Mann's reform is credited for the popularization of "normal schools" that trained professional teachers.
7.4. John Dewey is the father of progressivism.
7.5. I.D.E.A -- Individuals with disabilities education act
7.5.1. Protects rights for students with disabilities
7.6. Conservatives assert that due to progressive movements in education, academic quality has suffered.
7.7. Democratic liberals assert that history of education in the U.S. involves progressive evolution, although flawed, of school systems that are committed to providing equal opportunity for all students.
7.7.1. Democratic-liberal historians believe that each period of educational expansion involved liberal reformers who helped expand educational opportunities to larger portions of the population.
7.8. Radical Revisionist educators assert that educational expansion has benefitted the elite few rather than the general population, and has not produced equality of opportunity or effective results.
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. 3 major Theories about Relationships between Schools and Sociology
8.1.1. Functional Theories-Functional sociologists assess the interdependence of the social system; viewing society as a machine where one part works with another to make society work.
8.1.2. Interactional Theories-Interactional sociologists take a up close view of the interactions between students/students and teachers/teachers.
8.1.3. Conflict Theories-Conflict sociologists assert that society is not held together by shared values alone, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups.
8.2. Social Conflict theory is a Marxist based social theory which argues that social classes within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources.
8.3. Tracking- in a tracking system, the entire school population is assigned to classes according to whether the students overall achievement is above average, normal, or below average.
8.4. De facto segregation: Racial segregation, especially in public schools, that happens "by fact" rather than by legal requirement.
8.5. Inadequate schools usually share three things in common:
8.5.1. Overcrowding
8.5.2. Poor physical condition of the buildings
8.5.3. lack of supplies/materials for the teachers and students.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. The first wave of education reform in the US stressed the need for increased educational excellence through increased educational standards.
9.2. The second wave of reform was based on the recommendations made at the state governor's conference.
9.3. Goals 2000 included highly unreachable and ridiculous goals. Theoretically they would be great but how to reach the goals was a much more difficult thing to create.
9.4. Suggestions for educational reform
9.4.1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.
9.4.2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction.
9.4.3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers and principals.
9.4.4. Turning around the lowest-achieving schools.
9.5. No child left behind is the reason for crazy testing and the reason students are graduating unprepared for life.
10. Philosophy of Education
10.1. Pragmatism-Progressivism
10.1.1. Inquiry method of learning
10.1.2. Group/collaborative learning
10.1.3. Learning by doing
10.1.4. Project based learning
10.1.5. Theorists: John Dewey and Nel Nodings
10.1.6. Real world experiences
10.1.7. Teachers help students formulate meaningful questions and devise strategies to help solve problems.