1. Schools as Organizations
1.1. Stakeholder in Cullman, Al
1.1.1. State Senator- Paul Bussman
1.1.2. House of Representatives- Corey Harbison
1.1.3. State Superintendent- Thomas R. Bice
1.1.4. Representative on state school board- Cynthia McCarthy
1.1.5. Local Superintendent- Susan Patterson
1.1.6. Local School Board- Cullman City Schools
1.2. Comparison to the Great Britain
1.2.1. Britain had all private schools. Education was parents responsibility.
1.2.2. Compromise between church and state led to a dual system of education that is still in place.
1.2.3. Wealthy children received academic training, while poor children received vocational training.
1.2.4. Margaret Thrasher changed the face of education in the UK.
1.2.5. Children are no longer sorted and selected by the age of 11 by test,
2. Curriculum and Pedagogy
2.1. Social Meliorist Curriculum
2.1.1. Developed out of Dewey's writings, who was very concerned with the role of the school in reforming society.
2.1.2. George Counts and Harold Rugg radicalized Dewey's philosophy into an theory that schools should change society, or help solve the problems.
2.1.3. Should teach students to think and help solve societal problems, if not to change the society itself.
2.2. Functionalists conflict theories
2.2.1. Derived by the work of Emile Durkheim, she was concerned with the role of schools in combating the social and moral breakdown.
2.2.2. Schools had to teach students to fit into a less cohesive modern world.
2.2.3. Curriculum taught general cognitive skills, but general values and norms as well.
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Special Education
3.1.1. Passed Education of All Handicapped Children law to help properly place special needs students in the most "restrictive way possible".
3.1.2. Regular education initiative called for mainstreaming children with disabilities into regular classrooms. Critics argued that it would cause chaos in the room, and lower the education of normal students.
3.1.3. Many argued reform for the entire special education system to insure proper placement for each child.
3.1.4. Today many still argue that while a child is disabled, that children can still grow even in a regular class setting.
3.1.5. Many people believe that the large amount of children with disabilities are from over-labeling students.
3.2. The Coleman Study
3.2.1. 3rd response: basically summed up is that a persons race and class level is a good indication of where they will go to school, but that school has a bigger impact on that student than anything. What that school has to offer and give to student has a larger impact than race of economic background.
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. Sociological Explanation
4.1.1. Functionalists expect that schooling will always produce unequal results, but these results should be based on individuals not groups of people.
4.1.2. Just because of the relationship between family background and educational outcome, does not mean that a school is not being equal.
4.1.3. Functionalist feel that they need to understand the source of inequality to ensure the elimination of any educational barriers.
4.2. School Centered
4.2.1. School Financing
4.2.1.1. How much a school receives is based on local, state, and federal funding, mostly from local property taxes. Depending on where the school is located they can raise more money for the schools through higher taxes.
4.2.1.2. SFRA is the new state funding formula where the urban districts receive at or above average of the states wealthiest district.
4.2.1.3. Because of local property taxes and state aid there is still a gap in the inequalities of funding. Children in the lower socioeconomic groups are still not receiving an equal opportunity in terms of funding.
5. Politics of Education
5.1. Liberal
5.1.1. Places a heavy emphasis on issues of equality.
5.1.2. Solutions to social problems must be addressed as a group dynamic rather than individuals alone.
5.1.3. Believe that schools should create a balance in achievement and opportunities levels for rich and poor.
5.1.4. Traditional curriculum leaves out the diverse culture of groups.
5.2. Traditional
5.2.1. View school as necessary to transmit values of U.S society like hard work, family unity.
5.2.2. Believes schools should pass on the best of what was and what is. Steady progress to make things better,
5.2.3. Has a lot of common with conservatives, liberals, and radical perspective.
6. History of U.S. Education
6.1. Education for All
6.1.1. Was once a voluntary thing, is now required for students 16 and under.
6.1.2. Troubles: 1. Tension between classical and modern subjects. 2. meeting college entrance requirements 3. study subjects that would prepare them for life, instead of traditional. 4. same course for all or different based on ability.
6.1.3. Main goals: health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home- membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character.
6.2. Democratic- Liberal School
6.2.1. Providing an equal opportunity for all.
6.2.2. Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawrence A. Cremin represent this idea.
6.2.3. Expansion of opportunity and purpose. Provides a place for everyone who wishes for an education and yields one.
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Interactional
7.1.1. Primarily of critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
7.1.2. Questions what one does not find the most problematic at a deep level.
7.1.3. Important to analyze interactions because these process go with implicit assumptions about learning and children
7.2. Effects
7.2.1. Employment- graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
7.2.2. Teacher Behavior- teachers behavior and attitude has a huge impact on how a student learns.
7.2.3. Knowledge and Attitudes- The knowledge and attitudes towards education that student gain while in school.
8. Philosophy of Education
8.1. Progressive
8.1.1. Children were active growing humans, so their course of study should change with them.
8.1.2. School should prepare students for democratic society after school.
8.1.3. Integrate diverse groups in the community,
8.1.4. The teacher is no longer the authoritarian figure, but is now the facilitator that encourages, suggests, questions, and helps plan course of study.
8.1.5. Children learn in both groups and individually. Children pose questions they want to know more about.
8.1.6. Had a integrated curriculum. Most all subjects could be taught in each lesson.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. Teacher Quality
9.1.1. NCLB requires that schools has a highly qualified teachers in all classrooms. Many schools may have qualified teachers, but they are not qualified in the subject they are teaching.
9.1.2. Teachers that are out-of-field teaching, where they are assigned subjects that do not match their training. That practice may make that teacher highly unqualified.
9.1.3. Ingersoll argues that the problem with staffing urban schools has less to do with a teacher shortage, but more with organizational issues within the school
9.2. Community Reform
9.2.1. Full service schools are not only to meet the children's needs, but their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs.
9.2.2. Schools are served as community centers that have extended hours for adult education, health clinics, after school programs, job placement and training.
9.2.3. These are designed to improve at-risk neighborhoods, and prevent any problems.