1. •Philosophy of Education Ch. 5
1.1. Pragmatism: John Dewey was a philosopher that believed in pragmatism. The Generic notions of Pragmatism is based on an 18th century optimistic belief in progress. Dewey was highly influenced by the Theory of Evolution. Dewey also believed that a better society could be obtained through education and that the school should become an "Embryonic Community." Dewey's ideas are often called Progressive,"and start with educators finding the needs and interest of the students, allow the student to participate in planning his/her course study, employ project method or group planning, and depend heavily on experiential learning."
1.2. Key researchers in Pragmatism are: John Dewey, George Sanders Peirce, William James, and others from an earlier time period that could be classified as pragmatists. they include Francis Bacon, John Locke, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
1.3. Goal of Education: Dewey believed that schools should improve and shape society. Schools were places where ideas could be implemented, challenged, and restructured. The goal was to provide students with the knowledge to improve the social order. In Dewey's opinion, schools had to socialize diverse groups of people in to a cohesive democratic society, otherwise, a democratic society could not stand.
1.4. The role of the Teacher: In pragmatism, the teacher is not an authoritarian figure from which knowledge flows, but instead assumes the role of facilitator. The teacher will encourage, offer, suggestions, questions, and help plan and implement courses of study. "The teacher will also write the curriculum and must have a command of several disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum."
1.5. Method Of Instruction: Children should learn as individuals and groups. Formal instruction is abandoned. Furniture was replaced with tables and chairs that could be grouped as needed. Children had the freedom to converse quietly, stand and stretch if they needed, and pursue independent study or work in a group. The traditional method of memorization in traditional schools was replaced with individualized study and problem solving.
1.6. Curriculum: Dewey believed in a core curriculum, or an integrated curriculum. He believed that all academic and vocational disciplines should be integrated and interconnected. Progressive educators such as Dewey believed that the curriculum should change as the social order changes and also when the needs and interests of the child changes.
2. Politics of Education Ch. 2
2.1. The Four purposes of Education
2.1.1. Intellectual
2.1.1.1. To teach basic cognitive skills to transmit knowledge
2.1.2. Social
2.1.2.1. To help solve social problems
2.1.3. Economic
2.1.3.1. To prepare students for later occupational roles
2.1.4. Political
2.1.4.1. To inculcate allegiance to the existing political order
2.2. Perspectives of Education
2.2.1. The Role of The School
2.2.1.1. The Conservative perspective: The school should provide the necessary educational training to ensure the most talented and hard working individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize social and economic productivity.
2.2.2. Explanations of unequal performance
2.2.2.1. Conservatives argue that individuals or groups rise or fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative.
2.2.3. The Definition of Educational problems
2.2.3.1. The liberal perspective argues that Schools often limit the life chances of poor and minority children, place too much emphasis on discipline and authority, have a difference in the quality of education between urban and suburban schools, and that the traditional curriculum leaves out the diverse cultures of the groups that comprise the pluralistic society.
3. •History of U.S. Education Ch. 3
3.1. Reforms movements in education
3.1.1. New Progressivism: New progressivism I believe was the most influential reform movement in education because of the civil rights movement. There were a number of victories for the civil rights movement that led to desegregation and full integration of African Americans in U.S. schools and Universities. No victory was greater than the Supreme Court Ruling in Brown v. Topeka Board of Education that reversed Plessy V. Ferguson and ended segregated schools.
3.2. Historical interpretation of U.S. Education
3.2.1. According to Conservative critics like Diane Ravitch, E.D. Hirsh, Jr., And Allan Bloom, the progressive education platform failed the in the U.S. because academic quality was sacrificed in order to achieve the lofty social goals of the progressive movement.
4. •Schools as Organizations Ch. 6
4.1. Chapter 6 - My Stakeholders
4.1.1. State Senator - Steve Livingston
4.1.2. State Representative - Nathaniel Ledbetter
4.1.3. State Superintendent - Michael Sentance
4.1.4. District 8 Representative - Mary Scott Hunger
4.1.5. DeKalb County Superintendent - Hugh Taylor
4.1.6. DeKalb County School Board - Matt G. Sharp - Chairman, Jeff Williams - Vice Chairman, Randy Peppers - Member, Mark Richards - Member, Terry Wootten - Member
4.2. Chapter 6 - Elements Of Change
4.2.1. 1. Conflict - A democratized school does not create conflict, rather it allows for previously hidden problems and disagreements to come to the surface to be known, managed, and resolved
4.2.2. 2. New Behaviors - New behaviors must be developed. Change requires new relationships and new behaviors. Trust and communication must be a part of change, enabling strong leadership and initiative to emerge. Also, techniques such as communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution must be learned.
4.2.3. 3. Team Building - Team work must be a part of change. School staff must take part in shared decision making. Otherwise favoritism and exclusiveness will take hold and perceived "resistance to change" will persist.
4.2.4. 4. Process and content are interrelated - the process a team uses in it's work is just as important as the content of the educational changes. The substance of the project depends on the trust that has been built between the team and between the team and the school. Also, the usefulness of the project will determine level of willingness to commit to future projects within the school
5. •Sociological Perspectives Ch. 4
5.1. Functionalism
5.1.1. Functionalism in a society stresses interdependence of the social system. Different parts of society must interact with one another to make society work. Education teaches the moral unity necessary for cohesion and harmony. Emile Durkheim was possibly the earliest sociologist to embrace functionalism.
5.2. Conflict Theory
5.2.1. Conflict theory is a theory that is based on struggle. Conflict theorists believe that social order is established by the ability of dominate groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation. Karl Marx and Max Weber were some notable conflict sociologists.
5.3. Interactional theories
5.3.1. Interactional theories are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives, according to the textbook "Exploring Education." Interactional theories "attempt to make the commonplace strange by turning on their heads everyday taken for granted behaviors and interactions between students and students and teachers and students." Basil Bernstein argued that students from working class backgrounds are at a disadvantage in the school setting because schools are essentially middle class organizations.
5.3.2. 1. Knowledge and Attitudes. The type of school a student attends and the number of years of education a student gets plays a significant role in their knowledge and attitude. According researchers like Ron Edmonds, urban schools have a harder time getting quality education to their students due to financial burdens as well as drop out rates of students. Likewise Middle class public schools to not perform as well as the more wealthy private schools.
5.3.3. 2. Employment. Graduating from a college will lead to greater employment opportunities. According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, In 2011 high school grads earned on average $32,552 annually; while college graduates earned $53,976.
5.3.4. 3. Education and Mobility. Americans believe that occupational and social mobility begin in the classroom. Hopper (1971) made the point that there is a difference in educational amount and educational route. In other words, the length of education matters but where a person goes to school also matters. A public and private school might provide the same education quality, but the diploma from a private school is more prestigious.
5.3.5. 4. Inadequate Schools. Schools in urban settings provide a poorer quality of education than do suburban and private schools. Elite private schools provide the best in terms of educational experience and the social value of their diplomas (Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore, 1982)
5.3.6. 5. Gender. In the past, there was a big gender gap with women attaining less education than men. Indeed, studies do show that boys receive more attention (good and bad) than girls. However, the gender gap has closed over the past two decades. Females are outperforming males in language arts and social studies, and have closed the gap significantly in math and science.
6. •Curriculum and Pedagogy Ch. 7
6.1. Chapter 7. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.2. The Two dominant Traditions in Teaching
6.2.1. The Mimetic Tradition: The mimetic tradition is named for the Greek word "mimesis" which basically means, "to imitate." The concept of the mimetic tradition is that knowledge is possessed by a teacher or a book, (or computer) and is passed on to other students. Thus what was known only by one can now be known by many. The mimetic tradition is also "detachable" in the sense that it can be dispossessed through memory loss, or nonpossessed by never having been passes along. The mimetic tradition can pass knowledge along verbally through words or written text, or it can passed on physically. For instance, a child can watch his/her father/mother plant a vegetable garden and learn how to plant a vegetable garden themselves without the father or mother having to say a word.
6.2.2. The Transformative Tradition: The transformative tradition seeks to "transform" the student by adding traits that are highly prized by society and taking away or eradicating traits that are not valued in society. The transformative tradition shares some similarities with the mimetic tradition in that knowledge is detachable. Knowledge can be shown or lost. A common metaphor that is used to compare and contrast mimetic and transformative traditions is that of the student being a vessel or pot. The mimetic tradition fills the vessel or pot (the student) with knowledge and continues to add knowledge. In the transformative tradition, the teacher shapes and molds the "pot" (the student) into the proper shape. Thus, the teacher, as the potter leaves their mark on the pot, or the student.
7. •Educational Inequality Ch. 9
7.1. Cultural Deprivation Theories
7.1.1. 1. Popularized in the 1960's one type of cultural deprivation theory is that working class and nonwhite families often lacked cultural resources, such as books or other educational stimuli, and thus their children arrived at school with a significant disadvantage.
7.1.2. 2. Another type of cultural deprivation is based on the thesis advanced by Oscar Lewis about poverty in Mexico. It states that in middle class culture, hard work and initiative are valued, along with the delay of immediate gratification for future reward. With schooling being very important. Whereas the culture of poverty eschews delayed gratification for immediate reward, rejects hard work and initiative as a means of success, and does not view education as an important tool in social mobility.
7.2. Four school centered explanations for educational inequality
7.2.1. 1. School Financing. Schools are funded in numerous ways, by local, federal, and state sources. The majority of funds, however, comes from state property tax. This creates inequality because more affluent families typically have higher property taxes based on where they live. They can also afford to pay the higher property tax. This gives their school district access to more funding than do school districts in poorer communities. While states are beginning to close the gap between affluent school districts and poor school districts with state aid, more still needs to be done to continue to close the financial gap between rich schools and poor schools.
7.2.2. 2. Within-school differences: Curriculum and ability grouping. Inequality within schools occurs within curriculum and ability grouping. Often, students will be grouped in a class based on their ability. The "best and brightest will be placed in one class, with the middle tier students in another class, finally, the lower tier students placed in a third class. This creates inequality because the teacher, whether intentionally or not, will often not challenge those students in the lower tier class or push them to do better. Also, the higher tier class will have more class discussion with thought-based evaluation while the lower tier class will have more in the way of lecture type classes with fact based evaluation.
7.2.3. 3. Gender and schooling. Feminists believe that boys and girls are socialized differently with boys being taught to be competitive and girls being taught to be caring and connected. Feminists believe that boys should be socialized to be more caring and connected and less competitive. Also, the text describes several ways that there is inequality in schools. 1. Curriculum materials portray men's and women's roles in stereotypical and traditional ways. 2. The traditional curriculum silences women by removing their significant and historical achievements from discussion. 3. The hidden curriculum reinforces traditional gender roles.
7.2.4. 4. Between school differences - curriculum and pedagogic practices. The inequality between different types of schools described by the text as being based on social class, which ties into wealth as being an indicator of inequality as well. For instance, the textbook states that a couple sends their child to a private school at a cost of $40,000 a year in tuition. For that cost, they get small classrooms, room and board, extracurricular activities, and the latest in technology and support services, including tutoring, counseling, and college advisement. The middle class student will often receive the same benefits (except they live at home) and the parents will pay high property tax to cover the cost. These students often do well in the schools in which they attend. On the other hand, students from lower class, poor communities are often in overcrowded classrooms, a student/counselor ratio of 400 to 1, and without the latest in technology and virtually no college life expected.
8. •Educational Reform Ch. 10
8.1. School- Based Reforms
8.1.1. 1. School Choice: By the end of the 1980's, researchers believed that private schools and magnet schools were superior to public schools because they were more effective learning environments. By the 1990's congressional support increased and allowed for school choice. INTRASECTIONAL choice plans focused on vouchers that helped pay tuition to private schools for parents of students that could not otherwise afford tuition. INTRASECTIONAL choice applied only to public schools. This allows students to attend any school in any district in the state as long as the nonresident school district is will, has space, and does not upset the racial balance. INTRADISTRICT choice allows students to attend any school they wish that is located within a school district or zone. The only key is that the racial balance must be maintained.
8.1.2. 2. School-Business Partnerships: During the 80's, there was a concern in the business community that the nation's schools were not producing graduates with the skills necessary to make it in the job market. In order to help revitalize the U.S. economy, several school-business partnerships were formed. For example, in 1991, the Committee to Support Philadelphia Schools pledged assistance in managing and training to the Philadelphia School District and implemented a site-based management program. In return, the city promised that it would raise test scores and improve graduation rates by 1995. It should be noted that in spite of considerable publicity, only 1.5 percent of corporate giving was to public primary and secondary public schools. Corporate and business support for public schools had fallen since the 1970's. Over the past decade, however, foundations and entrepreneurs have contributed significantly to education reform. There is little evidence at the time to suggest that these contributions have made a significant impact on the improvement of schools.
8.2. Political and Economic Reforms
8.2.1. 1. Political Reforms: School accountability has been a prominent issue nationally for decades with virtually all state accountability systems focusing on rewards and sanctions. When a school or district does well, they are rewarded. When schools or districts don't do well, they are sanctioned. Twenty-three states allow for takeover by the states for schools or districts that are failing. This is done as a last resort.
8.2.2. 2. Economic Reforms: Since the 1970's there have been numerous court cases concerning state funding of education with courts often ruling that more funding was needed to serve children in poorer school districts. In 1998 New Jersey was required to implement a package of supplemental programs, including pre school and a plan to renovate urban school facilities. Other states have had similar litigation in which courts ruled that more education funding was needed. While these reform have the potential to improve schools for low-income and minority children, they are limited in what they can do. Issues outside of the schools that are responsible for education inequality must also be addressed to reduce achievement gaps between poorer schools and more affluent schools.
9. Equality of Opportunity Ch. 8
9.1. Describe how class, race, and gender each impact educational outcomes
9.1.1. Class impacts educational outcomes by way of availability. Children of Upper class and upper middle class typically attend private or suburban schools. There, those students have access to better technology, smaller class size, And more funding per student. Also, upper class and upper middle class students more often speak "standard English." Teachers often think more highly of students that speak "middle class English" than those In the lower middle class and working class students that may not speak "middle class English."
9.1.2. Race. Race impacts educational outcomes because despite the Civil Rights Act of 1964, The United State is still segregated. African-American and Hispanic students most often attend urban schools where there is less opportunities for education and what opportunities there are tend to be inferior to suburban and private schools.
9.1.3. Gender. In the past women were less likely to attain the same level of education as men. While women are now attending postsecondary institutions in numbers greater than men, those institutions are less academically and socially prestigious than those attended by men.
9.2. The two responses from the 1982 Coleman Study
9.2.1. 1. In the first response to the Coleman Study, There was considerable debate concerning Coleman's findings. This debate produced a number of studies that more or less substantiated what Coleman and his colleagues found. That was "that where an individual goes to school has little effect on his or her cognitive growth or educational mobility
9.2.2. 2. In the second response, studies found that private schools seem to "do it better." This is especially true for low-income learners. Private schools seem to have certain organizational characteristics that are related to student outcomes.