My Foundations of Education

1. Politics of Education

1.1. The Conservative Perspective

1.1.1. Individuals and groups must compete in the social environment in order to survive.

1.1.2. Human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive.

1.1.3. William Graham Sumner, sociologist in late 1800's

1.1.4. They believes that the free market or market economy of capitalism is both the most economically productive economic system.

1.1.5. They places its primary emphasis on the individual and suggest that they have the capacity to earn or not earn their place within the economy.

1.1.6. They believed to be the system that is most respectful of humans.

1.2. Progressive Visions of Education

1.2.1. Parents are the primary teachers, goal setters, and planners, and serve as resources.

1.2.2. They view the schools as central to solving social problems.

1.2.3. They believe schools should be part of the steady progress to make things better.

1.2.4. The learners are active participants, problem solvers, and planners.

1.2.5. They believe knowledge is constructed through play, direct experience, and social interaction.

1.2.6. They believe success is determined through application over time, through collaboration.

2. Equality of Opportunity

2.1. Achievements and attainment of students with Special Needs

2.1.1. In the 60's, parents of children with special needs began to put pressure on the educational system to serve their children with more appropriate opportunities.

2.1.2. In 1975, Congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Law, also known as the EHA.

2.1.2.1. The EHA was designed to ensure that students with special needs were properly placed in appropriate classes and gave opportunities for the students to have assistance.

2.1.2.2. Six Basic Principles

2.1.2.2.1. 1. the right of access to public education programs

2.1.2.2.2. 2. the individualization of services

2.1.2.2.3. 3. the principle of "least restrictive environment"

2.1.2.2.4. 4. the scope of the broadened services to be provided by the schools and a set of procedures for determining them

2.1.2.2.5. 5. the general guidelines for identifying disabilities

2.1.2.2.6. 6. the principles of primary state and local responsibilities

2.1.3. In the 80's, critics of the Regular Education Initiative, also known as REI, which called for mainstreaming children with disabilities into regular classes.

2.1.3.1. Called for the inclusion of almost all children into the mainstream, which many critics argued would result in chaos and the inability to educate mainstream children effectively.

2.1.4. The criticism over the EHA and the REI remain present in today's society.

2.2. The Coleman Study: Round Three

2.2.1. Forty years after the publication of Coleman's Equality of Educational Opportunity, Geoffrey Borman and Maritza Dowling applied the most sophisticated statistical tools to evaluate educational data in a similar manner as Coleman had done in 1966.

2.2.1.1. where an individual goes to school is often related to her race and socioeconomic background

2.2.1.2. the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a greater effect on student achievement than an individual's race and class

2.2.1.3. argued that race and class are predictors of academic success

2.2.1.4. education reform must focus on eliminating the high level of segregation that remains in the US's education system and that schools must bring an end to tracking systems and biases that favor white and middle class students

3. Philosophy of Education

3.1. Pragmatism

3.1.1. John Dewey

3.1.1.1. was an American philosopher, psychologist, Georgist, and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform.

3.1.1.2. Dewey is one of the primary figures associated with the philosophy of pragmatism and is considered one of the founders of functional psychology.

3.1.1.3. Dewey sometimes referred to his philosophy as instrumentalism rather than pragmatism, and would have recognized the similarity of these two schools to the newer school named consequentialism.

3.1.2. It was founded on the new psychology, behaviorism, and the philosophy of pragmatism.

3.1.3. Progressive education

3.1.3.1. proposed that educators start with the needs and interests of the child in the classroom

3.1.3.2. allows the child to participate in planning his or her course of study

3.1.3.3. employ project method or group learning

3.1.3.4. depends heavily on experimental learning

3.1.4. Goals in Education

3.1.4.1. Dewey's primary goal in education was growth that led to more growth.

3.1.4.1.1. "Education is subordinate to no end beyond itself, that the aim of education in not merely to make parents, or citizens, or workers... but ultimately to make human beings who will live life to the fullest, who will continually add to the quality and meaning of their experience and to their ability to direct that experience." Lawrence Cremin (1990)

3.1.5. Role of the Teacher

3.1.5.1. The teacher is no longer the authoritarian figure from which all knowledge flows.

3.1.5.2. The teacher assumes the appropriate position of being the facilitator.

3.1.5.3. The teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.

3.1.5.4. The teacher write the curriculum and must have a command of several disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum.

3.1.6. Curriculum

3.1.6.1. Integrated curriculum

3.1.6.1.1. discipline-centered

3.1.6.1.2. need for the curriculum to be related to the needs and interests of the child

3.1.7. Methods of Instruction

3.1.7.1. Dewey proposed that children should learn both individually and in groups.

3.1.7.2. He believed that children should start their mode of inquiry by posing questions about what they know.

3.1.7.3. problem-solving and inquiry based

4. Curriculum and Pedagogy

4.1. Social Efficiency Curriculum

4.1.1. It was a pragmatist approach developed in the early twentieth century as a response to the development of public secondary education.

4.1.2. Three Goals

4.1.2.1. 1. Education should be egalitarian. It should act as a force to overcome the inequalities which arise in society.

4.1.2.2. 2. Education should be developmental. It should allow students to grow cognitively, physically, emotionally, and critically.

4.1.2.3. 3. Education should be the “social continuity of life.” It should promote the integration of students as fully functioning members of society.

4.1.3. The focus is to develop skills necessary for society’s needs.

4.2. Functionalism

4.2.1. Functionalists believe that schools teach students the values that are essential to a modern society.

4.2.2. They believed that the curriculum needed to change to meet the needs of the modern world, which was the twentieth century.

4.2.3. Functionalists believe that the schools teach the general values and norms essential to a modern society.

5. Schools as Organizations

5.1. My District

5.1.1. Local Superintendent

5.1.1.1. Bill Hopkins

5.1.2. Local School Board

5.1.2.1. Morgan County Board of Education

5.1.3. State Superintendent

5.1.3.1. Thomas R. Bice

5.1.4. State School Board Representative

5.1.4.1. Cynthia Sanders McCarthy

5.1.5. State Senator

5.1.5.1. Arthur Orr

5.1.6. House of Representatives Representative

5.1.6.1. Ken Johnson

5.2. Different Education Systems

5.2.1. Education in England

5.2.1.1. Education in England is overseen by the United Kingdom's Department for Education and Department for Business, Innovation and Skills. Local government authorities are responsible for implementing policy for public education and state-funded schools at a local level. The education system is divided into stages based upon age: Early Years Foundation Stage (ages 3–5), primary education (ages 5–11), secondary education (ages 11–18) and tertiary education (ages 18 and up). From the age of 16, there is a two-year period of education known as "sixth form" or "college" which typically leads to A-level qualifications, which is similar to a high school diploma in some other countries. England also has a tradition of independent schooling and Home schooling. Parents may choose to educate their children by any suitable means. Higher education often begins with a three-year bachelor's degree. Postgraduate degrees include master's degrees and the doctorate.

5.2.2. Education in the United States

5.2.2.1. Education in the United States is provided by public schools and private schools. Public education is universally required at the K–12 level, and is available at state colleges and universities for all students. K–12 public school curriculum, budgets, and policies are set through locally elected school boards, who have jurisdiction over individual school districts. State governments set overall educational standards, often mandate standardized tests for K–12 public school systems, and supervise, usually through a board of regents, state colleges and universities. Funding comes from the state, local, and federal government. Private schools are generally free to determine their own curriculum and staffing policies, with voluntary accreditation available through independent regional accreditation authorities. In most schools, education is divided into three levels: elementary school, middle or junior high school, and high school. Children are usually divided by age groups into grades, ranging from kindergarten and first grade for the youngest children, up to twelfth grade as the final year of high school. There are also a large number and wide variety of publicly and privately administered institutions of higher education throughout the country. Post-secondary education is divided into college and graduate school.

6. History of U.S. Education

6.1. No Child Left Behind (2002)

6.1.1. NCLB replaced the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA); It was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2002 to eliminate achievement gaps.

6.1.2. NCLB supported standards-based education reform based on the proposition that setting high standards and establishing measurable goals could improve students outcomes in education.

6.1.3. Regular testing allowed schools to identify the individual students in need of additional aid to reach grade level proficiency.

6.1.4. Achievement was measured by the students’ performances on reading and math tests causing teachers to teach “to the test” due to the widespread fear that their students would perform badly resulting in their termination.

6.1.5. States gave these assessments to all students to receive and increase school funding.

6.1.6. NCLB expanded the federal role with emphasis on annual testing, annual academic progress, report cards, and teacher qualifications, and significant changes in funding.

6.2. Conservative Interpretation

6.2.1. Conservatives have analyzed the historical tensions between equity and excellence.

6.2.1.1. They had a vision that the evolution of U.S. education resulted in the dilution of academic excellence.

6.2.2. The Conservative Perspective is accused of ignoring the effects of poverty on student achievement.

6.2.3. The Conservative Perspective critics pointed out failure to fulfill social goals without sacrificing academic quality.

7. Sociological Perspectives

7.1. Theoretical Perspectives

7.1.1. Theory is one's best conceptual guide to understanding the relation between school and society.

7.1.2. Theory gives intellectual scaffolding a place to hang knowledge and sensible findings.

7.1.3. three major theories about the relationship between society and school

7.1.3.1. functional

7.1.3.1.1. interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society

7.1.3.2. conflict

7.1.3.2.1. argues that individuals and social classes within society have differing amounts of material and non-material resources and that more powerful groups use their power in order to exploit groups with less power

7.1.3.3. interactional

7.1.3.3.1. questions social cognition, or how one understands other people, that focuses on bodily behaviors and environmental contexts rather than on mental processes

7.1.4. Theory is like an x-ray machine; Allows one to see past the visible and obvious to examine hidden structure.

7.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals

7.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes

7.2.1.1. Ron Edmonds (1979)

7.2.1.1.1. He was one of the first researchers to show that differences in schools are directly related to differences in student outcomes.

7.2.1.1.2. Edmonds was the pioneer of the effective school movement.

7.2.2. Employment

7.2.2.1. Research has shown that the amount of education an individual is weakly related to job performance.

7.2.2.2. Evidence shows that schools act as a gatekeeper in determining who will get employed in high-status occupations.

7.2.3. Education and Mobility

7.2.3.1. Contest Mobility

7.2.3.1.1. Contest Mobility refers to system of social mobility in which all individuals are seen as participants in a race where elite status is the end goal and the contest is an open one. The idea is also sometimes referred to as tournament mobility.

7.2.3.2. Sponsored Mobility

7.2.3.2.1. Sponsored Mobility refers to a system of social mobility where elite individuals in society select to introduce high status groups.

8. Educational Inequality

8.1. Functionalists

8.1.1. believe that the role of the schools is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and brightest individuals, regardless of family backgrounds

8.1.2. had a vision that a just society is one where individuals talent and hard work based on the universal principle of evaluation are more important than ascriptive characteristics based on particularist methods of evaluation

8.1.3. expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results, but that these results should be based on individual differences between students , not on group differences

8.2. Genetic Differences

8.2.1. The genetic or biological argument is the most controversial student-centered explanation.

8.2.1.1. viewed as limited because social scientists believe that environmental and social factors are largely responsible for human behavior

8.2.1.2. In 1969, Arthur Jensen argued that unequal educational performance by working-class and non-white students is due to genetic differences in intelligence in a highly controversial article in the Harvard Educational Review.

8.2.1.2.1. Jensen indicated that compensatory programs were doomed to failure because they were aimed at changing social and environmental factors, when the root of the issue was biological.

8.2.1.2.2. Jensen argued that African American were not as intelligent as whites and therefore do less well in school.

8.2.1.2.3. Jensen was was pessimistic about the likelihood that the academic performance of African Americans could be substantially improved.

9. Educational Reform

9.1. School-Based Reforms

9.1.1. Charter Schools

9.1.1.1. Charter schools first began in Minnesota in 1991 and spread to 41 states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico.

9.1.1.2. Charter schools are not regulated by any level of government. They must achieve better scores to remain teaching their style: trial and error.

9.1.1.3. Public Charter Schools will begin in Alabama in 2016

9.2. Societal Reform

9.2.1. Chicago

9.2.1.1. 20 years of research by the Consortium of Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago found that the combination of school, community, and societal reform was necessary for reducing the achievement gap.

9.2.1.2. Needs: Change in leaderships, parent-community ties, professional capacity, student-centered learning climate, and instructional guidance

9.2.1.3. 5 Elements needed in the US Education System

9.2.1.3.1. Meaningful learning goals

9.2.1.3.2. intelligent reciprocal accountability systems

9.2.1.3.3. equitable and adequate resources

9.2.1.3.4. strong standards and schools

9.2.1.3.5. schools organized for students and teacher learning