1. Politics of Education
1.1. Conservative Perspective
1.1.1. Individuals and/or groups compete in society and the environment in order to survive.
1.1.2. Belief that the free market of capitalism is most economically productive and is most respectful in meeting the needs of humans.
1.1.3. Views the role of the schools to be important in both social stability, and economic efficiency.
1.2. Traditional Vision
1.2.1. Teach hard work, family unity, and other traditional American values.
1.2.2. Pass on the best of what was.
1.2.3. Associated with the Conservative Perspective of education.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Democratic-Liberal Interpretation
2.1.1. Progressive evolution of a school of school systems dedicated to providing equal opportunities for all students.
2.1.2. Historians Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawernce A. Cremin represent this view.
2.1.3. U.S. educational system must continuously move closer to equality and excellence, but not sacrifice one or the other.
2.2. Traditional Reform View
2.2.1. Believed in knowledge based education, a traditional subjected-centered curriculum.
2.2.2. Teacher-centered curriculum.
2.2.3. Discipline and authority, and the belief of academic standards.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Theoretical Perspective: Functional Theory
3.1.1. View society as a machine. One part communicates with another part and creates the active energy needed to make society work.
3.1.2. Sociologist Emile Durkheim was one of the first to embrace this theory. He believed that education is important in creating the moral unity required for societal unity.
3.1.3. Educational reform is to create structures, programs, and curricula that are technically advanced, rational, and promote social unification.
3.2. Effects of Schooling on Idividuals
3.2.1. Knowledge and Attributes: among many of the studies and research found, studies show that the amount of time students spend in school is related to how much they learn.
3.2.2. Employment: Schools play a pivotal role in determining who will receive employment in high-status occupations.
3.2.3. Education and Mobility: The number of years a student is educated is measured by educational attainment, but where the student attends school (public, private, home) can affect their mobility.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Pragmatism
4.1.1. Students were to learn from both experimentally and through books
4.1.2. George Sanders Pierce, William James, and John Dewey all had great influence in pragmatism
4.1.3. To provide "conjoint, communication experience"- that it should function as preparation for a democratic society
4.1.4. Teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and help plan and implement courses of study
4.1.5. Using problem-solving or inquiry methods. Learn as groups or individuals
4.1.6. Use a core or integrated curriculum. Investigate subjects by using all of the academic and vocational disciplines.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Leaders in our education
5.1.1. State Senator: Paul Bussman
5.1.2. State Representative: Ken Johnson
5.1.3. State Superintendent: Tommy Bice
5.1.4. Rep. on state school-board: Jeffery Newman
5.1.5. Local Superintendent: Johnny Yates
5.1.6. Local school-board member: Beth Vinson
5.2. France School Systems
5.2.1. Centralized system compared to U.S.
5.2.2. 2 public school systems: one for ordinary people and one for the "elite".
5.2.3. Students are taught to frame their ideas almost as an end unto itself, even as a matter of aesthetics.
5.2.4. The French system is to produce a small number of highly qualified intellectuals who are to be the nations intellectual elites.
5.2.5. The French school system stratifies students by social class background.
5.2.6. Around one-third of 17- and 18-year-olds enroll in a higher education institute of some sort. Only around 15% actually graduate,
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Developmentalist curriculum theory
6.1.1. Related to the needs and interest of the students
6.1.2. Emanated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum.
6.1.3. Stresses relating schooling to life experiences in a way that would make education come alive to each child.
6.2. Modern Functionalist curriculum theory
6.2.1. Developed through the works of Talcott Parsons and Robert Dreeben.
6.2.2. Stressed preparing students for complex roles required in society by teaching values and norms essential to a modern society.
6.2.3. Teach students to respect others, to respect differences, and to base their opinions on knowledge rather than tradition.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational Achievement and Attainment for Special Needs Students
7.1.1. In 1975 congress passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Law, which guaranteed special needs students were properly identified and placed in appropriate classes.
7.1.2. In the late 1980's the Regular Education Initiative pushed mainstreaming disability students into regular classrooms.
7.1.3. Disability studies proponents argue that the increase in students with disabilities is a consequence of over-labeling, although cognitive and neuro scientist believe that is the result of better diagnosis.
7.2. Response to the Coleman study (1966): Round One
7.2.1. There are 2 main responses to the Coleman study; 1) Sociologist examined Coleman's data. & 2) A group of minority scholars examined that data (this group was led by Ron Edmonds from Harvard University).
7.2.2. The sociologist concluded that "based on cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, which unequivocally indicates that, overall, between school differences in any measurable attribute of institutions are only modestly related to a variety of outcome variables."
7.2.3. Edmonds and his group of scholars argued that all students could learn and that differences in schools had a notable impact on student learning.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Sociological Explanation of Unequal Achievement
8.1.1. Functionalist believe the schools role is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting the best and brightest students, despite his/her family background
8.1.2. Functionalist vision of society is one where hard work and individual skill based on universal concepts of evaluation are more important than ascriptive attributes based on particularistic methods of assessment.
8.1.3. Functionalist presume that the schooling process will produce unequal results, but these results ought to be based on individual differences between students, not on group differences.
8.2. School Centered Explanation: School Financing
8.2.1. Public schools are financed through the revenues of local, state, and federal sources. The majority of funding comes from local and state taxes.
8.2.2. More wealthier communities are able to provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts, often at a proportionately less burdensome rate than in poorer communities.
8.2.3. Supreme Court rulings have made it unlikely that the federal government will intervene in local financing of public schools. But there are some states who have taken the responsibility of trying to decrease inequalities in school financing.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-to-Work Programs
9.1.1. Relevant Education, allowing students to explore different careers and see what skills are required in their working environment.
9.1.2. Skills, obtained from structured training and work-based learning experiences, including necessary skills of a particular career as demonstrated in a working environment.
9.1.3. Valued credentials, establishing industry-standard benchmarks and developing education and training standards that ensure that proper education is received for each career.
9.2. Societal Reform
9.2.1. A successful school reform must be based on numerous supports such as: 1) leadership as the driver for change; 2) parent-community ties; 3) professional capacity; 4) student-centered learning climate; 5) instructional guidance
9.2.2. Linda Darling-Hammond outlines 5 key elements that are necessary for an educational reformation: 1) meaningful learning goals; 2) intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems; 3) equitable and adequate resources; 4) strong professional standards and supports; 5) schools organized for student and teacher learning.
9.2.3. Society must provide for all the basic needs of students so that they will be able to focus their attention on academic work instead of on survival.