My Foundations of Education

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My Foundations of Education by Mind Map: My Foundations of Education

1. Schools as Organizations

1.1. Major Stakeholders (Albertville, AL)

1.1.1. Governor: Robert Bentley (R)

1.1.2. U.S. Representative: Rep. Robert B. Aderholt (R-4)

1.1.3. U.S. Senators: Richard C. Shelby (R), Jeff Sessions (R)

1.1.4. State Representative: Rep. Kerry Rich (R-26)

1.1.5. State Senator: Sen. Clay Scofield (R-9)

1.1.6. Alabama Superintendent: Dr. Thomas R. Bice

1.1.7. Local School Board: Abertville Board of Education

1.1.8. Albertville Superintendent: Dr. Ric Ayer

1.2. Comparison of Finland's Educational System

1.2.1. Little variation in student outcomes on PISA (Program for International Student Assessment) exams across all populations of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups in Finland. Large gaps in U. S.

1.2.2. Equal access to curriculum, provision of wrap-around services for students, and teacher education.

1.2.3. Finland has abolished almost all forms of standardized testing, places emphasis on formative evaluation, relies on oral and narrative dialogues between teachers and students to track progress.

1.2.4. Upon entering the highly respected teaching profession, Finnish teachers receive competitive wages, are treated with a high degree of professionalism, and maintain a large amount of autonomy over their teaching practice.

1.2.5. Teachers oversee small classes of students and are allotted significant periods of time to collaborate with co-workers, develop curriculum, and review student work. They are able to develop innovative practices that meet the specific needs of their students.

2. Curriculum and Pedagogy

2.1. Historical Curriculum Theory: Developmental Curriculum

2.1.1. Related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.

2.1.2. Emerged from Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum as well as developmental psychologists such as Piaget.

2.1.3. Stressed the importance of relating schooling to the life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful manner.

2.1.4. Teacher would be more of a facilitator of student growth rather than a transmitter of knowledge.

2.2. Sociological Curriculum Theory: Modern Functionalist Theory

2.2.1. Talcott Parsons and Robert Dreeben.

2.2.2. Schools should move away from the teaching of isolated facts through memorization to the general task of teaching students how to learn.

2.2.3. Schools should teach students the values that are essential to a modern society: to respect others, to respect differences, and to base their opinions on knowledge rather than tradition.

2.2.4. Universalism rather than particularism as the basis for evaluation.

3. Equality of Opportunity

3.1. Women's Educational Achievement and Attainment

3.1.1. Today, females are less likely to drop out of school than males, and are more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency than males.

3.1.2. More women are now attending post-secondary institutions than men.

3.1.3. Men still outperform women in math and science, but women are making great gains in those fields.

3.2. Round Three Response to the Coleman Study

3.2.1. Geoffrey Borman and Maritza Dowling

3.2.2. Where an individual goes to school is often related to her race and socioeconomic background, but the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a greater effect on student achievement than an individual's race and class.

3.2.3. Education reform must focus on eliminating the high level of segregation that remains in the United States' education system and that schools must bring an end to tracking systems and biases that favor white and middle-class students.

4. Educational Inequality

4.1. Sociological Explanation of Unequal Achievement: Cultural Difference Theories

4.1.1. Cultural differences attributed to social forces such as poverty, racism, discrimination, and unequal life chances.

4.1.2. John Ogbu, Bourdieu and Passeron, Bernstein, Lareau, Tyson, Willis, Hurn, Lemann,

4.1.3. More affluent families give their children access to cultural capital (e.g., visits to museums, concerts, travel, etc.) and social capital (e.g., networks for access to educational resources, college admissions, parental involvement, etc.).

4.1.4. Cultural and class differences are a product of an unequal economic system and schools reward middle-class communication codes, not working-class codes.

4.2. School-Centered Explanation of Unequal Achievement: School Financing

4.2.1. The majority of funds which finance schools come from state and local taxes, with local property taxes a significant source. Property taxes are based on the value of property in local communities and therefore is a proportional tax.

4.2.2. Jonathan Kozol

4.2.3. Serrano v. Priest (1971)- the California Supreme Court rule the system of unequal school financing between wealthy and poor districts unconstitutional. It did not, however, declare the use of property taxes for school funding illegal.

5. Educational Reform

5.1. School-Based Reform: Teacher Education

5.1.1. Carnegie Report "A Nation Prepared: Teachers for the 21st Century" (1986)

5.1.2. Three major points or problems in teacher education: 1) The perceived lack of rigor and intellectual demands in teacher education programs. 2) The need to attract and retain competent teacher candidates. 3) The necessity to reorganize the academic and professional components of teacher education programs at both the baccalaureate and post-baccalaureate levels.

5.1.3. The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future recommendations: 1) Get serious about standard, for both students and teachers. 2) Reinvent teacher preparation and professional development. 3) Fix teacher recruitment and put qualified teachers in every classroom. 4) Encourage and reward teacher knowledge and skill. 5) Create schools that are organized for student and teacher success.

5.2. Societal, Economic, Community, or Political Reform: School Finance Reform

5.2.1. 2009, New Jersey Supreme Court implemented SFRA, a "money follows the child" approach for allocating funding to all districts based on student needs.

5.2.2. Abbot v. Burke- more funding was needed to serve the children in poorer school districts, additional entitlements for urban schools.

5.2.3. Campaign for Fiscal Equity (CFE)- a non-profit group started by concerned parents and advocates who call for a "sound basic education". CFE v. State of New York- 2001, found state school funding formula to be unconstitutional. CFE continues its advocacy work to ensure that the implementation of reforms and distribution of money is meeting the needs of the lowest performing students in the schools with the highest need.

6. Politics of Education

6.1. Radical Perspective

6.1.1. Based on writings of Karl Marx.

6.1.2. Democratic socialism would be better equipped to take care of the disadvantaged in society than capitalism.

6.1.3. Democratization of schools: give teachers, parents, and students a greater voice in decision making.

6.1.4. Negative view of U.S. society.

6.2. Progressive Vision of Education

6.2.1. Schools should be part of steady progress to make things better in society.

6.2.2. Schools should be central to solving social problems, a vehicle for upward mobility, essential to the development of individual potential and an integral part of a democratic society.

7. History of U.S. Education

7.1. Reform Movement: Education for Women and African-Americans

7.1.1. Women were not allowed to receive more than rudimentary education because it was deemed "biologically harmful or too stressful." By middle of nineteenth century, significant number of girls attended elementary schools and many were admitted to private academies for secondary school.

7.1.2. 1821- Emma Hart Willard opened Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York.

7.1.3. 1833- Oberlin Collegiate Institute in Ohio opened up to women and African-Americans.

7.1.4. Southerners believed that literacy bred both insubordination and revolution, forbade the teaching of reading and writing to the slave population.

7.2. Historical Interpretation of U.S. Education: The Democratic-Liberal School

7.2.1. Each period of educational expansion involved the attempts of liberal reformers to expand educational opportunities to larger segments of the population and to reject the conservative view of schools as elite institutions for the privileged.

7.2.2. Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, Lawrence A. Cremin

7.2.3. Optimistic view of U.S. educational history, although realizes it has been flawed, recognizes that it has been slowly gaining equity and excellence.

8. Sociological Perspectives

8.1. Conflict Theory of Education

8.1.1. Based on writings of Karl Marx and Max Weber.

8.1.2. Weberian Approach- analyze school organizations and processes from the point of view of status competition and organizational constraints.

8.1.3. Argues that the social order is based on ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, co-optation, and manipulation.

8.2. Three effects of schooling on individuals with greatest impact on students

8.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes

8.2.1.1. Ron Edmonds- differences in schools are directly related to differences in student outcomes.

8.2.1.2. Heyns- sixth and seventh grade students who went to summer school, used the library, and read during the summer made greater gains in knowledge than pupils who did not.

8.2.2. Teacher Behavior

8.2.2.1. Rosenthal and Jacobson- teachers' expectations of students were found to directly influence student achievement.

8.2.3. Tracking

8.2.3.1. Tracking- the placement of students in curricular programs based on students' abilities and inclinations.

8.2.3.2. Tracking decisions often based on students' class or race.

9. Philosophy of Education

9.1. Progressivism

9.1.1. A few of the founders are John Dewey, William James, and George Sanders Peirce.

9.1.2. School should prepare children for society outside of school.

9.1.3. Foster democracy through education.

9.1.4. Teacher is more of a guide or facilitator rather than a rigid authoritative figure.

9.1.5. "Project Method"- students learn in experiential fashion.

9.1.6. Integrated curriculum- expand a lesson to include multiple disciplines.