1. Politics of Education
1.1. Conservative
1.1.1. 19th century origin
1.1.2. Believes that human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive
1.1.3. Believes the free market was the most productive and respectful economic system of human needs
1.1.4. Believes that individuals have the capacity to earn or not earn their place in the free market economy
1.1.5. Introduce accountability measures for schools
1.1.5.1. Minimum standards for performance and knowledge in schools
1.1.6. Return to the "basics" when referring to reading and writing skills
1.1.7. See the roles of the school as providing the necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working individuals have the tools to be economically and socially productive.
1.1.8. Traditionalist
1.1.8.1. Believe that schools should pass on the best of what was and what is
1.1.8.2. View schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional U.S. society
1.2. Liberal
1.2.1. 20th century
1.2.1.1. Dominant during the administration of Franklin D. Roosevelt
1.2.1.1.1. Referred to the New Deal Era
1.2.2. Believed that the free market could be significantly abused to groups that are disadvantaged politically and economically.
1.2.3. Primary concerned with balancing the economic productivity of capitalism with the social and economic needs of the majority of people in the U.S,
1.2.4. Quality with equality
1.2.4.1. Quality policies with the equality of opportunities for all
1.2.5. Balance between setting acceptable performance standards and ensuring all students can meet them
1.2.6. Stress the importance of citizenship and participation in a democratic society.
1.2.7. Sees the schools role as enabling the individual to develop his or her talents, creativity, and sense of self.
1.2.8. Insists that government involvement in the economic, political, and social arenas is necessary to ensure fair treatment of all citizens.
1.2.9. Progressive
1.2.9.1. Schools should be apart of the steady progress that make things better.
1.2.9.2. View schools as central to solving social problems and as an integral part of a democratic society.
1.3. Radical
1.3.1. Believes the free market is not the best form of economic organization.
1.3.1.1. Instead believes that democratic socialism is a fairer political-economic system
1.3.2. Give teachers, parents, and students voices in the educational decision making
1.3.3. Critical Pedagogy
1.3.3.1. Enables teachers and students to understand social and educational problems and to see potential solutions to these.
1.3.4. Curriculum should be multicultural, anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-classist, and anti-homophobic
1.3.5. Believe that schools prepare children from different social backgrounds for different roles within the economic division of labor.
1.4. Neo-liberal
1.4.1. Cutting public spending on education
1.4.1.1. argue that federal state spending has not resulted in increases in student achievement
1.4.2. No Child Left Behind | Race to the Top
1.4.2.1. Measured a schools success or failure in order to rewards or give negative sanctions.
1.4.3. Stress five areas for educational policy
1.4.3.1. Austerity involves cutting public spending on eduation
1.4.3.2. Believe the free market model solves social problems better than governmental policy.
1.4.3.3. Believe that the educational success or failure is the result of individual effort rather than of social and economic factors.
1.4.3.4. Believe that state intervention in the educational system is at times necessary to ensure equality of opportunity.
1.4.3.5. Believe that race and social class are important factors in the achievement gap
1.4.3.5.1. Lower income students, African Americans, and Hispanic students are more likely to achieve and attain at lower levels
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Massachusetts School Law of 1647
2.1.1. Every town that had "50 household" would appoint one person to teach all children to read and write -- or be fined.
2.2. Horace Mann lobbied for a state board of education. When it was created by the Massachusetts legislature in 1837, he became it first secretary.
2.2.1. The first normal school or teacher training school was established by Horace Mann in Lexington, Massachusetts in 1839.
2.3. In 1862 Congress passed the Morrill Act. This authorized the use of public funding to establish public land grant universities.
2.4. In 1833 Oberlin College in Ohio becomes the first coeducational college in the United States.
2.5. The first Kindergarten class was established in 1855
2.6. Separate but equal facilities are constitutional (1896)
2.6.1. Plessy vs. Ferguson
2.7. Brown vs Board of Education 1954
2.7.1. Separate but equal schools are unconstitutional
2.8. A Nation at Risk
2.8.1. Argued that U.S. education is mediocre
2.9. Clinton's Goals 2000: Educate America Act became law
2.9.1. Established national goals for content and performance
2.10. Bush's No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
2.10.1. It aimed at eliminating student achievement gaps by 2014.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Functional Theories
3.1.1. Stresses the independence of the social system.
3.1.2. Views society as a machine, where one part articulates with another to produce the energy required to make society work.
3.2. Conflict Theories
3.2.1. Believe that society is not held together by shared values alone. However, its through the ability of dominant groups impose their will on subordinate groups by force and/or manipulation.
3.3. Interactional Theories
3.3.1. Takes a closer look on the everyday taken for granted behaviors and interaction made between students and students/teachers.
3.4. 3 Effects of Schooling
3.4.1. Knowledge and Attitudes: The attitude you have towards learning will determine how well you do in school and life.
3.4.2. Employment: Education helps students lead to greater employment opportunities.
3.4.3. Teacher Behavior: Teachers wear many hats for their students. Their attitude and role they play for their students have a be impact on student's education.
3.5. *Socialization is the process of how schools help shape children's perception of the world.
3.6. *Max Weber studied the relation between school and society. Also known as the Weberian approach.
3.7. *Cultural capital is the knowledge an experiences related to art, music, and literature.
3.8. *Social capital is the social networks and connections.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Firmly rooted in practice
4.2. Metaphysics
4.2.1. A branch of philosophy that concerns itself with questions about the nature of reality.
4.3. Espistemology
4.3.1. A branch of philosophy that concerns itself with questions about the nature of knowledge.
4.4. Axiology
4.4.1. A branch of philosophy that concerns itself with the nature of values.
4.5. Idealism
4.5.1. Teaching students through the study of classic works
4.5.1.1. Examples: The Iliad, The Odyssey, the works of Shakespeare, and etc.
4.5.1.2. Dislikes textbooks
4.5.2. The teacher is the central focus of the classroom.
4.5.3. Teachers help students seek truth for themselves.
4.5.4. Student goals are to increase student's intellectual abilities.
4.5.5. Theorists: R. Hutchins and M. Adler
4.6. Realism
4.6.1. Essentialism
4.6.2. Geared toward teaching academic fundamentals that are considered essential to education.
4.6.3. Curriculum consists of the basics: science, math, reading, writing, and the humanities.
4.6.4. The teacher is the central focus of the classroom
4.6.4.1. The teacher models academic and moral virtue
4.6.5. Student goals are to become model citizens who are educated to be successful in the world
4.6.6. Theorists: W. Bagley, E.D. Hirsch, and W. Bennett
4.6.7. Realism in Education
4.7. Pragmatism
4.7.1. Progressivism
4.7.1.1. Focuses on working in groups, teaching problem solving, scientific inquiry, and critical thinking skills.
4.7.2. Progressivists want to teach students how to think, not what to think.
4.7.3. The curriculum is flexible and integrated study of academic subjects.
4.7.3.1. Based around the needs of students
4.7.4. The teacher is not the central figure in the classroom
4.7.4.1. Serves as a facilitator to learning that guides students through the learning.
4.7.5. Student goals are to become intelligent problem solvers and socially aware citizens.
4.7.6. Progressive Classroom
4.7.7. Theorists: J. Dewey, N. Noddings, W. James, and F. Parker
4.7.7.1. John Dewey- "Father of Progressivism"
4.8. Neo-Marxism
4.8.1. Social Reconstructionism
4.8.2. Focuses on social reform and emphasizes society-centered education and global issues.
4.8.3. The curriculum is integrated study of academic subjects that focus on social, political, and economic needs.
4.8.4. The teacher is not the central figure in the classroom.
4.8.4.1. The teacher serves as the facilitator that guides and integrates socially productive learning activities.
4.8.5. Student goals is to help reshape the world and become intelligent problems solvers.
4.8.6. Neo-Marism
4.8.7. Theorists: G.S. Counts, P. Friere, B. Hooks, and T. Brameld
4.9. Existentialism
4.9.1. Focuses on providing an open learning environment with a focus on individual student growth.
4.9.2. The curriculum's pace and direction is determined by the student
4.9.3. The teacher creates a free, open learning environment
4.9.3.1. Not the center of the classroom
4.9.4. Student goals are to understand oneself and one's own unique individuality
4.9.5. Theorists: A.S. Neill and M. Greene
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Education affects student's future and the people around them.
5.1.1. Without a sense of structure, one has little way of grasping education as a whole.
5.2. Individuals, families, and groups are able to influence education by voting, attending school district board meetings, and paying for schools through taxes.
5.3. How does the U.S. system compare to other education systems?
5.3.1. This is an important question to ask because it gives a greater understanding about the relationship between educational structure, processes, and outcomes.
5.4. School processes are when we examine the way in which school cultures are created and maintained.
5.5. No Child Left Behind Act required schools to have highly qualified teachers.
5.5.1. Teachers had to have a college degree, be educated in the subject they were teaching, and be able to demonstrate academic knowledge.
5.6. Lauderdale County Stakeholders
5.6.1. Superintendent: Jennifer Gray
5.6.2. Local school board members:
5.6.2.1. Chad Holden, Ronnie Owens, Daniel Patterson, Barbara Cornelius, Jerry Fulmer
5.7. Alabama Superintendent: Dr. Tommy Bice
5.7.1. District 7 representative; Jeffery Newman
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. The Traditional Approach
6.1.1. View the curriculum as objective bodies of knowledge and examine the ways in which this knowledge may be designed, taught, and evaluated.
6.1.2. More concerned with how curriculum can be effectively designed and transmitted to students.
6.2. Humanist Curriculum
6.2.1. The idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts is the cornerstone of an educated citizenry and the purpose of education is to present to students the best of what has been thought and written.
6.3. Social Efficiency Curriculum
6.3.1. A philosophically pragmatist approach developed in the early twentieth century as a democratic response to the development of mass public secondary education.
6.4. Functionalist
6.4.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.4.1.1. Related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
6.4.1.1.1. Stressed the importance of of relating schooling to life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful way.
6.4.2. Originally derived from the works of Emile Durkheim
6.4.2.1. Concerned with the role of schools in the combating of social and moral breakdown initiated by modernization.
6.4.3. Believe the role of curriculum is to give students the knowledge, language,, and values to ensure social stability.
6.4.4. Argue that the school curriculum represents the codification of the knowledge the students need to become competent members of society.
6.5. Conflict Theorist
6.5.1. Believe that the role of schools are to reproduce the existing social order
6.6. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
6.6.1. 1) The teacher-student relationship is fluid, extending to interactions beyond the classroom and into the community.
6.6.2. 2) The teacher demonstrates a connectedness with all students.
6.6.3. 3) The teacher encourages a "community of learners."
6.6.4. 4) The teacher encourages students to learn collaboratively.
6.7. HIdden Curriculum
6.7.1. Teaches the character traits, behaviors, and attitudes needed in a capitalist economy.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. The Coleman Report
7.1.1. Directed by the sociologist James Coleman
7.1.2. Mandated in the Civil RIghts Act of 1964
7.1.3. Designed to help identify the characteristics of schools which did matter, so that the impact of school relative to that family could be increased.
7.1.4. Often misinterpreted as an argument that "schools don't matter, only families matter.:
7.2. Achievement Gap
7.2.1. To the observed, persistent disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students.
7.3. Caste Stratification
7.3.1. Occurs in agrarian where societies where social levels defined in terms of some strict criteria such as race or religion.
7.4. Estate Stratification
7.4.1. Occurs agrarian in societies where social level is defined in terms of the hierarchy of family worth.
7.5. Class Stratification
7.5.1. Occurs in industrial societies that define social level in terms of hierarchy of differential achievement by individuals, especially in economic pursuits.
7.6. Social Stratification
7.6.1. An hierarchical configuration of families who have differential access to whatever is of value in the society at a given point and over time.
7.7. Schools that are less bureaucratic and more academically oriented are better learning environments for students.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Unequal Educational Achievement
8.1.1. Functionalists
8.1.1.1. Believe that the role of schools is to provide a fair and meritocratic selection process for sorting out the best and brightest individuals, regardless of family background
8.1.1.2. Their vision of a just society is one where individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation
8.1.1.3. Expect that schooling process will produce unequal results based on individual differences between students, not on group differences
8.2. Conflict Theorists
8.2.1. Believe that the role of schooling is to reproduce rather than eliminate inequality
8.3. Interactionist Theorists
8.3.1. Suggests that we mus understand how people within institutions such as families or schools interaction on a daily basis in order to comprehend the factors explaining academic success or failure.
8.4. Characteristics of an Effective School
8.4.1. High expectations for students
8.4.2. Effective leadership by principal
8.4.3. Accountability
8.4.4. Monitoring of student learning
8.4.5. Flexibility for teachers and administrators
8.4.6. Instructional time on task
8.5. Students from lower socioeconomic backgorund different problems in their communities due to favors such as racism, poverty, and etc.
8.6. Schools are part of a larger complex process in which social inequalities are transmitted across generations.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. The First Wave
9.1.1. Primarily concerned with the issues of accountability and achievement
9.1.2. Responded to the call for:
9.1.2.1. Increased graduation requirements
9.1.2.2. Tougher curriculum academic achievement
9.1.2.3. Increased use of standardized testing to measure student achievement
9.1.3. A Nation at Risk
9.2. The Second Wave
9.2.1. Targeted at the structures and processes of the schools themselves.
9.2.2. Placed more control in the hands of the local schools, teachers, and communities.
9.3. No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB)
9.3.1. Annual testing
9.3.1.1. Grades 3 through 8 in reading and math
9.3.1.2. Grades 10 through 12
9.3.2. States and distracts are required to report school by school test scores including student race, ethnicity, language, and income.
9.3.3. "Highly qualified teachers"
9.4. Race to the Top
9.4.1. President Obama
9.4.1.1. American Recovery and Reinvestment Act 2009
9.4.1.2. Educational Reform
9.4.2. Primary goal was to aid states in meeting the varrious compnents of NCLB.
9.4.3. Developed plans to:
9.4.3.1. Adopt standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace
9.4.3.2. Turn around low-achieving schools
9.4.3.3. Recruiting, developing, and rewarding effective teachers and principals.
9.4.3.4. Building data systems that measure student growth and success to inform teachers what needs improvement