1. Educational Reform
1.1. A Nation at Risk
1.1.1. This is the first wave of education reform in the U.S. that stressed the need for increased educational excellence through increased educational standards.
1.1.2. This reform focused on:
1.1.2.1. The need for excellence and equity in schools.
1.1.2.2. The need to clarify educational goals.
1.1.2.3. The need to develop a common core curriculum.
1.1.2.4. The need to eliminate tracking programs.
1.1.2.5. The need for major changes in vocational education.
1.1.2.6. The need for education to teach about technology.
1.1.2.7. The need to increase duration and intensity of academic learning.
1.1.2.8. The need to recruit, train, and retain more academically able teachers.
1.1.3. The second wave of reform was based on the recommendations made at the State Governor's Conference.
1.1.3.1. This reform focused on:
1.1.3.1.1. Teaching, leadership, and management.
1.1.3.1.2. Parental involvement and choice in schools.
1.1.3.1.3. Student readiness for school.
1.1.3.1.4. School facilities being fully utilized.
1.1.3.1.5. Quality colleges and accountability for learning.
1.2. The Carnegie Report
1.2.1. Entitled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for 21st century focused on the educational quality of teacher education programs.
1.2.2. It asserted:
1.2.2.1. Teacher education programs lacked rigor and intellectual demands which would negatively impact success and student achievement in schools.
1.2.2.2. The necessity to recognize the academic and professional components of teacher education programs.
1.2.2.3. The need to attract and retain competent teacher candidates.
1.2.3. Education for Opportunity
1.3. Goals 2000
1.3.1. Goal 1: All children will start school ready to learn.
1.3.2. Goal 2: High school graduation rates will increase to at least 90%.
1.3.3. Goal 3: American students will leave grades 4,8, and 12 having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter so that they would be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy.
1.3.4. Goal 4: U.S. students will be first in the world in math and science achievement.
1.3.5. Goal 5: Every adult American will be literate and will possess the skills necessary to compete in a global economy.
1.3.6. Goal 6: Every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive to learning.
1.4. No Child Left Behind
1.4.1. Annual testing required of students in grades 3 through 8 in reading and math, plus at least one test in grades 10 through 12 with science testing.
1.4.1.1. Graduation rates are used as secondary indicator for high schools.
1.4.2. States and districts are required to report school by school data on student test performance, broken out by whether the student is African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, white non-Hispanic, special education, limited English proficiency, and/ or low income.
1.4.3. States must set adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals for each school.
1.4.4. Schools that don't meet AYP for two years are labeled "In Need of Improvement". This means that schools must offer the students the option to go to another public school and/or receive federally funded tutoring.
1.4.4.1. Funds would also be made available for teacher professional development. If the school does not meet subsequent years's AYP, it would be subject to restructuring.
1.4.5. Schools must have "highly qualified teachers" for teachers in the core academic subjects.
1.5. Race to the Top
1.5.1. Suggestions for educational reform:
1.5.1.1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.
1.5.1.2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction.
1.5.1.3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding and retaining effective teachers and principals.
1.5.1.4. Turning around the lowest-achieving schools.
1.5.2. Obama's Education Takeover
2. Equality of Opportunity
2.1. Social Stratification in the U.S.
2.1.1. Class stratification occurs in industrial societies that define social level in terms of hierarchy of differential achievement by individuals, especially in economic pursuits.
2.1.2. Upper Class is about 1 - 3 % Upper Middle class : 15% Lower Middle Class: 25% Working Class: 40% Underclass/ Lower Class: 20%
2.1.3. Understanding social stratification
2.2. Caste stratification occurs in Agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of some strict criteria such as race or religion.
2.3. Estate stratification occurs also in Agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of the hierarchy of family worth.
2.4. Achievement gap refers to the observed, persistent disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students.
2.4.1. This is more in groups that are defined by socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, or gender.
2.4.2. Females tend to achieve at higher levels in reading at ages 9, 13, and 17 but achieve at lower levels in science at ages 9, 13, and 17.
2.4.2.1. This shows the equal educational opportunity difference
2.5. The Coleman Report
2.5.1. This report was reported by James Coleman who based his report on a survey of educational opportunity that was mandated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
2.5.2. This survey conducted about 650,000 students and over 3,000 schools.
2.5.2.1. He wanted to identify what characteristics of schools did matter so the impact of school relative to the family could be increased.
2.5.3. A lot of people can interpret his study wrong by saying that school does not matter and only the family matters.
2.5.3.1. His survey showed that both do matter.
2.5.4. The 50th Anniversary of The Coleman Report
3. Educational Inequality
3.1. The functionalist vision of a "just society" is one where individual talent and hard work are based on universal principles of evaluation.
3.1.1. Functionalist expect that the process of schooling will produce unequal results, but that the results should be due to individual differences between students, not on group difference.
3.2. The conflict theorists believe that the role of schooling is to reproduce instead of eliminate inequality.
3.2.1. This is consistent with date that shows educational outcomes that are strongly linked to family background.
3.3. Educational Inequality
3.4. The internationalist theory suggest that we must understand how people within institutions such as families or schools interact on a daily basis in order to comprehend the factors explaining academic success or failure.
3.4.1. The student centered or extra-school explanations of inequalities focus on factors outside of school such as family, the community, culture, peer groups and the individual student.
3.4.1.1. 3 Controversial Perspectives: Student centered explanations
3.4.1.1.1. Genetic or Biological Differences Theory: genetics do play a role in how the brain learns and remembers.
3.4.1.1.2. Cultural Deprivation
3.4.1.1.3. Cultural Difference Theories:
3.4.2. The school centered or within-school explanations of inequalities focus on factors within the school such as the teachers, teaching methods, curriculum, ability grouping, school climate, and teacher expectations.
3.4.2.1. 4 school centered explanations of educational inequality
3.4.2.1.1. - School Financing - School Climate - Pedagogic Practices - Effective versus ineffective schools
3.5. Characteristics of Effective Schools
3.5.1. High expectations for students by teachers and administrators.
3.5.2. Strong, effective leadership by school administration.
3.5.3. Accountability processes for both students and teachers.
3.5.4. Close monitoring of student learning.
3.5.5. A high degree of instructional time on task.
3.5.6. Flexibility for teachers to adapt to new situations and solve problems.
3.5.7. Good School, Bad School
4. History of Education
4.1. The Colonial Era
4.1.1. This was the era for school funding.
4.1.2. The "Old Deluder Satan Law"- regarded as the historical first step toward compulsory government directed public education in the U.S.
4.1.3. Benjamin Franklin believed that students should pursue a course of study that would allow them mastery of process rather than route learning.
4.1.4. Thomas Jefferson believed the best safeguard for democracy is literacy.
4.1.4.1. He proposed a bill in 1779 called "The Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge" which would provide free education to all children for the first three years of elementary school.
4.1.5. 1687-1890 New England primer was the first reading textbook designed for the American Colonies. This was the foundation for most education before the 1890s.
4.1.6. 1785, 1787 Land Ordinance Act/ Northwest Ordinance. Thomas Jefferson wrote a law to divide the states. He taxed the property for education money in the Northwest.
4.2. The Age of Reform
4.2.1. The 19th century increased but segregated education of women and minorities.
4.2.2. 1821 - First public high school opens in Boston.
4.2.3. 1855 - First Kindergarten in the U.S.
4.2.4. 1874 - Kalamazoo case established the use of taxes to fund public schools.
4.2.5. 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson - U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the constitutionality of laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the principle "separate but equal".
4.2.6. 1909 - First Junior High opened in Columbus, Ohio.
4.2.7. 1919 - John Dewey promoted hands on, inquiry based learning programs.
4.2.8. Reform In Education
4.3. The Equity Era
4.3.1. 1954 - Brown V. Board of Education overturned Plessy V. Ferguson and determined that separate was not equal and that segregation in schools was unconstitutional.
4.3.2. 1958 - National Defense Education Act leads to increase federal education funds.
4.3.3. 1972 - Title IX prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in public education and federally assisted programs.
4.3.4. 1975 - Individuals with Disabilities Act was passed.
4.4. The Standards Era
4.4.1. 1983 - A Nation at Risk report states what education should look like.
4.4.2. 2002 - No Child Left Behind law passed by George W. Bush to increase school accountability.
4.5. Historical Interpretations
4.5.1. Interpretations revolve around the disagreements regarding equality and excellence, the social and intellectual functions of schools, and educational goals.
4.5.1.1. Primary schools were extended through the Common School Era.
4.5.1.2. High school was extended for all adolescents through the Progressive Era
4.5.1.3. Offering post-secondary education to high school graduates by the mid-1990's.
4.5.2. Democratic-liberals assert that the history of education in the U.S. involves progressive evolution, although flawed, of school systems that are committed to providing equal opportunity for all students.
4.5.2.1. Also believe that each period of education expansion involved liberal reformers who helped expand educational opportunities to larger portions of the population.
4.5.3. Radical/ Revisionist assert that educational expansion has benefited the elite few rather than the general population, and has not produced equality of opportunity or effective results.
4.5.3.1. Also pessimistic due to the ongoing lack of educational equality.
4.5.4. Conservatives assert that due to progressive movements in education, academic quality has suffered.
4.5.4.1. Argue that the liberal pursuits of social and political objectives have resulted in significant damage to the traditional academic goals of schools.
5. Philosophy of Education
5.1. Realism
5.1.1. Essentialism
5.1.1.1. Teacher centered
5.1.1.2. Geared toward the fundamentals of learning
5.1.1.3. "Back to the Basics" which support three R's.
5.1.1.4. The goal of education is to help individuals understand and then apply the principles of science to help solve the problems plaguing the modern world.
5.1.2. Theorists William Bagley and E.D . Hirsh
5.2. Idealism
5.2.1. Perennialism
5.2.1.1. Teacher centered
5.2.1.2. The curriculum is surrounded by the study of classics such as literature.
5.2.2. "Back to the Basics" which support three R's.
5.2.3. Teachers encourage their students to reach for the truth as individuals.
5.2.4. Theorists Mortimer Adler and Robert Hutchins
5.3. Neo-Marxism
5.3.1. Social Reconstructionism
5.3.1.1. Student centered
5.3.1.2. Students learn about society and global issues.
5.3.1.3. The teacher and the student are part of the critical pedagogical process.
5.3.2. Theorists Theodore B, George C, Paulo F, and Bell H
5.4. Pragmatism
5.4.1. Progressivism
5.4.1.1. Student centered
5.4.1.2. Teaches students how to think not what to think
5.4.1.2.1. problem solving, the scientific method, self-discipline, and cooperation
5.4.1.3. Educators support starting with contemporary problems and working from the known to unknown.
5.4.1.4. Most students learn by doing
5.4.2. Theorists John Dewey, Willliam James, Nel Noddings and Francis Parker
5.4.3. Pragmatism in education
5.5. Existentialism
5.5.1. Individualism and self-fulfillment
5.5.1.1. Student centered
5.5.1.2. The subject matter is second to self-understanding.
5.5.1.2.1. There is an open learning environment with a focus on the individual student growth.
5.5.1.3. All learning is self-directed.
5.5.2. Theorists Maxine Greene and A.S. Neil
6. Sociological Perspectives
6.1. Functional Theory
6.1.1. Stress the interdependence of the social system.
6.1.2. These socialists view society as a machine where one part works with another to make society work.
6.1.3. Functionalists assume that consensus is the normal state in society and that conflict represents a breakdown of shared values
6.1.4. Wants to create structures, programs, and curricula that are technically advances, rational, and encourages social unity.
6.2. Interactional Theory
6.2.1. provide a interpretable snapshot of what schools are like on an everyday level.
6.2.2. attempt to make a commonplace strange by turning on their heads everyday taken for granted behaviors and interactions.
6.2.3. Interactial sociologists take a close up view of the interactions between students/ students and teachers/ teachers.
6.3. Conflict Theory
6.3.1. The glue of society is economic, political, cultural, and military power.
6.3.2. Schools are similar to social battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and so on.
6.3.3. Conflict sociologists assert that society is not held together by shared values alone, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups.
6.3.4. Argue that social order is not based on some collective agreement, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooperation, and manipulation.
6.3.5. Education can be a conflict
6.4. Effects of Schooling
6.4.1. Knowledge and attitudes
6.4.1.1. The amount of time students spend in school is directly related to have much they learn.
6.4.1.2. Schools where students are compelled to take academic subjects and where there is a consistent discipline, student achievement goes up.
6.4.1.3. The more education individuals receive, the more likely they are to read newspapers, books, and magazines, and take part in politics and public affairs.
6.4.1.4. Education is also related to individuals' sense of well-being and self-esteem.
6.4.2. Employment
6.4.2.1. Graduating from college will lead to a greater employment opportunities.
6.4.2.2. The amount of education a person has is only weakly related to job performance.
6.4.2.3. Schools act as gatekeepers in determining who will get employed in high-status occupations.
6.4.3. Education
6.4.3.1. Education is the great equalizer in the great status race.
6.4.3.2. Individuals will rise and fall based on their merit.
6.4.4. Social Mobility
6.4.4.1. Where people go to school affects their mobility.
6.4.4.2. Increased education may be directly linked to upward occupational mobility.
6.5. Sociological Inquiry
6.5.1. The purpose of sociological inquiry is to focus on the influence of schooling on equity and opportunity for students.
6.5.1.1. Tracking refers to the placement of students in curricular programs based on students' abilities and inclinations.
6.5.1.1.1. Track placement directly affects cognitive development.
6.5.1.2. De Facto segregation is the racial segregation, especially in public schools, that happens by "fact" rather than legal requirement.
6.5.1.2.1. Racial integration at the school level seems to be beneficial to minority students.
6.5.1.3. Gender is an essential characteristic for organizing social life.
6.5.1.3.1. This aspect of reform opens the doors to equal opportunity.
6.5.2. Diverse Opportunites
7. Politics of Education
7.1. Conservative
7.1.1. Traditionalist that support a return to basics and accountability.
7.1.2. Looks at evolution as a process that enables the strongest individuals and /or groups to survive.
7.1.3. Also looks at human and social evolution as adaptation to changes in the environment.
7.1.4. Has the belief that the free market or market economy of capitalism is both the most economically productive economic system and the system that is most respectful of human needs.
7.1.5. Argues that educational problems stem from a decline of standards, decline of cultural literacy, decline of values or civilization, and decline of authority.
7.1.6. Argues that the system has provided a meritocratic selection process that has ensured that the most talented and motivated individuals are rewarded by the schools and later in life.
7.2. Liberal
7.2.1. Believes that the free market is prone to significant abuses, particularly to those groups who are disadvantaged economically and politically.
7.2.2. The capitalist market economy is prone to cycles of recession that must be addressed through government intervention.
7.2.2.1. The government involvement in the economic, political, and social arenas is necessary to ensure fair treatment of all citizens and to ensure a healthy economy.
7.2.3. Concerned primarily with balancing the economic productivity of capitalism with the social and economic needs of the majority of people in the U.S..
7.2.4. Individual effort alone is sometimes insufficient and that the government must intercede on behalf of those in need.
7.2.5. Stress that groups rather than individuals are affected by the structure of society. Social problems must be address group dynamics rather than individuals alone.
7.2.6. Argues that schools have limited life chances of poor and minority children and therefore the problem of underachievement by these groups is a critical issue.
7.2.6.1. Schools place too much emphasis on discipline and authority
7.2.7. Argues that traditional curriculum leaves out the diverse cultures of the groups that comprise the pluralistic society.
7.2.8. Liberals Vs. Conservatives
7.3. Radical
7.3.1. The central contradiction is between the accumulation laws of capitalism and the general social welfare of the public.
7.3.2. Believe that a socialist economy that builds on the democratic political system would provide all citizens with a decent standard of living.
7.3.3. Viewpoint suggest that the capitalist system produces fundamental contradictions that will lead to a transformation into socialism.
7.3.4. The capitalist system is the root of U.S. social problems.
7.3.5. Believe that schools should be used to eliminate inequalities in society, however, they also believe that school is only an illusion.
7.3.6. Believe that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds begin school with unequal opportunities.
7.3.7. Support teachers/parents/students having a greater voice in decision making, curriculum based on finding solutions for social problems, and curriculum.
7.3.8. Believe that schools fail the poor, minorities and women through classist/racist policies, schools stifle understanding of societal problems in America by promoting conformity and the education system promotes inequality
7.4. Neo-liberal
7.4.1. Neo-liberal viewpoint is a combination of conservative and liberal perspectives.
7.4.2. Critique failing traditional schools and attribute school failures to teacher unions, teacher tenure, layoffs based on seniority, and the absence of school, teacher, and student accountability.
7.4.3. Reforms are focused on five areas of educational policy: austerity, the market model, individualism, state intervention, economic prosperity, race and class.
7.4.3.1. Autsterity involves cutting into public spending on education.
7.4.3.2. The market model solves problems better than the governmental policy.
7.4.3.3. Educational success or failure is the result of individual effort.
7.4.3.4. State intervention is necessary to ensure equality of opportunity.
7.4.3.5. Race and class are important factors in the achievement gap.
7.5. The purposes of education
7.5.1. The specific purposes of education are political, social, economic, and intellectual.
7.5.1.1. The political purpose of education is to instill patriotism, prepare citizens who will assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order and to teach children the basic laws of society.
7.5.1.2. The social purpose of education is to help solve perceived problems in society.
7.5.1.3. The economic purpose of education is to prepare students for occupational roles and to select, train and allocate individuals into division of labor.
7.5.1.4. The intellectual purpose of education is to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and math.
7.5.2. The basic purpose of education is to transmit the knowledge and skill to society.
7.5.3. The purpose of education
8. Curriculum and Pedagogy
8.1. The traditional viewpoint of curriculum
8.1.1. Objective bodies of knowledge and examine ways in which this knowledge may be designed, taught, and evaluated
8.1.2. The simplified view of curriculum ignored the social and political dimensions of what is taught in schools.
8.1.3. Current approaches to the curriculum focus on designing curriculum around goals and objectives, and to assess it in terms of student learning.
8.1.4. The core curriculum
8.2. Four types of curriculum
8.2.1. The Humanist Curriculum
8.2.1.1. Based from the idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts as the basis of an educated society
8.2.1.2. The view of the curriculum purports that the purpose of education is to present students the best of what has ever been thought or written.
8.2.2. Social Efficiency Curriculum
8.2.2.1. Pragmatic or progressive in nature
8.2.2.2. The belief that different groups of students have different needs, and should receive different types of education to meet those specific needs.
8.2.3. The Developmental Curriculum
8.2.3.1. Pragmatic or progressive in nature
8.2.3.2. John Piaget and John Dewey emphasized the importance of the process of teaching along with the curricular content.
8.2.3.2.1. This curriculum focuses on the needs and interests of each child at each of the particular developmental stages.
8.2.4. Social Meliorist Curriculum
8.2.4.1. Based on the social re-constructionist theory.
8.2.4.1.1. Schools should work to change society and to help solve fundamental social problems.
8.2.4.2. Functionalist Theories
8.2.4.2.1. They believe the role of curriculum is to give students the knowledge, language, and values to ensure social stability, to further the common social order.
8.2.4.3. Conflict Theorists believe that curriculum is a reflection of ideology.
8.2.4.3.1. They do not believe that schools do not teach liberal values such as tolerance and respect.
8.2.5. The "Hidden Curriculum" includes norms in which are taught to students through implicit rules and messages, but is not written in the official curriculum.
8.2.5.1. The Hidden Curriculum
8.2.6. The "Null Curriculum" is the curriculum that is specifically omitted from being taught in schools.
9. Schools as Organizations
9.1. Schools are powerful organizations that profoundly affect the lives of those children and adults who come in contact with them.
9.1.1. To understand education, one must look beyond the classroom itself and the interaction between teachers and students to the larger world where different interest groups compete with each other in terms of ideology, finances, and power.
9.2. School processes refer to the way in which school culture is created and maintained.
9.3. Willard Waller, an educational sociologist, asserted that schools are separate social organizations.
9.3.1. Schools have a definite population.
9.3.2. Schools have a clearly defined political structure.
9.3.3. Schools represent a central network of social relationships.
9.3.4. Schools are permeated with a "we" ideal rather than a "me" ideal.
9.3.5. Schools each have a definite culture that is specific to the individual school.
9.4. Sociologist Max Weber asserted that schools are social organizations that are bureaucratic in nature.
9.4.1. Bureaucracies are an endeavor to organize human behavior in order to achieve specific goals.
9.4.2. Bureaucracy
9.5. Decentralized school system is that each state maintains its autonomy, authority, and responsibility regarding education.
9.5.1. The federal government has very little input regarding the individual school systems.
9.6. Consolidation and Centralization of schools
9.6.1. During the past 80 years, schools in the U.S. have consolidated so that education is more efficient and cost effective.
9.6.2. The negative impact is that schools have become less diverse, more bureaucratic and less democratic.
9.7. Under the No Child Left Behind Act, teachers must be highly qualified through three qualifications
9.7.1. Hold a college degree
9.7.2. Have a full certification in the field of study
9.7.3. Have demonstrable knowledge of academic content in the field of study or certification
9.7.4. Highly qualified teachers
9.8. International comparisons
9.8.1. Great Britain
9.8.1.1. They have a highly centralized national curriculum and system of national assessment.
9.8.1.2. There are five stages of education: Early years, Primary, Secondary, Further Education, and Higher Education.
9.8.2. France
9.8.2.1. They have a highly centralized where the government controls the education system all the way to the classrooms.
9.8.2.2. Schools are highly stratified and traditionally there are two public school systems.
9.8.2.2.1. One school is for the ordinary citizens and one is for the elite society.
9.8.3. Japan
9.8.3.1. Schools are regarded as the benchmark for educational effectiveness.
9.8.3.2. They have two educational systems.
9.8.3.2.1. The first is the traditional public schools and the second is the non-formal system that acts as a national system of tutorial opportunities for students.
9.8.3.3. They have placed a high value on moral education.
9.8.4. Germany
9.8.4.1. They sort children at a young age and tracks them into a three part system of secondary education.
9.8.4.1.1. This prepares the students for: -Blue collar or service positions -Lower level white collar positions -Academic preparation for high level professions
9.8.5. Finland
9.8.5.1. The focus was on high level of student achievement tests.
9.8.5.2. They do this by having equal access to the curriculum, the provision of wrap-around services for students, and teacher education.
9.8.5.3. They eliminated all forms of tracking and turned the focus on ensuring that all students attain a high level of academic success.
9.8.5.4. They have a rigorous teacher education program.
9.8.6. The Former Soviet Union
9.8.6.1. The purpose of the educational system was to create the "new Soviet men and women".
9.8.6.1.1. These men and women were to become the leaders of the proletarian revolution that would transform the Soviet Union into a socialist paradise.
9.8.6.2. The school system was highly stratified.