1. Politics of Education
1.1. Conservative
1.1.1. Originated in the 1800s
1.1.2. Based on ideas of Social Darwinism
1.1.3. Social Darwinism (Charles Darwin)- "survival of the fittest"
1.1.4. ideals based upon individualism
1.1.5. Individualism- having individual initiative, hard work
1.1.6. View free market capitalism as the most productive economic system
1.1.7. Traditional Curriculum, accountability, achievement determined by intelligence, initiative, hard work
1.2. Liberal
1.2.1. Originated in early 1900s
1.2.2. Based on ideas of progressivism (John Dewey)
1.2.3. Progressivism- advancements in science, technology, and socioeconomic equality are vital to human condition
1.2.4. Balancing economic productivity of capitalism with socioeconomic needs of all classes of people
1.2.5. Belief that government should be involved to a degree in free market for equality
1.2.6. Equality in society is major rallying point
1.2.7. Believe in quality with equality, enhanced opportunities for disadvantaged, believe students start school with different chances and opportunities
1.3. Radical
1.3.1. Origins in mid-1800s
1.3.2. Based on socialism and ideas of Karl Marx
1.3.3. Karl Marx- Communist Manifesto (1848)
1.3.4. Capitalism will contradict itself into a foundation of socialism
1.3.5. Capitalism is the root of U.S. social problems
1.3.6. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yhq5xb1nFck
1.3.7. Believe teachers/parents/students should have greater voice, curriculum based on solving social problems, multicultural education, people from different socioeconomic backgrounds begin with unequal opportunity
1.4. Neo-Liberal
1.4.1. Combination of conservative and liberal viewpoints
1.4.2. Highly critical of failing traditional schools
1.4.3. Against teacher unions and tenure
1.4.4. Believe there is no school, teacher, and student accountability
1.4.5. Leads to a want for individualism with an understanding that equality is necessary, less of a Social Darwinism approach than conservatives
1.4.6. Associated with leaders such as Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher
1.4.7. Reforms are focused on five areas: austerity, market model, individualism, state intervention, economic prosperity
1.5. Traditional views of Education
1.5.1. Schools are necessary for transmission of traditional U.S. values in society
1.5.2. Values such as hard work, individual initiative, and family unity
1.5.3. Tied in to conservative viewpoint
1.5.4. Learning family roles and becoming productive in capitalism
1.5.5. Achieving the American Dream through hard work and individualism
1.5.6. Standards, values, and authority are necessary for students to be productive
1.6. Progressive views of Education
1.6.1. Schools are central in solving social problems
1.6.2. Essential to the development of individuals
1.6.3. In turn, individual development is Integral part of a democratic society
1.6.4. Tied in to a liberal viewpoint
1.6.5. John Dewey, father of progressivism, attributed to establishing broad viewpoint that differed from conservative view without being viewed as radical
1.6.6. Equality and equal opportunities in education
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Progressive Era Reformation
2.1.1. Industrial Revolution paves the way for significant urbanization
2.1.2. Industrial Revolution in Education
2.1.3. John Dewey and Progressivism seek to provide widespread reform and more equality to the education system
2.1.4. Dewey founds the Laboratory School at U of Chicago, utilized integrated curriculum and active learning, emphasized teachers as facilitators of learning and not all knowing fountains of knowledge
2.1.5. Public high schools begin to outnumber academies as far as student numbers, in a time frame of 40 years nearly 6.5 million students are in public schools and thus a structure needed to be put in place
2.2. Democratic-Liberal Interpretation of Schooling
2.2.1. Belief that the history of U.S. education involves progressive evolution of school systems that lead to equal opportunity
2.2.2. Suggested that each period of reform was influenced by liberal reformers to push education toward equality rather than strictly for the meritorious
2.2.3. Ellwood Cubberly and Merle Curti portray the Common School Era as a victory for democratic movements and laid the groundwork for opening U.S. education for all
2.2.4. Committee of Ten founded to clarify high school education, more conservative view with approach of all students being taught in the same manner, NEA's Commission on Reorganization of Secondary Schools responds with more progressive viewpoint, Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education made for a less academically demanding and more utilitarian approach to curriculum
2.2.5. Lawrence A. Cremin publishes a three volume history of U.S. education, portrays its evolution in terms of two processes: popularization and multitudinousness, extends belief that liberal approach to education provided more opportunity and gave rise to a more educated population
2.2.6. Democratic-Liberal view is generally optimistic about the history of U.S. education and its progress throughout the years
2.2.7. Democratic-Liberal views see that the U.S. education system must move closer to both equality and excellence without giving too much ground to one or the other
3. Sociology of Education
3.1. Interactional Theoretical Perspective
3.1.1. Interactional Theory in Sociology
3.1.2. Primarily critiques and extensions of functional and conflict theories, believes that functional and conflict theories are very abstract and put emphasis on structure and process at a macrosociological level
3.1.3. Basil Bernstein, among others, attempts to synthesize the micro and macrosociological approaches by saying all aspects must be viewed wholistically
3.1.4. Key is to make what is the commonplace strange by turning everyday behaviors on their heads and doing the same for student to student and student to teacher interaction
3.1.5. For example, analysis of the processes by which students are labeled gifted or learning disabled due to assumptions about their learning
3.1.6. Beliefs are based upon the fact that although the macro view gives a look at the big picture, too many micro details are left out therefore making it hard to understand schooling on a day to day basis
3.2. Knowledge and Attitudes
3.2.1. Many sociologists are in general disagreement about the importance of schooling in terms of the knowledge and attitudes acquired in school
3.2.2. Generally, the higher the social class background, the higher the achievement level
3.2.3. Conflicting research, such as Coleman and Jencks' research that found no difference between schools in achievement and Edmonds' research which showed a major difference
3.2.4. Heyns' studies found that students who went to summer school and read more had greater gains in knowledge than those who did not
3.2.5. Research indicates that the higher the education, the more likely to read newspapers, books, and magazines and the more likely to participate in politics and the public
3.2.6. More highly educated individuals tend to be more liberal in political and social attitude
3.3. Teacher Behavior
3.3.1. How Should a Teacher Behave?
3.3.2. Teachers are obviously impactful on students, but many have interpersonal contacts
3.3.3. Teachers can fulfill many different roles that sometimes are not compatible with each other leading to role strain, where they do not feel comfortable in any role
3.3.4. Rosenthal and Jacobson's study concluded that teacher expectations directly influenced student achievement
3.3.5. Persell's study found that when teachers demanded more and also praised more, students learned more and felt better about themselves
3.3.6. Many teachers could be guilty of having lower expectations for minorities and working-class students which hurts their development in the classroom
3.4. Inadequate Schools
3.4.1. Inadequate Schools and how Teachers Feel
3.4.2. Critics of contemporary schooling believe that the way children are educated today will not prepare them to be productive
3.4.3. Urban education has largely failed to educate minorities and the poor
3.4.4. Vast differences between schools and school systems
3.4.5. Students in suburban or private schooling have advantages in educational experience
3.4.6. They eventually benefit not only in educational experience, but because the social value of their diplomas is higher
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Generic Notions- Progressivism
4.1.1. Dewey's pragmatism closely associated with progressivism, evolution and optimistic belief in progress
4.2. Key Researchers- Progressivism
4.2.1. John Dewey, Sanders Peirce, William James
4.3. Goal of Education- Progressivism
4.3.1. Knowledge to improve social order, schooling as a larger part of social progress and improvement, integration into democratic society
4.4. Role of Teacher- Progressivism
4.4.1. Teachers act more as facilitators rather than authoritarians, encouraging, questioning, suggestive, creates curriculum
4.5. Method of Instruction- Progressivism
4.5.1. Both individual learning and group learning, pose questions about what they want to learn, problem solving, inquiry method, lack of formal instruction
4.6. Curriculum- Progressivism
4.6.1. Core, or integrated, curriculum, solving problems from many different viewpoints, all academics and vocationals lumped in together and interconnected
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Alabama State Senators
5.1.1. Led by Lt. Governor Kay Ivey, President Pro Tempore Del Marsh, and Secretary D. Patrick Harris
5.2. Alabama HoR
5.2.1. Led by Speaker Mike Hubbard, Speaker Pro Tempore Victor Gaston and Clerk Jeffery Woodard
5.3. State Superintendent
5.3.1. Dr. Thomas R. Bice
5.4. Representative on State School Board
5.4.1. Mary Scott Hunter
5.5. Local Superintendent
5.5.1. Matt Massey
5.6. Local School Board
5.6.1. Madison County Board of Education
5.7. Comparison to Great Britain
5.7.1. Great Britain highly centralized by government
5.7.2. Wave of privatization of public education in 80s under Thatcher
5.7.3. Still highly class stratified
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Social Efficiency Curriculum
6.1.1. different types of schooling for different students
6.1.2. based on Dewey's vision of flexible and individualized curriculum
6.1.3. was developed in response to the development of massive public secondary education
6.1.4. Modern Functionalist Theory
6.1.4.1. preparation of students for increasingly complex roles in society
6.1.4.2. teaching general cognitive skills as well as general values and norms essential to society
6.1.4.3. schools should teach students values essential to a modern society
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Special Needs Student Attainment
7.1.1. Skrtic's essay in Harvard Educational Review calls for reform of the entire special education system in response to EHA and REI
7.1.2. Minority students are overrepresented and too many students have been placed in special education
7.1.3. Flexible system with appropriate placements is needed
7.2. Coleman Study response from sociologists
7.2.1. Substantiated the findings that Coleman had in the study
7.2.2. Stated that where an individual goes to school had little effect on their cognitive growth and educational mobility
7.2.3. Implications from this response lead to a belief that equality of opportunity is not affected by schools and school systems
8. Educational Reform and School Improvement
8.1. A Nation at Risk
8.1.1. Stressed the need for increased educational excellence
8.1.2. Focused on needs in school such as excellence, goals, curriculum, and teacher recruitment and training
8.1.3. Led to an increase in educational standards but was not actually a mandate, only a report
8.2. No Child Left Behind
8.2.1. Mandated annual testing and the reporting of test performance
8.2.2. Mandated that states set adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals for each school
8.2.3. Schools not meeting AYP for two years labeled "In Need of Improvement" and if they do not meet the following year's AYP, subjected to restructuring
8.2.4. Mandated that schools have "highly qualified" teachers for core subjects
9. Educational Inequality
9.1. Cultural Difference Theory
9.1.1. Cites that differences among cultures lead to the success or failure of students with added or lessened scholastic difficulty
9.1.2. For instance, African Americans adapt to the oppressive culture of school systems
9.1.3. Working class and non-whites resist a dominant school culture rigged against them
9.1.4. Asian Americans tie in to family values and the need of scholastic achievement in the family to be accepted
9.2. School Financing
9.2.1. Funding in certain schools being much lower or higher than others
9.2.2. If underfunded, leads to a lack of materials for learning that hinder students
9.2.3. Leads to a collapse in prestige due to lack of funding and becomes an unappealing school