1. Equality of Opportunity
1.1. Special Needs Students
1.1.1. The education of all handicapped laws were passed by congress in 1975.
1.1.2. Every student has the right to learn and have a chance to be as successful as possible regardless of their handicap.
1.1.3. Allowing students to be in a regular education classroom gives some students the opportunity to reach their full potential.
1.2. Different Social Classes
1.2.1. Where an individual goes to school is often related to his/her race and socioeconomic background.
1.2.2. Borman and Dowling's study concluded that education reform must focus on eliminating the high level of segregation that remains in the United States' education system
1.2.3. Teachers must give equal treatment to all students regardless of race or economic background.
2. Curriculum of Pedagogy
2.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
2.1.1. The Developmentalist curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
2.1.2. The teaching of this curriculum was student centered and was concerned with relating to the curriculum to the needs and interests of each child at particular developmental stages.
2.1.3. It stresses flexibility in both what is taught and how it is taught.
2.1.4. The developmental curriculum stressed the importance of relating schooling to life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful manner.
2.2. Functionalist Curriculum
2.2.1. Functionalist argue that the school curriculum represents the codification of the knowledge that students need to become competent members of society.
2.2.2. The general functionalist theory was developed by Emile Durkheim in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
2.2.3. In addition to teaching general cognitive skills, functionalists believe that schools teach the general values and norms essential to a modern society.
3. Schools as Organizations
3.1. Tim Melson is the State Representative for District 1 of the Alabama State Legislature.
3.2. The Alabama House of Representatives consists of 105 members that each represent a district of approximately 40,000 people. Phillip Pettus and Lynn Greer both represent Florence, Alabama.
3.3. Tommy Bice is the Alabama State Superintendent.
3.4. Jeffrey Newman is the District 7 Board Member for the Alabama Board of Education
3.5. Chad Holden, Daniel Patterson, Jerry Fulmer, Ronnie Owens, and Barbara Cornelius are the board members of the Lauderdale County Board of Education.
3.6. Dr. Jennifer Gray is the superintendent of the Lauderdale County Board of Education.
3.7. Gale Satchel is the interim super intending of the Colbert County Board of Education.
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. Functionalist's Explanation of Unequal Educational Achievement
4.1.1. Functionalist 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.
4.1.2. The functionalist vision of a just society is one where individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation are more important than ascriptive characteristics based on particularistic methods of evaluation.
4.1.3. Functionalist believe that unequal educational outcomes are the result, in part, of unequal educational opportunities.
4.2. Genetic Differences
4.2.1. The educational performance of disadvantaged programs were doomed to failure because they were aimed at changing social and environmental factors, when the root of the problem was biological.
4.2.2. Arthur Jensen argued the African-Americans, genetically, are less intelligent than whites and therefore do less well ins school, where intelligence is an important factor of educational success.
4.2.3. Recent advances in the understanding of mental illnesses suggest that there may be biochemical and genetic causes, this indicates that social and psychological factors are crucial.
5. Educational Reform
5.1. Goals 2000
5.1.1. Goals 2000 was a direct outgrowth of the state-led education reform agenda of the 1980s.
5.1.2. Goals 2000 provides the framework of reform that shaped the educational ethos of the Clinton administration.
5.1.3. Goals 2000 is insufficient to provide significant systemic reform of U.S. schools.
5.2. School Choice
5.2.1. By the late 1980s, school choice was at the forefront of the educational reform movement with Presidents Reagan and Bush leading the way.
5.2.2. The key to this policy is that student choices are not allowed to upset racial balances. In effect, some students may not be able to enroll in their first-choice schools if it would mean increased districtwide racial segregation.
5.2.3. Choice is controversial because it is deeply political and rests on a set of assumptions about educational marketplaces and private schools that are questionable.
6. Politics of Education
6.1. The Conservative Perspective
6.1.1. Individuals must compete in the social environment in order to survive.
6.1.2. Human progress is dependent on individual initiative and drive.
6.1.3. 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.
6.2. The Traditional View
6.2.1. Schools are necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society.
6.2.2. Hard work, family unity, individual initiative are all traditional values of U.S. society.
6.2.3. Traditionalist believe the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is, and progressives believe the schools should be part of the steady progress to make things better.
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Education For Women
7.1.1. Traditionally, the role of a woman in Western society has been that of helpmate or homemaker to the male, who assumed the role of provider.
7.1.2. By the middle of the 19th century, a signifigant number of women attended elementary schools and many were admitted to private academies.
7.1.3. In 1821 Emma Hart Willard opened the Troy Female Seminary in Troy, New York. The curriculum at this female seminary school included math, science, history, and geography.
7.2. The Democratic-Liberal School
7.2.1. Democratic-liberals believe the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
7.2.2. More students from diverse backgrounds went to school for longer periods of time, the goals of education became more diverse, with social goals often becoming as or more important than intellectual ones.
7.2.3. Although democratic-liberals tend to interpret U.S. educational history optimistically, the evolution of the nation's schools has been a flawed, often conflictual march toward increased opportunities.
7.2.4. Democratic-liberals believe that the U.S. educational system must continue to move closer to each, without sacrificing equality or excellence too dramatically.
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. Relationship between School and Society
8.1.1. Schools shape children's perceptions of the world by processes of socialization. Socialization is the values, beliefs, norms of society.
8.1.2. School socially and culturally reproduce the existing society through the systematic socialization of its students.
8.1.3. Schools academically stratify students by curricular placement, which, in turn, influences the long-term social, economic, and cultural destinies of students.
8.2. Effects of schooling on students
8.2.1. Most students believe that graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities. Research has shown that large employers, such as corporations, require high levels of education.
8.2.2. In 2011, high school graduates earned on average, $32,552. College graduates earned on average $53,976.
8.2.3. It is very clear that when evaluating the importance of education, more years of schooling leads to greater knowledge and social participation.
9. Philosophy of Education
9.1. Pragmatism
9.1.1. The goal of a progressive education is to prepare students to play an active role in society.
9.1.2. The role of the teacher is to help guide the students instead of being a dominant figure.
9.1.3. This form of teaching involves hands on learning from both the students and the teacher.
9.1.4. The curriculum offers lessons and opportunities that will benefit the student in their future endeavors.
9.1.5. John Dewey thought that pragmatism was formed around the basis of instrumentalism and experiments. He believed that it is important to focus on the needs of the child first.
9.1.6. John Dewey had the vision of a progressive education system. This system challenged students in unique ways.