1. Politics of Education
1.1. Perspectives
1.1.1. Conservative
1.1.1.1. decline of standards
1.1.1.2. decline of cultural literacy
1.1.1.3. decline of values or of civilization
1.1.1.4. decline of authority
1.1.2. Liberal
1.1.2.1. underachievement of poor and minority children
1.1.2.2. schools place too much emphasis on discipline and authority
1.1.2.3. differences in quality and climate between urban schools and non-urban schools and students of low socioeconomic backgrounds leads to inequalities if results.
1.1.2.4. traditional curriculum leaves out diverse cultures that compromise pluralistic society.
1.1.3. Radical
1.1.3.1. educational system has failed the poor, minorities, and women through classist, racist, sexist, and homophobic policies.
1.1.3.2. schools have stifled critical understanding of the problems of American society
1.1.3.3. traditional curriculum is classist, racist, sexist, and homophobic and leaves out cultures, histories, and voices of the suppressed.
1.1.4. Neo-Liberal
1.1.4.1. Austerity
1.1.4.2. The Market Model
1.1.4.3. Individualism
1.1.4.4. State Intervention
1.1.4.5. Economic Prosperity, race and class.
1.1.4.6. Synthesized both conservative and liberal perspective to provide a critique of traditional public education.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Responsibilties of Schools
2.1.1. Schooling has historically been in response to the uncertainty that family, church, or community could not provide the necessary tools needed to meet the needs of a literate person in a democratic society.
2.1.2. The school serves as the focal point for addressing societal issues.
2.1.3. There is little consensus on motives for school reform.
2.2. Reform Movement
2.2.1. Old and New World education: Colonial Era
2.2.1.1. Harvard (1636), William and Mary (1693), Yale (1701), Pennsylvania (1740), Princeton (1746), Columbia (1754), Brown (1764), Rutgers (1766), Dartmouth (1769)
2.2.2. Age of Reform: Rise of the Common School
2.2.2.1. 1820-1860
2.2.2.2. Horace Mann led the struggle for free public education. Lobbied for a State Board of Education, which was created in Massachusetts in 1837.
2.2.2.3. First state "normal school" or teacher training school, established in Lexington Massachusetts in 1839
2.2.3. Opposition of Public Education
2.2.3.1. Taxation for public schools was viewed as unjust. Catholics founded their own schools
2.2.3.2. By 1860, public support of elementary schools was becoming prevalent. Beyond elementary education was considered a province of private academics.
2.2.3.3. Morrill Act passed in 1862, authorized use of public money to establish public land grant universities.
2.2.4. Education for All
2.2.4.1. Movements were made for education for woman and African Americans.
2.2.4.2. Public High School Emerged in 1875 and attendance increased from 25,000 to 6.5 million by 1940.
2.2.4.3. Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education: Health, Command of Fundamental Processes, Worthy home-membership, Vocation, Citizenship, Worthy use of leisure, Ethical Character
2.2.5. Post World War II Equity Era (1945-1980)
2.2.5.1. Concerned with expanding opportunities to the post-secondary level.
2.2.5.2. Also wanted to find ways to have more equal educationl outcomes at all levels of education.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Relationship Between School and Society
3.1.1. Functional Theories
3.1.1.1. poses that society is best when a consensus rules.
3.1.2. Conflict Theories
3.1.2.1. poses that influential groups impose their will on subordinate groups.
3.1.3. Interactional Theories
3.1.3.1. poses that society develops as a result of interactions between students and teachers
3.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
3.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes
3.2.1.1. The higher the social class of a student the higher level of educational achievement.
3.2.1.2. Differences between schools is not a significant impact.
3.2.1.3. Academically oriented schools have higher levels of student achievement
3.2.2. Employment
3.2.2.1. More education results in better jobs and opportunities.
3.2.3. Education and Mobility
3.2.3.1. Education is the great equalizer in the status race.
3.2.3.2. Where you attend has great impetus.
3.2.3.3. Poor and rich people see no effect on their social status as a result of their education attainment.
3.2.3.4. Competition is not fair. Winners win with exceptions and losers are dropped from the competition.
3.2.3.5. Rules are not always fair.
4. Schools as Orginizations
4.1. Structure
4.2. Governance
4.2.1. Those powers not mentioned in the constitution are explicitly delegated to the states. Each state is responsible for education.
4.2.2. The U.S. Department of Education was created in 1970.
4.2.3. The U.S. Dept. of Education has very little power.
4.3. Centralization
4.3.1. 55 million students are educated at the cost of $650 billion.
4.3.2. 1930’s there were 128,000 public school districts.
4.3.3. 1980’s there were slightly under 16,000 districts in the U.S.
4.3.4. The average elementary school has 450 students. High schools have 856.
4.4. Student Composition in Public Schools
4.4.1. 53.5 % are white
4.4.2. Of the states, 16 have less than 50% white
4.4.3. Ten states have no minorities
4.4.4. Large states are heavily multiracial.
4.4.5. New York City is 85.6% minority.
4.4.6. Los Angeles is 91.3% minority
4.4.7. Detroit is 97.4% minority.
4.5. Degree of Openness
4.5.1. Very few academic impediments exist to graduate high school but many social impediments exist.
4.5.2. Very democratic process of education.
4.5.3. Open to all and very inclusive.
4.6. Private Schools
4.6.1. There are approximately 28,200 elementary and secondary private schools in the U.S.
4.6.2. Private schools constitute 25% of all schools and educate only 10% of all students.
4.6.3. In 1930’s there were less than 10,000 private schools
4.6.4. In 2009 there were 21,780 private elementary and secondary schools.
4.6.5. Most private schools are located on the east and west coasts.
4.6.6. Connecticut has the most and Wyoming has the least.
4.6.7. In 1980’s and 1990’s studies indicate private schools were better learning environments.
4.6.8. Thus, school choice has a significant credibilty.
4.7. 5 Characteristics of Highly Effective Schools
4.7.1. High expectations
4.7.2. Principal highly involved
4.7.3. Safety and Security
4.7.4. Student achievement and monitored success
4.7.5. School Has a Clear Mission
5. Curriculum and Pedagogy
5.1. Curriculum
5.1.1. Private schools are gaining popularity because parents choose schools that support their belief.
5.1.1.1. Other influences on the curriculum
5.1.1.2. Evolutionists
5.1.1.3. Creationists
5.1.1.4. Science and math
5.1.1.5. Nation at Risk
5.1.1.6. NCLB
5.1.1.7. RTT
5.1.2. Political Influences of the curriculum have determine and set battle lines for domination of what should be taught.
5.1.3. Sociology of the curriculum
5.1.4. Society influences the curriculum
5.1.5. Formal curriculum – what is cognitively taught (subjects)
5.1.6. Informal or Hidden curriculum – taught but not obvious to sight
5.1.7. Null curriculum – what is not taught but is learned (values of the community)
5.2. Pedagogy
5.2.1. Pedagogic Influences
5.2.2. Mimetic and Transformative approaches to teaching
5.2.3. Mimetic is conservative and says that there is a basic core of knowledge to be learned by all.
5.2.4. Transformative says that students needs should be the main focus of the curriculum
5.2.5. Student centered or teacher centered.
5.2.6. Stratification of the Curriculum
5.2.7. Students are tracked and directed to a specific curriculum such as advanced diplomas and vocational diplomas
5.2.8. Tracking begins in elementary and continues through secondary by means of testing.
6. Equality of Oppurtunity
6.1. Calculating Educational and Life Outcomes
6.1.1. Social stratification is a structural characteristic of societies.
6.1.2. Human differences do not cause social stratification; social stratification causes human differences.
6.2. Social stratification – three systems
6.2.1. Caste- a persons’ social level is determined by race or religion.
6.2.2. Estate systems – a persons’ social level is determined by family value and worth.
6.2.3. Class systems – a persons’ worth is determined by their ability to overcome by personal achievement.
6.2.4. The lower classes in America have had their ability to overcome decreased because of inflation.
6.2.5. Educational achievement is directly related to family achievement and social class.
6.2.6. Educational achievement is directly related to financial success.
6.3. Class
6.3.1. Schools represent the middle and upper class.
6.3.2. Parental income is directly related to educational achievement and test performance
6.4. Race
6.4.1. Race has a direct impact on how much educational attainment a person achieves.
6.4.2. Minorities do not receive the same educational opportunities as white Americans.
6.5. Gender
6.5.1. In the last twenty years significant gains have been made to equalize gender educational and professional attainment.
6.5.2. Disparities still exist in education and job salaries.
6.5.3. Other
6.5.3.1. Students with special needs have experienced tremendous gains in educational opportunities due to PL 94-142 or the EHA. Education of Handicapped 1975.
6.5.3.2. IDEA 1996
6.5.3.3. REI – Regular Educational Initiative or mainstreaming.
6.5.3.4. SAT and ACT test have become the determining factor for educational success.
6.5.3.5. ACT and SAT test have favored the white Americans and upper and middle class students.
7. Educational Inequality
7.1. Sociological Explanations of Inequality
7.1.1. Functionalist Theorists support the idea that each students’ success is determined by their own hard work and desire to succeed.
7.1.2. Conflict Theorists support the idea that student success is affected by their environment.
7.1.3. Interactionists Theorists support that student success is determined by a combination of factors such as family, social class schools and environment.
7.2. Other factors that influence student success are;
7.2.1. Student-centered factors such as family, peer group, community, culture and the student.
7.2.2. School-centered factors include teachers, teaching methods, curriculum, school climate and teacher expectations.
7.2.3. Multidimensional factors include everything that affects student success.
7.3. Student Centered Explanations
7.3.1. Genetic Differences Explanations
7.3.2. Cultural Deprivation Explanations
7.3.3. Cultural Differences Explanations
7.3.4. School Financing
7.3.5. Effective Schools
7.3.6. Between School Differences
7.3.7. Curriculum and Pedagogic
7.3.8. Within School Differences
7.3.9. Curriculum and Ability Grouping
8. Educational Reform
8.1. Characteristics of highly effective teachers
8.1.1. A ‘Calling’ for the profession
8.1.2. Professional knowledge
8.1.3. Personal qualities
8.1.4. With-it-ness
8.1.5. Instructional Effectiveness
8.1.6. Good communicator
8.1.7. Street smart
8.1.8. Willing to go the extra mile
8.1.9. Lifelong learner
8.2. Reform in education 1980’s to 2012 Two Waves of Attack;
8.2.1. The first was concerned with accountability and achievement.
8.2.2. The second was concerned with the processes of the school.
8.2.3. Top down management from the federal government.
8.3. Federal Involvement
8.3.1. America 2000
8.3.2. Goals 2000
8.3.3. No Child Left Behind
8.3.4. Race To The Top
8.4. Approaches to Reform
8.4.1. Neo Liberal Approach
8.4.2. Societal And Community Approach
8.5. School Based Reforms
8.5.1. School-Business Partnerships
8.5.2. Privatization of Schools
8.5.3. School to Work Programs
8.6. Teacher Education Programs Three Major Points;
8.6.1. More intellectual demands in education programs
8.6.2. Attract and retain competent teachers
8.6.3. Reorganize educational academic and professional development
8.6.4. Plan
8.6.5. Teacher Quality
8.6.6. The Effective School Movement
8.6.7. Plan on
8.6.8. Highly Effective School Characteristics
8.7. Connecting School Community and Societal Reforms
8.7.1. A Theory of Educational Problems and Reforms
8.7.2. Solutions and Proposals
8.7.3. Integrative Realm - basic skills and knowledge is the focus for school improvement and student achievement.
8.7.4. Developmental Realm – focus is on developing the whole child by having schools become more humane institutions.
9. Philosophy of Education
9.1. Realism
9.2. Generic Notions
9.2.1. The real world or material world is reality not ideas.
9.2.2. Matter exist independent of ideas.
9.2.3. Syllogism is the method of reasoning and logic.
9.2.4. Through reasoning individuals can determine their path through life.
9.3. Key Researchers
9.3.1. Aeistotle
9.3.2. Thomas Aquinas
9.3.3. Francis Bacon
9.3.4. John Locke
9.3.5. Alfred North Whitehead
9.3.6. Bertrand Russell
9.4. Goal of Education
9.4.1. The goal of education is to help individuals understand and apply knowledge to solve the problems of the world.
9.5. Role of the Teacher
9.5.1. The teacher is to present ideas and information to help students think , evaluate and determine a course of action.
9.6. Method of Instruction
9.6.1. Lecture, questioning and answer, are methods of instruction.
9.6.2. Competency based assessments measure what students know.
9.7. Curriculum
9.7.1. Basic subjects such as math, reading, writing and the humanities.
9.7.2. There is a body of knowledge that is essential for students to learn.