1. The Age of Reform
1.1. Around the time of the Industrial Revolution, many reformers believed that the road to secular paradise was through education.
1.2. In 1837, Horace Mann abandoned his career to lobby for free public education.
1.3. Mann's efforts were successful and the first "normal school", or teacher training school was established in 1838.
1.4. Mann's belief that schools can change the social order and that education can foster social mobility are beliefs responsible for the faith and support many people give to U.S. public school.
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Pragmatism
2.1.1. John Dewey proposed that educators start with the needs and interests of the child jun the class room, allow the child to participate in planning his or her course of study, employ project method or group learning, and depend heavily on experiential learning.
2.1.2. There are many philosophers that associate themselves with pragmatism. John Dewey, John Locke, and Francis Bacon believed in ideals I can most relate to.
2.1.2.1. John Dewey introduced child-centered progressivism and believed you could never grow in education or yourself enough.
2.1.2.2. John Locke believed that one requires knowledge through one's senses and was primarily interested in how people came to know things.
2.1.2.3. Francis Bacon introduced a method of reasoning, inductive, which become the foundation in education research.
2.1.3. The goal of education, according to Dewey, was to be the central institution for societal and personal improvement.
2.1.3.1. Dewey's philosophy of education made a conscious attempt to balance the social role of the school with its effects on the social, intellectual, and personal development of individuals.
2.1.4. The teacher, in a progressive setting, encourages, offer suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement the course of study.
2.1.5. Dewey believed that one of the best methods of instruction was for children to learn both individually and in a group, and he also believed that children should also start classes by stating what they wish to know.
2.1.5.1. Formal instruction is not a trait of pragmatism. Children are in a nontraditional setting and are allowed to stretch and talk amongst themselves.
2.1.6. The curriculum is started with contemporary problems and works from known to unknown.
2.1.6.1. Curriculum should be related to the needs and interests of children. This is a child-centered method of learning. However, it should also offer traditional subject matter.
3. Notes taken from "Exploring Education an Introduction to the Foundations of Education"
4. Politics of Education
4.1. Liberal Perspective
4.1.1. Believes that schools have too often limited the life chances of poor and minority children and therefore the problem of underachievement by these groups is a critical issue.
4.1.2. Believes that schools place too much emphasis on authority and discipline, thus limiting their role in helping students develop as individuals.
4.1.3. Stresses that the teacher's role is to provide the necessary education to ensure that all students have and equal opportunity to succeed in society.
4.1.4. Sees the school's role as enabling the individual to develop his or her talents, creativity, and sense of self.
4.1.5. Believes adult status is based on merit and achievement and that all citizens receive a fair and equal opportunity for all areas of life.
4.1.6. This persecutive originated in the twentieth century. John Dewey introduced this work during the progressive area of U.S. politics.
4.1.7. role of teacher
4.2. Progressivism
4.2.1. Believes that schools should be part of the steady progress to make things better.
4.2.2. Tends to view the school as central to solving social problems, and as essential to the development of individual potential.
4.2.3. In relation to the three perspectives, there is significant overlap with each vision of education.
4.2.4. Tends to overlap with the liberal and radical perspectives.
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Major Stakeholders of my local area
5.1.1. Alabama State Senators
5.1.1.1. Richard Shelby
5.1.1.2. Jefferson Sessions
5.1.2. Alabama House of Representatives
5.1.2.1. Martha Roby
5.1.2.2. Mo Brooks
5.1.2.3. Bradley Byrne
5.1.2.4. Terri Sewell
5.1.2.5. Robert Aderholt
5.1.2.6. Gary Palmer
5.1.2.7. Micheal Rogers
5.1.3. Alabama State Superintendent
5.1.3.1. Tommy Bice (resigned)
5.1.3.2. Phillip Cleveland: Interim State Superintendent of Education
5.1.4. Alabama Representatives on State School Board
5.1.4.1. Governor Robert Bentley: President
5.1.4.2. Phillip Cleveland: Interim Secretary and Executive Officer
5.1.4.3. Jeffery Newman: Vice President
5.1.4.4. Yvette Richardson: President Pro Tem
5.1.4.5. Matthew Brown: District 01
5.1.4.6. Betty Peters: District 02
5.1.4.7. Stephanie Bell: District 03
5.1.4.8. Ella Bell: District 05
5.1.4.9. Cynthia McCarty: District 06
5.1.4.10. Mary Hunter: District 08
5.1.5. Local Superintendent for Morgan County
5.1.5.1. Bill Hopkins
5.1.6. Local School Board for Morgan County
5.1.6.1. Billy Rhodes: District 1
5.1.6.2. Adam Glenn: District 2
5.1.6.3. Mike Tarpley: District 3
5.1.6.4. Paul Holmes: Chairman District 4
5.1.6.5. Jimmy Dobbs: District 5
5.1.6.6. Tom Earwood: District: District 6
5.1.6.7. Jeff Mclemore: District 7
5.2. Finland's Educational System
5.2.1. Finland has had some of the highest scores on the math, science, and literacy exams.
5.2.2. Finland has banished almost all forms of standardized testing.
5.2.3. In comparison to the United States education system, Finland promotes many qualities of a progressive philosophy.
5.2.4. Because of such great teacher conditions, Finnish teachers are able to develop innovative degree of work satisfaction, making teacher retention and teacher shortages non-issues.
5.2.5. Finland also has little variation in student outcomes on the exams across all populations of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups.
5.2.6. Finland focuses on equal access to curriculum, the provision of wrap-around services for students, and teacher education.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Historical Developmentalist Curriculum
6.1.1. This curriculum was related to the needs and interests of the students rather than focusing on the needs of society.
6.1.2. The curriculum was developed from the writings of John Dewey and related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum. It also emphasized the process of teaching as well as content.
6.1.3. This type of teaching was student centered, and related the material to the needs and interests of each child at particular developmental stages.
6.1.4. It also stressed importance on relating schooling to real life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful manner.
6.1.5. The teacher, from this perspective, was not a transmitter of knowledge but rather a facilitator of student growth.
6.2. Sociological Modern Functionalist Theory
6.2.1. Society, according to functionalists, is a democratic, meritocratic, and expert society and the school curriculum is designed to enable students to function within this type of society.
6.2.2. The specific content of the curriculum, such as history or literature, is less important than the role of schools in teaching students how to learn.
6.2.3. This theory believes that schools teach students the values that are essential to a modern society.
6.2.4. The schools teach children to respect others, respect differences, and to base their opinions on knowledge that than tradition. These attitudes are necessary in a society where innovation and change are the foundation of technological development.
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Historical Interpretations between the Social and Intellectual Functions of Schooling
7.1.1. The history of education has been marked by an ironic pattern of cycles of reform about the aims, goals, and purpose of education.
7.1.2. Critics of the Standards Era argued that the intent to use schools to fix social problems, however well intended, not only failed to do this but was part of an overall process that resulted in mass mediocrity.
7.1.3. During the 1980s and 1990s, attention turned its focus away from social improvement and focused on the improvement of curriculum, tightening of the standards, and a move toward the setting of academic goals.
7.1.4. Lawrence A. Cremin proposed the idea that as more students from diverse backgrounds went to school for longer periods of time, the goals of education would become more diverse, with social goals often becoming as or more important than intellectual goals.
8. Sociology of Education
8.1. Conflict Perspective
8.1.1. In the minds of political economists, Bowles and Ginitis, there is a direct correspondence between the organization of schools and the organization of society. Until society is fundamentally changed, there is little hope of real school reform.
8.1.2. Max Weber examined status cultures as well as class position as an important sociological concept, because it alerts one to the fact that people identify their group by what they consume and with whom they socialize.
8.1.3. Willard Waller and many other contemporary conflict theorists see schools as oppressive and demeaning, and portray student noncompliance with school rules as a form of resistance.
8.1.4. Conflict theorists believe that society is not held together by shared values alone, but also by social order of dominant groups that impose their will on smaller groups within the social ladder.
8.2. Effects of Schooling that have the Greatest Impact
8.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes
8.2.1.1. Generally, it has been found that the higher the social class background of the student, the higher his or her achievement level.
8.2.1.2. Research has indicated that more years of schooling leads to greater knowledge and social participation.
8.2.1.3. Education has also been linked to individual's sense of well-being and self-esteem.
8.2.2. Employment
8.2.2.1. Most research has shown that the amount of education is only weakly related to job performance.
8.2.2.2. Getting a college and professional degree is important for earning money, but education alone does not fully explain differences in levels of income.
8.2.3. Education and Mobility
8.2.3.1. In general, the data do not support the belief that education alone provides individuals with great amounts of economic and social mobility.
8.2.3.2. The popular belief that education opens doors of opportunity is likely to remain embedded in the American ethos.
9. Equality of Opportunity
9.1. Special Needs Individuals
9.1.1. In 1975, Congress passed a law in response to parents complaining that their child was treated as invisible, and was not given appropriate schooling. They passed the Education of All Handicapped Children Law. (EHA)
9.1.1.1. EHA had six main principles.
9.1.1.1.1. 1. The right of access to public education programs. 2.The individualization of services. 3. The principle of "least restrictive environment" 4. The scope of broadened services to be provided by the schools and a set of procedures for determining them 5. The general guidelines for identifying disability 6. The principles of primary state and local responsibilities.
9.1.2. In 1996 the law was reauthorized as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA).
9.1.2.1. This law focused on placement. Students should be placed in specially designated classes if they required such a placement and in regular classes with assistance, if they could function in the mainstream.
9.1.2.1.1. The law produced opposite effects. One few issues was the over-identification of students that were handicapped, the failure of special education students to make it back into the mainstream, and the overrepresentation of minority students in special education classes.
9.1.3. In the late 1980's critics of special education pushed the regal education initiative (REI). This called for the inclusion of almost all students with disabilities to be in regular classes.
9.1.3.1. Critics and defenders of each act, continue to argue back and forth about which way is better. It is not clear that all students with special needs will benefit from inclusion, nor that students in the mainstream will not be harmed academically from wholesale mainstreaming.
9.2. The Coleman Study (1966)
9.2.1. Coleman found that the organizational differences between schools were not particularly important in determining student outcomes when compared to the differences in student-body compositions between schools.
9.2.2. Coleman's finding produced studies of the accuracy of his finding. Essentially each study resulted in line with what Coleman found. Despite the nation's best intentions, differences among schools are not powerful predictors of difference in student outcomes.
9.2.3. The response to Coleman was essentially, where an individual goes to school has little effect on his or her cognitive growth or educational mobility.
9.2.4. Many people were shocked at these findings, and proposed that if student-body composition has such a major effect on student learning, then the policy implication is clearly that poor students should go to school with middle-class students in order to equalize their educational opportunities.
9.2.5. During the 1970's the debate continued, and James Coleman decided to reenter the debate, and complete more studies.
10. Educational Inequality
10.1. Unequal Achievement: Student-Centered Explanations
10.1.1. In the 1960's, many sociologists of education assumed that students from low socioeconomic backgrounds often did less well because schools in their reach were inferior. They thought that because of poorer neighborhoods, the school's did not have money to provide necessary books and technology needed for an excellent education.
10.1.1.1. However, that thought was not true. Research studies revealed how complex this type of educational inequality was.
10.1.2. James Coleman argues that school differences were not the most significant variable fro the lower educational achievement of working-class and nonwhite students. He stated that it was the differences among the groups of the students that had a greater impact on educational excellence.
10.1.3. Research concluded that what Coleman found was known as within-school differences.
10.1.4. Educational researchers decided that the reason students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds did less well in school had more to do with the students themselves, their neighborhood and communities, their culture, and even their genetic makeup.
10.2. Between-School Differences: Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices
10.2.1. Effective school research points to how differences in school climates affect academic performance. Most researchers agree that schools do affect educational outcomes independent of extra-school factors.
10.2.2. Many theorists argue that there are important differences between the culture and climate of schools in lower socioeconomic and higher socioeconomic communities, and not just simply because one community has more money than the other.
10.2.3. Research on the relationship between schooling and life expectations suffuses that schooling can enhance or limit student aspirations about the future.
11. Educational Reform
11.1. School-Based Reform: School-Business Partnerships
11.1.1. Partnerships between schools and businesses were formed in hopes to restructure and implement a site-based management plan.
11.1.2. School-Business partnerships had end results in mind for schools. There were hopes of schools to raise test scores of their graduates, improve grade promotion rates, include scholarships for poor students to attend college and programs where the businesses would "adopt" a school.
11.1.3. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributes hundreds of million dollars to small schools and more recently to teacher effectiveness.
11.1.4. School-Business partnerships have attracted considerable media attention, but there is little convincing evidence that they have significantly improved schools or that, as a means of reform, that these partnerships will address the fundamental problems facing U.S. education.
11.2. Connecting School, Community, and Societal Reforms
11.2.1. Research conducted at the University of Chicago demonstrates that at combination of school, community, and societal level reforms are necessary to reduce the achievement gap.
11.2.2. School reform must be based on a number of supports, according to the University of Chicago.
11.2.2.1. 1. Leadership as the driver for change 2. Parent-community ties 3. Professional capacity 4. Student-centered learning climate 5. Instructional guidance
11.2.3. Although federal, state, and local reforms have resulted in some improvement in achievement, critics have pointed out that the U.S. educational system was never as problematic as conservative critics suggested.
11.2.3.1. These critics suggest that the real problem has been, and still is, that the educational system works really well for children from higher socioeconomic backgrounds and exceptionally poorly for student from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.
11.2.4. Linda Darling-Hammond suggested five key elements needed to reform education. And also warns that the U.S. education system, will fail many of its sudents at great cost to society as a whole if it does not equalize access to educational opportunity and support meaningful learning.
11.2.4.1. Five key elements according to Linda Darling-Hammond
11.2.4.1.1. 1. Meaningful learning goals 2. Intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems 3. Equitable and adequate resources 4. Strong professional standards and supports 5. Schools organized for student and teacher learning.