1. History of U.S. Education
1.1. Education for Women
1.1.1. Women were once seen as helpmates only. Jean-Jacques Rousseau wrote a book and the female character broke the status quo. She went to school, ate what she wanted, and learned womanly arts. This book initiated change in the education system. In 1821 Emma Hart Willard opened Troy Female Seminary. This is an important reform because it changed the outlook of education. It allowed women to achieve equality among males. This was the beginning of women becoming recognized as a smart individual that could be independent. (pg.68-69)
1.2. Democratic-Liberal School
1.2.1. This interpretation of the history of U.S. education is that the school system should create equal opportunities for all students. Lawrence A. Cremin interprets this history of education in the U.S. as being more diverse of the years and allowing social skills to become more important than intellectual skills. (pg.83)
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Existentialism
2.1.1. Generic Notions: The choice of creating good and evil is within the learner. This is a self-motivated philosophy. It is up to the individual to make sense of the confusions they may encounter. This philosophy is about creating and finding yourself. (pg.190)
2.1.2. Key Researchers: Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre, Maxine Greene. (pg.190)
2.1.3. Goal of Education: Education should focus on the students needs both cognitively and emotionally. (pg.191)
2.1.4. Role of Teacher: to help their students reach a vulnerable state by taking risks and making themselves (teachers) vulnerable to hard to reach students. (pg.191)
2.1.5. Method of Instruction: to work as a team (student and teacher) to find the correct learning style for each student and to discover understandings together (pg.191)
2.1.6. Curriculum: Presenting students with problems and possibilities while allowing them to learn through art, drama and music. (pg.191)
3. Schools as Organizations
3.1. Steak Holders in My District
3.1.1. Alabama senators- Richard Shelby, Jefferson Sessions
3.1.2. Alabama Representatives- Martha Roby, Bradley Byrne, Terri Sewell, Mo Brooks, Gary Palmer, Robert Aderholt, Michael D. Rogers
3.1.3. State Superintendent- Michael Sentance
3.1.4. Representative on State Board- Mary Scott Hunter (District 8)
3.1.5. Local Superintendent- Ed Nichols (Interim Superintendent)
3.1.6. Local School Board- Terri Johnson, Connie Cox Spears, Tim Holtcamp, Ranae Bartlett, David Hergenroeder
3.2. Elements of Change within School Processes and cultures
3.2.1. Change within the school to create a learner centered environment requires time, effort, intelligence, and good will. Change of the entire school can not be done haphazardly. It is a requirement that teachers are on the forefront of change and are helping the profession to become redefined.
4. Politics of Education
4.1. Identify and describe four purposes of education
4.1.1. Intellectual: to teach basic cognitive skills, specific knowledge, and higher ordered thinking skills (pg. 22)
4.1.2. Political: to create well-rounded citizens, while allowing the students to learn political order (pg.22)
4.1.3. Social: to help students understand roles, behavior. and values of the society or community (pg.22)
4.1.4. Economic: to help students find a path and prepare them for the career (pg.22)
4.2. Liberal Perspective
4.2.1. Role of the school: to ensure all students have equal opportunity to succeed by helping the students to develop their talents, creativity, and sense of self (pg.27)
4.2.2. Explanations of unequal performance: Students from poor and minority backgrounds are naturally presented with disadvantages, but schools are working hard to eliminate those by creating policies and programs. (pg.28)
4.2.3. Definition of education problems: Poor students and minorities have limited chances to succeed, therefore resulting in underachievement. Discipline and authority take away from helping students individually. There is a huge gap between low socioeconomic schools and high socioeconomic schools. The curriculum does not include diversity in culture. (pg.29)
5. Sociological Perspectives
5.1. Theoretical perspective concerning the relationship between school and society
5.1.1. Functionalism: This is believing that unity in a society is necessary to be successful. Each part of the society should depend on one another including the education system. The first recorded sociologist to agree with this was Emile Durkheim. (pg.117-118)
5.1.2. Conflict Theory: The relationship between school and society is a clashing battleground. Constant fight between teachers and students, and teachers and administration. (pg.118)
5.1.3. Interactionalism: This theory combines both conflict theory and functionalism. It questions the normality of behaviors. Questioning is what gives the school and society meaning. (pg.120)
5.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
5.2.1. 1. Teacher Behavior: How a teacher acts or reacts in situations can greatly effect a student. Students look to their teachers as role models. Students also will learn different things based on what the teacher feels is important or not important to teach. (pg 124)
5.2.2. 2. Inadequate Schools: certain school systems are not equipping the students for life after graduation. If students are not going to elite schools, they may miss out on opportunities or not be as prepared. (pg.136)
5.2.3. 3. Tracking: If done correctly, this will help a student achieve steps towards their educational goals. Students are encouraged to seek out paths of interest in school and to participate in activities to high light their strengths. (pg. 127)
5.2.4. 4. De Facto Segregation: Integration in schools help minority students to succeed in the classroom. This will effect the minorities positively and does not negatively effect the majority. (pg.127)
5.2.5. 5. Gender: Women are held to different standards than men in certain cases. If you are a woman, this could effect the quality of education that you receive. If teachers do not expect much out of women because they are not going to have equal chance in the work force, then the women will not preform as highly. (pg. 128)
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.1.1. This curriculum is based on student need and student interest. It is a very student-centered curriculum. Flexibility to meet the needs of the students at their individual developmental level is what makes this curriculum different from others. I personally advocate for this because I believe students need to be met where they are and taught individually.
6.2. Two Traditions of Teaching
6.2.1. Mimetic Tradition
6.2.1.1. This is best described as passing knowledge from one person or text to another person. In this tradition, content is given to the learner rather than discovered by the learner. This method could also be thought of as "adding on" to information already given. I personally do not like this method because I feel that students should discover content to get the most out of learning.
6.2.2. Transformative Tradition
6.2.2.1. This is best described as focusing on the learner's psychological traits (attitude, value, interest) to transform the learner's knowledge. The teachers that use this method help their learners to explore and gain new knowledge. This method focuses on changing the way students think and challenging them to transform their views.
7. Equality of Education
7.1. Class's Impact on Educational Outcomes
7.1.1. Student achievement is directly connected with parental involvement and monetary support. Students that have middle and upper class families have more resources and expectations to succeed. Lower class families do not have the same educational expectations for their students. Teachers unfortunately can allow those perceptions label their students. That is when this becomes a big issue in the classroom.
7.2. Race's Impact on Educational Outcomes
7.2.1. Minorities do not have the same opportunities to succeed as white students do. The percentage of minorities that can not read proficiently and can not perform proficiently on the SAT is significantly higher than the percentage of whites that can not perform proficiently on those items. This effects scholarships and college admission. This will stop many minorities from continuing on with their education.
7.3. Gender's Impact on Educational Outcomes
7.3.1. In the past, women have been given lower standards of achievement than men. Recently, women have caught up to men in achievement levels. Men are expected to make higher scores on the SAT. Women are expected to attend college, more so than men. The men that do attend college are expected to attend more prestigious colleges than women.
7.4. The two Responses of The Coleman Study of 1982
7.4.1. The Catholic schools are very good at servicing the minority population. The Catholic schools are getting more elite though, so will they still service the minorities to their full potential?
7.4.2. School's race and class composition have a greater effect on the learner achievement than the learner's race and class. The segregation of schools by race and class are creating a large achievement gap. The school systems do not need to be segregated by race or class in order to close the achievement gap.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Two Types of Cultural Depreviations
8.1.1. 1. Lower class families do not give their children instant gratification for success and do not have high standards of success for their children. This means the students are not getting the support emotionally or physically in order to succeed in the classroom.
8.1.2. 2. The blame for the low achievement levels is placed on the parents, not the school. As this has many mixed reviews, it is thought that Head Start can make up for the lost time in the home. If the schools can provide what the parents can't, the students can get back on track. This is a way low income students can receive a good preschool education.
8.2. Four Student-Centered Explanations
8.2.1. 1. Arther Jensen states that genetic make up is a reason students can not succeed. He believes that African-Americans do not have the genetic make up to be as intelligent as white people do. He believes the programs focusing on social and economic problems will not have an effect because of the genetic make up problem.
8.2.2. 2. Hurn states the reason for the minority groups not succeeding is because of social reasons. He believes the problems resides in the fact that minorities are not as equipped socially. He states little has to do with the genetic make up of students. He believes the intelligence of students is effected by situations and thoughts while performing an IQ test.
8.2.3. 3. John Ogbu states the reason for less success in education in minorities is because of the stereotypes put on the minorities. He argues that because the minority students are told they will not achieve their dream job, they do not push passed the limit and succeed. These students do not attempt to shake the status quo.
8.2.4. 4. John Ogbu later changes his theories on success. He believes the students must leave their identities and cultures behind, in order to model a middle-class white student. He states African-American students can succeed at the same rate as white students, if the African-Americans do exactly as the white students do.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. Two School Based Reforms
9.1.1. 1. School-Business Partnerships: The business leaders realized that the majority of students were not being properly trained to complete jobs after their schooling. Those businesses offer to partner with specific schools or school systems, in order to help with funding programs. The schools, in turn, will offer to the businesses that their test scores will be raised by a certain time period. Both the business and the school benefit, in a perfect world.
9.1.2. 2. Privatization: Businesses buy failing schools and try to revitalize them. The schools then become privately funded. There are mixed views about this, but they are still operating.
9.2. Two Societal Reforms
9.2.1. 1. Full Service and Community Schools: These schools offer education and services to the students and their families. These schools have a goal of helping to prevent problems, as well as support the problems already on going. These schools are open for extended hours with adult education programs, medical clinics, recreational activities, training programs and tutoring.
9.2.2. 2. Harlem Children's Zone: Geoffrey Canada came up with a program to change the low income families and their children. He provides an education for soon-to-be parents. He teaches them how to talk to their babies academically. He also teaches the students how to function academically. His goal is to prepare the students like they are in a charter school, but not to remove them from their situations and neighborhoods.