1. The differences between public and catholic schools are statistically significant but in terms of significant differences in learning, the results are negligible.
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Pragmatism
2.1.1. Generic Notions:
2.1.1.1. Children are active, organic beings, growing and changing, and thus required a course of study that would reflect their particular stages of development.
2.1.2. Key Researchers:
2.1.2.1. George Sanders Peirce
2.1.2.2. William James
2.1.2.3. John Dewey
2.1.2.4. Frances Bacon
2.1.2.5. John Locke
2.1.2.6. Jean- Jacques Rousseau
2.1.3. Goal of Education:
2.1.3.1. Dewey's philosophy of education made a conscious attempt to balance the social role of the school with it's effects on the social, intellectual, and personal development of indiciduals.
2.1.3.1.1. Schools should balance the needs of society and community on one hand and the needs of the indiviudal on the other.
2.1.3.2. Often referred to as progressive education
2.1.4. Role of the Teacher:
2.1.4.1. Teacher= Facilitator
2.1.4.1.1. Teacher encourages, offers suggestion, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
2.1.5. Methods of Instruction:
2.1.5.1. Individually & in groups
2.1.5.2. Instruction is focused on problem solving and/ or inquiry method
2.1.5.3. Project method
2.1.5.4. Teacher should learn about students and what interests them to customize insttruction
2.1.6. Curriculum:
2.1.6.1. Integrated Curriculum
2.1.6.1.1. Includes math, science, history, reading, writing, music, art, wood or metal working, cooking, and sewing.
2.1.6.2. Curriculum isnt fixed; curriculum of expanding environments.
2.1.6.3. Curriculum changes as the social order changes and as children's interests and needs change
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Impact on Educational Outcomes
3.1.1. Class
3.1.1.1. Students in different social classes have different kinds of educational experiences.
3.1.1.2. The educational system obviously favors wealthier families. Ex: cost of education, and student dependency.
3.1.1.3. Social Class is directly related to student achievement.
3.1.1.4. Studies have shown that teachers favor middle and upper class students over lower class students.
3.1.1.5. Social class and level of educational attainment are highly correlated.
3.1.2. Race
3.1.2.1. An idividual's race has a direct impact on how much education he or she is likely to achieve.
3.1.2.2. Studies have shown that 5.2 % of white students drop put of school, where as 9.3 % or African American students, and 17.6 % of Hispanic- American students are likely to drop out.
3.1.2.3. Race is related to social class in some forms so that is why it has an impact o education.
3.1.2.4. Minorities do not receive the same educational opportunities as whites, and their rewards for educational attainment are significantly less.
3.1.3. Gender
3.1.3.1. Historically, an individual's gender was directly related to his or her educational attainment.
3.1.3.2. Tpday, females are less likely to drop out of school than males, and are more likely to have a higher leve of reading proficiency than males.
3.1.3.3. Studies have shown that males perform better in mathematics than women.
3.1.3.4. In the last 20 years, gender differences between men and women, in terms of educational attainment, have been reduced.
3.2. The Coleman Study (1982)
3.2.1. Round two
3.2.1.1. The debate over the High School Achievement findings has centered on the interpretations attached to the magnitide of the findings.
3.2.1.2. Jencks used Coleman's findings to compute the estimated yearly average achievement gain by public and Catholic school students.
3.2.1.3. Catholic schools seem to advantage low-income minority students.
3.2.1.4. Catholic schools are becoming more elite and like suburban public schools.
3.2.1.5. After reading this section, I thought about my church and our school. Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Cullman offers a wonderful education opportunity and they do offer scholarships for low income families. http://www.shscullman.com/wordpress/?page_id=2225
3.2.2. Round three
3.2.2.1. Where an individual goes to school is often related to her race and socioeconomic background, but the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a greater effec on student achievement than an individual's race and class.
3.2.2.2. Private schools seem to demand more from their students.
3.2.2.3. It was concluded that the differences in schools do make a difference in student achievement.
4. Politics of Education
4.1. Purposes of Schooling:
4.1.1. Political Purpose of Schooling- to inculcate allegiance to the existing political order (patriotism); to prepare citizens who will participate in political order; to help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order.
4.1.2. Social Purpose of Schooling- help solve social problems; to work as one of many institutions, such as family and church to ensude social cohesion; to socialize children into the various roles and behaviors of society.
4.1.3. Economic Purpose of Schooling- to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
4.1.4. Intellectual Purpose of Schooling- to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writting, and mathematics to transmit specific knowledge and to help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
4.2. Political Perspectives:
4.2.1. The Liberal Perpspective:
4.2.1.1. 20th century in the progressive era
4.2.1.2. John Dewey
4.2.1.3. Accepts the conservative belief in a market capitalist economy; believes that if free market is left unregulated it is prune to abuse.
4.2.1.4. Government involvement in the economic, political, and social arenas is necessary to ensure fair treatment to all citizens and to ensure a healthy economy.
4.2.1.5. Concerned with balancing the economic productivity of capitalism with the social and economic needs of the majority of people in U.S.
4.2.1.5.1. Capitalist system gives unfair advantages to those with wealth and power.
4.2.1.6. Believe capitalism should be left unrestrained.
4.3. The Role of Schools:
4.3.1. Liberal
4.3.1.1. Stresses the training and socializing function
4.3.1.2. Equality of opportunity
4.3.1.3. Provide the necessary education to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed in society.
4.4. Unequal Educational Performance
4.4.1. Liberal Perspective believes that individual students or groups of students begin school with different life chances and therefore some groups have significantly more advantages than others.
4.4.1.1. Argues that society must attempt through policies and programs to equalize the playing field so that students from disadvantaged backgrounds have a better chance.
4.5. Definition of Educational Problems
4.5.1. 1. Schools have limited life chances of poor and minority children and that has made underachievement by these groups critical.
4.5.2. 2. Too much emphasis is placed on discipline and authority
4.5.2.1. This limits the teachers role in helping students develop as individuals
4.5.3. 3. The difference between urban and suburban and high socioeconomic and low socioeconomic backgrounds is a problem that relates to inequalities of results.
4.5.4. 4. Traditional curriculum leaves out diverse cultures of the groups that compromise pluralistic society.
4.6. Liberal Educational Policy
4.6.1. Quality with equality
4.6.1.1. Combine both a concern for quality for all students with equality of opportunity for all.
4.6.2. Improvement of failing schools
4.6.2.1. School based management
4.6.2.2. teacher empowerment
4.6.2.3. Effective school programs
4.6.2.4. Public school choice programs
4.6.3. Enhance equality of opportunity for disadvantaged groups
4.6.3.1. Head Start
4.6.3.2. Affirmatice action programs
4.6.3.3. compensatory higher education programs
4.6.4. Balanced Curriculum
4.6.5. Acceptable Performance Standards
5. Schools as Organization
5.1. Stake holders
5.1.1. State Senators: Richard Shelby & Jefferson Sessions
5.1.2. House of Representatives: Speaker of the House- Mac McCutcheon / Majority Leader- Micky Hammon / Minority Leader- Craig Ford
5.1.3. State Superintendent: Michael Sentance
5.1.4. Vice President: Yvette Richardson
5.1.5. President Pro Tem: Marry Scott Hunter
5.1.6. Local Superintendent (Morgan County): Bill Hopkins
5.1.7. District 5 Representative: Jimmy Dobbs
5.2. Elements of Change
5.2.1. Schools of Tomorrow... Today : Create schools that were more centered on learner's needs for active, experiential, cooperative, and culturally-connected learning opportunities supportive of individual talents and learning styles.
5.2.2. Establishing bureauctracies that focus on creating efficient behavior and processes to achieve new goals
5.2.3. Political Compromises that result from Social Reality
5.2.4. Proficiency Based Curricula
6. Curriculum & Pedagogy
6.1. Developmentalist Curriculum: is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
6.1.1. Stressed flexibility in both what was taught and how it was taught, with the emphasis on the development of each student's individual capacities
6.1.2. Approach makes teaching student centered and was concerned with relating the curriculum to the needs and interests of each child at developmental stages.
6.1.3. This curriculum emanated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum.
6.2. Traditions of Teaching
6.2.1. The Mimetic Tradition: is based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students.
6.2.1.1. Didactic Method: a method that commonly relies on the lecture or presentation as the main form of communication.
6.2.1.1.1. Assumption that the educational process involves the relationship between the knower (teacher) and the learner (student), and that education is a process of transfering information from one to another
6.2.2. The Transformative tradition: rests on a dofferent set of assumptions about the teaching and learning process. Although learning information makes the student different than he or she before, this model defines the function of education more broadly and more ambigously.
6.2.2.1. The proponents of this tradition believe that the purpose of education is to change the student in a meaningful way, including intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally.
6.2.2.2. In contrast to the mimetic tradition, the transformative educators do not see the transmission of knowledge as the only component of education and thus they provide a more multidimensional theory of teaching.
6.2.2.3. Rejects the authoritarian relationship between teacher and student and argue that teachinf and learning are inextricably linked
6.2.2.4. The process of teaching involves not just the didactic tansfer of information but the conversation between teacher and student in such a way that the student becomes an integral part of the learning process.
7. History of U.S. Education
7.1. Progressive Reform
7.1.1. Began in the late 19th century
7.1.2. John Dewey
7.1.2.1. Advocated curriculum to include the child's interest and developmental level
7.1.2.2. Believed that the result of education was growth
7.1.3. Promoted schools as a means of preserving and promoting democracy
7.1.4. School was seen as a form of community
7.1.5. Child centered pedagogy
7.1.6. Curriculum had a strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
7.1.6.1. Group work & developmental skills
7.1.6.2. De-emphasis on textbooks
7.1.7. Education was for social responisbility
7.1.8. Emplasis on lifeling learning and social skills
7.2. Historical Interpretations
7.2.1. The Democratic-Liberal School
7.2.1.1. Believed school system should be committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
7.2.1.2. Common School Era- seen as a victory for democratic movements & the first step in opening U.S. education to all
7.2.1.3. Educational history in the U.S. involved both expansion of opportunity and purpose
7.2.1.4. Equity and Excellence
8. Sociological Perspectives
8.1. Theoretical Perspective
8.1.1. Theory- an integration of all known principles, laws, and information pertaining to a specific area of study.
8.1.1.1. Theorhetical pictures of society are created by human beings and interpreted by them.
8.1.1.2. knowledge from the social world cannot be totally seperated from one's personal and social situation
8.1.1.3. Theory is a conceptual guide to understanding the raltion between school and society
8.1.2. Functional Theories
8.1.2.1. Emile Durkhein
8.1.2.1.1. Believed education , in all societies, was of critical importance in creating the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony
8.1.2.2. Schools socialize students into the approprate values, and sort and select students according to their abilities.
8.1.2.3. Educational reform is supposed to create structures, programs, and curricula that are technically advanced, rational, and encourage social equality
8.1.3. Conflict Theories
8.1.3.1. Karl Marx
8.1.3.1.1. Believed that the class system made strugle inevitable
8.1.3.2. Max Webber
8.1.3.2.1. 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.
8.1.3.3. The glue of society is economic, political, cultural, and military power.
8.1.3.4. Describes schools to be similar to battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers struggle against administrators, and so on.
8.1.3.5. The achievement ideology disguises the real power relations within the school, which in turn, reflect and correspond to the power relations within the larger society.
8.1.4. Interactional Theories
8.1.4.1. Basil Bernstein
8.1.4.1.1. Argues that the structural aspects of the educational system and the interactional aspects of the system reflect each other and must be viewed wholistically
8.1.4.2. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
8.1.4.3. Interactional theories attempt to make the commonplace strange by turning on their heads everyday taken-for-granted behaviors and interactions between students and students, and between students and teachers.
8.2. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
8.2.1. 1. Persell found that when teachers demanded more from their students and praised them more, students learned more and felt better about themselves.
8.2.2. 2. Research has indicated that the more education individuals receive, the more likely they are to read newspapers, books, magazines, and to take part in politics and public affairs.
8.2.3. 3. Most students believe that graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
8.2.4. 4. Curriculum placement within schools has a direct impact on the probabilities of students attending college.
8.2.5. 5. Many factors besides education affect how much income people earn in their lifetime; these include type of employer, age, union membership, and social class background.
9. Educational Inequality
9.1. Cultural Deprivation Theory
9.1.1. Functionalists 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.
9.1.1.1. 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.
9.1.1.2. Functionalists expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results.
9.1.1.3. Functionalists believe that unequal education outcomes are the result of unequal educational opportunities.
9.1.2. Conflict theorists believe that the role of schooling is to reproduce rather than eliminate inequality.
9.1.2.1. Conflict theorists are concerned with inequality and it's eradication.
9.1.2.2. Conflict theorists usually fall in the radical political category.
9.1.2.3. They believe that the background of the family is related to the student achievement by a lot.
9.2. Student Centered Explanations for Educational Inequality
9.2.1. School Financing
9.2.1.1. Jonathan Kozol compared public schools in affluent suburbs with public schools in poor inner cities and saw a vast difference.
9.2.1.2. Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state, and federal sources. However, most of the funding comes from property taxes. This alone shows the differences in what the schools will receive in the different communities.
9.2.1.3. Children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do not receive equality of opportunity
9.2.2. Effective School Research
9.2.2.1. Student differences are seen as more important than school differences.
9.2.2.2. Supports the need of a societal change to change the schools.
9.2.2.3. Effective school characteristics
9.2.3. Between-school Differences : Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices
9.2.3.1. Research supports that schools do affect educational outcomes
9.2.3.2. Schools in working-class neighborhoods are far more likely to have authoritarian and teacher-directed pedagigic. Schools in middle-class neighborhoods are less likely to have authoriatarian and more student centered pedagogic practices. While upper-class are more likely to attend the elite schools
9.2.3.3. Although sociologists of education differ as to whether achievement differences are caused bu school differences, or independent student background factors, school differences have to play a significant role.
9.2.4. Gender and Schooling
9.2.4.1. Feminist scholarships on schooling has attempted to understand the ways in which the schools limit the educational and life chances of women.
9.2.4.2. Schooling limits the educational opportunities and life chances in numerous ways. Schools include stereotypical roles for women and men, omit significant aspects of women history, and often times males dictate class discussions.
10. Educational Reform
10.1. School Based Reforms
10.1.1. School Based
10.1.1.1. For several ecades, the idea of school schoice had been on the fringed of the educational policy world in the form of voucher proposals.
10.1.1.2. Some researchers reasoned that magnet schools and private schools were superior to neighborhood public schools
10.1.1.3. By the late 1980s, however, school choice was at the forefront of the educational reform movement
10.1.2. Teacher Quality
10.1.2.1. Data indicated that significant numbers of classrooms staffed by teachers who are not highly qualified in the particular subject they teach.
10.1.2.2. How to recruit and retrain high quality teachers is among the most important problems in American education.
10.2. School Finance Reform
10.2.1. Rodriguez v. San Antonio declared there is no constitutional right to an equal education.
10.2.2. Court ruled in 1990 that more funds were needed for the poorer schools
10.2.3. The changes still haven't bridged the achievement gap.
10.3. Connecting schools, community, and societal reforms
10.3.1. leadership as the driver for change, parent-community ties, professional capacity, student-centered learning, instructional guidance.
10.3.2. meaningful learning goals, intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems, equitable and adequate resources, strong professional standards and supports, and schools organized for student and teacher learning.