1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Intellectual-To teach basic cognitive skills to transmit specific knowledge and to help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
1.1.2. Political- To inculcate allegiance to the existing political order to prepare citizens who will participate in political order and assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order. Also to teach children the basic laws of the society.
1.1.3. Social- To help solve social problems; to work as one of many institutions, and to socialize children into the various roles, behaviors, and values of the society. This is the key ingredient to the stability of any society.
1.1.4. Economic- To prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
1.2. Perspective
1.2.1. Role of the School- Is at the center focus of conservative, liberal, and radical perspectives. The conservative views the role of school as essential to both economic productivity and social stability. The liberal views the school's role as enabling the individual to develop his or her talents, creativity, and sense of self. The radical view argues that schools reproduce economic, social, and political inequality within U.S. society.
1.2.2. Explanation of Unequal Performance- The schools are to provide a system designed to allow individuals the opportunity to succeed and if they do not it may be that they as individuals are deficient in some manner or because they are members of a group that is deficient.
1.2.3. Educational Problems- Conservatives define the problem as the decline of standards, cultural literacy, civilization, and authority. Liberals define the problem as limiting the poor/minorities, too much discipline and authority, inequalities in climate, and leaving out the diversity of some cultures. The radicals define the problem as classist, racist, sexist, and homophobic policies, promoting conformity, leaves out the cultures, histories, and voices of the oppressed, and inequality of opportunity and results.
2. Curriculum & Pedagogy
2.1. Curriculum Theory
2.1.1. The developmentalist curriculum is related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society. This stressed flexibility in both what is taught and how it is taught, with the emphasis on the development of each student's individual capacities.
2.2. Dominant Traditions of Teaching
2.2.1. 1. The Mimetic Tradition is based on the viewpoints that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students. This uses the didactic method that commonly relies on the lecture or presentation as the main form of communication.
2.2.2. 2. The Transformative Tradition is proponents of this tradition believe that the purpose of education is to change the student in some meaninful way, including intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally.
3. Schools as Organizations
3.1. Governance
3.1.1. State Senators- Richard Shelby & Jefferson Sessions
3.1.2. House of Representatives- Terri Sewell
3.1.3. State Superintendent- Michael Sentance
3.1.4. Representative on State School Board- Matthew Brown, Betty Peters, Stephanie Bell, Yvette Richardson, Ella Bell, Dr. Cynthia McCarty, Jeff Newman, and Mary Scott Hunter
3.1.5. Local Superintendent- Heath Grimes
3.1.6. Local School Board- Greg Trapp, Bret Gist, Greg Batchlelor, Judy Pounders, and Jerry Groce
3.2. Elements of Change
3.2.1. School Process
3.2.1.1. There are four elements of change for the school process: conflict is a necessary part of change, new behaviors must be learned, team building must extend to the entire school, and process and content are interrelated.
3.2.2. School Cultures
3.2.2.1. Changing the cultures of schools requires patience, skill, and good will. We need to create schools that are energized by collaborative inquiry, informed by authentic accountability, and guided by shared decision making.
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Generic Notions- The school became an "embryonic community" where children could learn skills both experientially as well as from books, in addition to traditional information, which would enable them to work cooperatively in a democratic society.
4.2. Key Researchers- Founders of this were George Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey.
4.3. Goal of Education- School should provide "conjoint, communicated experience" that it should function as preparation for life in a democratic society.
4.4. Role of Teacher- The teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study. They write curriculum and must have a command of several disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum.
4.5. Method of Instruction- Children should learn both individually and in groups by starting their mode of inquiry by posing questions about what they want to know, problem-solving or inquiry method.
4.6. Curriculum- A particular subject matter under investigation by students would yield problems to be solved using math, science, history, reading, writing, music, art, wood or metal working, cooking, and sewing- all the academic and vocational disciplines in an integrated, interconnected way.
5. History of U.S. Education
5.1. Reform Movement
5.1.1. The Education for Women and African-Americans has been one of the most influential reform movements on education. This reform encouraged both women and African-Americans to establish their own schools. Although inequality of opportunity is still an issue, it has progressively gotten better throughout history.
5.2. Historical Interpretation
5.2.1. The Conservative historical interpretation tried to fulfill its lofty social goals without sacrificing academic quality. They wanted all students to learn a rigorous curriculum and be given an equal opportunity to succeed.
6. Sociological Perspectives
6.1. Relationship between School and Society
6.1.1. Functionalism- Sociologists pictures a society that stresses interdependence of the social system. They examine how well the parts are integrated with each other and view society as a machine that certain parts articulate with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work. Functionalists tend to assume that consensus is the normal state in society and that conflict represents a breakdown of shared values.
6.1.1.1. Emile Durkheim http://study.com/academy/lesson/emile-durkheims-theories-functionalism-anomie-and-division-of-labor.html
6.1.2. Conflict Theory- Conflict sociologists emphasize struggle and they view schools as battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and so on. The glue of society is economic, political, cultural, and military power.
6.1.2.1. Karl Marx
6.1.3. Interactional Theory- This is about the relation of school and society critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives. 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.
6.1.3.1. Basil Bernstein
6.2. Three Effects of Schooling on Individuals
6.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes- Academically oriented schools with consistent discipline have higher achievement rates of learning this improves their well-being and self esteem.
6.2.2. Employment- Graduating college leads to greater employment opportunities. Credential inflation has led to the expectation among employers that their employees will have an ever-increasing amount of formal education.
6.2.3. Education and Mobility- More education leads to economic and social mobility; individuals rise and fall based on their merit.
6.2.4. Inside the Schools- schools are getting larger because they are cost-effective and whether the schools are large or small, the content of what they teach is a topic of important study. Curriculum expresses culture.
6.2.5. Teacher Behavior- Teachers have a huge impact on student learning and behavior as they wear many different occupational hats. They are the models, instructional leaders, set standards, and influence student self-esteem and sense of efficacy.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Impacts on Education
7.1.1. Class
7.1.1.1. Education is extremely expensive, therefore longer schooling favors wealthy families. Class is directly related to achievement and to educational attainment; there is a direct correlation between parental income and children's performance on achievement tests, as well as placement in ability groups and curriculum track in high school.
7.1.2. Race
7.1.2.1. Race is related to educational outcomes undeniably, although, given the nature of U.S. society, it is extremely difficult to separate race from class. Minority students receive fewer and inferior educational opportunities than white students.
7.1.3. Gender
7.1.3.1. In the past gender was directly related to his or her educational attainment. Women are often rated as being better students than men. females are less likely to drop out of school than males.
7.2. Responses to Coleman Study
7.2.1. 1. This study unequivocally indicates that, overall, between school differences in any measurable attribute of institutions are only modestly related to a variety of outcome variables.
7.2.2. 2. What then of Coleman, Hoffer, Kilgore's claim that Catholic schools are educationally superior to public schools? If trivial advantage is what they mean by such a claim, then we suppose we would have to agree. But judged against reasonable benchmarks, there is little basis for this conclusion.
8. Educational Reform
8.1. School Based Reforms
8.1.1. 1. School-Business Partnership- These have attracted considerable media attention, but there is little convincing evidence that they have significantly improved schools or that as a means of reform, school-business partnerships will address the fundamental problems facing U.S. education.
8.1.2. 2. School-to-Work Programs- Each system was supposed to provide every student with the following: Relevant education, allowing students to explore different careers and see what skills are required in their working environment. Skills, obtained from structured training and work-based learning experiences, including necessary skills of a particular career as demonstrated in a working environment. Valued credentials, establishing industry-standard benchmarks and developing education and training standards that ensure that proper education is received for each career.
8.2. Societal, Economic, Community, or Political Reforms
8.2.1. 1. State Intervention and Mayoral Control in Local School Districts- Accountability takes many forms and often involves state regulation or oversight. It has included state certification of school personnel and of school districts; statewide testing and assessment of pupils; state monitoring of local fiscal, management, and educational practices; local districts reporting to the state; state dissemination of report cards and state intervention in the operation of local districts when problems were identified and solutions were determined to be beyond the local capacity.
8.2.2. 2. School Finance Reforms- In addition to school-based programs calls for economic programs to reduce income inequality and to create stable and affordable housing and the expansion of school-community clinics to provide health care and counseling. School reform is necessary but insufficient to reduce the achievement gaps without broader social and economic policies aimed at addressing the pernicious effect of poverty.
8.3. Reform
9. Educational Inequality
9.1. Cultural Deprivation Theory
9.1.1. 1. The first deprivation theory is working class and nonwhite families that often lack the cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, and thus arrive at school at a significant disadvantage. Middle class culture values hard work and initiative, the delay of immediate gratification for future reward, and the importance of schooling as a means to future success.
9.1.2. 2. The deprivation results in educationally disadvantaged students who achieve poorly because they have not been raised to acquire the skills and disposition required for satisfactory academic achievement. A preschool intervention program for educationally and economically disadvantaged students was started based on the assumption that because of the cultural and familial deprivation faced by poor students, the schools must provide an environment that makes up for lost time.
9.2. School Centered Explanations
9.2.1. 1. School Financing- Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state, and federal sources. However, the majority of funds come from state and local taxes, with local property taxes a significant source.
9.2.2. 2. Effective School Research- A climate of high expectations for students by teachers and administrators. Strong and effective leadership by a principal or school head. Accountability processes for students and teachers. The monitoring of student learning. A high degree of instructional time on task, where teachers spend a great deal of their time teaching and students spend a great deal of their time learning. Flexibility for teachers and administrators to experiment and adapt to new situations and problems.
9.2.3. 3. Gender and Schooling- Given the role that schools play in reproducing gender inequalities, feminists argue that school organization, curriculum, and pedagogic practices need to be changed to address more adequately the needs of females.
9.2.4. 4. Within-School Differences: Curriculum and Ability Grouping- The fact that different groups of students in the same schools perform very differently suggests that there may be school characteristics affecting these outcomes.