1. Philosophy of Education
1.1. Existentialism
1.1.1. Belief that individuals are placed on this earth alone and must make sense out of the chaos they encounter
1.1.2. Student centered, focus on the needs of the individual
1.1.3. the role of the teacher is to help guide the student to become a unique individual
1.1.4. Help student understand the world through questions
1.1.5. Curriculum is based on the humanities
1.1.6. Jean Paul Sartre, Maxine Greene, Karl Jaspers
2. Equality of Opportunity
2.1. Impacts on Educational Outcomes
2.1.1. Class: The amount of family income a student has access to has a direct impact on his educational success. Wealthier families have a greater advantage. Students who come from middle and upper class families are more expected to finish school. High academic achievement is more expected from those students as well.
2.1.2. Race: Race has a large impact on student success despite Civil Rights legislation. Data shows that minorities tend to score lower on the SAT. Research shows there is a link between SAT scores and scholarship awards.
2.1.3. Gender: Traditionally women were better students, but were often less likely to be able to attain the same level of education as men. Today the gap is smaller than it was, but there is still a gap. There are now more women attending post-secondary institutions than man, but many of them are less academically and socially prestigious than those attended by men.
2.2. The Coleman Study 1982
2.2.1. Response 1: Coleman found that private catholic schools gave students an academic advantage due to their emphasis on academics and strict discipline. He and his associates found this to be significant.
2.2.2. Response 2: Others found Coleman's finds insignificant. It was argued that while there is significant differences between Catholic schools and private schools, but the differences in learning are not as significant.
3. Educational Inequality
3.1. Cultural Deprivation Theories
3.2. School-centered explanations for educational inequality
3.2.1. School Financing: Public schools are financed from local taxes. Taxes are higher in middle and upper class neighborhoods, and therefore schools in those areas have more financing.
3.2.2. Effective Research: There are school-centered processes that help to explain unequal educational achievement. Researchers must examine schools not only from different socioeconomic communities but also those with lower socioeconomic communities.
3.2.3. Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices: School climates' differences have an affect on academic performance.
4. Educational Reform
4.1. School-based Reforms
4.1.1. Charter Schools: Public schools that are free from many of the regulations applied to traditional public schools and in return are held accountable for student performance.
4.1.2. Vouchers: School choice programs that allow students from low income families to have the same opportunities as those from middle class families.
4.2. Societal, Economic, and Political Refroms
4.2.1. School Finance: The court ruled in 1990 that more funding was needed to serve the children in the poorer school districts. Supplemental programs were introduced to distribute extra funding.
4.2.2. Full Service and Community Schools: Focus on meeting students' and their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between school and community services.
5. Politics of Education
5.1. The four purposes of education
5.1.1. Intellectual
5.1.1.1. Teach a designated set of skills
5.1.2. Political
5.1.2.1. Prepare students to actively participate in a democratic society.
5.1.3. Social
5.1.3.1. Teach students to resolve social issues
5.1.4. Economic
5.1.4.1. Train students to be successful contributing members of society
5.2. The role of the school
5.2.1. The liberal perspective sees the role of the school as a balance between training students to become contributing members of society and helping students develop their individuality.
5.3. Explanations of unequal educational performance
5.3.1. The liberal perspective argues that programs and policies must be used to close the gap between the advantaged and the disadvantaged.
5.4. Definition of educational problems
5.4.1. The liberal perspective argues that schools need to focus on the equality of opportunity and teach a diverse curriculum to help students develop their unique identity
6. History of U.S. Education
6.1. The rise of the Common School made free public education available to all students. It was the first step to equality in education.
6.2. The Democratic-Liberal interpretation is optimistic. They view it as a continually evolving system.
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Theoretical perspective concerning the relationship between school and society
7.1.1. functionalism:
7.1.2. conflict theory:
7.1.3. interactionalism:
7.2. Five effects of schooling that have the greatest impact in students:
7.2.1. Employment
7.2.2. Teacher behavior
7.2.3. Student peer groups and alienation
7.2.4. Inadequate schools
7.2.5. Gender
8. Schools as Organizations
8.1. MY District
8.1.1. State Senators: Clay Scofield, Shay Shelnutt
8.1.2. House Representatives: Will Ainsworth, Randall Shedd, Connie Rowe, David Standridge
8.1.3. State Superintendent: Michael Sentance
8.1.4. Representative on School Board: Cynthia Sanders Mccarty
8.1.5. Local Superintendent: Rodney Green
8.1.6. Local Board Representative: Chris Latta
9. Curriculum and Pedagogy
9.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
9.1.1. Emphasizes the process of teaching as well as its content. Student-centered teaching that relates the curriculum to the needs and interests of the student during each developmental stage. Curriculum must be flexible in content and strategy. Educators should be facilitators of growth.
9.2. Dominant Traditions of Teaching
9.2.1. Mimetic: based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students.
9.2.2. Transformative: the purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way, including intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally.