1. Politics of Education
1.1. Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Intellectual Purpose
1.1.1.1. Teach the three Rs
1.1.1.1.1. reading, writing, and arithmetic
1.1.1.2. To transmit specific knowledge and to help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
1.1.2. Political Purpose
1.1.2.1. To inculcate allegiance to the existing political order (patriotism).
1.1.2.2. Prepare citizens who will participate in the political order.
1.1.2.3. To help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order.
1.1.2.4. Teach children the basic laws of society.
1.1.3. Social Purpose
1.1.3.1. To help solve social problems.
1.1.3.2. To work as one of many institutions, such as the family and the church to ensure social cohesion.
1.1.3.3. To socialize children into the various roles, behaviors, and values of the society.
1.1.3.3.1. Socialization is the key ingredient to the stability of society.
1.1.4. Economic Purpose
1.1.4.1. To prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
1.1.4.1.1. How much a school directly prepares students for work varies.
1.2. Role of the School
1.2.1. Conservative Perspective
1.2.1.1. Role of school is to provide necessary educational training to ensure that the most talented and hard-working individuals receive the tools necessary to maximize economic and social productivity.
1.2.1.2. Schools socialize children into the adult roles necessary to the maintenance of the social order.
1.2.1.3. Transmit cultural traditions through what is taught (curriculum).
1.2.1.4. Essential to both economic productivity and social stability.
1.3. Explanations of Unequal Performance
1.3.1. Conservative Perspective
1.3.1.1. Individuals or groups of students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative.
1.3.1.2. Achievement is based on hard work and sacrifice.
1.3.1.3. The school system is designed to allow individuals the opportunity to succeed.
1.3.1.4. If they do not, it may be because they are, as individuals, deficient in some manner or because they are members of a group that is deficient.
1.4. Definition of Educational Problems
1.4.1. Conservative Perspective
1.4.1.1. Decline of Standards
1.4.1.1.1. In the 1960s and 1970s schools systematically lowered academic standards and reduced educational quality due to demands for greater equality.
1.4.1.2. Decline of Cultural Literacy
1.4.1.2.1. Schools watered down the traditional curriculum and weakened the schools ability to pass on the heritage of American and Western civilizations due to demands for multicultural education.
1.4.1.3. Decline of Values or of Civilization
1.4.1.3.1. Schools lost their traditional role of teaching moral standards and values due to demand for cultural relativism.
1.4.1.4. Decline of Authority
1.4.1.4.1. Schools lost their traditional disciplinary function and often become chaotic because of demands for individuality and freedom.
1.4.1.5. Schools are state controlled by the state and immune from the laws of competitive free market, they are stifled by bureaucracy and inefficiency.
1.4.1.5.1. Liberals have significantly different viewpoints on the major educational problems of our times.
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Reform Movement
2.1.1. Education for Women and African-Americans
2.1.1.1. Historically, women were considered as helpmates or homemaker for men.
2.1.1.2. Throughout the nineteenth century education for women was viewed as biologically harmful or too stressful
2.1.1.3. By 1820 the movement for education for women in the U.S. was making important inroads.
2.1.1.4. Female seminary schools were opening up throughout the U.S. With entry requirements and level of instruction mirroring that of \men.
2.1.1.5. University of Iowa became the first to admit women in 1856.
2.1.1.6. During this time education for African-Americans was very limited.
2.1.1.7. The south forbade the teaching of reading and writing to the slave population believing that it bread insubordination and revolution.
2.1.1.8. Roberts v. City of Boston declared that local school committees had the right to establish separate schools for whites and blacks.
2.1.1.9. In the 1860s Congress ratified the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, freeing all slaves and giving them full citizenship.
2.1.1.10. In 1868 the Freedman's Bureau helped establish historically Black Colleges.
2.1.1.10.1. Howard University
2.1.1.10.2. Hampton Institute
2.1.1.11. The problem of equality of opportunity continued to be a significant issue throughout the remainder of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
2.2. Historical Interpretation: Democratic-Liberal
2.2.1. Believe that the history of U.S. education involves the evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
2.2.2. Each period of educational expansion involved the attempts of liberal reformers to extend education to larger segments of the population
2.2.3. They also reject conservative views of schools as elite institutions for the privileged.
2.2.4. Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawrence A. Cremin represent this view.
2.2.5. They believe that the U.S. educational system must move closer to equality and excellence.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Functionalism
3.1.1. Begins with a picture of society that stresses the independence of the social system.
3.1.2. Examine how well the parts are integrated with each other.
3.1.3. View society as a machine.
3.1.4. Emile Durkheim
3.1.4.1. Possibly the first sociologist to embrace this view of school and society.
3.1.4.2. Virtually invented the sociology of education.
3.1.4.3. Believed that education was of critical importance to create the unity necessary for society to function.
3.1.5. Consensus is the normal state. Conflict represents a breakdown of shared values.
3.1.6. Schools teach values and sort students according to ability.
3.1.7. Educational reform create structures, programs, and curricula.
3.1.7.1. These are technological advanced, rational, and encourage social unity.
3.1.8. Most U.S. educators and educational reformers base reform suggestions on functional theories of schooling.
3.2. Conflict Theory
3.2.1. Social order is not based on collective agreement, but on the ability of dominate groups to impose their will on subordinate groups.
3.2.2. Schools are battlefields where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and so or.
3.2.3. Karl Marx is the intellectual founder of the conflict school.
3.2.4. Max Webber believed that class differences alone did not capture the complex ways humans form hierarchies and belief systems.
3.3. Interactionalism
3.3.1. Are critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
3.3.2. They believe that functional and conflict theories are abstract, and emphasize structure and process at a very general level.
3.3.3. They want to look at everyday behaviors and interactions between students and teachers.
3.4. Effects of Schooling on Individuals
3.4.1. Employment
3.4.1.1. Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
3.4.1.2. College degrees lead to higher incomes, however colleges do not provide significant job skills for their graduates.
3.4.2. Teacher Behavior
3.4.2.1. Teachers have a huge impact on student learning.
3.4.2.2. Teachers are models for students, they set standards for students and influence self-esteem and sense of efficacy.
3.4.2.3. Persell found that when teachers demanded more from their students and praised them more, students learned more and felt better about themselves.
3.4.3. Inadequate Schools
3.4.3.1. The way that children are educated will not prepare them for productive and fulfilling lives.
3.4.3.2. Urban schools have failed to educate minority and poor children. Suburban schools and private schools provide a better educational experience.
3.4.4. Tracking
3.4.4.1. Tracking has a critical impact on student mobility.
3.4.4.2. It refers to the placement of students in curriculum programs based on students' abilities and limitations.
3.4.5. Student Peer Groups and Alienation
3.4.5.1. The adult culture of the teachers and administrators is in conflict with the student culture.
3.4.5.2. Student culture plays an important role in shaping students' educational experiences.
3.4.5.3. There are four main types of college students
3.4.5.3.1. Careerists
3.4.5.3.2. Intellectuals
3.4.5.3.3. Strivers
3.4.5.3.4. Unconnected
4. Schools as Organizations
4.1. State Senators
4.1.1. Lamar Alexander
4.1.2. Bob Corker
4.2. House of Representatives
4.2.1. David "Phil" Roe
4.2.2. John "Jimmy" Duncan Jr.
4.2.3. Charles "Chuck" Fleischmann
4.2.4. Scott DesJarlais
4.2.5. Jim Cooper
4.2.6. Diane Black
4.2.7. Marsha Blackburn
4.2.8. David Kustoff
4.2.9. Steve Cohen
4.3. State Superintendent/Commissioner
4.3.1. Candice McQueen
4.4. Representative on State School Board
4.4.1. Mr. Gordon Ferguson
4.5. Local Superintendent
4.5.1. Chris Marczak
4.6. Local School Board
4.6.1. Kristin Parker
4.6.2. Bettye Kinser
4.6.3. Jyuana Martin
4.6.4. Jim Pennings
4.6.5. David Moore
4.6.6. Nathan Adkison
4.6.7. David Bates
4.6.8. Howard Beaver
4.6.9. Carey Powers
4.6.10. Donna Morency
4.6.11. Tommy Dudley
4.7. Elements of Change
4.7.1. Schools are political organizations in which there are numerous competing interests.
4.7.2. Because schools are so political, effecting change within them is very difficult.
4.7.3. The demands of the bureaucracy can often be destructive to the very spontaneity and freedom that is required by teachers and students if they are to develop intellectually and personally.
4.7.4. Changing the cultures of school requires patience, skill, and good will.
4.7.5. The purpose of the"Schools of Tomorrow...Today" project was to create schools that were "more centered on learner's needs for active, experimental, cooperative, and culturally-connected learning opportunities supportive of individual talents and learning styles"
4.7.6. Planned change requires new ways of thinking. It is our contention that teachers must be at the forefront of educational change and, therefore, the very definition of the profession must be refined.
5. Curriculum & Pedagogy
5.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
5.1.1. Relates to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
5.1.2. Came from the writings of Dewey and Piaget.
5.1.3. Emphasized the process of teaching as well as its content.
5.1.4. Stressed a flexible curriculum that related to the needs and interests of each child.
5.1.5. Stressed the importance of relating school to the life experiences of each child.
5.1.6. Not very influential in schools, but very influential in teacher education programs.
5.2. Traditions of Teaching
5.2.1. Mimetic Tradition
5.2.1.1. Based on the viewpoint that the purpose of education is to transfer specific knowledge to students.
5.2.1.2. Didactic Method
5.2.1.2.1. Relies on lecture or presentations as the main form of teaching.
5.2.1.3. Education is a process of transferring knowledge from the teacher to the learner.
5.2.1.4. Emphasizes measurable goals and objectives.
5.2.1.5. New node
5.2.2. Transformative Traditions
5.2.2.1. Believe that the purpose of education is to change the student in some meaningful way.
5.2.2.1.1. Intellectually, creatively, spiritually, and emotionally.
5.2.2.2. They reject authoritarian relationships between teachers and students.
5.2.2.3. The student becomes an integral part of the learning process.
5.2.2.4. They tend to reject the scientific model of teaching and instead view teaching as an artistic endeavor.
6. Equality of Opportunity
6.1. Equality of Opportunity
6.2. Class
6.2.1. Class is directly related to achievement and to educational attainment.
6.2.2. There is a direct correlation between parental income and children's performance on achievement tests.
6.2.3. The higher an individual's social class the more likely he or she is to enroll in college.
6.3. Race
6.3.1. An individual's race has a direct impact on how much education he or she is likely to achieve.
6.3.2. Among 17 year olds 89% of white students are able to read at the intermediate level, only 66% of African-Americans and 70% of Hispanic-Americans can read at this level.
6.3.3. One reason for this gap is that minorities do not receive the same educational opportunities as whites, and their rewards for educational attainment are significantly less.
6.4. Gender
6.4.1. Historically, an individual's gender was directly related to his or her educational attainment.
6.4.2. Today, are less likely to drop out of school and have a higher reading level and are more proficient in writing.
6.4.2.1. The only area where males outperform females is in mathematics.
6.4.3. In the last 20 years, gender differences between men and women, in terms of educational attainment, have been reduced.
6.4.4. There are still advantages for men when competing for the most prestigious academic prizes.
6.4.4.1. They receive preferential treatment.
6.4.4.2. Society discriminates against women.
6.5. Colman Study 1982
6.5.1. Responses
6.5.1.1. Jencks used Colman's findings to compute the estimated yearly average achievement gain by public and Catholic school students.
6.5.1.1.1. He found that the annual increment attributable to Catholic schooling was tiny.
6.5.1.2. Borman and Dowling's findings partially confirm both Coleman's original data from1966 and 1982.
6.5.1.2.1. They found that where an individual goes to school is often related to his or her race and socioeconomic background, but the racial and socioeconomic composition of a school has a greater effect on student achievement than an individual's race or class.
6.5.1.2.2. They argue that race and class are predictors of academic success.
7. Philosophy of Education
7.1. Pragmatism
7.1.1. Generic Notions
7.1.1.1. Attainment of a better society through education.
7.1.1.2. Dewey believed that students should participate in planning his or her course of study, employ project method or group learning, and depend heavily on experimental learning.
7.1.1.3. He advocated for freedom and responsibility for students.
7.1.2. Key Researchers
7.1.2.1. John Dewey
7.1.2.2. Sanders Peirce
7.1.2.3. William James
7.1.2.4. Nel Noddings
7.1.3. Goal of Education
7.1.3.1. School is a place where ideas can be implemented, challenged, and restructured, with the goal of providing students with the knowledge of how to improve the social order
7.1.3.2. Balance the social role of the school with its effects on the social, intellectual, and personal development of individuals.
7.1.3.3. Integrate children into a democratic society.
7.1.4. Role of Teacher
7.1.4.1. Facilitator of learning
7.1.4.2. Student centered classroom
7.1.4.3. Teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
7.1.5. Method of Instruction
7.1.5.1. Students learn individually and in groups.
7.1.5.2. Problem-solving or inquiry method.
7.1.5.3. Children should start by posing questions about what they want to know.
7.1.6. Curriculum
7.1.6.1. Core or integrated curriculum
7.1.6.1.1. Integrate and interconnect all of the academic and vocational disciplines.
7.1.6.2. Supports starting with contemporary problems and working from the known to the unknown.
7.1.6.3. Curriculum changes as social order changes and as children's interests and needs change.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Cultural Deprivation Theories
8.1.1. Suggests that working-class and nonwhite families often lack the cultural resources, such as books and other educational stimuli, and thus arrive at school at a significant disadvantage.
8.1.2. Deutch, a cultural deprivation theorist, believes that this deprivation results in educationally disadvantaged students who achieve poorly because they have not been raised to acquire the skills and dispositions required for satisfactory academic achievement.
8.1.3. Head Start was founded as a way to prepare students, from working-class and nonwhite families, for school.
8.1.4. Critics argue that it removes the responsibility for school success and failure from schools and teachers, and places it on families.
8.2. School-Centered Explanations
8.2.1. School Financing
8.2.1.1. Kozol documented vast differences in funding between affluent and poor school districts.
8.2.1.2. He called for equalization in school financing.
8.2.1.3. In Serrano v. Priest (1971), the California Supreme Court ruled that the system of unequal school financing between wealthy and poor districts unconstitutional.
8.2.2. Effective School Research
8.2.2.1. Although Jencks's admonition that societal change was necessary to improve schools may have made teachers feel less directly responsible for problems that were often beyond their control, it also left teachers with a sense of hopelessness that there was little, if anything, they could do to improve schooling.
8.2.2.2. The effective school research suggests that there are school-centered processes that help to explain unequal educational achievement by different groups of students.
8.2.3. Between-School Differences: Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices
8.2.3.1. The effective school research points to how differences in what is often termed school climates affect academic performance.
8.2.3.2. Theorists are that there are significant differences between the culture and climate of schools in lower socioeconomic and higher socioeconomic communities.
8.2.3.3. Research does not explain why these differences exist and precisely how they affect the different academic achievement of their students.
8.2.4. Within-School Differences: Curriculum and Ability Grouping
8.2.4.1. The fact that different groups of students in the same schools perform very differently suggests that there may be school characteristics affecting these outcomes.
8.2.4.2. There is much debate over tracking students.
8.2.4.2.1. Some say that teachers assume that students in the lower tracks are not capable of doing academic work and thus don't offer them challenging curriculum.
8.2.4.2.2. Research indicates that differences in tracks help to explain the variation in academic achievement of students in different tracks.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-Based Reforms
9.1.1. School-Business Partnerships
9.1.1.1. During the 1980s, business leaders became increasingly concerned that the nation's schools were not producing the kinds of graduates necessary for a revitalization of the U.S. economy.
9.1.1.2. 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, school-business partnerships will address the fundamental problems facing U.S. education.
9.1.2. Privatization
9.1.2.1. From the 1990s the distinction between public and private schools became blurred.
9.1.2.2. For-profit companies, such as the Edison Company, took over management of failing schools and districts.
9.1.2.3. The success of these types of reforms has been mixed.
9.2. Societal, Economic, Community, & Political Reforms
9.2.1. Full Service and Community Schools
9.2.1.1. Full service schools focus on meeting student's and their families educational, physical, psychological, and social needs in a coordinated and collaborative fashion between school and community services.
9.2.1.2. They are specifically designed to target and improve at-risk neighborhoods and aim to prevent problems as well as to support them.
9.2.2. Harlem Children's Zone
9.2.2.1. Canada, who grew up in South Bronx, provides programs for parents in Harlem before their children are even born in an attempt to infuse all knowledge that middle-class patents know they should do for their babies.
9.2.2.2. Instructors teach parents how to have academic conversations with their children and how to provide them with a healthy home environment and acceptable forms of discipline.
9.2.2.3. In 2007, a significant number of Canada's middle-school students improved their state test results to meed grade level requirements in math and reading.