1. Chapter 6: Schools as Organizations
1.1. Alabama State Senator: Richard Shelby
1.2. Alabama House of Representatives
1.2.1. Majority: Micky Hammon (Republican)
1.2.2. Minority: Craig Ford (Democrat)
1.3. Alabama State Superintendent: Michael Sentance
1.4. Alabama Representative on State School Board: Governor Robert J. Bentley
1.5. Local School Board
1.5.1. Madison County: District 8
1.5.2. Mary Scott Hunter
1.6. Four Elements of Change within School Processes and School Cultures:
1.6.1. Conflict
1.6.1.1. Conflict is not created, but the prior hidden problems, issues, and disagreements arise. During school reconstruction, the staff must be prepared to elicit, manage, and resolve conflicts.
1.6.2. Learning of New Behaviors
1.6.2.1. The change process includes building communication and trust, enabling leadership and initiative to emerge, and learning techniques of communication and conflict resolution.
1.6.3. Team Building of the Entire School
1.6.3.1. Decision making should be shared and attention should be on the relationships of school staff.
1.6.4. The Process and Content of the Project
1.6.4.1. The substance of the project depends upon the trust and openness that is built up between the team and the team and the school.
2. Chapter 7: Curriculum & Pedagogy
2.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
2.1.1. Relates to the needs and interests of the students, rather than of society
2.1.2. Relationship between the child and the curriculum
2.1.3. Emphasized the process of teaching and the content
2.1.4. Progressive approach to teaching that is student centered
2.1.5. Relates schooling to life experiences
2.2. Dominant Traditions
2.2.1. The Mimetic Tradition
2.2.1.1. Starting off with familiar material and moving to more unfamiliar material
2.2.1.2. Transmitting knowledge/ Passing it on
2.2.1.3. Step 1: Test.
2.2.1.4. Step 2: Present.
2.2.1.5. Step 3: Perform/Evaluate.
2.2.1.6. Step 4: Correct & Incorrect Performance.
2.2.1.7. Step 5: Advance.
2.2.2. The Transformative Tradition
2.2.2.1. Successful teaching/Accomplishment
2.2.2.2. Changes of traits of character and personality
2.2.2.3. Teachers are engaged in a moral and philosophic enterprise
3. Chapter 8: Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Impacts of Educational Outcomes
3.1.1. Class: Because of the high expenses schools require, it is more common for upper class and middle class to finish school than it is for working class and lower class.
3.1.2. Race: Minority students receive fewer and inferior educational opportunities than white students.
3.1.3. Gender: Females are rated better students than males, however, they do not attain as much information as males.
3.2. The Coleman Study of 1982
3.2.1. Response 1: Private schools "do it better" for low-income students and are more elite.
3.2.2. Response 2: Where an individual goes to school is related to his/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 and class.
4. Chapter 9: Educational Inequality
4.1. Cultural Deprivation Theory
4.1.1. Type 1: (1960s) 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.
4.1.2. Type 2: (1970s) It blames the victims of poverty for the effects poverty rather than placing the blame squarely where it belongs: on the social and economic processes that produce poverty.
4.2. School-Centered Explanations for Educational Inequality
4.2.1. 1- School Financing: The majority of the schools' funds come from state and local taxes. Taxes are much higher in more affluent communities; therefore, those communities raise more money for their schools, than poorer communities with lower taxes.
4.2.2. 2- Effective Schools: Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do poorly because they attend inferior schools.
4.2.3. 3- Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices: There are significant differences between the culture and climate of schools in lower socioeconomic and higher socioeconomic communities.
4.2.4. 4- Curriculum and Ability Grouping: Different groups of students in the same schools perform very differently.
5. Chapter 10: Educational Reform
5.1. School-Based Reforms
5.1.1. 1- Privatization: There is now only a small difference between public and private schools because private education companies increasingly became involved in public education.
5.1.2. 2- Teacher Education: Teacher organizations took an active role in raising the debate as the opportunity to both recognize and improve the problematic conditions.
5.2. School Finance Reform- Extra funding was to be distributed to provide additional programs in order to eliminate disadvantages within poorer school districts.
5.3. State Intervention- Accountability systems created for policy makers to focus their attention on how to reward schools and districts that perform well and how to sanction those that do not.
6. Chapter 2: Politics of Education
6.1. 4 Purposes of Education
6.1.1. Intellectual
6.1.1.1. Teaches basic cognitive skills to help students acquire higher-order thinking
6.1.2. Political
6.1.2.1. Teaches children the basic laws of society
6.1.3. Social
6.1.3.1. Helps students to solve social problems
6.1.4. Economic
6.1.4.1. Prepares students for their later occupational roles
6.2. Conservative Perspective
6.2.1. Role of School
6.2.1.1. 1- Providing educational training to ensure the most talented individuals help maximize economic/social productivity
6.2.1.2. 2- Socialize children into adult roles to maintain the social order
6.2.1.3. 3- Transmit the cultural traditions through curriculum
6.2.2. Unequal Performance
6.2.2.1. Individuals rise and fall on their own intelligence and initiative
6.2.2.2. All students are given the opportunity to succeed, however, if they do not, they are considered deficient in some manner
6.2.3. Educational Problems
6.2.3.1. 1- Decline of Standards
6.2.3.2. 2- Decline of Cultural Literacy
6.2.3.3. 3- Decline of Values/Civilization
6.2.3.4. 4- Decline of Authority
6.2.3.5. 5- Bureaucracy & Inefficiency
7. Chapter 3: History of U.S. Education
7.1. Reform Movement:
7.1.1. Ralph Waldo Emerson: "We are all a little wild here with numberless projects of social reform."
7.1.1.1. This reform movement addressed diverse societal problems. The reformers believed that the road to secular paradise was through education.
7.2. Historical Interpretations of U.S. Education
7.2.1. The Radical-Revisionist School
8. Chapter 4: Sociological Perspectives
8.1. Theoretical Perspective
8.1.1. Functionalism:
8.1.1.1. Society is like a machine, where one part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work.
8.1.2. Conflict Theory:
8.1.2.1. Social order is based on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation.
8.1.3. Interactionalism:
8.1.3.1. Observation that functional and conflict theories are very abstract, and emphasize structure and process at a very general level of analysis.
8.2. 5 Effects of Schooling that Impact Students
8.2.1. 1. Employment - Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
8.2.2. 2. Teacher Behavior - Teachers' expectations play a major role in encouraging or discouraging students to work to their full potential.
8.2.3. 3. Inadequate Schools - The way in which children are educated today will not prepare them for productive and fulfilling lives in the future.
8.2.4. 4. Education and Mobility - Where a student attends school will effect their "mobility escalator."
8.2.5. 5. Knowledge and Attitudes - differences between schools in terms of their academic programs and policies do make differences in students' learning.
9. Chapter 5: Philosophy of Education
9.1. Pragmatism (Progressivism): Student-centered
9.1.1. Generic Notions:
9.1.1.1. Attainment of a better society through education
9.1.1.2. Students learn skills through experentation
9.1.1.3. Students are taught traditional information to prepare them to work cooperatively in a democratic society
9.1.1.4. Interests and needs of the child must be met by the educator
9.1.1.5. Children must be allowed to assist in planning the course of study
9.1.2. Key Researchers:
9.1.2.1. John Dewey
9.1.3. Goal of Education:
9.1.3.1. Socializing diverse groups into a cohesive democratic community
9.1.3.2. Integrate children into a democratic society
9.1.4. Role of Teacher:
9.1.4.1. Not the teacher, but the facilitator
9.1.4.2. Encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan the course of study
9.1.4.3. Writes curriculum
9.1.5. Method of Instruction:
9.1.5.1. Problem-solving (inquiry method)
9.1.5.2. No formal instruction
9.1.5.3. Children learn in a nontraditional, natural way
9.1.6. Curriculum:
9.1.6.1. Core curriculum (integrated curriculum)
9.1.6.2. Expanding environment: Solving contemporary problems by working from the known to the unknown
9.1.6.3. No fixed curriculum