1. Politics of education
1.1. Four purposes of Education
1.1.1. 1. Political: To train future citizens about their responsibilities and obligations to American society
1.1.2. 2. Social: Students learn people skills and use collaborative methods to engage with others and gain integrity, discipline and positive social skills
1.1.3. 3. Economical: Students learn skills and gain knowledge to acquire jobs after graduation, ensuring an American workforce and future tax revenue
1.1.4. 4. Intellectual: The main purpose; students gain knowledge in a variety of subjects — the most basic being reading, writing and simple math
1.2. 4 problems in American EDU
1.2.1. 1. Achievement gaps: Achievement gaps are based on social class/socio-economic/ racial-ethnic factors
1.2.1.1. Other factors start at home (hunger, parent involvement and discipline, reading habits, screen time, birth weight, etc.
1.2.1.2. Schools also play a part in achievement gaps. Teacher preparedness, quality of teachers, technology-dependent classrooms, weak curriculum
1.2.2. 2. Crisis in urban education
1.2.2.1. California's Search for Education Equity
1.2.2.2. Urban school districts are historically under-funded and rely deeply on federal and state funding, which is limited. This tends to give school districts bad reputations, attracting lower-quality teachers.
1.2.2.2.1. Meanwhile, suburban and private schools with wealthier residents can afford to hike up property taxes or take in tuition to supplement school district budgets.
1.2.2.2.2. Locally (read Athens-Limestone County/Madison, Huntsville and Madison County) municipal and county governments also supplement with a percentage of sales tax revenue and ad valorem revenue from local industries)
1.2.3. 3. The decline in literacy
1.2.3.1. Experts are discussing reasons to explain this
1.2.3.2. National Standards (aka Common Core) meant to battle illiteracy by ensuring a student in one district learns the same thing as a student in another state, easing transition for children moving across state lines
1.2.4. 4. Assessment Issues
1.2.4.1. Much debate on how best to evaluate student performance
1.2.4.2. Annual high-stakes testing an accurate perception of student achievement?
2. History of U.S. Education
2.1. Reform movement of the early 19th Century
2.1.1. Increased role of public secondary schools
2.1.2. With the onset of Industrial Revolution, fast-paced changes came to the education field to prepare the next generation of factory workers
2.1.3. Expansion of urban areas meant children didn't have to travel long distances to a school and there was more time for them to attend class while their fathers/parents worked in factories
2.1.4. Segregated education of women and minorities
2.1.5. Increased focus on education quality and teacher preparation
2.2. Conservative historical interpretation
2.2.1. Conservative critics of education reform hold the progressive/liberal movements of 20th and 21st century have weakened the quality of education
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Functionalism: School serves as an essential part to keep society working
3.1.1. Creates the moral unity necessary for social cohesion
3.2. Conflict theories: schools are similar to social battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against admin and so on"
3.3. Interactionalism: The traditional operations of schools are due for extreme scrutiny; a continuing critique and modification of conflict theory and functionalism
3.3.1. Attempts to make strange the commonplace, including relationships in school systems
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Existentialism
4.1.1. Generic notions: Focus on the phenomena of consciousness, perception and meaning as they arise in an individual's experiences
4.1.2. Key researchers: Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Paul Sartre and Maxine Greene
4.1.3. Goal of education: Education should only focus on the needs of the individuals, cognitively and affectively; possibility
4.1.3.1. education stresses individuality, addresses conflicts and discuss rational and irrational wold
4.1.4. Role of the teacher: Teachers understand their own worlds as well as their students to help students achieve their best world
4.1.4.1. intensely personal
4.1.5. Method of instruction: Learning is personal, so student-teacher learn from each other; teacher-posed questions, activities and collaboration
4.1.6. Curriculum: focused on the humanities; heavy on literature; fine arts
5. Schools as Organizations
5.1. Major stakeholders in Limestone County
5.1.1. Sen. Tim Melson (R.- Florence)
5.1.2. Sen. Bill Holtzclaw (R.- Madison)
5.1.3. Sen. Arthur Orr (R.-Decatur)
5.1.4. Rep. Lynn Greer (R.-Rogersville)
5.1.5. Rep. Micky Hammon (R.-Decatur)
5.1.6. Rep. Danny Crawford (R.-Athens)
5.1.7. Rep. Phil Williams (R.-Huntsville)
5.1.8. Alabama Speaker of the House Mac McCutcheon (R.-Monrovia)
5.1.9. State Superintendent Michael Sentance
5.1.10. State BOE Dist. 8 rep. Mary Scott Hunter
5.1.11. State BOE Dist. 7 rep. Jeffrey Newman
5.1.12. Limestone Co. Sup. Dr. Tom Sisk
5.1.12.1. Limestone County Board of Education
5.1.12.2. Earl Glaze
5.1.12.3. Bret McGill
5.1.12.4. Ed Winter
5.1.12.5. Anthony Hilliard
5.1.12.6. Charles Shoulders
5.1.12.7. Ronald Christ
5.1.12.8. Bradley Young
5.1.13. Athens City Sup. Dr. Trey Holladay
5.1.13.1. Athens City Schools Board
5.1.13.2. (L-R) Jennifer Manville, board attorney Shane Black, Russell Johnson, James Lucas, Dr. Trey Holladay, Tim Green, Chris Paysinger, Scott Henry, Beverly Malone
5.2. Elements of change withing school processes and school cultures
5.2.1. Conflict: Change is framed around existing conflicts, both internal and outside the school. Change brings these conflicts to light, allowing them to be addressed.
5.2.2. New behaviors: Change is only possible when all parties are willing to learn a new behavior. This enables new relationships, better communication and other interpersonal skills.
5.2.3. Team building: "... must extend to the entire school." Having everyone involved in change helps the transition to positive behaviors.
5.2.4. Interrelation of process and content: How a team implements change is just as important as the desired results. Quality of the outcome depends on the quality of the input.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Rethinking recess
6.2. Social Meliorism
6.2.1. This theory of curriculum suggests school is the place where children learn about social injustices and are tasked with ways to eliminate them.
6.2.1.1. education is a tool to empower "the have-nots" in order for them to improve their station in life
6.2.2. Advocates of this theory propose school curriculum "will no longer fail to address social injustices related to the haves and have-nots." (Noffke, 2000, p.78)
6.3. Traditions of teaching
6.3.1. Mimetic: "Purpose of education is to transmit specific knowledge to students."
6.3.1.1. Relies heavily upon the didactic method (i.e. lecture/presentation as main focus of student-teacher interaction)
6.3.1.2. "stresses the importance of rational sequencing in the teaching process"
6.3.1.3. Emphasis on measurable goals and objectives (i.e. standardized assessment)
6.3.2. Transformative: Education should make an impactful change on a student's emotional health/overall quality of life
6.3.2.1. Proponents insist teaching and learning are linked and there is no divide between teacher and learner
6.3.2.2. Teaching is more than didactic method, but also employs questioning
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Class: Education favors students from middle- and high-income class families because it is expensive as time goes on and most working-class families do not have enough income; success depends somewhat on education background of the family; text reports teachers have an unconscious bias against lower-class students because of the way they speak
7.2. Race: Race problems still exist and are deeply-rooted in American history; Race and class are connected in urban areas; despite conscious intervention, disparities in opportunities between white students and people of color still abound
7.3. Gender: Conscious intervention has greatly reduced educational inequalities between men and women, but they still exist; women are more disadvantaged in STEM fields because of bias and a stereotype that women are not "capable"
7.4. The Coleman Study, 1982
7.4.1. First response comes from those who held true to Coleman's first study and claimed that the "outside" factors, not the quality of a school, determined a student's success
7.4.2. Second response came from the camp that said quality public schools exist and help students of all stripes and not just those who can afford a private education, which produces a negligible academic advantage
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Cultural deprivation theories
8.1.1. One theory suggests there is not enough support from parents for children to succeed, therefore they are less ambitious at school
8.1.2. Another theory suggested minority and lower-income students have an ingrained sense of underachievement in school because their families and communities do not value education and working toward a far-off goal vs. immediate gratification
8.2. School-centered explanations
8.2.1. School financing: Tax revenue and student population can create inequalities in how much a system can spend on students; Wealthier suburban districts can afford more per student
8.2.2. Curriculum and pedagogic differences: Different districts (and even different schools) teach different things at different times in different methods
8.2.3. Effective school characteristics: Climate of high expectations for students by teachers and admin; strong and effective leadership by principal and central office; accountability processes for teachers and students; monitoring of student learning; high degree of instructional time on task; flexibility
8.2.4. Ability grouping: Students can be led toward failure by being placed in a group labeled that is "under-performing" and not given the appropriate resources/attention to succeed
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School-based reforms
9.1.1. Hiring effective teachers: Putting the right teachers in the classroom improves results across the board because an effective teacher helps all students and bridges achievement gaps
9.1.2. School choice: Breaking down district boarders and school zones gives families the opportunity to provide more input in their student's education, personalizing their educational experience
9.1.3. School-to-work: Schools and businesses partner together to produce a future workforce; i.e. the businesses provide grant money to schools, which schools then use to train students in engineering, hi-tech manufacturing, etc. and those graduates then go to work for the partner business
9.2. Outside-based reforms
9.2.1. Political reforms: This is where state and federal government make legislation to solve a perceived issue; for example Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaces No Child Left Behind, allowing for federal funds to be diverted to public schools in order to close achievement gaps
9.2.2. Economic reforms: This is where a community decides how they can better fund schools; citizens vote on tax referendums where money is specifically allocated to a certain school district or a judge takes in community input in the case of two school districts arguing over tax revenue