My Foundations of Education

1. Schools as Organizations Chapter 6

1.1. Four elements of change:

1.1.1. Conflict is a necessary part of change: Democratizing schools which allows previous problems and issues to surface

1.1.2. New behaviors must be learned: building communication and trust.

1.1.3. Team building must extend to the entire school: All decisions must work with the rest of the school staff

1.1.4. Process and content are interrelated:

1.2. Major Stakeholders:

1.2.1. State Senator: Richard Shelby

1.2.2. House of Representatives: Micky Hammon and Phil Williams

1.2.3. State Superintendent: Michael Sentance

1.2.4. Local Superintendent: Tom Sisk

1.2.5. School Board: Limestone County

2. Curriculum and Pedagogy Chapter 7

2.1. Social Efficiency theory: All students should receive the same type of schooling no matter their different sets of needs.

2.2. Two dominant traditions of teaching:

2.2.1. Mimetic Tradition: "Secondhand knowledge"

2.2.1.1. Knowledge that has belonged to someone else and then taught to someone else

2.2.2. Transformative Tradition:

2.2.2.1. Trying to bring about change in students to make them better people.

3. Equality of Opportunity Chapter 8

3.1. Class: Upper and middle class families will tend to have higher levels of education. There is a direct correlation from parental income to a child's school performance. Working and underclass families will tend to drop out and fail.

3.2. Race: Whites have a lower drop-out rate than African-Americans and Hispanics. White students also have a higher level of reading proficiency. Minority students receive fewer educational opportunities.

3.3. Gender: Females are less likely to drop out compared to their male peers. Females also have a higher level of reading proficiency. Males tend to outperform females in math, and they normally score higher on SATs. Males tend to have more behavior issues which could explain why they perform lower.

3.4. Responses to the Coleman Study 1982

3.4.1. The differences between public and Catholic schools are drastically significant. Private schools tend to do things better for low-income students rather than public schools.

3.4.2. Where someone goes to school is typically related to race and socioeconomic background. Race and class are seen as "predictors" of academic success. Schools should end biases which favor white and middle-class students.

4. Educational Inequality Chapter 9

4.1. Cultural Deprivation

4.1.1. Material Deprivation: Lack of money; poverty. Results in educationally disadvantaged students.

4.1.2. Cultural Deprivation:

4.2. School-Centered Explanations

4.2.1. School Financing: Public schools receive revenue from the local, state, and federal government, but majority of the funds come from local taxes. Communities with higher property values can raise more money than other communities.

4.2.2. Effective School Research:

4.2.3. Between-School Differences: The difference in school environments cause the students to have different dreams and to have different life expectations.

4.2.4. Within-School Differences: Students are divided into groups and classes based on recommendations and test scores.

5. Educational Reform Chapter 10

5.1. School-based reforms

5.1.1. School-Based: Students performed better in areas where they could choose what school they wanted to attend. Magnet and private schools were considered to be superior. House of Rep passed a bill in 1990 that provided federal support for open enrollment experiments.

5.1.2. School-to-Work Programs: School-to-Work Opportunities Act of 1994 provided money to states so, partnerships could develop these programs.

5.1.2.1. Allowed students to explore different careers

5.1.2.2. Provided the students with skills that they learned from work-based training

5.1.2.3. Valued Credentials which ensure that proper education has been received for each career.

5.2. Successful school reform is based on:

5.2.1. State Intervention Advantages: can provide a good opportunity for the state and local decision makers to combine resources, can allow staff to guide an effective school, help provide a healthy environment for the community to address a school district's problems, and the states can help provide improvements in schools if it analyzes students achievements correctly.

5.2.2. Leadership, parent-community ties, professional capacity, student-centered learning, and instructional guidance.

5.2.3. School Finance Reforms

5.2.3.1. Rodriguez v. San Antonio: There is no constitutional right to equal education.

5.2.3.2. In 1990, the court rules that more funding was needed to help serve children in the poor school districts.

5.2.3.3. State had to implement supplemental programs in 1998. These programs included preschool and the renovation of urban school facilities. Technology education, school-to-work, and summer-school programs are a few of the other programs implemented.

6. History of U.S. Education Chapter 3

6.1. Women were supposed to stay home and cook and take care of the children. The women were to encourage and support their husbands. It was believed that education was too harmful and stressful for women. By the year 1820, women's education was making improvement. Schools were then opened for women and they had the same level of instruction that the men received. Women now have the same opportunities as men, and they can be more than just a housewife if they desire more.

6.2. The Democratic-Liberal school involved the progressive evolution of a school which meant that there was to be equal opportunity for all students. Reformers believed that educational opportunities needed to be expanded. Lawrence Cremin believed that educational history involved the expansion of opportunity and purpose. This meant that kids from all different backgrounds were able to attend school for longer periods of time. The democratic-liberals tend to look at educational histroy optimistically, but the nation's evolution has been flawed.

7. Sociological Perspectives Chapter 4

7.1. Sociologists believe that the relation between school and society is complex, therefore; they try to look at society in its basic forms. There are three major theories between school and society, functional, conflict, and interactional. The interactional theory focuses on face-to-fact interactions, the functional theory looks at how different parts of a society function, and then the conflict theory focuses on how the wealthy and powerful control the weak and poor.

7.2. Knowledge and attitude both have a big impact on students. Schools where students are made to take academic and subjects and where there is constant discipline, the achievement level of students go up. Students who also read in the summer, gained more knowledge than their peers who did not read. Research has also pointed out that the more education a child receives, the more likely they will be to read and participate in political affairs. A teacher's behavior can effect a student's learning and behavior. If a teacher has high expectations for a student, then that child may actually work harder to reach their full potential. Teachers who praise their students will have students that feel better about themselves, and the same is true vice versa. A student's peers have great influence on them. All student's want to be considered cool and they want to fit into a certain group, and no child wants to be considered a nerd. These groups can lead to a child being left out and then could potentially lead to that child becoming violent. Another effect of schooling is the school itself. Children who attend private and more elite schools tend to have more educational benefits and a better educational experience. One last effect is tracking students. This is the placement of students in programs based on their abilities. The students that are placed higher tend to have better teachers, more interesting materials, and better facilities. The students who are placed lower, experience more alienation than the higher students.

8. Philosophy of Education Chapter 5

8.1. Pragmatism is a philosophy in which people are encouraged to find processes that work in order that will achieve a certain goal in a desired way. Pragmatists action oriented and generally think about what will work to solve their problem.

8.2. Dewey's generic notion belief cam from his belief of theory that a better society was attained through education. Dewey believed children where active, growing, and changing so they need a certain course of study which would enhance their certain stage of development. In Dewey's goal of education, he believed that schools should prepare students for life. He also felt that schools needed to balance the needs of a society and community differently than the individuals. The role of the school was to integrate children into a democratic society. For progressives, teachers are not considered the authoritarian figure in which all the information flows, rather, they are a facilitator that encourages and offers suggestions for the course. Dewey believed that students learned both individually and in groups. Old furniture, such as desks that were nailed to the floor, were thrown out and new furniture was brought in. Children could talk quietly and stand up and stretch if needed. Progressive schools follow a core curriculum which Dewey proposed. If teachers are teaching on a certain topic, they are going to integrated all basic areas around that subject. Like with the topic of whales, math can be used to determine length, science can be used to learn about what they eat or how they live, and so forth.

9. Politics of Education Chapter 2

9.1. Political, social, economic, and intellectual purposes are the four main purposes of education. The intellectual purpose of education is to teach the basic cognitive skills which are simply reading, writing, and mathematics. The political purpose is to prepare citizens who will one day actually participate in politics. The social aspect is to simply help people to solve social problems. This is referred to as socialization and it is important for the stability of a society. The economic purpose is to help prepare students for their future work. It is to help train and place students in labor.

9.2. The Role of school is concerned with the function and purposed of education in a society. There are a few different perspectives of school: conservative, liberal, and radical. The conservative perspective believes the school is essential to productivity and stability, and that schools need to provide the necessary tools for the most talented and hardworking students. Liberals believe that all students need to have equal opportunity, and radicals believe schools to help those with wealth and power.