1. Curriculum and Pedagogy Ch. 7
1.1. Social Efficiency is a curriculum theory that views education as a social process that perpetuates existing social functions.
1.2. The two dominant traditions of teaching are mimetic and transformative.
2. Equality of Opportunity Ch. 8
2.1. Class- students in different social classes have different kinds of educational experiences. There are several factors that can influence these class based experiences. Wealthy students seem to benefit more from their education than those students at poverty level.
2.2. Race- An individuals race has a direct impact on how much education he or she is likely to achieve.In a society as segregated as the United States, it is not surprising that minority students receive fewer and inferior educational opportunities than white students.
2.3. Gender- Even though women are often rated as being better students than men, in the past they were less likely to attain the same level of education. Today, females are less likely to drop out of school than males, and are more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency than males. The same is true for writing.
2.4. Two responses to the Coleman Study
2.4.1. In the past twelve years a body of empirical knowledge has accumulated, beginning with the Equality of Education Opportunity survey (Coleman ET AL., 1966), and based on both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, which unequivocally indicates that, overall, between school differences in any measurable attribute are only modestly related to a variety of outcome variables.
2.4.2. What then of Coleman, Hoffer, Kilgore's claim that Catholic schools are educationally superior to public schools? If trivial advantage is what they mean by such a claim, then we suppose we could have to agree. But judged against reasonable benchmarks, there is little basis for this conclusion.
3. Educational Inequality Ch. 9
3.1. Cultural Difference Theories
3.1.1. Anthropologist John Ogbu argues that African-American children d less well in school because the adapt to their oppressed position in the class and caste structure. He argues that there is a "job ceiling" for African-Americans in the United States, as there is for similar caste-like minorities to deal with their inferior life chances rather than encourage them to internalize those values and skills necessary for positions that will not be open to them.
3.1.2. Bowles and Gintis have a theory in which suggests that working-class students adapt to the unequal aspects of the class structure, and to Bourdieu and Passeron and Bernstein, whose theories point out the ways in which class and cultural differences are reflected in the schools.
3.2. School-Centered explanations for education inequality
3.2.1. Public schools are financed through a combination of revenues from local, state, and federal sources. However, the majority of funds come from the state and local taxes. With property taxes being a significant source.
3.2.2. The more affluent communities are able to provide more per-pupil spending than poorer districts, often at a proportionately less burdensome rate than in poorer communities.
3.2.3. The use of federal aid to equalize school funding is a controversial issue. Proponents argue that such aid has occurred historically, as in Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.
3.2.4. It is cleat that the present reliance on local property taxes and state aid has not reduced inequalities of financing. Thus, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds do not receive equality of opportunity, at least in terms of funding.
4. Educational Reform Ch. 10
4.1. School-Based Reforms
4.1.1. Charter Schools- The movement has produced nearly 3700 charter schools serving 1,076,964 students nationwide. Demand for charter schools remains high, as evidence by the 70 percent of charter schools with waiting lists for admission.
4.1.2. Vouchers- A number of states implemented school voucher programs, all of which were challenged in state courts for violating the seperation of Church and State. In 2002, the US Supreme Court in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris ruled that the Cleveland, Ohio, voucher program dd not violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. Specifically, that because the vouchers went directly to families rather than to religious schools and because they could be used in either religious or secular private schools, the voucher program did not violate the constitutional prohibition against public money being used for religious purposes.
4.2. Effects on Education
4.2.1. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT- This act is a landmark and controversial piece of legislation that has far-reaching consequences for the education in the United States. Already there is talk of spreading similar accountability efforts o higher education in the next re authorization of the Higher Education Act. And, of course, state governments have been busily pushing accountability requirements for K-12 and higher education for years now.
4.2.2. RACE TO THE TOP- Shortly after taking office, Barrack Obama established the Race to the Top Fund through the historic American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The primary goal of this initiative was to aid states in meeting the various components of NCLB. The initial legislation provided $43.5 billion for a competitive grant program that awards states for improving student outcomes and closing achievement gaps by developing plans in four education reform areas.
5. Politics of Education Ch. 2
5.1. The four purposes of education are:
5.1.1. Intellectual: to teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics.
5.1.2. Political: to inoculate allegiance to the existing political order.
5.1.3. Social: to help solve problems.
5.1.4. Economic: to prepare students for their later occupational roles and to select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
5.2. The role of the school is as a central focus of each of the perspectives and is at the heart of their differing analyses.
5.2.1. Explanations of unequal performance: This is when students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds perform less well in school than those of their peers.
5.2.1.1. Educational problems: When conservatives refer to decline of standards, decline of cultural literacy, decline of values or of civilization, or decline of authority, they are talking about educational problems.
6. History of Education Ch. 3
6.1. The reform movement i think has had the most influence on education is The Emergence of the Public High School. I chose this movement because, while many reforms were looked down on and even denied, this movement paved the way for so many people for the future of our nation. In just 65 years, the number of students enrolled in public education rose from 25,000 to 6.5 million.
6.1.1. The Democratic-Liberal School
7. Sociological Perspectives Ch. 4
7.1. Functional theories begin with a picture of society that stresses the interdependence of the social system. Functionalists view society as a kind of machine, where one part articulates with another to produce the dynamic energy required to make society work.
7.1.1. Conflict theories: In this view, the glue of society is economical, political, cultural, and military power. Ideologies or intellectual justifications created by the powerful are designed to enhance their position by legitimizing inequality and the unequal distribution of material and cultural goods as an inevitable outcome of biology or history.
7.1.1.1. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.