1. Politics of Education Ch.2
1.1. The Four Purposes of Education
1.1.1. Intellectual
1.1.1.1. To teach basic cognitive skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics.
1.1.1.2. To transmit specific knowledge in literature, history, sciences, etc
1.1.1.3. To help students acquire higher-order thinking skills such as analysis, evaluation, and synthesis.
1.1.2. Political
1.1.2.1. To inculcate allegiance to the existing political order (patriotism).
1.1.2.2. To prepare citizens who will participate in this political order (in political democracies).
1.1.2.3. To help assimilate diverse cultural groups into a common political order.
1.1.2.4. To teach children the basic laws of the society.
1.1.3. Social
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 (or synagogue) to ensure social cohesion.
1.1.3.3. To socialize children into the various roles, behaviors, and values of the society.
1.1.4. Economic
1.1.4.1. To prepare students for their later occupational roles.
1.1.4.2. To select, train, and allocate individuals into the division of labor.
1.2. Perspective
1.2.1. The conservative role of the school
1.2.1.1. As providing the 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. Believe that schools socialize children into the adult roles necessary to the maintenance of the social order.
1.2.1.3. They see the school's function as one of transmitting the cultural traditions through what is taught (the curriculum).
1.2.1.4. They view the role of the school as essential to both economic productivity and social stability.
1.2.2. The conservative perspective of Explanations of unequal performance
1.2.2.1. They argue that individuals or groups of students rise and fall on their own intelligence, hard work, and initiative, and that achievement is based on hard work and sacrifice.
1.2.2.2. They feel the school system is designed to allow individuals the opportunity to succeed. 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.
1.2.3. The Liberal perspective of definition of educational problems
1.2.3.1. Schools have too often limited the life chances of poor and minority children and therefore the problem of underachievement by these groups is a critical issue.
1.2.3.2. Schools place too much emphasis on discipline and authority, thus limiting their role in helping students develop as individuals.
1.2.3.3. The differences in quality and climate between urban and suburban schools and, most specifically, between schools with students of low socioeconomic backgrounds and high socioeconomic backgrounds is a central problem related to inequalities of results.
1.2.3.4. The traditional curriculum leaves out the diverse cultures of the groups that comprise the pluralistic society.
2. History of U.S. Education Ch.3
2.1. Reform Movement
2.1.1. The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School
2.1.1.1. Historians point to the period from 1820 to 1860 in the U.S. as one in which enormous changes took place with unprecedented speed.
2.1.1.2. The struggle for free education was led by Horace Mann.
2.1.1.3. Mann lobbied for a state board of education.
2.1.1.3.1. The Massachusetts legislature created one in 1837.
2.1.1.3.2. Mann became its first secretary.
2.1.1.4. Mann's belief that schools can change the social order and that education can foster social mobility are beliefs responsible for the faith and support many people give to U.S. public schools.
2.1.1.4.1. Mann spoke of school as a preparation for citizenship as well as the "balance wheel"-"the great equalizer of the conditions of men."
2.2. Historical Interpretation
2.2.1. The Democratic-Liberal Shool
2.2.1.1. Democratic-liberals believe that the history of U.S. education involves the progressive evolution of a school system committed to providing equality of opportunity for all.
2.2.1.2. Historians such as Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawrence A. Cremin are representative of this view.
2.2.1.2.1. Cremin summarized this democratic liberal perspective as follows: "That kind of organization is part of the genius of American education-- it provides a place for everyone who wishes one, and in the end yields one of the most educated populations in the world."
2.2.1.3. Democratic-liberals believe that the U.S. educational system must continue to move equality and excellence closer to each, without sacrificing one or the other too dramatically.
3. Sociological Perspectives Ch.4
3.1. Theoretical Perspectives
3.1.1. Functionalism
3.1.1.1. Functionalist view society as a kind of machine, where one part works with another to produce the energy required to make society work.
3.1.1.2. Emile Durkheim was one of the first sociologist to see the relationship between school and society.
3.1.1.2.1. He is created with inventing the sociology of education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
3.1.1.2.2. He believed in all societies it was important to create the moral unity necessary for social cohesion and harmony.
3.1.1.3. Present-day functionalists tend to assume that consensus is the normal state in society and that conflict represents a breakdown of shared values.
3.1.1.3.1. In a highly integrated, well-functioning society, schools socialize students into the appropriate values, and sort and select students according to their abilities.
3.1.1.4. Educational Reform from this point of view is suppose to create structures, programs, and curricula that are technically advanced, rational, and encourage social unity.
3.1.2. Conflict Theory
3.1.2.1. The argument that the social order is not based on some collective agreement, but on the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on subordinate groups through force, cooptation, and manipulation.
3.1.2.1.1. In this view, the glue of society is economic, political, cultural, and military power.
3.1.2.1.2. They view schools as social battlefields, where students struggle against teachers, teachers against administrators, and so on.
3.1.2.2. Karl Marx is the intellectual founder of the conflict school in the sociology of education.
3.1.2.2.1. Marx believed that the class system, which separated owners from workers and workers from the benefits of their own labor, made a class struggle inevitable.
3.1.2.2.2. He also believed that, in the end, the proletariat would rise up and overthrow the capitalists. By doing this a new society would be established where people would no longer be alienated from their labor.
3.1.2.3. Bowles and Gintis believe there is a direct correspondence between the organization of schools and society, and until society is fundamentally changed, there is little hope of real school reform.
3.1.2.4. Max Weber believed that class differences alone could not capture the complex ways humans form hierarchies and belief systems that make these hierarchies seem just and inevitable.
3.1.2.4.1. He recognized that political and military power could be exercised by the state, without direct reference to the wishes of the dominant classes.
3.1.2.4.2. Weber made the distinction between "specialist" and "cultivated" man.
3.1.2.5. Willard Waller believed without continuous vigilance, schools would erupt into anarchy because students are essentially forced to go to school against their will.
3.1.2.6. Contemporary conflict theorists see schools as oppressive and demeaning, and portray student noncompliance with school rules as a form of resistance.
3.1.2.7. Randall Collins maintained that educational expansion is best explained by status group struggle.
3.1.2.7.1. He argued that educational credentials are primarily status symbols rather than indicators of actual achievement.
3.1.2.8. Bourdieu and Passeron examined how a person's knowledge and experiences and social networks and connections are passed on by families and schools.
3.1.2.8.1. This is important because in understanding the transmission of inequalities, one ought to recognize that the cultural and social characteristics of individuals and groups are significant indicators of status and class position.
3.1.2.9. Lareau explains how social class differences in social capital within family and their relationship to child rearing and schooling contributes to the reproduction of social and educational inequalities.
3.1.2.10. Basil Bernstein analyzed how communication, family, and educational codes also contribute to social and educational inequalities.
3.1.3. Interactionalism
3.1.3.1. Interactional theories about the relation of school and society are primarily critiques and extensions of the functional and conflict perspectives.
3.1.3.1.1. They critique that functional and conflict perspectives are a general analysis. This helps with the "big picture" but does not give an accurate picture of what school are like on an everyday level.
3.1.3.2. They ask what do students and teachers actually do in school?
3.1.3.3. Basil Bernstein has argued that the structural aspects of the educational system and the interactional aspects of the system reflect each other and must be viewed all together.
3.2. Effects of schooling on individuals
3.2.1. Employment
3.2.1.1. Graduating from college will lead to greater employment opportunities.
3.2.2. Inside the Schools
3.2.2.1. School size effects individuals.
3.2.2.1.1. Large schools can offer students more in the way of facilities, but are more bureaucratic and may restrain initiative.
3.2.2.1.2. Small schools may allow more student and teacher freedom but lack resources.
3.2.2.2. Curriculum expresses culture.
3.2.2.2.1. They are expressions of certain groups' ideas, beliefs, and prejudices.
3.2.2.2.2. Not all students have the same curriculum. Which could effect college attendance.
3.2.3. Teacher Behavior
3.2.3.1. Teachers have a huge impact on student learning and behavior.
3.2.3.2. Teachers expectations play a major role in encouraging or discouraging students to work to their full potential.
3.2.3.2.1. When teachers demand more and praise their students, the students learn more and felt better about themselves.
3.2.3.2.2. Research shows that many teachers hold low expectations for minority and working-class students.
3.2.4. Student Peer Groups & Alienation
3.2.4.1. Social grouping can effects ones outlook on themselves.
3.2.4.1.1. Students in vocational programs and headed toward low-status jobs were the students most likely to join a rebellious subculture.
3.2.4.2. The students' culture plays an important role in shaping their educational experiences.
3.2.5. Inadequate Schools
3.2.5.1. Students in Urban areas do not have the resources students need to be successful.
3.2.5.1.1. This will not prepare them for productive and fulfilling lives in the future.
4. Philosophy of Education Ch. 5
4.1. Pragmatism
4.1.1. Generic Notions
4.1.1.1. Dewey believed you could attain a better society through education.
4.1.1.1.1. His approach was referred to as progressive.
4.1.1.1.2. Educators begin with the needs and interests of the students.
4.1.1.1.3. Then the students are allowed to participate in the planning of their course of study, employ project method or group learning, and depend heavily on experiential learning.
4.1.2. Key Researchers
4.1.2.1. Founders of the philosophy of pragmatism are George Sanders Peirce, William James, and John Dewey
4.1.2.1.1. Describes through the biblical phrase, "By their fruits ye shall know them."
4.1.2.2. Francis Bacon
4.1.2.2.1. Bacon sought a way of thinking in which people might be persuaded to abandon the traditions or "idols" of the past for a more experiential approach to the world.
4.1.2.2.2. The method of reasoning he emphasized was inductive, which became the foundation of observational method in educational research.
4.1.2.3. John Locke
4.1.2.3.1. A political philosopher that was interested in the ways in which people come to know things.
4.1.2.3.2. He believed the mind was tabula rasa, a blank tablet and that one acquires knowledge through the senses.
4.1.2.3.3. Locke's emphasis on the world of experience are important for later developments in the philosophy of education.
4.1.2.4. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
4.1.2.4.1. A French philosopher that believed that individuals in their primitive state were naturally good and that society corrupted them.
4.1.2.4.2. Rousseau placed importance on environment and experience, which makes him important to subsequent pragmatic thinkers.
4.1.2.5. John Dewey
4.1.2.5.1. Heir to Charles Darwin
4.1.2.5.2. Introduced the terms instrumentalism and experimentalism.
4.1.2.5.3. Dewey's philosophy of education was the most important influence on what has been termed progressive education.
4.1.3. Goal of Education
4.1.3.1. Dewey believed that school should function as preparation for life in a democratic society.
4.1.3.2. Dewey also believed that schools should balance the needs of society and community on one hand and the needs of the individual on the other.
4.1.4. Role of Teacher
4.1.4.1. The teacher is not an authoritarian figure from which all knowledge flows but a facilitator.
4.1.4.2. The teacher encourages, offers suggestions, questions, and helps plan and implement courses of study.
4.1.4.3. The teacher writes curriculum and must have a command of several disciplines in order to create and implement curriculum.
4.1.5. Method of Instruction
4.1.5.1. Children learn both individually and in groups.
4.1.5.2. Children should start their mode of inquiry by posing questions about what they want to know.
4.1.5.2.1. Today this is called problem-solving or inquiry method.
4.1.5.3. Books written by teachers and students together are used.
4.1.5.4. Field trips and projects that reconstruct some aspect of the course of study.
4.1.5.5. No formal instruction.
4.1.5.6. No traditional blocks of time for specific discipline instruction.
4.1.5.7. Furniture used is tables and chairs that can be grouped as needed.
4.1.5.8. Children can talk quietly, can stand up and stretch as needed, and can pursue independent study or group work.
4.1.6. Curriculum
4.1.6.1. Core curriculum or integrated curriculum
4.1.6.1.1. A subject matter under investigation by students would yield problems to be solved in all subject matters. All the academic and vocational disciplines in an integrated, interconnected way.
4.1.6.1.2. Start with contemporary problems and working from the known to the unknown.
5. Schools of Organizations Ch.6
5.1. Major stakeholders in my district
5.1.1. Alabama Senators
5.1.1.1. Richard Shelby
5.1.1.2. Luther Strange
5.1.2. Alabama House of Representative
5.1.2.1. Robert Aderholt
5.1.2.1.1. 4th Congressional District
5.1.3. Alabama State Superintendent
5.1.3.1. Michael Sentance
5.1.4. Representative on State School Board
5.1.4.1. Mary Scott Hunter
5.1.4.1.1. District 08
5.1.5. DeKalb County Superintendent
5.1.5.1. Jason Barnett
5.1.6. DeKalb County School Board
5.1.6.1. Chairman
5.1.6.1.1. Jeff Williams
5.1.6.2. Vice Chairman
5.1.6.2.1. Randy Peppers
5.1.6.3. Members
5.1.6.3.1. Matt G. Sharp
5.1.6.3.2. Mark Richards
5.1.6.3.3. Robert Elliott
5.2. Elements of change
5.2.1. Conflict is a necessary part of change.
5.2.1.1. They allow previously hidden problems, issues, and disagreements to surface.
5.2.2. New behaviors must be learned. Because change requires new relationships and behaviors, the change process must include building communication and trust, enabling leadership and initiative to emerge, and learning techniques of communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution.
5.2.3. Team building must extend to the entire school. Shared decision making must consciously work out and give on-going attention to relationships within the rest of the school's staff. Otherwise, issues of exclusiveness and imagined elitism may surface, and perceived "resistance to change" will persist.
5.2.4. Process and content are interrelated. The process a team uses in going about its work is as important as the content of educational changes it attempts. The substance of a project often depends upon the degree of trust and openness built up within the team between the team and the school. At the same time, the usefulness and the visibility of the project will influence future commitments from and the relationships among the staff and others involved.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy Ch.7
6.1. Developmentalist Curriculum
6.1.1. Related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society.
6.1.2. This curriculum emanated from the aspects of Dewey's writings related to the relationship between the child and the curriculum and Piaget.
6.1.3. It emphasized the process of teaching as well as its content.
6.1.4. It is student centered and is concerned with relating the curriculum to the needs and interests of each child at particular developmental stages.
6.1.5. There is flexibility in what is taught and how it is taught, with the emphasis on the development of each student's individual capacities.
6.1.6. It stresses the importance of relating schooling to the life experiences of each child in a way that would make education come alive in a meaningful way.
6.1.7. The teacher is not a transmitter of knowledge but a facilitator of student growth.
6.2. Two dominant traditions of teaching
6.2.1. Mimetic
6.2.1.1. It is knowledge "presented" to a learner, rather then "discovered" by them.
6.2.1.2. It is where the teacher passes on information from text or prior knowledge.
6.2.1.3. A crucial property of mimetic knowledge is its reproducibility.
6.2.1.3.1. This is the transmission of a spoken message form one person to another. Both parties (teacher and student) wind up possessing what was formerly possessed by only one of them. So what is being transmitted has actually been "reproduced".
6.2.1.4. It can be judged right or wrong, accurate or inaccurate, correct or incorrect on the basis of a comparison with the teacher's knowledge or with a model found in a textbook or other instructional materials.
6.2.1.5. It is not limited by book learning. It can also be shown by hands on. So you can "know that" or "know how".
6.2.2. Transformative
6.2.2.1. Personal modeling
6.2.2.1.1. Teacher must personify the very qualities they seek to engender in their students.
6.2.2.1.2. Teacher must be living examples of certain virtues or values or attitudes.
6.2.2.2. "Soft" suasion
6.2.2.2.1. Teaching style is more forensic and rhetorical then it is one of proof and demonstration.
6.2.2.2.2. There is kind of a role reversal, almost like the student were teaching the teacher.
6.2.2.3. Use of narrative
6.2.2.3.1. Use of stories such as parables, myths, and other forms of narrative, play a large role.
7. Equality of Opportunity Ch.8
7.1. Class impact on educational outcomes
7.1.1. Upper and middle class families are more likely to expect their children to finish school. Where working-class and underclass families have lower levels of expectation for their children.
7.1.2. Middle and upper-class children are more likely to speak "standard" English. Where working-class and underclass children do not speak middle-class English.
7.1.3. There is also a correlation between parental income and children's performance on achievement tests, as well as placement in ability groups and curriculum track in high school.
7.1.3.1. Children from working-class or underclass families are more likely to underachieve, droop out, and resist the curriculum of the school.
7.1.4. The more elite the college, the more likely the college is to enroll upper-class and upper middle-class students.
7.2. Race impact on educational outcomes
7.2.1. Age 16-24 year olds: 5.2% white drop out, 9.3% African-American drop out, 17.6% Hispanic-American drop out.
7.2.2. 17 year olds that can read at intermediate level: 89% white, 66% African-American, 70% Hispanic-American.
7.2.3. Minorities have, on average, lower SAT scores and admission to college.
7.3. Gender impact on educational outcomes
7.3.1. Females are less likely to drop out of school than males, and are more likely to have a higher level of reading proficiency and writing than males.
7.3.2. Males outperform females in math proficiency.
7.3.3. Males are more likely to score higher on the SAT then females.
7.3.4. More women are now attending post-secondary institutions than men. Many of the postsecondary institutions that women attend are less academically and socially prestigious than those attended by men.