1. Politics of Education
1.1. Liberal Perspective
1.1.1. Origins
1.1.1.1. John Dewey
1.1.1.2. The progressive era 1880-1930's
1.1.1.3. FDR and the New Deal Era (1933-1945)
1.1.1.4. Based on the economic views of John Maynard Keynes
1.1.2. Key beliefs
1.1.2.1. Agree with conservatives about the benefits of an open capitalist market
1.1.2.2. Capitalist market should be regulated by the government
1.1.2.3. Equality of opportunity
1.1.2.4. Balance the economic productivity with the social and economic needs of the citizens
1.1.2.5. The government should help those in need
1.1.2.6. More of a focus on groups than individuals
1.1.3. Positive about U.S. Society but with state intervention
1.1.4. The Role of School
1.1.4.1. Teaching cultural diversity to socialize individuals into a diverse societ
1.1.4.2. Focuses on the individual
1.1.4.3. Citizenship is important
1.1.4.4. Creates participants in society
1.1.4.5. Balancing the needs of society and the individual
1.1.4.6. Diane Ravitch
1.1.5. Educational problems
1.1.5.1. Addressing the low performance of poor and minority children is a priority because it puts limitations on their opportunities
1.1.5.2. Authority and discipline are over used and This distracts the individual from developing personally
1.1.5.3. The achievement gap is directly related to the difference of the environment of schools in high and low socioeconomic areas
1.1.5.4. Traditionalist do not include enough diversity in the curriculum leading to a pluralistic society'
1.2. Progressive Education
1.2.1. Views
1.2.1.1. Schools are a vehicle used to solve social problems
1.2.1.2. Schools are necessary to develop the potential of the individual
1.2.2. Schools are a key component of democratic society
1.2.3. Schools can be used as path to upward mobility
1.2.4. Applies to the radical and liberal political views
2. Curriculum and Pedagogy
2.1. District Stakeholders
2.1.1. AL Sen. Clay Scofield (R-9)
2.1.2. AL Rep. Howard Sanderford (R-20)
2.1.3. State Super Intendent: Thomas Bice
2.1.4. Representative on the AL State School Board: Mary Scott Hunter
2.1.5. Local Superintendent: Dr. Casey Wardnyski (Huntsville City Schools)
2.1.5.1. Local School Board: Huntsville City Schools
2.1.5.1.1. District 1: Ms. Laurie McCaulley
2.1.5.1.2. District 2: Beth Wilder
2.1.5.1.3. District 3: Ms. Elisa Ferell
2.1.5.1.4. District 4: Mr. Walker McGinnis
2.1.5.1.5. District 5: Mr. Mike Culbreath
2.2. Developmentalist Curriculum Theory
2.2.1. Relates curriculum to the needs and interests of the student instead of society
2.2.2. Key figures: John Dewey and Piaget
2.2.3. Stresses relating curriculum to a child's life experiences to make education come alive and become meaningful.
2.2.4. Emphasizes process of teaching and content
2.2.5. Progressive
2.2.6. Role of the teacher: not a transmitter of knowledge, but a facilitator of student growth.
2.2.7. Child centered
2.3. Culturally Relevant Pedagogy
2.3.1. 1. Teacher/student relationship is fluid and extends beyond the classroom and into the community.
2.3.2. 2. Teacher is shows a connected-ness with ALL students.
2.3.3. 3. The teacher encourages a "Community" of Learners
2.3.4. 4. The teacher encourages students to learn collaboratively.
2.3.5. Key figure: James Banks- no one definition of multiculturalism
2.4. Multicultural Education
2.4.1. Successful teachers:
2.4.1.1. 1. Have high self esteem
2.4.1.2. 2. Have a high regard for others
2.4.1.3. 3. See themselves as part of the community
2.4.1.4. 4. Believe that all students can succeed
2.4.1.5. 5. Help students make connections between their community, national, and global identities
2.4.1.6. 6. View teaching as "Pulling knowledge out"
2.5. Transformative Teaching Practice
2.5.1. Goal of Education: to change students in some meaningful way. (Intellectually, Creatively, Spiritually, and Emotionally)
2.5.2. Key Figure: Philip Jackson
2.5.3. There are more components to education than just the transmission of knowledge
2.5.4. Role of the teacher: provide a multidimensional theory of teaching
2.5.4.1. Teaching and learning are linked.
2.5.4.2. Teacher/ student relationship is not authoritarian
2.5.4.3. Involves a conversation between teachers and students
2.5.4.4. The student becomes a part of the learning process
2.6. Dialectical Method
2.6.1. Key figures: Socrates, Plato, John Dewey
2.6.2. Core learning process: uses of questioning
2.6.3. All teaching begins with the active participation of the student and results in growth
2.6.4. Growth varies with the goals of the classroom
2.6.5. Goal of Education: Dewey: "Growth leading to more growth."
2.7. Transformative Tradition: Progressive Model
2.7.1. Views teaching as an art
2.7.2. Rejects scientific model of teaching
2.7.3. Authority is internalized within the student rather than the teacher maintaining high authority
2.7.4. Child centered
2.7.5. Students have more input in their education
2.7.6. Key Figure: Basil Bernstein- work on Pedagogic Practices
2.7.7. Invisible Pedagogy: looser authority relations
3. Equality of Opportunity
3.1. Trends in Hispanic in relation to white achievement.
3.1.1. Reading scores for 9 year olds: in 2008 Hispanic students average score of 242 compared to white students average score of 268
3.1.2. Average reading scores of 17 year old students: in 2008 Hispanic 234 to White 250
3.1.3. NAEP Math scores for 17 year olds in 2008: Hispanic average 293, White average 314
3.1.4. 8th grade math teacher who lack certification in secondary schools for Hispanics: 19% in 1996 and 26% in 2000., a 7% increase. For Whites: 13% in 1996 and 17% in 2000, a 4 percent increase.
3.2. The Coleman Study
3.2.1. Differences in schools are only weakly related to student outcomes.
3.2.1.1. Peer group association is more important than how many books are in the library.
3.2.2. Two reactions
3.2.2.1. Sociologists combed through the data to make sure it was accurate.
3.2.2.2. Ron Edmonds of Harvard University led a group of minority scholars to define what makes a school effective
3.2.3. My Reaction
3.2.3.1. I think schools have the ability to impact student outcomes if they reprogram how they look at education. By not forcing, but fostering genuine relationships and connections with the students, schools can create trust and make learning more meaningful, thus impacting the priority that education takes in reducing inequalities by overcoming them.
4. Educational Reform
4.1. Teacher Education
4.1.1. I believe that teachers should be held to the highest level of excellence in the area of academics and pedagogy.
4.1.1.1. Teachers in Finland are highly valued and payed based on their academic excellence and achievements
4.1.1.2. Even teacher candidates in the primary level, who are to teach multiple subjects, should be exposed to upper level courses in the liberal arts, and not just survey or introductory courses.
4.1.1.3. How can we teach subject matter successfully if we barely understand it ourselves?
4.1.2. The Carnagie Report "A Nation Prepared"
4.1.2.1. Democratic/ liberal model of education
4.1.2.2. Findings
4.1.2.2.1. 1. Teacher education programs are not rigorous intellectually
4.1.2.2.2. 2. Teacher education programs should attract and retain competent teacher candidates
4.1.2.2.3. 3. The undergraduate and post graduate levels of teacher education need to be reorganized.
4.1.3. The Holmes Report "Tomorrows Teachers"
4.1.3.1. Findings
4.1.3.1.1. Eliminate the undergraduate "education" major
4.1.3.1.2. Recruit minorities into the profession
4.1.3.1.3. Increase standards in teacher education and teaching.
4.1.3.2. Focused on the relationship between university- based teacher education- the professional lives of teachers, and the structure of schools
5. Educational Inequality
5.1. Multidensional Approach by Persell (1977)
5.1.1. Educational inequality is the product of the relationships between society, institutions, interactions, and intraphysic variables.
5.1.2. Understanding is needed not only of society and its institutions, but how they are connected and how they effect individuals and groups.
5.2. Cultural Difference Theory
5.2.1. Does not blame the working class and non-white families for education problems, but differences such as poverty, racism, discrimination, and unequal life chances.
5.2.2. The differences between upper and middle class students and working class and non white students is not due to home life exclusively, but due to being a oppressed minority.
5.2.3. John Ogbu (1978, 1979,1987)
5.2.3.1. Suggested changes in curriculum to represent minorities more accurately
5.2.3.2. Macrosociological Perspective
5.2.3.3. African American students have the "burden of acting white in order to succeed"
5.2.3.4. Points out the differences between school culture and the culture of non white students.
5.2.3.5. "Linguistic codes are at the heart of unequal power relationships between dominant and subordinate groups and represent one's definition of cultural identity."
6. History of U.S. Education
6.1. Horace Mann
6.1.1. First secretary of a board of education 1837 in Massachusetts
6.1.1.1. State Normal School
6.1.1.1.1. Teacher training School 1839
6.1.2. Advocated for free public education
6.1.2.1. Argued for the "common school"
6.1.2.1.1. publicly funded elementary schools
6.1.2.1.2. concerned with order and stability of schools
6.1.2.1.3. Education can foster social mobility
6.2. Women's Education Movement
6.2.1. Emma Hart Willard
6.2.1.1. 1821 opened Troy Female Seminary
6.2.1.2. "Serious subjects of study" were offered such as science history and geography
6.2.1.3. Modeled after male acadamies
6.2.2. Mary Lyon
6.2.2.1. Pioneer of post secondary education for women
6.2.2.2. Founded Mount Holyoke Seminary in 1837
6.3. Education for African-Americans
6.3.1. Thirteenth Amendment 1865
6.3.1.1. Freed the slaves
6.3.2. Fourteenth Amendment 1868
6.3.2.1. Gave full citizenship to ex slaves
6.3.3. Brown V. Topeka Board of Education 1954
6.3.3.1. State imposed segregation of schools ruled unconstitutional
6.3.3.2. "Separate but equal"
6.3.3.3. Pointed to the reality of inequality in American schools.
6.4. Progressive Movement
6.4.1. John Dewey (1859-1952)
6.4.1.1. Believed schools should promote democracy
6.4.1.2. Advocated for a curriculum that would support the interests and needs of the child
6.4.1.3. Goal of education was growth
6.4.1.4. The school should reflect "completeness and unity of the child's own world"
6.4.1.5. The school is a "miniature community" or embryonic society
6.5. Child-centered reform
6.5.1. G. Stanley Hall (1844-1924)
6.5.1.1. Child centered pedagogy
6.5.1.1.1. Tailor the curriculum to the stages of a child's development
6.5.1.1.2. Traditional schools extinguish children's natural curiosities and impulses
6.5.1.1.3. Schools should individualize instruction based on the child's needs
6.6. New Progressivism
6.6.1. A.S. Neill
6.6.1.1. Summer Hill School 1960
6.6.1.2. Dedicated to the happiness of the child
6.6.1.3. Students will democratically govern themselves.
6.6.1.4. Traditional education's failures
6.6.1.4.1. Using punitive discipline
6.6.1.4.2. authoritarianism
6.6.1.4.3. racism
6.6.1.4.4. misplaced values of intelectualism
6.6.1.4.5. does not meet the emotional and psychological needs of children
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Conflict Theory: How do the differences between groups and the society at large create conflict that may produce change?
7.1.1. Social order is not based on mutual agreement, but is a matter of dominant groups power to manipulate subservient groups
7.1.2. Emphasizes struggle
7.1.3. The glue that holds society together is power: economic, political, cultural, and military.
7.1.4. The transmission of inequality
7.1.5. Key Figures:
7.1.5.1. Max Weber (1864-1920)
7.1.5.1.1. Social values and hierarchies cannot be explained by class systems alone
7.1.5.1.2. Focus on Bureaucracies
7.1.5.1.3. The "specialist" and the "cultivated" man
7.1.5.2. Karl Marx (1818-1883)
7.1.5.3. Willard Waller
7.1.5.3.1. The Sociology of Teaching -1965
7.1.5.4. Randal Collins:
7.1.5.4.1. Educational expansion is best explained by status group struggle
7.1.5.5. Bourdieu and Passeron
7.1.5.5.1. How families pass on "cultural capital" and "social capital" are passed from families to schools
7.1.5.5.2. cultural and social values from individual groups are related to status and class position
7.1.5.6. Basil Bernstein
7.1.5.6.1. Researched how individual communication, family, and educational codes contribute to educational inequalities
7.2. Effects of Schooling on idividuals
7.2.1. Teacher Behavior
7.2.1.1. Teachers setting higher standards for their student's achievments receive higher results
7.2.2. Knowledge and Attitudes
7.2.2.1. The amount of time spent in school directly correlates to the amount that is learned
7.2.2.2. Education is related to a students sense of well being and self esteem
7.2.2.3. Academically oriented schools do produce higher learning outcomes
8. Philosophy of Education
8.1. Existentialism
8.1.1. Believe individuals must make sense out of the chaos they encounter
8.1.2. Individuals must create themselves and their own meaning through their choices
8.1.3. Satre- "Existence precedes essence"
8.2. Phenomenology
8.2.1. Focus is on the phenomenon. consciousness, perception, and meaning as they arise in the individuals experience with the phenomenon
8.2.2. Concerned with the way objects present themselves to people and how individuals put the objects in order
8.2.3. Hermeneutics: spin off of Phenomenology
8.2.3.1. seeks to discover how people give objects meaning
8.2.3.2. Language is important because it is used to describe the phenomenons of life
8.3. Goal of Education
8.3.1. Focus is on the individual's needs- both cognitive and affective
8.3.2. Stresses Individuality
8.3.3. Includes a discussion of the non traditional world and the rational world
8.3.4. Tensions of living in the world should be addressed (anxiety generated by conflict)
8.3.5. (Existential Phenomenologists) Emphasize the notion of possibility because the individual is in a constant state of change (becoming)
8.3.6. Education is the activity liberating the individual from the chaotic/absurd world
8.4. Role of the Teacher
8.4.1. Teachers should understand their own "lived worlds" to help students make sense of their own
8.4.2. Teachers must take risks
8.4.3. Teachers should expose themselves to resistant students
8.4.4. Teacher's role is Intensely personal and holds tremendous responsibility
8.4.5. Work constantly to enable students to become "Wide Awake"
8.4.6. Must be critically aware of the world around them to help students better understand their own lives
8.4.7. Introspection: to enable students to become in touch with their worlds and empower them to choose and act on their own choices
8.5. Method of Instruction
8.5.1. Learning is intensely personal
8.5.2. Each child has a different learning style. It is they teacher's duty to discover what works for each child
8.5.3. Martin Buber: "I- Thou" approach.
8.5.3.1. Student and teacher learn cooperatively from eachother
8.5.3.2. non traditional, non threatening friendship
8.5.4. Teachers help students understand the world through posing questions, generating activities, and learning together
8.5.5. Symbiotic relationship- Teacher constantly rediscovers knowledge, student discovers knowledge, and together they come to an understanding of past, present, and future (possibilities)
8.6. Curriculum
8.6.1. Heavily based in the Humanities
8.6.2. Literature- able to evoke responses
8.6.2.1. May move students to a new level of awareness
8.6.3. Personal interaction: Art, Drama, Music
8.6.4. Exposing (at an early age) the problems and possibilities of humanity
8.7. Key Researchers:
8.7.1. Existentialism:
8.7.1.1. Soren Kierkegaard
8.7.1.2. Jean Paul Satre
8.7.1.3. Maxine Greene
8.7.2. Phenomenology
8.7.2.1. Edmund Husserl
8.7.2.2. Martin Heldegger
8.7.2.3. Maurice Merleau/ Ponty
9. Schools as Organizations
9.1. Collaborative School Culture
9.1.1. Culturally connected learning
9.1.2. Elements of Change
9.1.2.1. Conflict is necessary. Hidden problems and issues need to surface in order to address them
9.1.2.2. New behaviors must be learned. Building relationships based on trust, communication, and conflict resolution
9.1.2.3. Team building must be initiated throughout the entire school. Exclusiveness must be avoided and decisions should be shared.
9.1.2.4. The process and Content are interrelated. The relationships built by the team are connected to the substance of the content.
9.1.3. Changing school culture requires patience, skill, and good will.
9.2. Highly Qualified Teachers
9.2.1. Have a College Degree
9.2.2. Have Full Certification
9.2.3. Demonstrate content knowledge in the subject they are teaching
9.2.4. Have experience in pedagogy and teaching competence.
9.3. Effective Teachers
9.3.1. Are Creators
9.3.2. Have a commitment to their subject matter
9.3.3. Have a sense of humor
9.3.4. are pedagogically artistic
9.3.5. Have a healthy balance of control and instruction in the classroom
9.3.6. Are sensitive to the individual in the context of a group
9.4. John Goodlad
9.4.1. Founded the Center for Educational Renewal and the University of Washington
9.4.2. His research concluded
9.4.2.1. 1. There is a lake of prestige in teacher education programs
9.4.2.2. 2. There is lack of program coherence
9.4.2.3. 3. Separation of theory and practice
9.4.2.4. 4. Stifling regulated conformity
9.4.3. Advocated for the redesign for teacher education programs
9.4.4. This redesign should included input from parents, teachers in schools, and the greater community.
9.4.5. Wants to raise the level of academic preparation for teachers, create a more cohesive curriculum, and professionalize teacher education.
9.4.6. Wants to create a new generation of leaders
9.5. Teachers as professionals
9.5.1. If teachers are truly to become professionals they must share making important decisions with schools
9.5.2. School based management will empower teachers to make decisions about curriculum, discipline, and other worthy academic areas
9.5.3. To be respected, teachers need to obtain professional autonomy
9.6. "The Complex Roles of the Teacher: An Ecological Perspective"
9.6.1. Book by Heck and Williams 1984
9.6.2. Teachers play many roles in their classroom, some include:
9.6.2.1. Colleage
9.6.2.2. Friend
9.6.2.3. Nurturer of the learner
9.6.2.4. Facilitator of learning
9.6.2.5. Researcher
9.6.2.6. Program Developer
9.6.2.7. Administrator
9.6.2.8. Decision maker
9.6.2.9. Professional leader
9.6.2.10. Community Activist
9.6.3. This is called "role switching" and may lead to teacher burnout.