1. Sociology of Education
1.1. Functional Theories
1.1.1. View society as a machine where one part works with another to make society work.
1.1.2. Interprets each part of society in terms of how it contributes to the stability of the whole society.
1.2. Interactional Theories
1.2.1. Focus on behaviors rather than mental processes.
1.2.2. Take a close up look at the interactions between students and teachers.
1.3. Conflict Theories
1.3.1. Believe inequality exists because people in control decide to make it that way.
1.3.2. Believe society is held together by the ability of dominant groups to impose their will on lesser groups.
1.4. Three effects of schooling that will have the greatest impact.
1.4.1. Knowledge/Attitudes
1.4.1.1. Gaining knowledge from school will allow students to make wise decisions after they graduate.
1.4.2. Education
1.4.2.1. This allows students to get into college and further their education allowing them to get the jobs they want.
1.4.3. Social mobility
1.4.3.1. Schooling allows students to have social mobility. They are able to climb out of their social class by doing well in school and obtaining a job that helps them out of it.
1.4.3.2. There can also be downward mobility from students who are not willing to try in school.
1.5. Determinism
1.5.1. The idea that humans do not have free will.
1.6. Voluntarism
1.6.1. The idea that humans do have free will.
1.7. Interdependence
1.7.1. When people are dependent upon each other.
1.8. Moral Values
1.8.1. Ideas that most people share and believe to be the right way to do things.
1.9. Weberian Approach
1.9.1. Socioeconomic theories of Max Weber
1.10. Culture Captial
1.10.1. School can give people social mobility.
1.11. Social Capital
1.11.1. Relationships between people in schools.
1.12. Cultural Reproduction
1.12.1. Schools try to pass on the norms to students.
1.13. Social Stratification
1.13.1. Where members of society rank.
1.14. Hierarchical Society
1.14.1. When student and teacher are working together for the good of society.
1.15. Structural Inequalities
1.15.1. When schools are biased to one group of individuals.
2. Educational Inequality
3. History of Education
3.1. 1635 Boston Latin Grammar School Established.
3.2. 1636 Harvard College Established.
3.3. "Old Deluder Satan Law"
3.3.1. 1647 Puritans of New England.
3.3.2. First step toward government directed public education in the U.S.
3.4. 1687-1890 New England Primer.
3.4.1. Was the first reading textbook for the American colonies.
3.4.2. Foundation of most education before the 1890s.
3.5. 1751 Franklin Academy opened in Philadelphia.
3.6. 1783 Noah Webster's American Spelling Book was published.
3.7. 1785 and 1787 Land Ordinance Act, Northwest Ordinance Act.
3.7.1. Provided funds for schools.
3.7.2. The selling of lands in the western part of the U.S. is where the money came from.
3.8. 1821 Emma Willard's Troy Female Seminary opens.
3.8.1. First secondary school for girls.
3.9. 1821 First public high school opens in Boston.
3.10. 1837 Horace Mann
3.10.1. Argued that universal public education was the best for America.
3.11. 1855 First Kindergarten in the U.S.
3.12. 1874 Kalamazoo Case
3.12.1. Established the use of taxes to fund public schools.
3.13. 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson
3.13.1. Upheld the constitutionality of "separate but equal" facilities.
3.14. 1909 First junior high school opened in Columbus, Ohio.
3.15. 1919 Progressive Education Programs started to become popular.
3.16. 1932 Roosevelt's New Deal
3.17. 1944 G.I. Bill of Rights
3.17.1. Gave tuition and technical training to soldiers who had returned from World War II
3.18. 1954 Brown v. Board of Education
3.18.1. Decided that "separate but equal" was a fallacy and that segregation was unconstitutional.
3.19. 1957 Russia launches the Sputnik into outer space.
3.19.1. This led to an increase in federal education funds.
3.19.2. Also led to more focus on science and math in schools.
3.20. 1964-1965 Head Start Funded.
3.21. 1972 Title IX
3.21.1. Prohibited discrimination on the basis of sex in public education.
3.22. 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act was passed.
3.23. 1979 Cabinet-level Department of Education is established.
3.24. 1983 A Nation at Risk
3.24.1. Report of Reagan's National Commission on Excellence in Education.
3.24.2. Ideas of this report were never really implemented but it did change the way many people felt about education.
3.25. 2002 No Child Left Behind.
3.25.1. Passed by President George W. Bush in order to increase school accountability.
4. Politics of Education
4.1. Conservative
4.1.1. Traditional
4.1.2. Social Darwinism
4.1.2.1. Individuals must compete in the social environment to survive.
4.1.3. Support a return to basics, return to traditional curriculum, and accountability.
4.1.4. Conservative Ideology
4.1.4.1. *Maintains a positive perspective of U.S. society and social problems.
4.1.4.2. *Believe in hard work.
4.1.4.3. *Believe intelligence is a driving factor behind one's ability in school.
4.1.4.4. *Believe students need initiative in order to succeed in school.
4.1.4.5. *Believe that all students are given an equal chance to succeed in school.
4.1.4.6. *The free market economy of capitalism is viewed as the best economic system.
4.1.4.7. *Believe students will always end up where they deserve to be.
4.1.4.8. *Want schools to teach certain values such as hard work and initiative.
4.1.4.9. *School sets up students to succeed in life.
4.1.4.10. *Believe in survival of the fittest when it comes to school.
4.2. Liberal
4.2.1. Progressive
4.2.2. John Dewey
4.2.2.1. His works help found this idea of progressivism in education.
4.2.3. Liberal Ideology
4.2.3.1. *Concerned with equality in schools.
4.2.3.2. *Believe that not all students are given a fair chance to succeed.
4.2.3.3. *Maintain a positive perspective on U.S. society and social problems, however not as confidently as conservatives.
4.2.3.4. *Believe schools limit the chances of poor in school.
4.2.3.5. *Believe schools limit minorities because traditional curriculum disregards diverse cultures in school.
4.2.3.6. *Believe in enhanced opportunities for disadvantaged groups.
4.2.3.7. *Want a balance between standards and making sure that students can actually meet them.
4.2.3.8. *Believe schools are crucial to helping solve social problems.
4.2.3.9. *Believe schools are important to the development of the individual.
4.2.3.10. *Believe students should be taught how to become part of our democratic society.
4.2.4. Putting Liberal Education in Perspective
4.3. Radical
4.3.1. Karl Marx
4.3.1.1. Many of his writings influence the radical viewpoint.
4.3.2. Radical Ideology
4.3.2.1. *Believe capitalism is the root of U.S. social problems.
4.3.2.2. *Have a negative perspective on U.S. society.
4.3.2.3. *Also have a negative perspective on the current state of schools.
4.3.2.4. *Believe schools should eliminate inequalities in society.
4.3.2.5. *Believe equality in schools in only an illusion.
4.3.2.6. *Believe schools should not promote conformity.
4.3.2.7. *Believe schools fail the poor and minorities through certain policies.
4.3.2.8. *Also believe that schools treat women unfairly as well.
4.3.2.9. *Believe schools do not do a good job at teaching students how to deal with societal problems.
4.3.2.10. *Believes the school system promotes inequality.
4.4. Neo-Liberal
4.4.1. Is a mix of conservative and liberal ideas.
4.4.2. Neo-Liberal Ideologies
4.4.2.1. *Believe failing traditional school systems are because of bad teachers.
4.4.2.2. *Believe teacher unions are a problem in schools.
4.4.2.3. *Believe teacher tenure needs to be changed or removed completely.
4.4.2.4. *Believe the absence of school accountability is hurting school systems.
4.4.2.5. *Believe the absence of teacher accountability is hurting school systems.
4.4.2.6. *Believe the absence of student accountability is hurting school systems.
4.4.2.7. *Believe the free market system is the best economic system for the U.S.
4.4.2.8. *Believe race and social class are important factors in the education system.
4.4.2.9. *Believe that academic achievement is obtain through hard work.
4.4.2.10. *Believe that state intervention in schools is sometimes necessary to maintain equality in schools.
4.5. What's Education for?
5. Philosophy of Education
5.1. Idealism
5.1.1. Based on truths
5.1.2. Founder of this philosophy was Plato
5.1.3. Believed educating people was the way to do away with evil.
5.1.4. This is a teacher centered form on instruction
5.1.5. Focuses on classic works
5.1.6. Apply what they read to modern society
5.1.7. Idealism education
5.2. Realism
5.2.1. Based on learning from the material world.
5.2.2. Founder of this philosophy was Aristotle.
5.2.3. Want to use concrete ideas to solve society's problems.
5.2.4. This is a teacher centered form of instruction.
5.2.5. Realism in education
5.3. Pragmatism
5.3.1. Based on the needs of the child
5.3.2. Founder of this philosophy was John Dewey.
5.3.3. Believe that a hands-on approach is best.
5.3.4. Believe that they can solve society's problems by teaching their students about them.
5.3.5. This is a student centered philosophy.
5.3.6. The methods of instruction can vary between group projects and classroom discussions.
5.3.7. Curriculum is always changing with the needs of society.
5.3.8. Pragmatic Education
5.4. Existentialism
5.4.1. Look at education much differently than most philosophies.
5.4.2. Based on the individual and the individual finding out who they are as a person.
5.4.3. This is a student centered learning philosophy.
5.4.4. The students have near free reign in this philosophy.
5.4.5. Founders include: Kierkegaard, Buber, Jaspers
5.4.6. Goal is to find out why one exist and what their purpose is.
5.4.7. Curriculum is really determined by the students.
5.5. Neo-Marxism
5.5.1. A radical view that is based in the ideas of socialism and communism.
5.5.2. View capitalism as a terrible system.
5.5.3. Founder is Karl Marx.
5.5.4. Goal is to teach students how bad capitalism is and to show them that socialism is the best system.
5.5.5. Teacher is to be able to convince people of their ideas and persuade students to side with socialism.
5.5.6. Curriculum is based on anti-capitalism and pro-socialism.
6. Schools as Organizations
6.1. State Senators
6.1.1. Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby
6.2. House of Represenatives
6.2.1. Mo Brooks represents District 5
6.3. State Superintendent
6.3.1. Tommy Bice
6.4. Represenatives of State School Board
6.4.1. Jeffrey Newman
6.5. Local Superintendent
6.5.1. Jennifer Gray - Lauderdale County
6.6. Local School Board - Lauderdale County
6.6.1. Chad Holden
6.6.2. Daniel Patterson
6.6.3. Jerry Fulmer
6.6.4. Ronnie Owens
6.6.5. Barbara Cornelius
6.7. Comparing to another nation.
6.7.1. Japan has a rigorous schooling system where students spend most of their time in school.
6.7.2. Japan is substantially ahead of the U.S. in education.
6.7.3. Japanese Schooling
6.7.4. Great Britain has five stages of education: Early Years, Primary, Secondary, Further Education, and Higher Education
6.7.5. The UK Education System
6.8. Decentralized School System
6.8.1. The system that is used in the U.S.
6.8.2. The schools and curriculum are controlled at a local and state level.
6.8.3. Education levels differ from state to state with the lowest scores coming from states in the south.
6.9. Centralized School System
6.9.1. This system is used by countries such as England, France, and Switzerland.
6.9.2. In this system, the central government controls everything about education.
6.9.3. It is easier to do this in these countries because there is less land and less diversity throughout their people.
6.10. Schools are powerful organizations that profoundly affect the lives of those children and adults who come in contact with them.
6.11. School Processes
6.11.1. The way in which school cultures are created and maintained.
6.12. Schools are separate social organizations because...
6.12.1. Schools have a definite population.
6.12.2. Schools have a clearly defined political structure.
6.12.3. Schools represent a central network of social relationships.
6.12.4. Schools are permeated with a "we" ideal rather that a "me" ideal.
6.12.5. Schools each have a definite culture that is specific to the individual school.
7. Curriculum and Pedagogy
7.1. Curriculum Theory
7.1.1. For most of the 20th century, the studies of curriculum were mainly focused on classroom practice.
7.1.2. In the 1970s, curriculum theory begin to change.
7.1.3. William Pinar began to be the most influential figure in curriculum theory.
7.1.4. Pinar wanted to separate theory from practice.
7.1.5. Pinar also indicated that somewhere down the line, theory and practice would have to be somehow reconnected to one another.
7.1.6. In the 1990s the reconceptualized curriculum theory had become dominant and it even had its own national conference.
7.1.7. When the call for education reform came around in the 1990s, curriculum theory came under fire.
7.2. Sociological Curriculum Theory
7.2.1. Functionalist Theory
7.2.1.1. Schools should prepare students to become members of society.
7.2.1.2. Believe that schools should teach their students the values that are needed for a modern society.
7.3. Traditional approaches view curriculum as objective bodies of knowledge and examine ways in which this knowledge may be designed, taught, and evaluated.
7.4. Humanist Curriculum
7.4.1. Based on the idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts as the basis of an educated society.
7.4.2. The purpose of education is to present students the best of what has ever been thought or written.
7.5. Social Efficiency Curriculum
7.5.1. Is a pragmatic belief in which different groups of students have different needs.
7.5.2. Students should receive different types of education to meet those specific needs.
7.6. Developmentalism Curriculum
7.6.1. A progressive belief that emphasizes the importance of the process of teaching along with the curricular content.
7.6.2. The curriculum focuses on the needs and interests of each individual child.
7.7. Social Meliorist Curriculum
7.7.1. Based on the social reconstructionist theory that schools should work to change society and help solve fundamental social problems.
8. Equality of Oppurtunity
8.1. Caste Stratification
8.1.1. Occurs in agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of some strict criteria such as race or religion.
8.2. Estate Stratification
8.2.1. Occurs in agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of the hierarchy of family worth.
8.3. Class Stratification
8.3.1. Occurs in industrial societies that define social level in terms of a hierarchy of differential achievement by individuals, especially in economic pursuits.
8.3.2. Social Stratification in the U.S.
8.3.2.1. Upper Class: 1-3%
8.3.2.2. Upper Middle Class: 15%
8.3.2.3. Lower Middle Class: 25%
8.3.2.4. Working Class: 40%
8.3.2.5. Underclass/Lower Class: 20%
8.4. Achievement Gap
8.4.1. Refers to the observed, persistent disparity of educational measures between the performance of groups of students.
8.4.2. Females achieve at a higher level in reading at ages 9, 13, and 17 but achieve at lower levels in science at ages 9, 13, and 17.
8.5. The Coleman Report
8.5.1. An influential and controversial study.
8.5.2. Was based on a survey of educational opportunity that was mandated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was directed by sociologists James Coleman.
8.5.3. Coleman's work was often misinterpreted as an argument that schools do not matter and that only families matter.
8.5.4. Coleman's subsequent work was designed to help identify the characteristics of schools which did matter, so that the impact of school relative to that of family could be increased.
9. Educational Reform and School Improvement
9.1. A Nation at Risk
9.1.1. A book published in 1983 that led to the first wave of educational reform.
9.1.2. The first wave of educational reform in the U.S. stressed the need for increased educational excellence through increased educational standards.
9.1.3. The reform focused on:
9.1.3.1. The need for excellence and equity in schools.
9.1.3.2. The need to clarify educational goals.
9.1.3.3. The need to develop a core curriculum.
9.1.3.4. The need to eliminate tracking programs.
9.1.3.5. The need for major changes in vocational education.
9.1.3.6. The need for education to teach about technology.
9.1.3.7. The need to increase the duration and intensity of academic learning.
9.1.3.8. The needs to recruit, train, and retain more academically able teachers.
9.1.4. A Nation at Risk
9.2. Second Wave of Reform
9.2.1. Came from recommendations made at the State Governor's Conference.
9.2.2. The reform focused on:
9.2.2.1. Teaching, leadership, and management.
9.2.2.2. Parental involvement and choice of schools.
9.2.2.3. Student readiness for school (for preschoolers).
9.2.2.4. School facilities being fully utilized.
9.2.2.5. Quality colleges and accountability for learning.
9.3. The Carnegie Report
9.3.1. Titled A Nation Prepared: Teachers for a 21st Century focused on the educational quality of teacher education programs.
9.3.1.1. It asserted:
9.3.1.1.1. Teacher education programs lacked rigor and intellectual demands which would negatively impact success and student achievement in schools.
9.3.1.1.2. The necessity to reorganized the academic and professional components of teacher education programs.
9.3.1.1.3. The need to attract and retain competent teacher candidates.
9.4. Goals 2000
9.4.1. Signed into law by Bill Clinton in 1994.
9.4.2. It consisted of 6 goals that were to be achieved by the year 2000. Those 6 goals were as follows:
9.4.2.1. Goal 1: All children will start school ready to learn.
9.4.2.2. Goal 2: High School graduation rates will increase to at least 90%
9.4.2.3. Goal 3: American students will leave grades 4, 8, and 12, having demonstrated competency in challenging subject matter so that they would be prepared for responsible citizenship, further learning, and productive employment in our modern economy.
9.4.2.4. Goal 4: U.S. students will be first in the world in math and science achievement.
9.4.2.5. Goal 5: Every adult American will be literate and will possess the skills necessary to compete in a global economy.
9.4.2.6. Goal 6: Every school in America will be free of drugs and violence and will offer a disciplined environment conducive of learning.
9.5. No Child Left Behind
9.5.1. Enacted by George W. Bush in 2000.
9.5.2. It stated that:
9.5.2.1. Annual testing required of students in grades 3 through 8 in reading and math, plus at least one test in grades 10 through 12 with science testing.
9.5.2.2. Graduation rates are used as a secondary indicator for high schools.
9.5.2.3. States and districts are required to report school by school data on student test performance, broken out by whether the student is African American, Hispanic American, Native American, Asian American, white non-Hispanic, special education, limited English proficiency, and/or low income.
9.5.2.4. States must set adequate yearly progress (AYP) goals for each school.
9.5.2.5. Schools that don't meet AYP for two years are labeled "In Need of Improvement".
9.5.2.5.1. This means that schools must offer the students the option to go to another public school and/or receive federally funded tutoring. Funds would also be made available to teacher professional development. If the school does not meet subsequent year's AYP, it would be subject to restructuring.
9.5.2.6. Schools must have "highly qualified teachers" for teachers in the core academic subjects.
9.5.3. No Child Left Behind
9.6. Race to the Top
9.6.1. Suggestions for educational reforms:
9.6.1.1. Adopting standards and assessments that prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in the global economy.
9.6.1.2. Building data systems that measure student growth and success and inform teachers and principals about how they can improve instruction.
9.6.1.3. Recruiting, developing, rewarding, and retaining effective teachers and principals.
9.6.1.4. Turning around the lowest-achieving schools.