1. Curriculum and Pedagogy
1.1. Humanist curriculum- reflects the idealist philosophy that knowledge of the traditional liberal arts is the cornerstone of an educated citizenry and that the purpose of education is to present to students the best of what has been thought and written.
1.2. Social efficiency curriculum- philosophically pragmatist approach developed in the early twentieth century as a punitively democratic response to the development of mass public secondary education.
1.3. Pedagogical progressiveness ( see page 283)
1.4. The development of standardized testing was inextricably related to the differentiation of the curriculum.
1.5. Developmentalist curriculum- related to the needs and interests of the student rather than the needs of society ( pg 284)
1.6. Romantic progressivism- page 284
2. Equality of Opportunity
2.1. Estate stratification- occurs on agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of the hierarchy of family worth.
2.1.1. Class stratification- occurs in industrial societies that define social level in terms of the hierarchy of differential achievement by individuals, especially in economic pursuits.
2.1.2. Caste stratification- occurs in agrarian societies where social level is defined in terms of some strict ascriptive criteria.
2.2. Achievement gaps
2.2.1. class
2.2.2. race
2.2.3. gender
3. Politics of Education
3.1. Conservative
3.1.1. Traditionalist
3.1.1.1. Traditional visions tend to view schools as necessary to the transmission of the traditional values of U.S. society.
3.1.1.2. Examples: believes in hard work, family unity, and individual initiative
3.1.1.3. Believe the schools should pass on the best of what was and what is.
3.1.2. Looks at the social evolution as a process that enables the strongest individuals and or groups to survive, and looks at human and social evolution as adaptation to changes in the environment.
3.1.3. Belief that the free market or market economy of capitalism is both the most economically productive economic system and the system that is most respectful to human needs.(Ex. competition and freedom)
3.1.4. Places primary emphasis on the individual and suggests that individuals have the capacity to earn or not earn their place within a market economy, and that solutions to problems should also be addressed at the individual level. pgs 23-24
3.2. Liberal
3.3. Radical
3.4. Neo-Liberal
4. Educational Reform
4.1. School finance reform- Rodriquez v. San Antonio page 538
4.2. The Effective School Movement- A Nation at Rick ( At the bottom of page 531)
4.3. Teacher Education- emergence and development of teacher education as an educational problem was a response to the inititial debates concerning the failure of the schools. page 528
4.4. Charter Schools Page 522
4.5. Approaches to reform page 519
4.5.1. No Child Left Behind Act Page 517
5. History of U.S. Education
5.1. Horace Mann of Massachusetts led the struggle for free public education. He abandoned his career as a lawyer and lobbied for a state board of education. When the Massachusetts legislature created one in 1837, Horace Mann became its first secretary for 11 years. Chapter 3, page 67.
5.2. Conservative Perspectives: Conservative critics include William Bennett, Chester Finn, Jr., Diane Ravitch, E.D. Hirsch, Jr., and Allen Bloom. They all pointed to the failure of so-called progressive education to fulfill its lofty social goals without sacrificing academic quality.
5.2.1. Ravitch argued that the preoccupation with using education to solve social problems has not solved these problems and has led to the erosion of educational excellence. pg 85
5.2.2. Bloom blames the universities for watering down their curriculum.
5.2.3. Hirsch blames the public schools for valuing skills over content.
5.2.4. Bennett, in his role as Secretary of Education during the Reagan administration, called for a return to traditional Western curriculum.
6. Educational Inequality
6.1. Functioanlists expect that the schooling process will produce unequal results but the results ought to be based on individual differences between students.
6.2. Functionalists and conflict theorists agree that understanding educational inequality is a difficult task.
6.3. Student-centered is centered on factors outside of the school, such as family, the community, the culture of the group, the peer group, and the individual student.
6.4. School-centered is centered on factors within the school, such as teachers and teaching methods, curriculum, ability grouping, and curriculum tracking.
6.5. Cultural Deprivation Theories page 423
6.5.1. Cultural difference theories page 423
7. Sociological Perspectives
7.1. Persell provides a model for analyzing the relationship between school and society through four interrelated levels of sociological analysis.
7.1.1. 1. Societal level- includes the most general structures of a society. pg 114
7.1.2. 2. Institutional level- includes a society's major institutions, such as the family, school, churches, and synagogues
7.1.3. 3. Interpersonal level- includes the processes, symbols, and interactions that occur within such institutional settings
7.1.4. 4. Intrapsychic level- includes individuals thoughts, beliefs, values, and feelings
7.2. Socialization- values, beliefs, and norms of society are internalized within children so that they come to think and act like other members of society
7.3. Theoretical perspectives- created by humans and interpreted by them.
7.4. Functional theories- begins with a picture of society that stresses the interdependence of the social system. pg 117
8. Philosophy of Education
8.1. Idealism- Educators are interested in the search for truth through ideas rather than through the examination of the false shadowy world of matter. pg 181-182
8.2. Realism- By studying the material world it was possible for an individual to clarify or develop ideas (opposite of idealism)
8.3. Pragmatism- philosophy that encourages people to find process that work in order to achieve their desired ends. Primarily interested in studying contemporary issues and discovering solutions to problems in present-day terms.
8.4. Existentialism and phenomenology- sometimes placed together: existentialist create their own meaning.
8.4.1. Existentialist believe that education should focus on the needs of individuals both cognitively and affectively.
8.4.2. View learning as intensely personal. Believe that each child has a different learning style and it is up to the teacher to discover what works for each child. Role of the teacher is to help students understand the world through posing questions, generating activities, and working together.
9. Schools as Organizations
9.1. Contradictions of Control- Study where the tendency of teachers to omit topics that were extremely current or controversial.
9.2. Under-qualified teachers- No Child Left Behind Act is that all schools have highly qualified teachers in every classroom.
9.2.1. No Child Left Behind "highly qualified" three conditions:
9.2.1.1. 1. A college degree
9.2.1.2. 2. Full certification or licensure
9.2.1.3. Demonstrable content knowledge in the subject they are teaching