1. Key Researchers: Paulo Freire, W.E.B DuBoise, Henry Giroux, Carter Woodson
2. Curriculum: Multicultural education curriculum, nonconforming and understanding of theoretical and political stations, stresses the importance on language and literacy, stresses inclusion of all groups of people
3. Schools as Organizations
3.1. Governance
3.1.1. Senators-Jeff Sessions & Richard Shelby-upper house of Alabama legislator
3.1.2. House of Representative/Martha Roby,Mo Brooks, Terri Sewel, Bradley Byrne, Robert Aderholt, Gary Palm, Michael D. Rogers.
3.1.3. State Superintendent-Tommy Bice- serves as secretary and executive of officer
3.1.4. State Board Representative-Governor Robert J. Bentley, Phillip Cleveland, Jefferey Newman, Yvette Richardson, Matthew S. Brown, Betty Peters, Stephanie Bell, Ella B. Bell, Synthia Sanders, Mary Scott Hunter -appointed by big city board or commissioners & some cities elect
3.1.5. Local School Board-represented by AASB-aims to develop excellent school board leaders through training and advocacy,and service/non profit organization/operates as federation of state associations of school boards across U.S.
3.1.6. Local Superintendent-Phillip Cleveland- oversees a number of public schools/selected by board of education
3.2. Comparison to Finland
3.2.1. Comparison to One Country-Finland-Impressive PISA scores/little variation in student outcomes on exams across all populations of racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic groups/focuses on equal access to curriculum & teacher education/eliminate all forms of tracking & focuses on high level of academic success in students/places emphasis on formative evaluation & relies on oral and narrative dialogues between teachers and students to track progress/Finland standardize exam evaluate students on problem solving skills,analysis,and writing/takes teaching profession seriously/teacher program well respected
4. Philosophy of Education
4.1. Generic Notions:Postmodern Critical Pedagogy
4.2. Role of the Teacher: Critical curriculum constructors, agents of change, transformative intellectuals
4.3. Methods of Instruction: Dialect Approach, critical questioning, rigorous analysis of aspects taken for granted
4.4. Goal of Education: Bring consciousness, disrupt practices of the constant culture, challenge social norms, articulate and apply knowldege
5. Curriculum & Pedagogy
5.1. Historical Curriculum Theory
5.1.1. 1.Developmentalist curriculum- Dewey/relates to needs and interests of the student rather than society/stresses flexibility/emphasis on the development of students individual capacities/stresses importance of relating school to life experience of child/not interested in transmitters of knowledge but rather facilitators of student growth.
5.1.2. 2. Tends to the needs of students/focuses on students needs or student centered/contributes to student growth.
5.1.3. 3. This curriculum is not very influential in the U.S. public schools but is profoundly influential in teacher education programs & important model in independent and alternative schools.
5.2. Socialogical Curriculum Theory
5.2.1. 1. Multicultural Education Curriculum
5.2.2. 2. Curriculum that brings awareness to the hidden curriculum/provides students with knowledge about their history, culture, contributions of diverse groups/promotes decision making and critical thinking skills/includes notions of race, class, gender, and diversity in instruction.
5.2.3. 3. Conflict Theory-describes the unevenly distribution of power, resources, opportunities, and status between groups in society/explains causes and conflicts between classes/capitalism and effects
6. Educational Inequalities
6.1. Sociological Explanation of Unequal Achievement
6.1.1. 1. Functionalist expect that schooling process will produce unequal results based on individual differences/views just society as one where individual talent and hard work based on universal principles of evaluation as method of evaluation
6.1.2. 2. Conflict theorist/ Belief that role of schooling is to reproduce rather than eliminate inequality/concerned with inequality and its eradication
6.1.3. 3. Both functionalist and Conflict theorist agree that understanding educational inequality is difficult.
6.1.4. 4. Interactionalist theorist suggest that one must understand how people within institutions such as families and schools interact on a daily basis to comprehend the factors explaining academic success and failures
6.2. School Centered Explanation
6.2.1. 1. School Financing- Property taxes: Public schools funds come from state and local taxes with property taxes being a significant source & property taxes are bases on value of property placing poorer communities at a disadvantage and considered discriminatory under Equal Protection Clause of 14th Amendment.
6.2.2. 2.Effective School Research- suggests that there are school centered processes that help to explain unequal educational achievement by different groups of students & supports work of Coleman, Hoffer, & Kilgore & points out how differences in school climates affect academic performance.
6.2.3. 3.Curriculum & Pedagogic Practices- Schools in working-class neighborhoods are more likely to have authoritarian and teacher-directed pedagogic practices than middle-class communities & upper class are more likely to attend elite private schools with authoritarian pedagogic practices and classical humanistic college prep curriculum at sec. level.
7. Educational Reform
7.1. School Based Reforms
7.1.1. 1.School Choice- increase stratification within school districts/ increase educational opportunities for minorities/more involved in their children's education/choice parents tend to be more satisfied with their children's education:
7.1.2. 2.Charter Schools- free from many regulations applied to traditional public schools/ provide a more effective and efficient education for low-income children, especially in urban areas/ lower in cost/self-governing institutions with wide control over their own curriculum,instruction, staffing,budget,etc.
7.1.3. 3.Tuition Vouchers-programs challenged in court for violating the separation of church and state/argues that school choice will provide low income parents with same choices as middle class parents,provide better learning environments for low-income and special needs students, and improve or close their doors due to competitive market effects/higher student achievement
7.2. Societal, community, economic, or political reforms
7.2.1. 1.School or district takeover/authorization of state education agencies to take over/system assessments: Can provide a good opportunity for state and local decision makers to combine resources & knowledge to improve student learning if done properly/ can lead to improvements in statewide accountability efforts/can make radical changes more possible in low-performing school districts than customary regimen.
7.2.2. 2.School Finance reforms-Supplemental programs: social services, increased security, renovation of urban schooling facilities/eliminate overcrowding/necessary but insufficient to reduce the achievement gaps without broader social and economic policies addressing poverty
7.2.3. 3.Successful school reforms: support leadership as the driver for change, parent-community ties, professional capacity, student-centered learning climate, instructional guidance/Darling Hammond & five elements.
8. Relationship between School and Society
8.1. 1. Influences values, beliefs, gender definitions and stereotypes.
8.2. 2. Schools play a major role in determining who will get ahead in society and who will not.
8.3. 3. School shapes a student's perceptions and consciousness
9. History of Education in the U.S.
9.1. Reform Movement
9.1.1. 1.Horace Mann on establishment of the common school or free publicly funded elementary schools.
9.1.2. 2. Ralph Waldo Emerson works on social reform.
9.1.3. 3. Webster's New England Primer/ Charity schools
9.2. Historical Interpretation
9.2.1. 1. The Democratic-Liberal School and suggestions to expand educational opportunities to larger segments of he population and reject the conservative view.
9.2.2. 2. The Radical-Revisionist School and belief that the educational system expanded to meet needs of the elites in society for control.
9.2.3. 3. Conservative Perspective and beliefs that education does not solve social problems
10. Equal Opportunity
10.1. Educational Achievement and Attainment
10.1.1. 1. Achievement gaps- African-American and Hispanic students drop out rates/Females achieve at higher levels in reading at ages 9,13, and 17 and lower in science/Reading and Mathematics gap between African-Americans,Hispanics, and Whites.
10.1.2. 2. Attainment gaps-Rewards for educational attainment are significantly less for minorities/Despite improvements by minority students African-Americans and Hispanic-Americans lag behind white students in educational achievement and attainment/low-income and minority students are more likely to have less challenging curricula/ less likely to be in advanced classes/more likely to have underqualified and less experienced teachers
10.1.3. 3. Equality of Opportunity-Minority students more likely to be placed in larger classes & change schools
10.2. Response to the Coleman Study
10.2.1. 1. The ways in which outcomes differ on school characteristics is called "between school effects" Study found that effects existed bu were less important than student backgrounds
10.2.2. 2. Found that school funding levels do not significantly affect student achievement, but student background and teacher effectiveness does.
10.2.3. 3. Black students perform better in racially-integrated classrooms, which led to desegregated busing programs & White students undermined the advantages of busin/standardized tests measured cultural knowledge, not intelligence, which put minority students at disadvantage
11. Politics of Education
11.1. Radical Marxist Perspective
11.1.1. 1.) Class conflict is the source of societal change.
11.1.2. 2.) Moving toward a more democratic society will bring about greater equality of outcomes between citizens.
11.1.3. 3.) Capitalistic system is central to U.S. social problems
11.2. Progressive Vison of Educaion
11.2.1. 1.) Schools are the central to solving social problems.
11.2.2. 2. Vehicle for upward mobility
11.2.3. 3. Integral part of democratic society
12. By the way, this is a floating topic. To create a floating topic, simply drag it away from the map center.
13. Sociology of Education
13.1. Three Effects on Schooling Individuals
13.1.1. 1. Knowledge and Attitudes
13.1.2. 2. Employment
13.1.3. 3. Education and Mobility