1. Schools As Organizations
1.1. Major Stakeholders
1.1.1. State Senator- Tim Melson.
1.1.2. House of Representatives- Phillip Pettus, Lynn Greer, Marcel Black.
1.1.3. State Superintendent- Michael Sentence.
1.1.4. State Board of Education- Governor Robert Bentley, Jefferey Newman, Mattew Brown. Stephanie Bell, Cynthia McCarthy.
1.1.5. County Superintendent- Jennifer Gray.
1.1.6. County Board of Education- Ronnie Owens, Barbara Cornelious, Daniel Patterson, Jerry Fulmer.
1.2. Elements of Change within School Processes and School Cultures
1.2.1. Conflict- When conflict occurs it brings about a democracy for the issues to be discussed and resolved.
1.2.2. New Behaviors- If there is a change in the ones that surround us, we must learn new ways to cooperate and build relationships with those people.
1.2.3. Team Building Must Extend to the Entire School- Everyone needs to be included to make a group effort on decisions.
1.2.4. Process and Content Are Interrelated- The work the group puts in is just as important as the content changes being made.
2. Philosophy of Education
2.1. Existentialism- This particular view dates back to the nineteenth century from Soren Kierkegaard philosophy. Existentialism is about how people can make an impact from their existence in other individual's lives. The text says "existentialists believe that they are placed on this earth alone and must make some sense out of the chaos they encounter." A contributor to this belief is Jean Satre. The existentialism is very individualistic, what people can make of themselves. Key researchers in this theory were Soren Kierkegaard, Martin Buber, Karl Jaspers, Jean Satre, Maxine Greene, Edmund Husserl, Martin Heidegger, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty. The goal of education from existentialist is again about individualism, only concerning needs of oneself. It must address the rational and non-rational, working out conflict. The role of the teacher is to help and enable their students to achieve all that is possible for each one. The teacher must be able to connect personally with the students so that they can ensure the best success for them. The methods of instruction are also considered to be personal to each student. They base their instruction on the fact that every student is different and has different needs. The teacher is to be informative and value each relationship with the students. Existentialism relies upon the facts of humanity. Education about what has the most enhance activity to the students. The book gives suggestions of "Art, drama, and music." As a part of existence they want students to know all the good and bad of what happens to mankind throughout the lifespan.
3. Sociological Perspectives
3.1. Perspectives
3.1.1. Functionalist Perspective- Functionalist focus on the "interdependence of the system." Emile Durkheim was the first to invent the sociology of education in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He believed values and morals were key components of the society. Functionalism relates to the school system in that the students divide and find their part. Each student has to use their own ability so that everyone working together makes the school a functioning part of society.
3.1.2. Conflict Perspective-Conflict theorist focus on economic, political, cultural, and military power. Some social groups have a dominance over others and rule by force. Conflict theorist see the school system as who has power over who. Then teachers have authority over students, administration over teachers. They believe in a school system that is splist upon social power outside of the school. Karl Marx is the founder of the conflict school. He was in disbelief that Europeans had a new social class. One that worked for those in power and hardly ever had anything as a reward. Marx believes that school will only improve when society does, so there is little hope.
3.1.3. Interactional- Interactional theories developed from functional anc conflict themes. Both conflict and functional are focused on the general level of school. The text explains that interactional theorist believe that you need to focus more on a micosociological approach. They are concerned about what exactly that students and teachers do. They want to examine different groups of the school that society puts students in and see on a deeper level for the learning of the students
3.2. Perspective Relation
3.2.1. Knowledge and Attitudes- Knowledge and attitudes has a lot to do with where the student comes from. The social background can play a big part of how successful the students outcome is. Students with a rich background have access to more resources to improve their knowledge and do not have the stress of family finances. Students that are apart of poor areas struggle in school because of their limited resources and they also struggle with stress of their family not having enough. Employment- Going to college and earning a degree does not mean you will have the best job. The text says that " the level of education was essentially unrelated to job performance." However, a degree does have an impact on how much money is brought home. The college degree may not insure a good job but it does insure a higher salary. .
3.2.2. Teacher Behavior- Teacher behavior can impact the students success because they are the one that set the standards students must reach. A teachers behavior needs to be well presented, strong, and encouraging. Teachers must expect high standards so the students will strive to do their best.
3.2.3. Peer groups- Throughout school students find groups of people they have the most in common with. These people influence the lives and education of each individual. Peer groups can either encourage success or aid in the destruction of it. Student cultures frame how the individual will turn out. Students must be careful who they want to influence their education at school. Students that are apart of an active learning peer group can improve individuals success.
3.2.4. Facto Segregation- Segregation is illegal today but schools still struggle with the inequality and separation. The text says "Although this issue is far from resolved, most of the evidence indicates that racially mixed schools benefit minorities and do not suppress white development." Students that are in schools that have mixed race are more likely to be successful than in a school that has segregation. Not only will their education be better, but also their behavior.
4. History of U.S. Education
4.1. Education for Women and African Americans
4.1.1. Women- The assumed role for women in the eighteenth century was to stay at home, be the caregiver, and helpmate of the male. During the beginning of the nineteenth century every few women found education and then it was only "rudimentary literacy and numeracy. Toward the middle of the century girls began to attend elementary schools. By 1820, education for women was on a role. In 1821, Emma Hart Willard opened Troy Female Seminary where girls were taught core subjects. Catharine Beecher and Mary Lyon lead the way by opening schools for females. Higher education for females came when Oberlin Collegiate Institution opened its doors to women and African-Americans. Other colleges followed in the movement for women education
4.1.2. African-Americans- During the Civil War period teaching of reading and writing was forbidden to the slave population. Benjamin Roberts file a law suit that concluded that African-Americans had the right to establish their own schools. These schools were helped by the churches and funded through abolitionist. When President Lincoln freed the slaves, education for them changed drastically. In 1868, Freedman's Bureau helped establish Howard University and Hampton Institute for blacks.
4.2. Democratic-Liberal School Perspective
4.2.1. Democratic-Liberals believe in progressive evolution, expanding liberal reforms, and rejecting the conservative view of schools. Ellwood Cubberly, Merle Curti, and Lawerence A. Cremin supported these views. Cremin wrote that education can be described by popularization and multitudinousness. He believed that students from different backgrounds should be able to attend school for longer periods of time, so that education became more diverse. He never gave up on the hope that education lies on the foundations of popularization and multitudinousness. He described the democratic liberal perspective as "That kind of organization [ referring to U.S. higher education] 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 on the world." (p.460" The basis of democratic liberalism is striving for equality and excellence but while moving toward them trying not to dismiss one of the two.
5. Politics of Education
5.1. The Conservation Perspective- The Conservative view started in the nineteeth century with the eveloutionary theoires of Charles Darwin. The theory was based off William Graham Sumner that first looked at the thought of survival of the fittest. They believed that individuals must compete to survive in the social environment. Conservation perspective also consist of the belief that free market was the best system for economic productivity and most respectful of human needs. From the writings of Adam Smith and the economic policy of Milton Friedman, conservation is to maximize economic growth and freedom from competition so that potential abuses can be prevented. The basis of the view is put on the individuals decision to earn or not to earn their place within the market. Ronald Reagan supported this view and championed a free market philosophy.
5.2. Traditional Vision of Education- The traditional view for education is that schools are responsible for traditional values such as hard work, family, unity, and individual initiative. Traditionalist want schools to be able to pass down the "best of what was and the what is" as stated from the text.
6. Curriculum and Pedagogy
6.1. Curriculum Theory
6.1.1. Developmentalist Curriculum: The developmental approach is based off of what best interests the student rather than what satisfies society. Dewey and Piaget were concerned with a student centered atmosphere. The teacher was to put the students needs and interest at the heart of the curriculum. It emphasizes of how the lesson was taught and exactly what was taught. This approach wanted to relate the teachings of school to life experiences. The teacher was to help students growth rather than just repeatedly spit out facts. Developmentalist curriculum was not very influential in its time but now it is seen more in teacher education programs and a few schools have converted to the ideas.
6.2. Traditions of Teaching
6.2.1. The Mimetic Tradition: The name comes from the Greek word mimesis, "mine" or "mimic." This tradition is based upon the fact that "knowledge is 'presented' to a learner, rather than 'discovered' by him or her." The teachings are passed from one person to another. The tradition came be obtained in five steps: 1. Test to see what the students know already about the subject. 2. Present the information to the students. 3. Evaluate the students to see what they have learned. 4. Fix what may be incorrect of the students learning. 5. Advance to new material after mastery of the section.
6.2.2. The Transformative Tradition: The "transformation of one kind or another in the person being taught." The transformation of personality and/or character traits. The text gives reference to The Bible as a teaching that is considered transforming. Then text says that the transformative tradition can be identifiable through three modes: 1. Personal modeling- the teacher must model what they want the students to become. 2. Soft suasion- a role reversal, the students seem to become the ones that so the teaching in efforts of the teacher becoming more humble. 3. Use of narrative- stories, parables, myths, are all an element that can show how one must find the right thing to do.
7. Equality of Opportunity
7.1. Educational Outcomes
7.1.1. Class-The text refers to class having an impact on educational outcomes because school can become expensive. Families that have money are more likely to send their children to college and have higher expectations. Underclass families are less likely to support education finically and emotionally, leading to children loosing interest and dropping out. The correlation has many studies to show the rate is prominent, however it is not always the case.
7.1.2. Race-Race impacts the educational outcomes because of the dropout rate among them. Hispanic-Americans at 17.6, African-Americans at 9.3, and Whites at 5.2, among the text study of 16- 24 years-olds. The lack of literacy within the races creates a struggle and they began to drop out. The text suggest that minorities do not get the advantages and opportunities offered to whites, therefore, their success is less.
7.1.3. Gender-In the past, gender has had a significant impact on education because males were entitled to more and society held the preconceived idea that males always out preformed females. Over the years the battles between male and female has began to even out. Girls are catching up to the boys. Each gender is given an equal playing field for success than in previous years.
7.2. 1982 Coleman Study
7.2.1. Response One- Different schools make a difference in outcome. Private schools were scoring better because of academic activities being pushed and discipline being enforced. Public schools were not pushed as hard as private schools, leading to the advancement of private schools.
7.2.2. Response Two-Private schools seem to do more for lower income students. The research is growing and showing that public schools are also trying to do the same. Catholic schools are giving advantages to low income students, but public schools are catching on to the trend.
8. Educational Inequality
8.1. Cultural Deprivation
8.1.1. School Differences and Resources- This theory is based upon the argument that the working class and nonwhite students performance was without any form of knowledge or social skills required for school. This idea was big in 1960, it indicated that these people did not have the cultural resources they needed so they were at a loss.
8.1.2. Poverty- This theory suggested that people who do not care for reward, work hard, or has any motive of success, will end up with no education. The poverty these people live in had no resources so they do not care to try or have any skills to achieve in school. Success is linked to the family and home life.
8.2. School-Centered Explainations
8.2.1. School Financing-School financing comes from the state and local taxes, property taxes being the one to bring in the most money. If property taxes are high the community has more economic revenue, if the property taxes are low the revenue of the community is low. Based upon this the schools are either funded well from the higher pay communities or low funded from the struggling communities.
8.2.2. Effective School Research- The research is effective based upon the high expectations of everyone, established leadership, accountability, track of learning, classrooms on task, flexibility to problems.
8.2.3. Between-School Differences: Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices- Schools in a working class community have more of a teacher-directed pedagogic practices, and have an effective curriculum at the secondary level according to the text. It also says that middle-class communities are more likely to have a student-centered pedagogic practice and a college curriculum at the secondary level. Bernstein's theory is based on the correlation between social class and school type.
8.2.4. Gender and Schooling-The text explains four different ways that gender places a limitation in school. 1. The materials show traditional and stereotypical gender roles. 2. The curriculum does not show much of women's history or importance. 3. The curriculum in based upon male domination of the class in organization, instruction, and interactions. 4. The schools enforces gender inequality roles.
9. Educational Reform
9.1. School Based Reform
9.1.1. School-Business Partnership- In 1980 business leaders were growing concerned about the school funding continuing form their economic growth. Partnerships were set up to fund schools and help the students improve on their grades. After all the partnerships were set up, the text says that still only 1.5 percent was giving to the schools. Scholarships were set up to encourage the students in their academics.
9.1.2. Teacher Quality- Teachers are being hired into schools to teach subjects that they do not have all the qualifications to teach. This is called the "out-of-field teaching," where qualified teachers become highly unqualified because they are misplaced among the school. This is not due to the lack of teachers, but rather a school system organization problem. Principles find it easier to fill spots than take time to hire qualified teachers for each subject. The students are effected and some end up dropping out due to the poor teaching.
9.2. Outside Reform
9.2.1. School Finance Reform- School funding is linked to the decreasing school achievement in education. The text talks about the 1970 Robinson v. Cahil case which brought about the concern of "thorough and efficient education." The state was failing in providing this type of education. In 1988, smaller supplement packages was established for extra funding by managing school space and codes for Kindergarten and Preschool at Abbott school. Other schools chose to increase security, included more technology, after-school programs, and summer school programs.
9.2.2. Community Reform- Dryfoo's model of full service schools, Canada's Harlem Children's Zone, and Newark's Bolder Approach, are all examples of community reform. These schools/methods provide full service to the student and their families concerning their social, physical, and mental needs. The community centers offer things such as extended hours, adult education, health facilities, school programs, mental health help, job training, and tutoring services. These reform programs help create a more secure community that promotes educated students and parents. Also, while proving health care along the way.