1. Politics of Education
1.1. Neo-Liberal:
1.1.1. 1. Eliminate Teacher Tenure
1.1.2. 2. Eliminate Seniority Based Layoffs
1.1.3. 3. Educational Success is the Result of Individual Effort
1.2. Traditional Vision of Education
1.2.1. 1. Schools Should Teach Individual Initiative
1.2.2. 2. Hard work and Sacrifice Are Important Components in Life
1.2.3. 3. Schools Should Instill Traditional Values of U.S. Society into Students, Passing on the Best of What Was and What Is
2. Sociology of Education
2.1. Functionalist Perspective
2.1.1. 1. Components that Make up Society Depend on One Another in order to Function Effectively as a Whole
2.1.2. 2. Emile Durkheim's Belief that Education Exerts Great Influence over the Moral Structure of Society
2.1.3. 3. Social Harmony is a Sign of Societal Success, Whereas Chaos and Conflict are Indicative of a Breakdown in Shared Values
2.2. Effects of Schooling
2.2.1. 1. Education Impacts Individuals' Sense of Well-Being and Self-Esteem
2.2.2. 2. More Years of Schooling Lead to Greater Knowledge and Social Participation
2.2.3. 3. Schools Act as Gatekeepers in Determining Who Will Be Hired to Fill High-Status Jobs
3. Educational Reform and School Improvement
3.1. School-based Reform
3.1.1. 1. Vouchers given to the public allow parents to have more choice regarding their children's education
3.1.2. 2. Charter schools give greater educational choices to parents and students because they are publicly funded, yet charter schools have more freedom to make choices regarding curriculum, staffing, etc.
3.1.3. Magnet schools and private schools provide still more school choices to parents and students with regard to education
3.2. Political Reform
3.2.1. 1. No Child Left Behind Act during the administration of George W. Bush ushers in the age of educational standards and accountability
3.2.2. 2. One of NCLB's long-term goals was to eliminate the gap between social classes and race achievements with regard to education
3.2.3. 3. NCLB also requires schools to have "highly qualified" teachers to teach the core academic subjects
4. Educational Inequality
4.1. A Sociological Explanation
4.1.1. 1. A Functionalist View holds to the belief that talent and hard work can and will open up doors of opportunity for individuals
4.1.2. 2. Functionalists believe that the schooling process will yield varying results, but these varied results should involve individuals, not entire groups
4.1.3. 3. Functionalists desire to see all people have equal opportunity in education, even if equal end results cannot be guaranteed
4.2. A School-centered Explanation
4.2.1. 1. Effective schools have high performance expectations for the student body, while ineffective schools have lower performance expectations from their students
4.2.2. 2. Effective schools give flexibility to school staff so they can experiment and adapt to new situations and problems
4.2.3. 3. Effective schools have accountability processes for students and teachers
5. Equality of Opportunity
5.1. Educational Achievement of a Marginalized Population: Women
5.1.1. 1. Women have outperformed men in the subject area of reading since 1973
5.1.2. 2. Women have been outperformed by men in the subject area of math since 1973
5.1.3. 3. Women have been outperformed by men in the subject area of science since 1973
5.2. A Response Coleman Study - 1966
5.2.1. 1. Ron Edmonds of Harvard University set out to define the characteristics that make certain schools effective
5.2.2. 2. After combing through the findings of sociologist James Coleman, the sociological community had to come into agreement with his findings: that schools were not powerful predictors of differences in student outcomes.
5.2.3. 3. The makeup of the student body of various schools did seem to have a significant effect on student learning, rather than the school itself