Chapter 16: Education

equal eduation

-Brown v. Board decision declared state laws that had established separate schools for black and white students were unequal and unconstitutional

Head Start program

-a federal program that provides academically focused preschool to students of low socioeconomic status

tracking

-a formalized sorting system that places students on "tracks" (advanced versus low achievers) that perpetuate inequalities -conflict theorist view

common core

-a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA) -learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade

Education

-a social institution through which a society's children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms

grade inflation

-a term used to describe the observation that the correspondence between letter grades and the achievements they reflect has been changing (in a downward direction) over time. -what used to be considered C-level, or average, now often earns a student a B, or even an A

In the late 1800's school became more _____ and not just for ______

-became more universal and not just for the upper class

Functionalism and education

-believe that education equips people to perform different functional roles in society -contend that education manifest and latent functions

sorting

-classifying students based on academic merit or potential -functionalist view

latent functions associated with education

-courtship -introduces students to social networks -ability to work with others in small groups, a skill that is transferable to a workplace -political and social integration

cultural capital

-cultural knowledge that serves (metaphorically) as currency that helps us navigate a culture ex: members of the upper and middle classes have more cultural capital than do families of lower-class status.

informal education

-describes learning about cultural values, norms, and expected behaviors by participating in a society -occurs both through the formal education system and at home -earliest learning experiences generally happen via parents, relatives, and others in our community ex: learn how to dress for different occasions, how to perform regular life routines like shopping for and preparing food

formal education

-describes the learning of academic facts and concepts through a formal curriculum

teaching to the test

-describes when a curriculum focuses on equipping students to succeed on standardized tests, to the detriment of broader educational goals and concepts of learning

credentinalism

-emphasis on certificates or degrees to show that a person has a certain skill, has attained a certain level of education, or has met certain job qualifications. -certificates or degrees serve as a symbol of what a person has achieved, and allows the labeling of that individual -symbolic interactionist view

Brown vs Board

-ended segregation in schools and allowed for an attempt at equal education

School trends in the 1990s

-focus on critical thinking skills

School trend in the 2000s

-focus on testing -teaching to the test for funding after Bush passed no Child Left Behind -removed problem solving -test scores impacted funding schools received

School trends in the 1970s

-focused on applied education -using technology

manifest functions associated with education

-helps in socialization -transmit the core values of the nation -prepares students to enter the workplace and the world at large -transmission of culture -social placement -social control

Tracking works well for _____ students and not well for ____

-high performing student and does not work well for low performing students

busing

-involved bringing students to schools outside their neighborhoods (and therefore schools they would not normally have the opportunity to attend) to bring racial diversity into balance

Large school size vs small

-large schools have more courses and opportunities -small schools are more intimate and have more participation

affirmative action

-minority students are given greater weighted priorities for admittance

Trends in colleges

-more people than ever are attending college -higher costs -more women at colleges than before

Debates/problems with schools

-optimal way to include disabled or slow learners in standard classrooms -equal education

universal access

-refers to people's equal ability to participate in an education system -access might be more difficult for certain groups based on class or gender

hidden curriculum

-refers to the type of nonacademic knowledge that students learn through informal learning and cultural transmission -reinforces the positions of those with higher cultural capital and serves to bestow status unequally.

cultural transmission

-refers to the way people come to learn the values, beliefs, and social norms of their culture. -informal and formal education include cultural transmission ex: a student will learn about cultural aspects of modern history in a U.S. History classroom

School trend in the 1980s

-return to basic education -concerned with how US students compared to other countries

charter schools

-self-governing public schools that have signed agreements with state governments to improve students when poor performance is revealed on tests required by the No Child Left Behind Act. -a publicly funded independent school established by teachers, parents, or community groups under the terms of a charter with a local or national authority

Interactionism and education

-study the dynamics of the classroom, the interactions between students and teachers, and how those affect everyday life -labeling has a direct correlation to those who are in power and those who are labeled ex: low standardized test scores or poor performance in a particular class often lead to a student who is labeled as a low achiever

Important factors in school success

-teacher expectations -parental involvement -student engagement -psychological support -community connections -consistency (low mobility and not moving often) -summer school and extracurricular activities

What time period made education more accessible to the general population?

-the Industrial Revolution

social promotion

-the concept of passing students to the next grade regardless of their meeting standards for that grade

social placement

-the use of education to improve one's social standing

Conflict theorist and education

-view education as a means of widening the gap in social inequality -do not believe that public schools reduce social inequality -believe that the educational system reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities that arise from differences in class, gender, race, and ethnicity -schools play the role of training working-class students to accept and retain their position as lower members of society

no child left behind

-which requires states to test students in designated grades -results of those tests determine eligibility to receive federal funding -schools that do not meet the standards set by the Act run the risk of having their funding cut.

In the late 1800's the US school system started focusing on

-work force training -social reform and control (delinquency issues) -socialization