Education

Cultural and Social-Psychological Influences on Student Outcomes

"Acting white" thesis; Abstract and concrete attitudes; Cultural navigators; Gender gap; Stereotype threat; Stereotype promise; Educational policy today

Stereotype promise

A phenomenon where being viewed through the lens of a positive stereotype may lead one to perform in such a way that confirms the positive stereotype, thereby enhancing performance

Emotional intelligence

Ability to identify, assess, and control the emotions of oneself or others

Abstract and concrete attitudes

Abstract attitudes are ideas that are consistent with mainstream societal views, while concrete attitudes are ideas that are based on actual experience

Cultural capital (Pierre Bourdieu)

Advantages that well-to-do parents usually provide their children

Feminist Theory

Aims to understand the mechanisms and roots of gender inequality in education, as well as their societal repercussions; Almost two-thirds of the world's 862 million illiterate people are women, and the illiteracy rate among women is expected to increase in many regions, especially in several African and Asian countries

Between-School Effects: Do Schools and Neighborhoods Matter?

Coleman found that schools in the United States were highly segregated; Children left behind --> Differences in the economic and social backdrop of the schools—the housing values of the neighborhoods in which the schools were located— led to very different school settings

Obama's Race to the Top (RTT)

Contest created to spur innovation and reforms in state and local district K-12 education

Gender gap

Differences between women and men, especially as reflected in social, political, intellectual, cultural, or economic attainments or attitudes

Achievement Gap

Disparity on a number of educational measures between the performance of groups of students, especially groups defined by gender, race, ethnicity, ability, and socioeconomic status

Symbolic Interactionism

Education as one way that labeling theory is seen in action; Labeling theory example --> low standardized test scores or poor performance in a particular class often lead to a student who is labeled as a low achiever (labels are difficult to "shake off," which can create a self- fulfilling prophecy)

Homeschooling

Education of children by their parents at home; 2.3 million home-educated students in the United States

Conflict Theory

Educational system reinforces and perpetuates social inequalities that arise from differences in class, gender, race, and ethnicity; Educational systems preserve the status quo and push people of lower status into obedience; Students of low socioeconomic status are generally not afforded the same opportunities as students of higher status, no matter how great their academic ability or desire to learn

Hidden Curriculum

Formal education systems perpetuate social stratification; Traits of behavior or attitudes that are learned at school but not included in the formal curriculum; Describes the values and behaviors that students learn indirectly over the course of their schooling because of the educational system's structure and teaching methods

Stereotype threat

Idea that when African American students believe they are being judged, not as individuals but as members of a negatively stereotyped group, they will do worse on tests

Intelligence

Level of intellectual ability, particularly as measured by intelligence quotient (IQ) tests; score attained on test of symbolic or reasoning abilities

Cultural navigators

People who draw from both their home culture and mainstream culture to create an attitude that allows them to be successful

What is education?

Process by which a society transmits knowledge, values, and expectations to its members so they can function in society; social institution through which a society's children are taught basic academic knowledge, learning skills, and cultural norms

Assimilation

Process of assimilation or acculturation; In an official curriculum, students learn a common language and a common set of facts about a country's history, geography, and culture

Credentialism

Proponents of credentialist theories of education argue that the diploma is more important than the content of one's education; Certificates or degrees serve as a symbol of what a person has achieved, allowing the labeling of that individual

Charter Schools

Public schools run by private entities to give parents greater control over their children's education

Issues in Education

Rising Student Loan Debt

Latent Functions (hidden, unstated functions with some unintended consequences)

Social networks:assortive mating; job seeking; Group work, a skill that is transferable to a workplace and that might not be learned in a homeschool setting.

Manifest Functions (openly stated functions with intended goals)

Socialization, Social control, Social placement, Human capital

Educational policy today

Standardized testing: a situation in which all students take the same test under the same conditions --> Bush's No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act --> Obama granted waivers from NCLB requirements to 27 states, allowing them to develop their own standards and exempting them from the 2014 targets set by the law

Within-School Effects

Tracking: dividing students into groups that receive different instruction on the basis of assumed similarities in ability or attainment

Schooling serves a number of important functions for society:

Transmission of knowledge; Learning to follow society's rules and to respect authority; Being socialized to develop other qualities that will eventually make people efficient and obedient workers

"Acting white" thesis

black students do not aspire to or strive to get good grades because it is perceived as "acting white"