Exploring Education

Alan R. Sadovnik is Board of Governors Distinguised Service Professor of Education, Sociology, and Public Administration and Affairs at Rutgers University-Newark, USA.Peter W. Cookson, Jr. is a Senior Researcher at the Learning Policy Institute Palo Alto California and Washington DC, and teaches in the Sociology Department at Georgetown University, USA.Susan F. Semel is Professor of Education at the City College of New York, USA and Professor of Urban Education at the City University of New York Graduate Center, USA.Ryan W. Coughlan is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Guttman Community College, CUNY, USA.

• ContentsPreface Acknowledgments 1 The Limits and Promises of Education: Toward Reflective Practitioners Educational Problems The Achievement Gaps The Crisis in Urban Education The Decline of Literacy Assessment Issues Understanding Education: The Foundations Perspective The History of Education The Philosophy of Education The Politics of Education The Sociology of Education The Foundations Perspective: A Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary Approach Critical Literacy and Empowerment: Toward the Active Voice of Teachers 2 The Politics of Education: Conservative, Liberal, Radical, and Neo-liberal Perspectives The Purposes of Schooling Political Perspectives General Issues: Conservative, Liberal, Radical, and Neo-liberal Perspectives Traditional and Progressive Visions of Education The Role of the School Explanations of Unequal Educational Performance Definition of Educational Problems Educational Policy and Reform Education and the American Dream The Neo-liberal Perspective From Political Perspectives to the Politics of Education Evidence Use and the Core Curriculum Standards Movement: From Problem Definition to Policy Adoption, Lorraine McDonnell and M. Stephen Weatherford What "Counts" as Educational Policy? Notes Toward a New Paradigm, Jean Anyon 3 The History of Education Old World and New World Education: The Colonial Era The Age of Reform: The Rise of the Common School Opposition to Public Education Education for Women and African-Americans Urbanization and the Progressive Impetus Education for All: The Emergence of the Public High School The Post-World War II Equity Era: 1945–1980 Cycles of Reform: Progressive and Traditional Equality of Opportunity Educational Reaction and Reform and the Standards Era: 1980s–2012 Understanding the History of U.S. Education: Different Historical Interpretations The Democratic-Liberal School The Radical-Revisionist School Conservative Perspectives Conclusion Empowerment and Education: Civil Rights, Expert Advocates, and Parent Politics in Head Start, 1964-1980, Josh Kagan Capital Accumulation, Class Conflict, and Educational Change, Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis 4 The Sociology of Education The Uses of Sociology for Teachers The Relation between School and Society Theoretical Perspectives Functional Theories Conflict Theories Interactional Theories Effects of Schooling on Individuals Knowledge and Attitudes Employment Education and Mobility Inside the Schools Teacher Behavior Student Peer Groups and Alienation Education and Inequality Inadequate Schools Tracking De Facto Segregation Gender Sociology and the Current Educational Crisis The School Class as a Social System Some of Its Functions in American Society, Talcott Parsons On Understanding the Processes of Schooling: The Contributions of Labeling Theory, Ray C. Rist The Politics of Culture: Understanding Local Political Resistance to Detracking in Racially Mixed Schools, Amy Stuart Wells and Irene Serna 5 The Philosophy of Education and Its Significance for Teachers The Perspective of Philosophy of Education What Is Philosophy of Education? The Meaning of Philosophical Inquiry Particular Philosophies of Education Idealism Realism Pragmatism Existentialism and Phenomenology Neo-Marxism Postmodernist and Critical Theory Conclusion My Pedagogic Creed, John Dewey Wide-Awakeness and the Moral Life, Maxine Greene 6 Schools as Organizations and Teacher Professionalization The Structure of U.S. Education Governance Size and Degree of Centralization Student Composition Degree of "Openness" Private Schools Conclusion International Comparisons Great Britain France Japan Germany Finland Conclusion School Processes and School Cultures Teachers, Teaching, and Professionalization Who Becomes a Teacher? The Nature of Teaching Underqualified Teachers Teacher Professionalization Rich Land, Poor Schools: Inequality of National Educational Resources and Achievement of Disadvantaged Students, David Baker and Gerald LeTendre, with Brian Goesling What Do the National Data Tell Us About Minority Teacher Shortages,Richard Ingersoll7 Curriculum, Pedagogy, and the Transmission of Knowledge What Do the Schools Teach? The History and Philosophy of the Curriculum The Politics of the Curriculum The Sociology of the Curriculum Multicultural Education Curriculum Theory and Practice: The Reconceptualization of Curriculum Studies Pedagogic Practices: How the Curriculum is Taught The Philosophy of Teaching: Differing Views on Pedagogic Practices The Stratification of the Curriculum The Effects of the Curriculum: What is Learned in Schools? Conclusion The Politics of a National Curriculum, Michael W. Apple The Silenced Dialogue: Power and Pedagogy in Educating Other People’s Children, Lisa D. Delpit 8 Equality of Opportunity and Educational Outcomes Calculating Educational and Life Outcomes Class Race Gender Educational Achievement and Attainment of African-American, Hispanic-American, and Women Students Students with Special Needs Conclusion School Differences and Educational Outcomes The Coleman Study (1966) The Coleman Study (1982) Conclusion School Segregation Educational Attainment and Economic Achievement Education and Inequality: Mobility or Reproduction? Class and the Classroom: Even the Best Schools Can’t Close the Race Achievement Gap, Richard Rothstein Fifty Years Since the Coleman Report: Rethinking the Relationship between Schools and Inequality, Douglas B. Downey and Dennis J. CondronA Social Constructionist Approach to Disability: Implications for Special Education, Dimitris Anastasiou and James M. Kauffman9 Explanations of Educational Inequality Explanations of Unequal Educational Achievement Student-Centered Explanations Genetic Differences Cultural Deprivation Theories Cultural Difference Theories School-Centered Explanations School Financing Effective School Research Between-School Differences: Curriculum and Pedagogic Practices Within-School Differences: Curriculum and Ability Grouping Gender and Schooling Do Schools Reproduce Inequality? It’s Not "a Black Thing": Understanding the Burden of Acting White and Other Dilemmas of High Achievement, Karolyn Tyson, William Darity, Jr., and Domini R. Castellino How You Bully a Girl": Sexual Drama and the Negotiation ofGendered Sexuality in High School, Sarah A. MillerThe Rules of the Game and the Uncertain Transmission of Advantage: Middle-class Parents’ Search for an UrbanKindergarten, Annette Lareau, Shani Adia Evans, and April YeeA Black Student’s Reflection on Public and Private Schools, Imani Perry 10 Educational Reform and School Improvement Effective Teachers Educational Reform from the 1980s to 2012 Federal Involvement in Education Goals 2000: Building on a Decade of Reform No Child Left Behind Race to the Top Approaches to Reform School-Based Reforms School Choice, Charter Schools, and Tuition Vouchers Privatization Teacher Education Teacher Quality The Effective School Movement Societal, Community, Economic, and Political Reforms State Intervention and Mayoral Control in Local School Districts School Finance Reforms Full Service and Community Schools Harlem Children’s Zone Connecting School, Community, and Societal Reforms A Theory of Educational Problems and Reforms School Vouchers and Student Achievement: Reviewing the Research, David TrillingA Critical Look at the Charter School Debate, Margaret E. Raymond Ravitch-Tilson Debate, Diane Ravitch and Whitney TilsonAppendix: Suggested Resources Permissions References Index