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Correspondence Principle

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The tendency of schools to promote the values of expected individuals in each social class and to prepare students for the types of jobs typically held by members of their class

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Credentialism

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An increase in the lowest level of education required to enter a field

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Hidden Curriculum

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Standards of behavior that are deemed proper by society and are taught subtly in schools.

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What are the "three Rs" in formal knowledge that is emphasized in U.S. education?

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reading, writing, and arithmetic, as well as cultural knowledge (morals, values, ethics)

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Schooling

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more formal, institutionalized aspects of education (for preparing the young for entry into society; form of socialization)

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Reliability

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The extent to which a measure produces consistent results

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Teacher-Expectantcy Effect

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The impact that a teacher's expectations about a student may have on the student's actual achievements.

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Tracking

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The practice of placing students in specific curriculum groups on the basis of their test scores and other criteria.

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Validity

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The degree to which a measure or scale truly reflects the phenomenon under study.

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Cookson and Persell 1985 Education

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Education was considered a luxury, available only to children of the upper classes

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Compare the percentages of whites and blacks graduating from high school in 1940 to now

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1940: whites = 25%; blacks = 8% Today: whites = 92%; blacks = 85%; hispanics = 62%

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Education has helped reduce inequality:

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1. % of high school grads has increased across races and genders and has increased social mobility 2. College enrollment of minorities has also increased, which means more women and minorities are getting mid-level and high-level jobs

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Ways education increases inequality

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ability testing, tracking, teacher expectancy effect, and stereotype threat

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What are the 3 kinds of education in the US?

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public education, private education, and homeschooling education

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charter schools

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among public schools; receive public funds, but are not subject to the same rules and regulations as other public schools; are attended by choice; specialized curriculum; many think they offer an alternative to failing public schools

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private schools

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make up 1/4 of all schools and are attended by 10% of all students; 79% are religious

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homeschooling

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children educated at home; 3% of school-aged children; 3/4 home schooled are white; why they are home schooled = environment and academic instruction in public schools and perhaps religious needs to not me standards

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What has happened to rankings of US in math and science

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US used to be on top. Now ranked: 35/40 in math AND 29/40 in science

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Functionalist Theory on Eduction

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argues that education accomplishes the following consequences or "functions" for society

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Aspects of Functionalist Theory of Education

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1. Socialization = schools influence passing on "book knowledge", as well as cultures and beliefs, habits, and norms (explicit = musics and art; implicit = discipline and manners) 2. Occupational training = function of education; in an industrialized society such as US; jobs and training passed on within family; jobs are less and less 3. Social control = regulation of deviant behavior; function of eduction; latent functions

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Latent functions

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indirect subtle consequences emerging from the activities of institutions; one type = compulsory education; *hidden curriculum = schools not only "function" to give skills and training, but they also teach students norms, identities, and other forms of social learning that are not part of the formal curriculum

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Conflict Theory on Education

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emphasizes the power and inequality that are part of education as a social institution

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Achievement gap

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racial differences in education; black students score below white students on standardized tests in reading, math, and writing; this is present before children enter kindergarten and persists into adulthood; it narrowed during the 1970s, but has returned since the 1990s

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Symbolic Interaction Theory on Education

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focuses on how people interpret social interaction; subjective dimensions of education and schooling; 3 parts = teacher expectancy effect, self-fulfilling prophecy, and stereotype threat

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Teacher Expectancy Effect

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the effect of teacher expectations on a student's actual performance

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Self-fulfilling Prophecy

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how expectations are converted into performance; powerful mechanism in which merely applying a label has the effect of justifying the it; if a student is labeled a certain type, the student often becomes that type

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Stereotype Threat

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refers to the fact that perceived negative stereotypes about one's group can actually affect one's academic performance; *high achieving minorities and women do poor on achievement tests that are said to reflect on their racial group or gender; *the threat of conformity stereotypes impairs their ability to achieve on standardized tests

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Functionalism's view on: (a) Education in Society (b) Schools (c) Social Change

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(a) Fulfills certain societal needs for socialization and training; "sorts" people in society according to their abilities (b) Inculcate values needed by the society (c) Means that schools take on functions that other institutions, such as the family, originally fulfilled

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Conflict Theory's view on: (a) Education in Society (b) Schools (c) Social Change

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(a) Reflects other inequalities in society, including race, class, and gender inequality, and perpetuates such inequalities by tracking practices, for example (b) Are hierarchical institutions reflecting conflict and power relations in society (c) Threatens to put some groups at continuing disadvantage in the quality of education

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Symbolic Interaction Theory's view on: (a) Education in Society (b) Schools (c) Social Change

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(a) Emerges depending on the character of social interaction b/w groups in schools (b) Are sites where social interaction b/w groups (such as teachers and students) influences chances for individual and group success (c) Can be positive as people develop new perceptions of formerly stereotyped groups

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Connection b/w education, income, and gender

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on the whole, the higher one's education, the higher one's income, however women tend to earn less, despite earning the same degree;

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Education and social mobility

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-Education has traditionally been viewed in the US as a way out of poverty and low social standing -> social mobility -^^True, although, greatly depends on social class individual was born into -Education is used by upper class to avoid downward mobility -Education for middle class improves chances of getting middle-class jobs, but upper class jobs are limited **Education is strongly affected by social-class origins

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Why uses standardized tests?

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1. Standardizes the measure of student ability and potential to achieve in college 2. High school grades seen as subjective and inconsistent

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Criticisms of Standardized tests

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1. Measure limited ranges of ability 2. Designed by middle class, white males and include cultural and gender biases 3. Do not predict school performance very well. SAT and ACT predicts less than 20% variance in freshman grades

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How is one's SAT score a substitution of measure of one's social class?

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Within a certain range, you can guess someone's likely SAT score from knowing only the income and social class of his or her parents.

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standardized ability tests

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intended to measure ability or potential; IQ and SAT

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achievement tests

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intended to measure what has actually been learned; AP and ACT

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predictive validity

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the extent to which the tests accurately predict later college grades; comprised for minorities, women, and persons of working class origins.

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tracking

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also called "ability grouping"; the separating of students within schools according to some measure of ability (Oakes et al. 2000); taken place for more than 70 years

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Why tracking?

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1. Make teaching more efficient by sorting students into homogenous groups by ability 2. Tailored to ability, so students at all levels benefit

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Criticisms of tracking (detracking)

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1. Students in high tracks receive positive effects, while low track students suffer negative effects 2. Less is expected of lower-track students 3. Once a student is labeled, the label sticks, regardless of if it is accurate

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Plessy vs. Ferguson 1896

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"separate but equal" ruled constitutional; legalizes Jim Crow, confides inferiority of blacks

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Brown vs. Board of Ed. 1954

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overturns Plessy; separate is inherently equal

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Milliken vs. Bradley 1974

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limits the reach of desecration, metropolitan areas w/high minority populations do not have to comply

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Board of Education of Oklahoma City vs. Dowell 1991

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Court orders were not meant to "operate in perpetuity" makes it easier for districts to satisfy desegregation degree.

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Resegregation

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the process by which more integrated schools become more racially segregating; is accelerating fastest in the south

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Where is resegregation most evident?

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In the North and Midwest, whereas South is more integrated

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Race, school, and neighborhoods

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-Racial Segregation of school is no longer legal, but resegregation is on the rise -most students attend their neighborhood school -today, schools are often segregated because neighborhoods are segregated

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No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001

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-goal=attempt to narrow achievement and test score gap b/w white students and students of color in US public schools; reconstructing education with an emphasis on "accountability" (measuring assessments of where and how schools are succeeding or failing); teachers can be replaced based on their students' test scores -effect=gap has actually widened

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Race to the Top

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Under Obama administration; Under this plan states compete for large sums of money (in the millions dollars) to assist them in school reform. The program targets 4 specific areas: 1. Adopting standards and assessments that will prepare students to succeed in college and the workplace and to compete in a global economy. 2. Developing good measures of student success that can be used to inform teachers and administrators about improving instruction 3. Recruiting, rewarding, and retaining the best teachers and principals 4. Improving the lowest-achieving schools

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