Sociology of Education
Review for Exam #3
I. Format: The exam will be
short essay and/or short answer format (as has been the case throughout this
semester, no other format makes sense with this kind of material).
II. Readings:
A.
Hirsch, Chapters 5, 6, & 7
B.
A Nation at Risk, http://www.ed.gov/pubs/NatAtRisk/risk.html
(first page
only)
C.
Finn, http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/osof.html#toc,
“Teacher Reform . . .” (just click on the hot linked page number next to the
article name)
D.
Lehman, http://www.pbs.org/weta/twoschools/thechallenge/history/,
“Reading Wars”
E.
Hoxby, “What Has Changed,” http://www-hoover.stanford.edu/publications/books/osof.html#toc
F.
U.S. Dep’t of Education, “Executive Summary of ‘No Child Left Behind’,” http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html
III. Key Themes: Class Lectures
(These overlap – of course – with the assigned readings.)
A. The Progressive Era
1. Scientific Management
2. Social Efficiency"
& the "Differentiated Curriculum"
3. Redefining Democracy and
Education
a. The "Cardinal Principles of Secondary
Education"
B. The 20s – 50s
1. Progressive Ed. Continued
a. the Dewey &
Lincoln Schools
2. G. Stanley Hall & the
(Romantic) Child-Centered Movement
3.
IQ Testing
a. Thorndike &
his critics
4. The Soviet Influence
a. The Progressive
agenda based on this influence
5. Life adjustment curriculum
a. and its critics
(Bestor, Eisenhower, Rickover)
6. Rudolf Flesch and Why Johnny Can’t Read
a. why can’t
Johnny read?
b. The first modern
installment in the “reading wars”
c. The legacy of
Horace Mann & the “look-say” method
7. Soviets and nuclear
testing; Sputnik
a. Impact on
progressive agenda
C. The 60s – 70s
1. Cultural – Societal
Upheaval
a. Impact on
schools and on curriculum
2. The Summerhill influence
3. The rise of “Affective
Education” (and open education)
D. The cycle of educational reform
1. what is this? (describe
& explain it)
2. Why does it exist? (hint:
ideas matter)
E. The 80s—Present
1. The Nat’l Commission on
Excellence in Education and A Nation at
Risk
a. Four main areas
of concern
2. The Carnegie Task Force
and A Nation Prepared
a. Redefining the
problems with public education
b. Teacher
professionalism movement
i.
teachers as instruments of reform to teachers as shapers of reform
3. Sociological factors
involved:
a. New social
organizations (vs. disbanded Commission on Excellence): NBPTS, NCATE, INTASC,
etc. etc.
b. what were their goals? Why significant?
4. Curricular “Reforms”
a. “New” method of
reading instruction: whole language
i. what is
this? Is it new?
ii. The
case of
b. Know the key
assumptions underlying whole language
c. What does the
scientific research say regarding learning to read?
d. A Tale of Two Schools
5. Nat’l
a. why significant?
What happened?
6. High stakes accountability
legislation
a. NC ABCs
legislation (explain its main ideas)
7. No Child Left Behind: key
provisions
a. positives?
Negatives?
G. What has changed and what has not?
1. Content
2. Low Expectations
3. Time
4. Improve teaching
i. know what NAR recommended, and what has
changed or not in each area; why?
