Chapter 12: School

 Traditionalists  Use education to teach the basics to increase knowledge and intellectual powers  Progressives  The purpose of education is to prepare students for life

 Most decisions about education is made on state and local level  School quality varies depending on:   Some federal level steps have been taken  No Child Left Behind, but federal funding is still only about 5% of school funding

 Schools should be made accountable for the success of students or punished for failure  Local control of schools should be increased  Parents and students should have expanded options  Specific teaching methods should be promoted

ReadingMathScience CountryScoreCountryScoreCountryScore Finland546S Korea589S Korea558 Canada534Japan570Japan552 New Zealand 529Belgium537Hungary543 S. Korea523Netherlands536UK538 UK523Canada531Netherlands536 Japan522Hungary529Canada533 Austria507Russia508USA527 France505USA504Belgium516 USA504UK496Russia514 Average500Average466Average473

 School size  Larger schools ▪  Smaller schools ▪  Class size ▪

 Junior High (7-9) or Middle School (6-8)  Difficult transition when beginning either  School transitions coincide with puberty changes  Moving from single, small classroom to many classrooms with multiple teachers  Grades become more serious  Many studies suggest that going right from elementary (K-8) to High School (9-12) have benefits on:  Self esteem  School attendance and engagement  Lower feelings of insignificance

 School climate  Quality of interactions between teachers and students  Research suggests that this is a huge factor (along with higher expectations)

 Family environment 

 Friends  Some studies suggest friends’ influence on school performance is greater than parenting style  Not necessarily negative  “Big fish in a little pond effect”:  Some adolescents want to conceal their high academic achievement from friends

 Work   Leisure 

 Gifted adolescents  Four characteristics that distinguish: ▪

 Would have allowed for students to graduate early  Needed to identify which college, university, or technical school they would be attending  Did not pass

 Learning disability  Adolescent has normal intelligence, but has difficulty in one or more academic area  Boys are twice as likely to have a learning disability  Interventions most effective when introduced at beginning of schooling ▪ More difficult to start with adolescents, but can be effective if teachers are invested

 ADHD  Classified as a learning disability  Treatments ▪ Medication ▪ Therapy ▪

 High School Dropout  Not a sudden event, but a culmination of academic problems  Personal characteristics and problems  Family factors (parent education and income)  School climate  Problems related to dropping out:  Substance abuse  Psychological disorders  Unemployment  Alternative school programs

 Since the 1920’s the age at which a student could drop out is 16.  New Bill passed senate that moves the age up to 18