1. HD 4: Lecture Notes Ecology of the School
Chapter 6 (Berns) Chapter 3 (Elkind)

2. What were your school experiences like?
Reflection Moment
What were your school experiences like?

3. Ecology of the School
The school is society’s formal institution where learning takes place.(215)
The primary purpose of education, from society’s perspective, is the transmission of the cultural heritage (knowledge, values, beliefs, and customs of society).
The school’s function in the U.S. can be best described as universal, formal, and prescriptive.

4. School and Government
The first amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion and requires separation of church and state.
Title IX was passed in 1972 which focused on gender inequalities.
IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Act) provides federal money to state and local agencies to educate children with disabilities. (3-21)
Expenditures per pupil vary widely across the U.S.

5. No Child Left Behind Act (218)
Congress passed in 2001.
The purpose of the act was to hold schools accountable for student achievement by tying federal funding to standardized test scores.

6. School Choice Public school in a local district Magnet school
Charter school
Home School—Requirements vary by state
Private school

7. Education and the Disabled (228)
Long ago, people with disabilities tended to be banished, neglected, and/or mistreated.
As Christianity spread, they were protected and pitied.
During the 18th-19th centuries, institutions were established to provide separate education.
In the later part of the 20th century, there was a focus on mainstreaming.

8. IDEA (231)
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act passed in 1990
Provides federal money to states and local agencies to educate children with disabilities ages 3-21
The main purpose of the act is to guarantee that all children with disabilities have available to them a free and appropriate public education.
IEP: Individualized Education Program
Inclusion: The philosophy of being part of the whole.
IDEA requires that students be placed in the least restrictive environment.

9. Reflection Moment
Do you think peers can be socializing agents in an integrated classroom?
Do you think full inclusion is the best model for all children?

10. Education and the English Language Learner (222)
Cultural pluralism: Involves a mutual appreciation and understanding of various cultures and the coexistence in society of different languages, religions, and lifestyles.
Bilingual/multicultural education: Education in the student’s native language as well as English, respect for the student’s culture and ethnicity, and enhancements of the student’s self concept.

11. Lau vs. Nichols
Schools receiving federal funds could not discriminate against children with limited or no English speaking ability by denyin gthem language training.
This was a Supreme Court ruling.

12. The Coleman Report (223)
1966-James Coleman surveyed nearly 1 million students in 6,000 schools across the U.S.
The purpose of the report was to determine if students were successful in accordance with their ability. If not, why not?
It studied the attributes that children bring to school that affect learning.
He found that the school’s social composition had the most influence on individual achievement.
Children were influenced by their classmates social class backgrounds and aspirations.
It found a strong connection between achievement and attitudes.

13. Children from low-SES and ethnically diverse families fare comparably to middle-class children when families:
Create a home environment that encourages learning.
Express high expectations for their children’s achievement.
Become involved in their children’s lives.

14. “Students from ethnically diverse backgrounds who perform poorly in school do so for a number of reasons some linked to ethnicity and others to social class.”
The school has been less effective in educating children from low-socioeconomic status families.

15. Potential reasons include the following:
Inappropriate curricula and materials
Difference between parental and school norms
Lack of previous success in school
Teaching difficulties
Teacher perceptions and standards
Segregation
Differences in teacher/student backgrounds

16. Parent Involvement
The degree of involvement is related to the level of education attained by the parents.

17. Which parents are most involved?
Parents of young children with some college education and in the middle to upper socioeconomic statuses have the most involvement in school.

18. Benefits of Parent Involvement
Students have a more positive attitude toward learning
Students have better attendance
Students have fewer placements in special education
Students have better grades
Students have an increased likelihood of graduating from high school.

19. Additional Benefits of Parent Involvement
Student and parent perceptions of classroom and school climate.
Positive student attitudes and behaviors.
Higher educational aspirations among students and parents.
Increased student lifetime earnings potential.
Increased student time spent with parents.
Student readiness to do homework.

20. How Can Schools Encourage Parent Involvement? (Patte, Justice & Noble)
Offer transportation for parents.
Offer child care services so parents can attend school events.
Conduct home visits.
Develop support networks.
Offer before and after school child care.
Offer meaningful involvement opportunities.
Use technology to link home and school.

21. Schools and Socialization
Successful schools really work on human connectedness.
Families can become involved in the school and education when they vote.
The three major ways families become involved is through decision making, participation, and partnership.

22. Computers in the Schools
The effectiveness of computers as a
tool for learning depends on how
they are used by teachers and
students, as well as the software
selected.

23. Substance Abuse in the Schools
Substance use and abuse remains a major problem among high schoolers and an increasing one among middle schoolers.

24. Violence in the Schools
In order to create an optimal learning environment, schools MUST be safe.

25. Violence (236)
“Children who grow up in a violent community are at risk for emotional and psychological problems, because growing up in a constant state of fear makes it difficult to establish trust, autonomy, and social competence.”

26. Notes from The Hurried Child
Chapter 3

27. More basics
More homework
More testing

28. In 1983, the Office of Education warned of a rising tide of mediocrity in our schools.

29. Education often hurries children because it ignores individual differences in mental abilities, learning rates, and learning styles.
Schools also hurry children through the progressive downward thrust of the curriculum.

30. The return of the outmoded practice of rotation also hurries children.
This practice makes inappropriate demands for adaptation on children.

31. Elkind’s Opinions About Schools
Schools are becoming too product oriented.
Dishonesty and cheating has taken place with the over-emphasis on testing.
If we take some of the pressure off schools and administrators, we will take some of the pressure off of the children.
He believes that social skills are more important than academic skills.
Readiness is not in the child’s head.
Many students are pushed into accelerated programs and do not belong. They can’t keep up.

32. “The creativity and innovation of teachers is deadened by overly close ties to the uniformity of educational publishing and testing.”
Gardner developed the theory of multiple intelligences. Most schools and tests focus on only a few of the different forms of intelligences.

33. Schools in Japan Compared to the U.S.
“Japanese children are hurried yet they don’t seem to show the stress symptoms that American children do, and they actually thrive on the pressures of their intense educational program.”
The self esteem of Japanese children is lower than other children in other countries.
U.S. children may not have moved as fast but they go further.

34. Who modifies the hurrying on the Japanese child in Japanese schools?
The Japanese Mother

35. What works well in schools according to David Elkind?
Multi age grouping works well in schools.
A certain amount of stress and pressure are important and healthy for children to realize their full powers.