Education 417: School and Society, Spring 2008, Tuesdays 4:00 - 6:40
www.sonoma.edu/users/f/filp

Citation Format for Public Education Video, Course Reader and for Noll

GENERAL EDUCATION COURSE AREA D1

Instructor: Johanna Filp-Hanke, Ph. D.	Office hours: Thursdays 4:00 - 5:00 pm or by appointment
Office: Stevenson 3096-B	Phone: 707-664-2280
email: johanna.filp@sonoma.edu

Course Description

Schools and education touch everyone's life in one way or another, be it through our own personal experience, as a parent who makes choices, as a citizen, a student, or as a teacher. In addition schools are at the center of the political debates and heated discussions, as can be gathered by the many editorials and news articles dealing with topics such as No Child Left Behind, testing, migrant students, teacher preparation, student drop out, vouchers, bilingual education, diversity, funding, etc.

In this course, you will engage in a critical examination of current issues in today's schools and future directions in education through the perspectives of history, philosophy, sociology, and anthropology, and the politics of education. Content includes: trends, movements, and issues of present-day schools and current educational practice; development of an individual philosophy of education through examination and evaluation of educational philosophies; analysis of culture in educational contexts; and the influence of federal, state and local governing agencies, the knowledge industry, and special-interest groups on education.

Course Goals

• To develop an understanding of historical, philosophical, sociological, political, legal and economic perspectives on education

• To examine trends, movements, issues and events in the history of U.S. schooling and current educational practices

• To analyze the effects of the American social structure on schooling with particular emphasis on the implications of cultural, linguistic, exceptional, ethnic, social, religious, gender, racial, and socioeconomic diversity

• To develop an understanding of the history of bilingual education in the United States and elsewhere

• To study the way in which cultural assumptions are constructed, reproduced, and transmitted in a variety of education contexts

• To examine a range of critical multicultural perspectives on education including perspectives of diverse social and linguistic groups, with attention to issues of access and equity

• To develop understanding of the influence of federal, state, and local governing agencies, the knowledge industry corporate, and special-interest groups on education (e.g. assessment, high stakes, evaluation, testing, curriculum, bilingual education)

• To understand the professional obligations of teachers, including legal rights and responsibilities, and to explore ethical issues confronting educators

• To develop an individual philosophy of education through examination and evaluation of theories and philosophies and their consequences for education

Required Readings

Course Requirements

Class Participation.

1. Class attendance and participation: It is important that you come to class regularly and stay for the whole period. Our class meetings are designed with the expectation that you have read all of the assigned readings prior to coming to class. Be prepared to share your understandings and questions about the reading. In our class discussions, please remember to respect divergent ideas and that our different life experiences have shaped our views.Also be sensitive to allowing your classmates equal access "to the floor", as well as actively listening to their comments.

Please let me know in advance if you will not be able to attend classes. You will loose 15 points for each class missed. If you miss more than three classes you will fail the class. Of course, I will take into consideration special cases, such as illness, family emergencies or other unforeseen crises. These have to be properly documented. It is your responsibility to find out what you have missed when you are absent, and to make-up any in-class assignments that were given. Being absent does not excuse you from anything that was discussed or due in class.

Web discussions: At different times during the semester you will post an entry about the class readings. You will also respond to a class-mate's reflections. Please check the class schedule to see when you should post a written reflection on the web. Guidelines for your reading reflections are available on the course web site.

Library browsing of educational journals. The purpose of this assignment is for you to start thinking about your Mini-Research project, to begin to search for articles, and to learn to cite sources in APA format, both within the text and in the Bibliography. During class we will go to the library and attend a workshop on how to find articles. For your paper you will search for articles related to your research topic. Type in your search term, select only peer reviewed and full text journals. Look at the list of articles that comes up, glance at the titles, and then select 8 articles that catch your interest. Click on these articles, glance at them and see what questions were asked. Your paper will be short. Write about 4 to five lines per article, state what question was asked and add a brief comment about your own thoughts about the question researched. Approximately 800 words (it may be longer), size 12 font . Bring a hard copy to class and post your results on web ct. Click here for additional guidelines for this assignment.

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Midterm Take Home: Analytical Educational Autobiography.

Mini-research project: Choose a topic of your interest, related to the objectives of the course (see course syllabus). Specific guidelines for this assignment are presented on the course web site (click here). You will make a 15 minute presentation of your study to the class. Use Powerpoint to prepare visual aids. Post your study on webct and on turnitin. . Hand in a hard copy to me .There will be two or three presentations per class session, starting September 25 (Week 6) and the topics will coincide with the contents discussed at that particular session. The presentation calendar will be arranged during our second and third class session. (Approximately 1800 words, it may be longer)

Final Take Home: Educational Philosophy (approximately 1200 words; it may be longer). Based on the readings and your life experience prepare your own Philosophy of Education. The paper should reflect your understanding of the course readings . Guidelines for this assignment are available on the course web site (click here) A sample paper is available on webct.

• Course Introduction
• Review of course syllabus
• Early Beginnings of U.S. Education: Recurring Issues and Questions

In class video: School, the story of public education. Vol. 1

• Oakes-Lipton: Schooling Wrestling with History and Tradition. In the course reader.
• Review statistics about the educational situation in the U.S., demographics, student achievement, resources, etc http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d06/tables_1.asp Come to class, prepared to share your findings. Bring one or two tables that were of particular interest to you.
• Find out about the most important aspects of No Child Left Behind on the web at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/overview/intro/execsumm.html

• Noll Issue 14. Is Full Inclusion of Disabled Students Desirable?
• Read about the definitions of learning disabilities, early warning signs, common warning signs, legal rights, tips for parents, tips for teachers. http://www.ncld.org/content/view/448/
• Online reading on living and learning with children with exceptional needs

• Noll Issue 7. Have Public Schools Adequately Accommodated Religion?
• Noll Issue 11. Has the Supreme Court Reconfigured American Education?