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EDUC 605 - Murillo
Syllabus
Course Overview: Foundations of Education (through an interdisciplinary social science approach) will look at education as a social process and function. The purposes of this course are: 1) to introduce social theory to educators and novice educational scholars, 2) to explore the contemporary condition of education and the relationship between its condition and wider social forces, and 3) to cultivate a critical perspective from which to assess the processes and practices of schooling.
These will be accomplished through using a range of foundational perspectives such as philosophy, anthropology, sociology, history, cultural studies and others. This course is designed in an interdisciplinary fashion as a means of moving from the traditional pedagogical position of simply “learning what is already known” to the more interpretive, normative and critical perspectives supported by the Council of Learned Societies in Education (http:/members.aol.com/caddogap/clsehome.htm) and NCATE 2000 Standards (http://www.ncate.org/) (May 11, 2000, see p. 8 footnote 10).
We will begin by distinguishing between education and schooling. The term education broadly refers to the process of learning over the span of one’s entire life, whereas schooling is the learning that takes place in formal institutions whose specific function is the socialization of specific groups within society (deMarrais and LeCompte, 1999). Special attention will next be paid to how the several different and competing theoretical perspectives and schools of thought that underlie social science thinking affect our beliefs about the purposes and operation of schools. We will interrogate these purposes and operations of schooling by exploring the social context of education. This context includes the constellation of forces and interests, both dominant and contested, that give rise to the contemporary conditions.
Course Rationale: As a member of a professional community, more is required than mastering methodologies and subject matter. Educators and educational scholars have a responsibility to participate in the wider professional and public dialogue about the goals, outcomes, and future of education. In order to fulfill that responsibility, they must be well informed and articulate in terms of the issue in question and their position with regards to it. Students in this course will develop and exercise their critical perspective by engaging the readings, their peers, and the instructor in both class discussions and written assignments.
The Council of Learned Societies in Education contends that educational thought and practice may be interpreted differently (philosophically and historically). Consequently, "understanding follows from attempts to interpret educational thought and practice within their special contexts and to translate them from one perspective to another (CLSE, Standards for Academic and Professional Instruction in Foundations of Education, Educational Studies, and Educational Policy Studies, 1997). The purposes of this course therefore support the view that “knowledge on part of the learner is actively constructed and reconstructed by the learner through experience and interaction with others across time,” that “the teacher and the educational professional need to develop the habit of reflection,” and “developing as a wise professional educator implies a lifelong commitment to continual engagement in the process of the teacher as learner” (COE Conceptual Framework).
In general terms, this course provides to educators and novice educational scholars, the theoretical foundations, foundational perspectives, or philosophical justifications for the features that characterize conceptual frameworks, and upon completion, students are to understand and be able to apply knowledge related to the social, historical, and philosophical foundations of education.
Relevant Professional Standards: Council of Learned Societies in Education (http://members.aol.com/caddogap/clsehome.htm).
Adopted by NCATE 2000 Standards (May 11, 2000, see p. 8 footnote 10).
Principle #1: The educator understands and can apply disciplinary knowledge from the humanities and social sciences to interpreting the meanings of education and schooling in diverse cultural contexts.
Knowledge: The educator has acquired a knowledge base of resources, theories, distinctions, and analytic techniques developed within the humanities, the social sciences, and the foundations of education. The educator understands the central concepts and tools of inquiry of foundational disciplines that bear on the educational process and can apply these to the formulation and review of instructional, administrative, and school leadership and governance procedures.
Dispositions: The educator has developed habits of using this knowledge base in evaluating and formulating educational practice.
Performances: The educator can examine and explain the practice, leadership, and governance of education in different societies in light of its origins, major influences, and consequences, utilizing critical understanding of educational thought and practice and of the decisions and events which have shaped them.
Principle #2: The educator understands and can apply normative perspectives on education and schooling.
Knowledge: The educator understands and employs value orientations and ethical perspectives in analyzing and
interpreting educational ideas, practices, and events.
Dispositions: The educator has developed the habits of examining the normative and ethical assumptions of schooling practice and educational ideas.
Performances: The educator can recognize the inevitable presence of normative influences in educational thought and practice. The educator can appraise conceptions of truth, justice, caring, and rights as they are applied in
educational practice. The educator can assist the examination and development of democratic values that are based on critical study and reflection.
Principle #3: The educator understands and can apply critical perspectives on education and schooling.
Knowledge: The educator understands how the foundations of education knowledge base of resources, theories,
distinctions, and analytic techniques provides instruments for the critical analysis of education in its various forms.
Dispositions: The educator has developed habits of critically examining educational practice in light of this knowledge base.
Performances: The educator can utilize theories and critiques of the overarching purposes of schooling as well as considerations of the intent, meaning, and effects of educational institutions. The educator can identify and appraise educational assumptions and arrangements in a way that can lead to changes in conceptions and values. The educator uses critical judgment to question educational assumptions and arrangements and to identify contradictions and inconsistencies among social and educational values, policies, and practices.
Principle #4: The educator understands how moral principles related to democratic institutions can inform and
direct schooling practice, leadership, and governance.
Knowledge: The educator understands how the foundations of education knowledge base illuminates the conditions which support democracy, democratic citizenship, and education in a democratic society. The educator
understands how various conceptions of the school foster or impede free inquiry, democratic collaboration, and supportive interaction in all aspects of school life.
Dispositions: The educator values democratic forms of association and supports the conditions essential to them. The educator recognizes that political participation constitutes the social basis of democracy.
Performances: The educator participates effectively in individual and organizational efforts that maintain and enhance American schools as institutions in a democratic society. The educator can evaluate the moral, social, and political dimensions of classrooms, teaching, and schools as they relate to life in a democratic society.
Principle #5: The educator understands the full significance of diversity in a democratic society and how that
bears on instruction, school leadership, and governance.
Knowledge: The educator understands how social and cultural differences originating outside the classroom and school affect student learning. The educator has acquired an understanding of education that includes sensitivity to human potentials and differences.
Dispositions: The educator is accepting of individual differences that are consistent with democratic values and
responsibilities. The educator is disposed to the acceptance of human commonality within diversity.
Performances: The educator can adapt instruction to incorporate recognition of social and cultural differences to the extent that it does not interfere with basic democratic principles. The educator can specify how issues such as justice, social inequality, concentrations of power, class differences, race and ethnic relations, or family and community organization affect teaching and schools.
Principle #6: The educator understands how philosophical and moral commitments affect the process of
evaluation at all levels of schooling practice, leadership, and governance.
Knowledge: The educator understands the tacit interests and moral commitments on which the technical processes of evaluation rest. The educator understands that in choosing a measuring device, one necessarily makes moral and philosophical assumptions.
Dispositions: The educator is prepared to consider the ontological, epistemological, and ethical components of an evaluation method.
Performances: The educator can articulate moral and philosophical assumptions underlying an evaluation process. The educator can identify what counts as evidence that a student has (or has not) learned or can (or cannot) learn.
NCATE 2000 Standards (http://www.ncate.org/)
Standard 1 – Candidate Performance:
Candidates will be able to utilize technology.
Course Goals and Learning Objectives: Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to apply various foundational disciplines to characterize contemporary issues in education; understand education and schooling as social constructions reflecting dominant interests and contested by subordinated groups; identify structural and cultural forces that shape schooling in the United States; discuss the social interests served by schooling and their implications relative to a diverse population; distinguish between macro- and micro-level responses to the conditions of schooling created by structural and cultural forces; articulate ways in which education reproduces social conditions, as well as ways it could aid in their transformation, analyze relationships among culture, power, and privilege as they relate to and can inform educational policy and practice; and, describe aspects of culturally relevant education and discuss their impact on classrooms.
This course will engage you in the following questions:
– What is the relationship between society and schools?
– Who is / should be educated?
– What knowledge and values are / should be taught?
– Are schools set up to promote the equal educational achievement of all students?
– What is the relation of contemporary social and cultural diversity to educational processes, policies and practices, both inside and outside the classroom (in the United States)?
– How do student identities and cultures affect educational processes?
– How do current trends in educational reform reflect both the historical trajectory of education and contemporary relations between the state, politics, and the economy?
In this course, we explore these questions and more by reading, discussing, researching, and debating key anthropological, sociological, philosophical, and educational terms, concepts, policies and analyses of the ways that schools organize, reproduce, and transform cultural and social differences. In addition, we will look beyond the classroom to examine how broader political, historical, and economic processes affect schooling. Through discussions and writing assignments, students are encouraged to reflect critically on both societal structures as well as their own autobiographical experiences in schools. Additionally, field experiences (observations and interviews) provide a critical link between our classroom work and the “real world”.
A group project, the Educational Proposal, synthesizes field experiences, class activities, and personal knowledge, while providing an opportunity to practice critical, inquiry, and collaboration skills. This is a quarter-long group project that includes research, writing, presenting, and evaluating, and involves considerable small group collaborative learning. Working with a group of 5 students, you will form an Educational Proposal Group to develop a formal proposal to improve the quality of schooling in a targeted public school system. More specifically, you are to design a school that will address some of the more significant educational needs of the school system. Your EPG project will culminate in “town meetings” where your group makes a formal 20 - 30 minute presentation of your proposal / plan in class, followed by audience questions and reactions. In accordance with NCATE 2000 Standard 1 (Candidate Performance), your formal presentation must involve the utilization of Technology (e.g. overhead transparencies, computer-assisted presentations like powerpoint, videotapes, audiotapes, and other interesting methodologies as applicable.
In sum, the specific learning objectives for the course are congruent with the Standards by the Council of Learned Societies in Education (http://members.aol.com/caddogap/clsehome.htm) and NCATE 2000 Standards (http://www.ncate.org/) . Consequently, at the end of the course, the student should know, be able to do, and be disposed toward the following:
1) Use an understanding of different philosophical schools of thought to further develop one’s personal approach to teaching and learning.
2) Use an understanding of the historical contexts in which schooling takes place to further develop one’s historical interpretation of an event in education.
3) Use a disposition to critically examine the beliefs and assumptions about teaching, learning, content, the social context of education, in other words, schooling to enhance his/her problem-based learning.
Knowledge
GOAL 1: Comment meaningfully on the underlying assumptions of education--regardless of setting or target client group--using customary, accepted Foundations of Education concepts and terms (essential).
OBJECTIVE: Demonstrate understanding of the philosophies and theories of education by passing paper and pencil test items, or some other assessment procedure, on the terms, themes, and classroom implications of each philosophy or theory (essential).
GOAL 2: Comment from an informed perspective on aspects of the history of schooling (essential).
OBJECTIVE A: Demonstrate knowledge, by passing a pencil and paper test component on the educational contributions (teaching and learning emphases) of the following cultures--preliterate and literate groups, modern and postmodern cultures (essential).
OBJECTIVE B: Outline the origins and organization of medieval universities, and the abiding contributions(s) of postsecondary education in Western civilization (recommended).
OBJECTIVE C: Demonstrate understanding, by passing a pencil and paper test component, of the contributions to naturalistic or modern education associated with such pioneers as Comenius, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Spencer, Dewey, Piaget, etc. (essential).
OBJECTIVE D: Describe the connection between mass education and bureaucracy, especially at the university level, by writing a brief essay interpreting concepts on the subject (recommended).
GOAL 3: Discuss the organizational structure of educational delivery patterns in the United States (essential).
OBJECTIVE A: Identify whether, and why or why not, teaching is a profession; compare and contrast between professionalism and professionalization (recommended).
OBJECTIVE B: Explain how the American emphasis on mass education originated and developed (essential).
OBJECTIVE C: Describe impacts of social class, gender, and race on the delivery of educational services (essential).
OBJECTIVE D: Explain the relationship between pedagogy (the education of children) and andragogy (the education of adults) (recommended).
Skills
GOAL 4: Contextualize educational change (reform) in the classroom, school, and school system (essential).
OBJECTIVE A: Differentiate between the metaphysical, dialectical, and paradigmatic views of educational change (recommended).
OBJECTIVE B: Prepare a program plan or proposal to improve educational services in the classroom, school or school system, according to standards advanced by (1) the American Psychological Association (APA), (2) CSUSB's College of Education, and (3) the procedures learned in EDUC 306 Expository Writing and EDUC 603 Effective Communication in Education (recommended).
OBJECTIVE C: Discuss and critique the school effectiveness and reform movements (essential).
Dispositions
GOAL 5: Advocate the infusion of multicultural curricular content (essential).
OBJECTIVE A: Prepare a professional quality oral presentation that advocates the pursuit of integral, postmodern aspirations for education--either in one's personal/professional life or in a plan to improve educational service delivery (recommended).
OBJECTIVE B: Discuss current crises, trends, and expectations in education--their relation to professional life, personal organization, class size, and time management (recommended).
OBJECTIVE C: Explain social and cultural contexts from the interpretive, normative, and critical perspectives (recommended).
GOAL 6: Anchor one's personal approach for learning to the generalizations acquired through this course (recommended).
OBJECTIVE A: Summarize your own personal/professional philosophy/theory of education, according to the parameters established in the course (recommended).
OBJECTIVE B: Discuss, through relevant comments and dialogue about content-oriented questions, one's personalized research agenda--the educational problems one wants to help solve (recommended).
GOAL 7: Engage in graduate-level classroom dialogue (essential).
OBJECTIVE: Earn a class participation grade reflecting attendance, timely completion of course-related tasks, and periodic engagement in content-oriented class discussions (recommended).
Course Requirements:
1) Preparation and Attendance = 10 points
2) In-Class Participation = 10 points
(key terms & discussion exercises attached )
3) Response Paper #1 = 10 points
(due session 3, assignment attached)
4) Midterm (session 6, open book - open note) = 20 points
(respond to questions on Framing Dropouts - essay format, questions attached)
5) Response Paper #2 = 10 points
(due session 8, assignment attached)
6) Course Evaluation (due session 9, form attached) = 5 points
7) Educational Proposal Group Project (design a school) = 30 points
(group notebook due session 10, instructions attached)
(plan/proposal = 10 points, documentation = 10 points, presentation = 10 points)
8) Group Member Evaluation (due session 10) = 5 points
(form attached)
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= 100 points
Course Readings:
1) deMarrais, K.B. and LeCompte, M.D. The Way Schools Work: A Sociological Analysis of Education (third edition).
New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc., 1999.
2) Fine, Michelle. Framing Dropouts: Notes on the Politics of an Urban Public High School. Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1991.
Evaluation:
In all participation and assignments (whether in-class or out-of-class), I am looking for evidence of:
– understanding and application of facts, concepts, terms, and processes learned/read/discussed in class;
– demonstration of substantial knowledge and higher order thinking and analytic skills;
– critical reflexivity, i.e., “wrestling” with issues and topics;
– frequent and appropriate use of new and reconstituted knowledge learned in class;
– imaginative thinking and responses to challenges/problems/issues;
– “reading between the lines” and “digging” into underlying assumptions about education and schooling;
– clarity of expression and logical connection among ideas expressed;
– scholarly writing that reflects precise and concise thinking; and
– no or few errors in grammar, syntax, and spelling.
The grade assignment, based on points, is as follows:
A: 94 - 100 A-: 90 - 93 B+: 87 - 89 B: 83 - 86 B-: 80 - 82
C+: 77 - 79 C: 73 - 76 C-: 70 - 72 D: 65 -69 F: 64 and below
Policies and Rules: I hope our time together can be not only painless and informative, but also fun and interesting. However I expect you to respect the following rules.
1) You must come to class prepared to discuss in detail the readings and topics assigned.
2) All written assignments must be typed with cover page, headings, double spaced, paginated and stapled.
3) Late papers / assignments will not be accepted, except by approval of the professor. Approval must be arranged ahead of time. You will lose 5 assignment grade-points per class session beyond the due date. Therefore, complete work as early as possible to accommodate unforeseen circumstances. Sometimes this means that shaky and on time is better than late and great.
3) If an emergency arises, it is your responsibility to advise me ASAP via voice-mail or E-mail.
4) It is also your responsibility to sign in after every class meeting to receive credit for the attendance and participation component.
5) It is expected that chauvinist language (racist, sexist, etc...) be avoided.
6) Automatic failure will result from cheating, submitting work prepared by another, or plagiarism.
7) Remain respectful of others, no disruptive behavior.
8) There are no late final projects!!!
9) Be advised that the out-of-class-time requirements for this course are very heavy. As you read the syllabus, please pay close attention to these requirements. Make sure that your course load for this quarter and / or your job hours will permit you to devote the necessary time to be successful in this course.
