Chapter 13 The Purposes of Education

1. Chapter 13The Purposes of Education By JovanniCifaloglio, Frank Cortese, and Nabid Chowdhury

2. Establishing Goals and Objectives • Also known as “ends” or “end point”. • 3 major influence that shape our end points. • Society • Knowledge • Nature of the learner

3. 3 Major Influence • Society- What is important to society will determine what educators will teach. • Knowledge- Developments in science and technology. • Nature of the learner- New theories about the learning process.

4. Goals • Goals are broad statements of purpose. • They cannot be directly observed or evaluated.

5. National or State Level • The “National Educational Goals Panel” sets the goals at state level. • All Children in America will start school ready to learn.

6. School District Leven and School Level • At the school district level it begins to narrow in focus. • All children will have access to high-quality and developmentally appropriate preschool programs that will help children prepare for school. • At the school level it becomes even more refined. • Kindergarten will be expended from a half day program to a full day program.

7. Ralf Tyler's 4 Question • In the 1940’s Tyler developed an outline for school goals that remains influential today. Tyler identified four fundamental questions to consider. • What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? • What educational experiences can be provided to help attain these purposes? • How can these educational experiences be effectively organized? • How can we determine whether the purposes have been attained?

8. Objectives • Goals provide a direction, but they are too vague and long-term for teachers and students to apply them directly in the classroom. So goals become translated into more specific objective. • Objectives are easer to observe and measure. • Objectives have shorter accomplishment time than goals.

9. Classroom Level and Lesson Plan Objective • Classroom level will include organized instruction with a combination of general and specific objective in mind. • Lesson plan objectives become specific and they use precise wording such as: • discuss, describe in writing, state orally, list, role-play, and solve. • These statements are content and skill specific, require practical student behavior or performance, and are observable and measurable.

10. Historical Perspective • Early on • Mental discipline approach – belief that the mind is strengthened through mental activities • The belief was that the harder the subject matter, the greater the value of the subject • Now • Various changes have been made to meet the needs of a changing social order • Lead educators to stray away from classic curriculum and focus emphasis on mental discipline and repetitive drill

11. The whole-child concept • This view held that schools must be concerned with the growth and development of the entire child, not just certain selected mental aspects • Cognitive development had to share the stage with other important developments such as social, psychological, vocational, moral and civil

12. Return to academic essentials • The Soviet’s Sputnik flight forced the U.S. to reexamine it’s schools academic disciplines • The launch of the Sputnik proved that Americans were losing technological superiority to the Soviets • This called for American education to return to academic essentials and mental discipline • University scholars were called on to reconstruct subject-matter content to help kids to learn more about science, mathematics, and language • The new educational climate also lead to more emphasis on getting the most out of an academically talented child

13. Disadvantaged students • During the 80’s concern grew about students that were disadvantaged • Federal funding increased for multicultural, bilingual, and disabled children • ESL classes were created to group bilingual students and help them learn together • Similarly, disabled students were grouped together • Controversy • Recently, ESL classes have been criticized for contributing to separatism rather than cultural unity

14. Educational Accountability • Many argued that education should focus more on outcomes-meaningful, measurable academic results • While some believe that a completion of a course is useless unless the student can use their education in real-life context • As a result, 25 states have implemented and outcome-based education approach

15. State standards • State standards are very likely to heavily influence your instructional planning • State standards are directly linked to “high stakes” tests • Outcomes of the high stakes tests are what states use to make their decisions for school budgets, pay raises, and bonuses • Although there are many more arguments and controversies over public education, for the first time goals have been set for every child in public education

16. The Call for Excellence • Overview of the Policy Reports - In the Early 1980’s national attention began to focus on the need for educational excellence and higher academic standards for “All Students”. • So they made national policy reports that urged reform to improve the quality of education.

17. The Policy reports • Here are the Six most Influential policies -Action For Excellence (1983) -Educating Americans for the 21st Century(1983) -High School (1983) -Nation at Risk (1983) -First Lessons: Elementary Education (1986) -The National Educational Goals (1990,94,97)

18. Declining Achievement and Competency • Average achievement scores on the SAT declined steadily from 1963 to 1990. • Avg. verbal scores fell 34 points (466 to 432) and math scores dropped 10 points( 492 to 482) • But in recent years both scores have rebounded with modest gains. Verbal scores increased by 9 points and math increased 25 points.

19. Functional Illiteracy • About 20% of 200 million U.S. adults are functionally illiterate by the simple tests of everyday reading and writing. • About 14% of all 16 yr. olds in the united states are considered illiterate and the illiteracy rate jumps to 38% among minority youth.

20. Curriculum needs to get Stronger • All of these reports and statistics emphasize that the core subjects of English, Math, Science, and Social Studies need to be strengthened. • The reports further emphasize tougher standards and tougher courses, and a majority propose that colleges raise their admission requirements. • The reports also talk about increasing the homework students receive , time for learning, and time in school.

21. Increased Teacher Requirements and Rewards • The reports mention upgrading teacher certification, increasing the teachers salaries. In addition, increasing the number of science and math teachers and paying higher salaries. • Also, providing merit pay for outstanding teachers. • Overall, the reports stress academic achievement and increased productivity.

22. The National Educational Goals • In 1994 Congress passed the Goals 2000: Educate America Act. • Here’s the list of Goals -School Readiness -School Completion -Student Achievement and Citizenship -Teacher Education and Professional Development -Mathematics and Science -Adult Literacy and Life long Training -Safe, Disciplined, and Alcohol –Drug Free Schools -Parental Participation