Opportunities for Learning A Sociological Perspective
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Maureen T. Hallinan (1940–2014) was the founding director of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity. A celebrated teacher and colleague, Hallinan was the author of more than 120 articles in professional journals and the editor of eight books.
Elizabeth Covay Minor is the director of Educational Leadership Studies and associate professor at National Louis University. She is the author of multiple articles and serves as a co-editor for i.e.: inquiry.
Mark Berends is a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He has numerous scholarly publications, including co-editing Handbook of Research on School Choice, 2nd edition.
Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. She has published nineteen books and more than one hundred articles and reports, including co-authoring Learning Science: The Value of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments.
<p>"<em>Opportunities for Learning</em> highlights the expanse of Maureen Hallinan's research. Her considerable contributions to sociology, education, and especially Catholic education continue to be impactful today. I admired her as an eminent scholar and appreciated her incisive wit. We were fortunate to have her as part of the Notre Dame community." —Rev. Robert A. Dowd, C.S.C., president, University of Notre Dame</p>
<p>“This book is a treasure trove of enduring studies. It will be an essential resource for teaching and research on children and their schools, especially when it comes to understanding friendships, values, and classroom organization.” —Adam Gamoran, president of the William T. Grant Foundation</p>
<p>“Maureen Hallinan was a subtle and skilled analyst of education. This collection showcases Maureen’s facility with quantitative methods to glean insight about a variety of educational issues. Her contributions to the sociology of education have lasting implications.” —Teresa A. Sullivan, president emerita, University of Virginia</p>
Opportunities for Learning brings together the works of one of the most highly regarded past presidents of the American Sociological Association, focusing on uncovering and addressing educational inequities in elementary and secondary schools.
Few sociologists of education can rival the depth and breadth of Maureen T. Hallinan’s contributions to the field. This book compiles her writings, some of which have never been published before, to bring the full insight of both her sociological imagination and her theoretical and empirical research. Through articles, book chapters, and invited lectures, Hallinan explores the interplay among theory, research, and policy. Other pieces focus on the importance of opportunities to learn, peer friendships, and ability grouping for instruction. She writes in depth about various attempts of educational reform and the effects of Catholic schools. Hallinan sought to address the enduring problems of sociological theorizing and research within education, and her writings contribute important insights and provide foundations for the next generation of social scientists.
This collection demonstrates Hallinan’s keen ability to communicate balanced inquiry by engaging multiple perspectives in her theoretical framework coupled with strong empirical testing of the relationships.
Part 1. Sociology of Education
1. A Sociological Perspective on Social Issues by Maureen T. Hallinan
2. Two Research Traditions in the Sociology of Education by Maureen T. Hallinan
3. A Reconceptualization of School Effects by Maureen T. Hallinan and Aage B. Sørensen
4. Social Organization of Schools by Maureen T. Hallinan
5. School Choice and Justice Issues by Maureen T. Hallinan
6. Improving the Interaction between Sociological Research and Educational Policy by Maureen T. Hallinan
7. The Privileges and Responsibilities of Teaching by Maureen T. Hallinan
Part 2. School Organization and Catholic Education
8. The Normative Culture of School and Student Socialization by Maureen T. Hallinan
9. Religious Instruction by Maureen T. Hallinan
10. Catholic Education as a Societal Institution by Maureen T. Hallinan
11. The Practice of Ability Grouping: Sector Differences in Implementation by Maureen T. Hallinan and Brandy Ellison
12. A Comparison of Academic Achievement and Adherence to the Common School Ideal in Public and Catholic Schools by Maureen T. Hallinan and Warren Kubitschek
13. Social Capital Effects on Student Outcomes by Maureen T. Hallinan
14. Preliminary Thoughts on Creating a Field of Catholic Education by Maureen T. Hallinan
Part 3. Ability Grouping & Tracking
15. Tracking: From Theory to Practice by Maureen T. Hallinan
16. Tracking and Detracking Practices: Relevance for Learning by Maureen T. Hallinan 17. School Differences in Tracking Effects on Achievement by Maureen T. Hallinan
18. Curriculum Differentiation and High School Achievement by Maureen T. Hallinan and Warren Kubitschek
19. Ability Grouping and Student Learning by Maureen T. Hallinan
Part 4. Friendship
20. The Process of Friendship Formation by Maureen T. Hallinan
21. Classroom Racial Composition and Children’s Friendships by Maureen T. Hallinan
22. Ability Grouping and Student Friendships by Maureen T. Hallinan and Aage B. Sørensen
23. Interracial Friendship Choices in Secondary Schools by Maureen T. Hallinan and Richard Williams
24. Student Interracial Interactions and Perceptions of School as a Community by Maureen T. Hallinan, Warren N. Kubitschek, and Ge Liu
For the past several years, and especially since the publication of “Nation at Risk” in 1983, American educators, researchers and the public at large have been promoting and encouraging educational reform. The reform movement has been characterized by changes in educational policy and practice. Curricular changes include the back to basics movement, bilingual education, alternative and magnet schools, programs for gifted students and those with special needs, computerized instruction, and multicultural curricula. Changes in the institutional design of education produced open classrooms, community controlled schools, and business and industry’s collaboration with schools through work-study programs, apprenticeships, instructional materials, and teaching involvement.
None of these educational innovations has brought American education to the point where student achievement, as measured by standardized test scores, can compete favorably with those of other developed nations. The most recent set of Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores showed that the national average for the Verbal and Mathematics tests again have decreased for each of the major ethnic groups in the county. Recent analyses of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test scores shows that United States achievement in mathematics lags behind that of 14 other countries.
Moreover, critical societal problems continue to be reflected in the behavior of the school-aged population in America. The dropout rate is alarmingly high, as is the rate of illiteracy, alcohol and drug use, teenage pregnancy and crime and violence. The response of Americans to these serious problems is often frustration, anger, and despair.
Now one more proposal for school reform, namely, school choice, is added to this picture. By school choice is meant assigning the responsibility of selecting a child’s school to the child’s parents or guardians, rather than or in conjunction with, educational administrators. The expressed aim of school choice is identical to the aims of other recent educational innovations, namely to improve student achievement. However, other programs and policies specify how improvement will occur. Generally, the mechanism of change is the curriculum, although in some cases it is a structural change in the organization of instruction. In contrast, school choice does not provide a specific blueprint for improvement. Rather it leaves to the schools the task of identifying and implementing programs and policies that would improve student achievement.
The mechanisms of improvement associated with school choice is the dynamics of a market system. Schools would be forced to compete for students. This is expected to make schools more accountable, leading to improved performance. It is up to the individual school to create a curriculum that its clientele finds attractive and to provide instruction that improves academic achievement. In this way, school choice represents a far more radical educational reform than other recently proposed and implemented changes. Indeed, school choice may be the first radical plan to restructure American schools since Ivan Illich espoused deschooling society in the sixties.
Several school choice plans have been proposed, varying in degree of departure from the present educational structure. The least extreme plan, called intradistrict choice, allows students to attend any public school within their school district. Several districts throughout the country now permit this level of parental selection. The most radical school choice plan provides parents or guardians with vouchers that may be used to send their children to any public or private school within or outside their public school district. This plan has been adopted on a very small scale in a few school districts. Several other plans exist or have been proposed.
Reactions to school choice proposals and experiments have been immediate and intense. Interestingly, bipartisan support is found. Both conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats argue for school choice and it is a central part of President Bush’s plan to improve education nationwide. The sociologist, David Armor, argues that “choice… programs can foster diversity, enrich curricula, increase parental involvement, make integrations more successful, and expand educational opportunities for disadvantaged children.”
Other leaders of both political parties have criticized school choice on various grounds. Critics argue that school choice violates civil liberties and democratic principles. They disapprove of public support for private, religiously affiliated schools through vouchers and tuition stipends. They argue that the poor would be constrained in their choice of schools by more limited access to information about schools, by transportation difficulties and by a family structure that makes the neighborhood school more convenient and practical. School personnel generally oppose school choice because they believe it would weaken their control over the schools and have negative consequences for their job stability and security. The multifaceted opposition to school choice is expressed in the remarks of Bill Honig, (1990) California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, in speaking about voucher plans. He claims that a voucher system “risks creating elite academies for the few and second-rate schools for the many, exacerbates income and racial stratification, violates the constitutional prohibition against aiding religious schools, opens the door to cult schools, encourages tribalism, lacks accountability, would be chaotic (with) vast numbers of new schools created while most new enterprises fail and (would require that) taxpayers…pay more.”
Given such strong and opposing opinions about school choice, as well as the potentially far-reaching consequences of many choice plans, it is critical that the issue of school choice be examined carefully and comprehensively, in order to ensure that the school choice debate is guided by a clear understanding of the principles involved. The importance of carefully conceptualizing school choice issues stems not only from the consequences of a school choice policy for politicians, taxpayers, educators or parents. It is primarily for the present and future well-being of American children. Only reasoned analysis of the school choice issue will permit interested parties to transcend biases, fears and political persuasions to make informed judgments and decisions about school choice plans that benefit students and improve educational achievement.
(excerpted from chapter 5)
Produktdetaljer
Biographical note
Maureen T. Hallinan (1940–2014) was the founding director of the University of Notre Dame’s Institute for Educational Initiatives and the Center for Research on Educational Opportunity. A celebrated teacher and colleague, Hallinan was the author of more than 120 articles in professional journals and the editor of eight books.
Elizabeth Covay Minor is the director of Educational Leadership Studies and associate professor at National Louis University. She is the author of multiple articles and serves as a co-editor for i.e.: inquiry.
Mark Berends is a professor of sociology at the University of Notre Dame. He has numerous scholarly publications, including co-editing Handbook of Research on School Choice, 2nd edition.
Barbara Schneider is the John A. Hannah University Distinguished Professor in the College of Education and Department of Sociology at Michigan State University. She has published nineteen books and more than one hundred articles and reports, including co-authoring Learning Science: The Value of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments.