EDF 4632 - Sociology of Education

College of Education

Credit(s): 3
Contact Hours: 47
Effective Term Spring 2023 (615)

Requisites

Admission to Educational Studies and Community Leadership (Bachelor of Science) (EDST-BS)

Course Description

This course provides a sociological approach to education, from several theoretical perspectives and their application to current educational issues, to the structure and processes that make education systems work. This course focuses on the role of school in society and how school relates to other systems within the macro system.

Learning Outcomes and Objectives

  1. The student will summarize the field of sociology of education and the functions and processes of schools by:
    1. examining theoretical and open systems approaches and the role of education systems in the 21st century.
    2. explaining the basic functions of education: socialization, transmission of culture, social control and personal development; selection, training, and placement; and change and innovation.
    3. illustrating the basic processes of education: teaching discipline, socialization, learning communication skills, and decision making within a peer group.
  2. The student will evaluate the process of stratification including issues of race, class, gender and inequality of educational opportunity by:
    1. comparing the functional and conflict theories of stratification.
    2. explaining the relationship between schools and social inequality, including how schools contribute to social inequality.
    3. comparing the opportunities and academic performances of minority and white students today (compared to the major findings of the 1966 Coleman Report, that was conducted ten years after the 1954 Supreme Court Brown vs. Board of Education decision) and its implications for social policy today.
  3. The student will evaluate the purpose of school, the hierarchical system of authority, and its relationship to other micro systems within the macro system by:
    1. distinguishing the different stakeholders of the education enterprise.
    2. comparing the roles the stakeholders play in the bureaucratic school system.
    3. comparing the “hidden curriculum” in school from a functional and conflict perspective.
  4. The student will describe the system of higher education in the United States including the community college system by:
    1. examining the historical context and development of higher education in the United States.
    2. analyzing issues in higher education which include, but are not limited to, access; gender, race, and equal opportunity; funding, value of a college education, and roles of clients in higher education.
  5. The student will compare the educational systems around the world by:
    1. assessing the impact that colonization had on the educational system across the world.
    2. evaluating the relationship between education and culture, economic and political factors.
  6. The students will explain the educational reform movements in the United States by:
    1. describing the most critical reform movements in the American educational system.
    2. analyzing the consequences of the accountability movement.
    3. examining how educational reforms affect cultural, structural, and curricular changes in schools.
    4. comparing the key stakeholders in current or past reform movements.

Criteria Performance Standard

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will, with a minimum of 75% accuracy, demonstrate mastery of each of the above stated objectives through online measures developed by the individual course instructors.

History of Changes

C&I 9/8/2009, BOT 10/20/2009, Effective 20091(0415) Submitted as 4271; State approved as 4632. Flex Access 20092. C&I Approval: 09/08/2009, BOT Approval: 10/20/2009, Effective Term: Spring 2010 (420).
C&I Approval: , BOT Approval: , Effective Term: Spring 2023 (615)