SCHOOL CONTEXT
Chapter 6
Secondary Education
• Middle schools, junior
highs, and high schools
are all forms of
secondary education
• The proportion of the 14to 17-year-old population
enrolled in school
increased dramatically
between 1910 and 1940
• Today, nearly 95% of
individuals this age are in
school
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The Rise of the
Comprehensive High School
• Before secondary education was
compulsory, high schools were for the
socioeconomic elite
• By 1920s, educators called for curricular
reform to match changes in social
composition of schools
• Comprehensive high school
– General education, college preparation,
vocational education all housed under
one roof
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School Reform:
What Should Schools Teach?
1970s
Relevance
1980s
Back to Basics: Math, science, reading
Early 1990s
Critical/Higher-Order Thinking
Late 1990s
Rigorous Academic Standards:
Emphasize High Tech training
Today
Standards-Based Reform
No Child Left Behind (2002)
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School Reform:
• No Child Left Behind Act (2002)
– Mandates that all states ensure that all
students, regardless of economic
circumstances, achieve academic
proficiency on standardized annual tests
– Schools that repeatedly fail face losing
funding, being forced to close
• Addresses problem of social promotion
• Advancing students regardless of their
academic competence or performance
• Introduces problem of teaching to the test for
teachers who are under pressure to get kids to
pass annual exams
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Violence in Schools…
• What does the school
experience look like now vs
in the past?
• Is there more school
violence?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1J6x4U-KJY
How big of a problem were the
following at your school?
•
•
•
•
Fighting?
Theft of personal property?
Vandalism?
Students bringing weapons
to school?
• Did you ever fear fro your
physical safety at school?
Characteristics of Good Schools
• Class Activity:
“My favorite teacher in
school was ______
because…”
School Reform Past and Present:
Characteristics of Good Schools
• Emphasize intellectual activities
• Have teachers strongly
committed to students
• Constantly monitor themselves
to become better
• Are well integrated into the
communities they serve
• Composed of good classrooms
where students are active
participants
The Social Organization of Schools:
School Size and Class Size
• Schools became larger
– To offer a wider range of courses
– To offer more services for
students
• However, student
performance and interest in
school improve
– When schools are made less
bureaucratic
– School are more intimate
The Social Organization of Schools:
School Size and Class Size
• In larger schools, students
tend to be observers rather
than participants
• School size especially affects
participation of students
whose grades are not very
good
 Ideal size of a school for
adolescents
– Between 500 and 1,000 students
The Social Organization of Schools:
School Size and Class Size
 Bailey MS: 1,174
 Bowie HS: 2,900
1,206
The Social Organization of Schools:
School Size and Class Size
HOWEVER…
• Classroom size
– Does not affect
scholastic achievement
during adolescence
– Adolescents learn as
much in classes of 40
students as in classes of
20 students
Age Grouping and School Transitions
• As children move into
middle school or junior high
– School grades drop
– Scores on standardized
achievements tests do not
decline
• Implication: Student
motivation and changes in
grading practices may be
changing, not student
knowledge
Age Grouping and School Transitions
Recommendations for
Improvements
(1) Divide middle schools into
units of 200-500 students to
reduce feelings of
anonymity
(2) Hire teachers trained in
adolescent development
(3) Strengthen schoolcommunity ties
Tracking
• Separating students, by ability,
into different levels of classes
within the same school
• Proponents argue
– Ability-grouping allows teachers to
design class lessons that are more
finely tuned to students’ abilities
• Critics argue
– Students who are placed in the
remedial track generally receive a
poorer quality education
School Desegregation
• Landmark U.S. Supreme Court
rulings
– Brown v. Board of Education of
Topeka (1954, 1955)
• Even if racially segregated schools
appear equivalent on various
indices of quality, they are
inherently unequal
• The effects of desegregation on
school achievement are very
modest
• Minority youngster’s self-esteem is
higher when they attend schools in
which they are in the majority
• Interracial contact even in
desegregated schools is rare
Public Schools versus Private Schools
• Advantages for students
who attend Catholic
schools
– Social capital
• Coleman: The chief
reason for the advantages
seen in Catholic school
students is due to the close
links between their schools
and families
The Importance of School Climate
– The way teachers interact with students
– The way classroom time is used
– The standards teachers hold for
students
– The expectations teachers have for
their students
• A positive school climate fosters
students’ feelings of belonging and
strengthens their feelings of
academic efficiency
• Strong feelings of academic
deficiency lead to better school
performance
Beyond High School:
The College Bound
• 1900: 4% of those 18 to 21
years of age were enrolled
in college
• 1930: 12% of those 18 to 21
years of age were enrolled
in college
• Today: 75% of high-school
graduates enroll in college
(2/3 do so immediately after
high school)
Beyond High School:
The “Forgotten Half”
• Secondary schools are
geared almost exclusively
toward college-bound
youngsters
• High schools do not prepare
graduates at all for the world
of work
• The “Forgotten Half” have a
hard time finding (even lowpaying) employment
Work and Leisure
Chapter 7
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Today’s Teenager
• Spend more time in leisure
activities
– Than in “productive” school
activities
• Spend more time alone
– Than with family members
• Spend 4 times as many hours
at
part-time jobs
– As they do on homework
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WORK AND LEISURE IN
CONTEMPORARY SOCIETY
• American adolescents spend more time on
leisure, less time in productive activities,
than peers in other countries
• Example
 Average American high school student spends
< 5 hours per week on homework
 In Asian countries a student spends
4 to 5 hours per day on homework
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Adolescents and Work: Teenage
Employment in America & Other Nations
• Industrialized countries
– 75% of U.S. high school juniors hold jobs during the
school year
– 25% of Japanese and Taiwanese juniors do so
– Paid employment even rarer in most European
countries
• Virtually nonexistent in France, Russia, Hungary, and Switzerland
– Structured apprenticeship programs in career-related
jobs more common in other countries
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Adolescents and Work:
Working and Adolescent Development
The Development of Responsibility
• Most people believe that working helps teens
build character, teaches them about the real
world, and prepares them for adulthood
• But recent studies show that benefits of
working during adolescence have been
overstated
What do you think?
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Adolescents and Work:
Working and Adolescent Development
Work and Its Impact on Other Activities
• Working more than 20 hours/week may
jeopardize school performance
–
–
–
–
–
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Absent from school more often
Less likely to be in extracurricular activities
Report enjoying school less
Spent less time on homework
Earned lower grades
Adolescents and Work:
Working and Adolescent Development
Work and Problem Behavior
• Time-honored belief: Working will deter teens
from criminal activity by keeping them out of
trouble
• Research findings: Working long hours may
actually be associated with increases in
aggression, school misconduct, precocious sexual
activity, minor delinquency.
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Adolescents and Work:
Working and Adolescent Development
Work and Problem Behavior
• Differential Impact:
Middle-Class vs. Poor Youth
– Poor youth – working may not lead to problem
behavior – WHY?
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Adolescents and Leisure:
Leisure and the Mass Media
Adolescents and Leisure:
Leisure and the Mass Media
– Availability of media in young people’s
homes is greater than anyone thought
– Many adolescents view TV, listen to music, or
play video games, all in their bedrooms
•This context makes parental monitoring
more difficult
– The average adolescent spends >7 hours
each day using one or more media
•Constant television environment
•Smart phones
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•FB!
Adolescents and Leisure:
Leisure and the Mass Media
–
–
–
–
Average 1.5 hours/day texting
.5 hours/day talking on phone
Multitasking = 11 hours/day
Advancements in technology = media in
teens’ pockets and bed!
– Some studies show link to obesity, sleep,
behavior probs, and school achievement
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SEU Study: Changing Communication Styles
– More than one-third (37.8%) reported
spending 3 to 4 hours on facebook per day;
another 33% reported spending 1 to 2 hours
per day on facebook
– Almost a third (28.7%) reported spending 7 to
8 hours per day texting
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SEU Study: Changing Communication Styles
– Although most participants (91%) report
feeling either comfortable or very
comfortable when talking to people face to
face, 54% of them reported also feeling
anxious when interacting face to face
– Overwhelming majority (96%) feel more
comfortable communicating via text; and
82% feel more comfortable talking to others
on facebook
– One quarter report using text to confront
difficult situations
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