Module 1
TED 356
Curriculum in Sec. Ed.
Module 1
Explain the background and the
evolving purposes of secondary
education.
• History of secondary education.
• Purpose of secondary education.
• School district (and teacher)
accountability.
Reading
• Read the following in the Duplass
textbook:
– Topic 1: “The Teaching Profession and Craft”
– Topic 2: “Challenges for a New Teacher”
History of High Schools
How new is the high school? When were
the first public schools and HS developed?
When was compulsory public education
created? Why?
When were racial barriers broken in public
education?
When was gender discrimination broken in
public education?
High Schools Are a
Relatively New Development
• The Boston Latin School, which is still
operating, is the oldest high school in America
(1635).
• Dedham, Massachusetts established the first
public school (1643).
• Benjamin Franklin’s American Academy
(1751) changed the nature of high school (to
reflect the need for preparation in the trades).
• Lockport, NY claims to have established the
first public high school (1848).
Compulsory School Laws
• When?
– In 1642 by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
– Parents mandated to provide:
• An understanding of the principles of religion.
• Provide instruction in reading, writing, and a trade.
• Why?
– Driven by the need to understand:
• Religious principles.
• Moral concepts.
• Information to be good citizens.
• Note: Attendance was not compulsory.
Compulsory School Laws
• After the American Revolution, new
reasons for interest in an educated
citizenry appeared:
– Democratic ideals.
– Religious tolerance.
– Integration of immigrants into society.
Compulsory Attendance
• The Massachusetts School Attendance
Act of 1852 specified that children
between the ages of eight and fourteen
had to attend school for twelve weeks per
year.
• By 1918, every state in the union had laws
on the books compelling education.
Horace Mann
• Who was Horace Mann (1796-1859)?
– Head (1837) of the newly created board of
education of Massachusetts.
– The “father of American public education.”
– Educational reformer and Abolitionist.
Horace Mann
• Reforms of Horace Mann:
– Established a single state school system.
– Urged separate classrooms for students at different
levels of learning.
– Discouraged learning by rote and flogging.
– Worked for more and better equipped school houses,
longer school years (until 16 years old), higher pay for
teachers, and a wider curriculum.
– Part of decision to adopt the Prussian education
system in Massachusetts (1852).
Prussian System
• The Prussian education system was a system
of mandatory education dating to the early 19th
century.
– Compulsory attendance.
– National training for teachers.
– National testing for all students (used to classify
children for potential job training).
– National curriculum set for each grade.
– Mandatory kindergarten.
• Education was now viewed as a responsibility of
the state (government).
Minorities
• While education was compulsory in the US since
WWI, minorities were not welcome in many
schools.
– Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) ordered that racial
segregation is constitutional. Schools could “be
separate and equal.”
– Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
ordered that “separate educational facilities are
inherently unequal.”
• State laws that establish separate public schools for races
denied African American children equal educational
opportunities.
• Paved way for integration and the Civil Rights Movement.
Women
• Women were not welcome in all school
activities.
– Title IX of the Education Amendments (1972)
declared that “No person in the United States shall,
on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in,
be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to
discrimination under any education program or
activity receiving Federal financial assistance.”
– Today in the US, most college students and even
most graduate students in many disciplines are
women.
Students with Disabilities
• In 1975, kids with disabilities broke the
barrier with the Education of the
Handicapped Act (P.L. 94-142).
• Misericordia University started one of the
first college level programs for students
with disabilities in 1979.
• Curry College started three years earlier,
and thus was the first in the nation.
Students and Diversity
• In 2003, the Harvey Milk High School
opened in NYC, the first high school
specifically for GLBTQ.
– Originally founded to be a safe space for
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or
questioning (LGBTQ) young people.
Review:
History of Secondary Ed.
• First public school (1635)
• First public high school (1848)
• Prussian education model in US (1852) by
Horace Mann
• Early compulsory educ. started in MA (1642).
Laws in all states (1918).
• Education welcomes:
–
–
–
–
Minorities: 1954
Women: 1972
Disabilities: 1975
Diversity: 2003
Purpose of Secondary Education
What is the purpose of high school?
– To prepare kids for college?
– To prepare kids for jobs?
– To prepare kids for jobs that do not require
college?
– Or for what purpose?
If high school has a purpose, it is to prepare
kids for what comes next. This raises the issue
of futures. Should high schools focus on
preparing all kids for college, which seems to
be the trend?
The report cites research done by the US
Department of Labor which found that most
jobs (60%) do not require college, so preparing
100% of the kids for 40% of the available jobs
seems silly.
Certainly, everyone wants the best job possible,
but as a society, shouldn’t we prepare our next
generation for the realities of our society?
Ready for what? Preparing Students for College, Careers, and Life After
High School, a special report of Education Week (June 12, 2007)
USDL Job Zones
• US Department of Labor categorizes jobs
into five “zones” (levels):
• Zone 1
– Includes jobs like counter clerks that pay an
average of $12,638 and require high school or
less.
– 12.5% of all jobs in PA; 13.1% in the US.
USDL Job Zones
• Zone 2
– Includes jobs in the trades that pay an
average of $24,461 and require high school.
– 35.8% of all jobs in PA; 34.4% in the US.
• Zone 3
– Includes jobs like sheet metal workers
(sophisticated trades) that pay an average of
$35,672 and require high school and some
CTE (career and technical education).
– 30.9% of all jobs in PA; 31.5% in the US.
USDL Job Zones
• Zone 4
– Includes jobs like teachers that pay an
average of $50,552 and require college.
– 13.6% of all jobs in PA; 14.1% in the US.
• Zone 5
– Includes jobs like psychologists that pay an
average of $59,119 and require college and
more.
– 7.2% of all jobs in PA; 6.8% in the US.
USDL Job Zones
PA Average Salary by Zone
$60,000
$50,000
$40,000
$30,000
$20,000
$10,000
$0
1
High school
2
3
USDL Zone
High school
+ CTE
4
5
High school
+ College
USDL Job Zones
PA Job Availability by Zone
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
1
2
3
4
5
USDL Zone
High school
High school
+ CTE
High school
+ College
Review:
Purpose of Secondary Ed.
So what should be the purpose of
secondary education?
– Recheck your standards.
• Do they seem to be oriented toward
college prep?
• Do they respect CTE (career and
technical education)?
Have High Schools Changed
Much? (Accountability)
• It has been claimed that current high
schools, with their one-size-fits-all testbased curricula and spray ‘n pray delivery
systems…
– Do a great job preparing students to enter the
world of the 1950s.
– High schools have not changed much since
WWII, and that, as a result, high schools have
become obsolete.
Compulsory Public Schooling
Was/Is Not Universally Supported
• There are many reasons that compulsory public
schooling is not universally supported, one of
which might be that public education, especially
at the high school level, is very expensive -and many people believe that we don’t get our
money’s worth.
• In Pierce v. Society of Sisters, Catholics argued
that the state could not compel their students to
attend public schools -- and it is not universally
supported now.
Schools “Under Fire”
• Gilbert K.
Chesterton was not
supportive of
compulsory public
education.
• He noted that the
purpose was to
“deprive the common
people of their
commonsense.”
Then
• According to
conservative Rush
Limbaugh:
• “No public schools --give everyone a fixed
amount per child that
can only be spent on
education and then let
the market dictate
which schools win
and which go under.”
Now
NCLB and Accountability
• Public schools, especially high schools,
are “under the gun.”
• NCLB’s testing requirements are the
government’s tool to embarrass schools
into doing better by calling the public’s
attention to our failings.
NCLB and Accountability
• 22 states now require an exit exam for a high
school diploma, including NY, NJ, and MD, but
not (yet) PA.
 What might be the effect of an exit exam (whose
scores are published) on the curriculum and
instruction in a high school?
 As implemented, has NCLB undermined the
ability of schools to prepare kids for anything but
taking routine tests?
NCLB and Accountability
Example
• According to Good Schools
Pennsylvania (GSP), our local Dallas
Area SD spends $8269 per student (the
state average is $9352). Dallas probably
spends lots more on secondary than it
does on elementary.
NCLB and Accountability
Example
According to GSP:
• 44% of eleventh graders
in DASD (2004-06)
scored below proficiency
on the PSSA reading test
and 19.8% in math.
Negative view
DASD Web site:
• 63% of its eleventh
graders were proficient in
reading, 71% in math,
and 99% in writing.
• Met all three of the AYP
targets for 2005-06 (i.e.,
graduation rates 93.8%,
academic performance,
and test participation).
More positive and realistic
What do you think?
Is Dallas Area HS a good school?
Would you want to teach there?
Would you want to live in Dallas?
– If so, would you support tax increases to
improve the schools?
– Would you want to have your kids attend
there?
NCLB and Accountability
District Closed
• Not all districts are like Dallas. Last summer the
state, after trying since 2000 to turn it around,
took steps to dissolve the Dusquene (PA)
School District, thus displacing its 100 HS
students and furloughing its teachers. Buried in
NCLB is a call for exactly this type of action.
 What would you feel like if your district was
zapped out of existence?
 Is this fair?
Accountability in PA
• In PA, school improvement is based on:
– Chapter 4 standards found in the
Pennsylvania School Code.
– Federal requirements of No Child Left Behind
(NCLB).
– Pennsylvania Accountability System.
• Measured according to AYP (adequate
yearly progress) targets.
PSSA
• In 1999, PA adopted academic
standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking
and Listening, and Mathematics.
– These standards identify what a student
should know and be able to do at varying
grade levels.
– School districts possess the freedom to
design curriculum and instruction to ensure
that students meet or exceed the standards'
expectations.
PSSA
• The annual Pennsylvania System of School
Assessment (PSSA) is a standards based
criterion-referenced assessment used to:
– Measure a student's attainment of the academic
standards.
– Determine the degree to which school programs
enable students to attain proficiency of the standards.
• Reading and math: grades 3 - 8 and grade 11.
• Writing: grades 5, 8, and 11.
PSSA
• PA school districts are judged almost solely
based on PSSA results.
– Is it true that rich districts do better than poor?
– Do the state’s tests really measure what is important?
– If Dallas improved its scores by teaching to the test:
• Would it become a better district?
• Would its graduates be better prepared for life?
• Would it get more support?
• Shouldn’t we instead focus on a “growth model”
that measures starting (levels at entry) and
ending points (levels at exit)?
PSSA and Teachers
• With this increased accountability,
teachers are “on the line” in terms of
employment if their students do not “make
the grade” in the PSSA.
Graduation Rates
• Using a freshman to graduation tracking
system (which many districts do not use
because it makes them look ineffective),
our nation’s schools should have
graduated 2.87 million high school grads
this June; however, 1.23 million high
school freshmen did not make it until
graduation.
• Is that good enough?
Graduation Rates
• PA’s graduation rate was 78.2%; the
nation’s was 69.9%.
• Texas and Florida were among the lowest.
• Dallas, Texas, which supposedly was part
of President Bush’s much-touted “miracle”
had a 44% graduate rate.
• Detroit had the lowest graduation rate:
24.9%.
Graduation Rates
Does the fact that Detroit (and Cleveland,
Baltimore, Philly, etc) is a very high
poverty area suggest anything?
Can schools really provide success in
communities characterized by chaos and
failure?
If we really wanted to help the schools,
wouldn’t we try to curb poverty?
Review:
Accountability
• Public school effectiveness and efficiency
is under public scrutiny.
• NCLB makes schools accountable.
• PSSA results impact school funding and
teacher employment.
Review:
MODULE 1
• History of secondary education.
– Secondary education is relatively new.
• Purpose of secondary education.
– Conflicting purposes: college prep vs. career
prep.
• School district (and teacher)
accountability.
– NCLB holds schools and teachers responsible
for student learning.