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Research Team Narrative

Education in The Urban Environment

Academic Year

2009-2010

Overview

Using multiple avenues of approach, our team intends to focus on the different areas of education (K-12, and post-secondary) as they relate to the urban environment.

Using multiple avenues of approach, our team intends to focus on the different areas of education (K-12, and post-secondary) as they relate to the urban environment. Equitable access to education is at the forefront of many of the ‘hot-button’ issues discussed in the context of the urban environment ( i.e., sustainability, ‘green’ building, environmental awareness, community involvement / participation, urban renewal etc.). Until we are able to ensure that the entire population has access to the knowledge base required to understand the importance of systemic change or diversion from the status quo, as it relates to these issues, it will be increasingly difficult for us to address these issues, as entire segments of our population will be excluded from the conversation.
The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is the 2nd largest (population) school district in the state of California, and the 8th largest in the nation. Furthermore, the diverse nature of the population combined with the myriad of alternative methods of public instruction already being used within the district (i.e. project based learning, charter schools, alternative / continuation schools, adult education, zero-tolerance schools) make it an excellent case study of creative educational practices and educator pedagogy.

Our team plans on addressing the education system through research in the following areas (tentative):

SN: retention rates of high school students/college students based on the surrounding tutoring services available.

CJ: focusing on public education failing low income students. As of right now she is hoping to look closer at government spending and how/if money and budgets vary from area to area.

IC: look into the Preuss Charter School… [She] wants to study whether busing children across the city is actually working for students. Wouldn’t they suffer from discrimination when being back in their neighborhood and do they miss out on their childhood because of it? Do the benefits of Preuss weigh more heavily than the faults? UC’s are always looking for well rounded students, does Preuss provide those students? If this isn’t the way…how can we put Preuss into every low income community?

JC: a look into alternative (not specifically charter) forms of education (i.e. continuation, zero-tolerance schools within the school district & project based learning models), alternative educational programs (afterschool programs, opportunities from outside entities [ boxing, fitness, recreational programs]); their use (or lack thereof), their availability (who has access), the cost and the effectiveness (to include an inquiry into how we measure this term) of such programs.

Student Leader
Students
Mentors
Key Terms

Educational Equity, Cultural / Social Reproduction, Achievement Gap, Class Stratification, Social Mobility, No Child Left Behind

References

Binder, Amy, and James E. Rosenbaum. “Do Employers Really Need More Educated Youth?” 1997. In The Structure of Schooling Readings in the Sociology of Education, by Richard Arum and Irenee Beattie, 406-16. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1999.
Bourdieu, Pierre. “Cultural Reproduction and Social Reproduction.” 1990. In The Structure of Schooling Readings in the Sociology of Education, by Richard Arum and Irenee Beattie, 56-68. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1999.
Coleman, James, Ernest Campbell, Carol Hobson, James McPartland, Alexander Mood, Frederick Weinfeld, and Robert York. “The Coleman Report.” 1966. In The Structure of Schooling: Readings in the Sociology of Education, by Richard Arum and Irenee Beattie, 154-67. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1999.
Coleman, James. “The Adolescent Culture.” 1961. In The Structure of Schooling Readings in the Sociology of Education, by Richard Arum and Irenee Beattie, 358-71. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1999.
Collins, Randall. Credential society an historical sociology of education and stratification. New York: Academic P, 1979

Noguera, Pedro A. The Trouble With Black Boys And Other Reflections on Race, Equity, and the Future of Public Education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2008.
Oakes, Jeannie, John Rogers, and Martin Lipton. Learning Power Organizing for Education And Justice (John Dewey Lecture). New York: Teachers College P, 2006.
Paik, Susan J., and Herbert J. Walberg, eds. Narrowing the Achievement Gap Strategies for Educating Latino, Black, and Asian Students (Issues in Children’s and Families’ Lives). New York: Springer, 2007.
Patricia, Burch. The New Educational Privatization No Child Left Behing, Markets, and Public Schools. New York: Routledge, 2008.
Pierre., Bourdieu,, and Jean-Claude Passeron. Reproduction in education, society, and culture. 2nd ed. London: Sage in association with Theory, Culture & Society, Dept. of Administrative and Social Studies, Teesside Polytechnic, 1990.

Weber, Max. “The “Rationalization” of Education and Training.” 1946. In The Structure of Schooling Readings in the Sociology of Education, by Richard Arum and Irenee Beattie, 16-19. New York: McGraw-Hill Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages, 1999.

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