Chapter
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CHAPTER 6: CHOOSING A SCHOOL
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
The chapter begins by offering different descriptions of schools and outlining the components of schools,
including personnel, the physical plant, and the curriculum. It then turns to different school levels and what
pre-service teachers should consider in making decision about the level at which they might want to teach.
The third major section of the chapter examines the characteristics of effective schools and answers the
question: What makes a good school?
CHAPTER LEARNING OUTCOMES
2. Describe important differences among schools at different levels.
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 1, Learner Development
3. Identify characteristics of a good or effective school.
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 3, Learning Environments
POWERPOINT SLIDES
PPT 6.2 School as a Social System (2 slides)
PPT 6.4 Components of Schools
PPT 6.6 Common Ways to Organize Schools
PPT 6.8 Differences in Students (2 slides)
PPT 6.10 Characteristics of Effective Middle Schools (3 slides)
PPT 6.12 Assessment in Effective Schools (2 slides)
PPT 6.14 Examining Schools (2 slides)
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CHAPTER OUTLINE
I. How Do Schools Function?
A. What Is a School?
1. Administrators and Support Staff
2. Teachers
B. The Physical Plant
C. Organization of Schools and the Curriculum
2. Economics and Politics
II. School Levels
A. Early Childhood Programs
1. The Push for Universal Preschool
B. Elementary Schools
C. Junior High and Middle Schools
1. The Development of Junior Highs
1. The Comprehensive High School
a. Criticisms of the Comprehensive High School
b. Alternatives to Comprehensive High Schools
Technology and Teaching: Distance Education Redefines Our Definition of a School
III. Finding a Good School
A. Optimal Size
1. School Size
2. Class Size
B. Leadership
C. Collective Efficacy
D. Interactive Instruction
E. Monitoring of Student Progress
G. Strong Parental and Community Involvement
Diversity: School Organization and the Achievement of Cultural Minorities
Tracking and Members of Cultural Minorities
Cultural Minorities and Class Size
Diversity and You: Making Urban Schools and Classrooms Effective
Chapter
6: Choosing a School
PRESENTATION OUTLINE
I. How Do Schools Function?
A. What Is a School?
B. School Personnel
2. Teachers
B. The Physical Plant
C. Organization of Schools and the Curriculum
Teaching Suggestions:
How Do Schools Function?
components of schools:
1. Display PPT 6.1 and have them identify the metaphors illustrated in
the three examples.
2. School as a Social System
3. outlines the goals that our country typically identifies for its schools.
You may ask your students if they believe the goals are appropriate, and have them identify
additional goals if they feel schools have additional goals. You may also ask them if they believe
4. Components of Schools
5. ding of the role of different personnel in a school, display
have them respond to the question on the slide, and discuss
their responses.
II. School Levels
A. Early Childhood Programs
1. The Push for Universal Preschool
B. Elementary Schools
C. Junior High and Middle Schools
1. The Development of Junior Highs
D. High Schools
1. The Comprehensive High School
a. Criticisms of the Comprehensive High School
b. Alternatives to Comprehensive High Schools
Chapter
6: Choosing a School
Teaching Suggestions:
School Levels
organized this way:
1. As they will see in PPT 6.6, considerable
variation exists in the ways schools are organized.
2. and have your students respond to the
question on the first slide.
3. To help your students understand how student development influences both the organization of
have
them respond to the question on the first slide, and discuss their responses.
4.
your students describe what they see and react to in the schedules, such as the fact that they are
responsible for all the content areas, they devote a disproportionate amount of time to
reading/language arts and math, compared to the other content areas, and the schedules vary,
suggesting that the teachers create their own schedules.
[If they have trouble seeing the information on the slide because of the small print, refer them to
Table 6.2 of their texts.]
5. Characteristics of Effective Middle Schools, outlines some of the characteristics
of effective middle schools. The first slide refers your students to the page number of the case
study in their texts, which they can use as a basis for identifying the characteristics of effective
middle schools.
Chapter
6: Choosing a School
who are [physically] developmentally advanced have significant advantages over their slower
developing peers.
III. Finding a Good School
A. Optimal Size
1. School Size
2. Class Size
B. Leadership
C. Collective Efficacy
D. Interactive Instruction
E. Monitoring of Student Progress
Teaching Suggestions:
Finding a Good School
2. To help Assessment in
Effective Schools have your students respond to the question on the first slide, and discuss their
responses. Because assessment can be controversial, the discussion might become quite animated.
Point out that an expanding body of research consistently indicates that frequent and thorough
3. D have your students respond to the question
on the slide, and discuss their responses.
Chapter
6: Choosing a School
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4. and have your students respond to
the questions as a way of summarizing the information in the chapter.
SUGGESTED STUDENT PORTFOLIO ACTIVITIES
Portfolio Activity 6.1 is included at the end of the chapter. The following are additional suggested portfolio
activities.
Portfolio Activity 6.2 Choosing a School
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The purpose of this activity is to help you begin thinking about the grade level in which you will be
most effective and happy. On a sheet of paper or online, create four columns with the headings
Portfolio Activity 6.3: Understanding How Development Influences School Organization
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 9: Professional Learning and Ethical Practice
The purpose of this activity is to help you begin thinking about the grade level at which you will be
most effective and happy. Begin by taking a sheet of paper and create three columns: elementary
teachers, middle school/junior high teachers, and high school teachers. Think about the characteristics
Chapter
6: Choosing a School
Portfolio Activity 6.4: Effective Schools
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 3: Learning Environments
The purpose of this activity is to encourage you to think about what an effective school would look like
from your own personal perspective. Reread the secti
Portfolio Activity 6.5: Involving parents
InTASC Core Teaching Standard 10: Leadership and Collaboration
The purpose of this activity is to help you start thinking about how you can involve parents in their
GOING INTO SCHOOLS
Many Introduction to Education courses include a field component.
includes this component.
1. Comparing Elementary and Secondary Schools
Go to an elementary and either a middle, junior high or high school. Interview a teacher in each school.
(Or, combine your efforts with someone else at a different level.) Ask the teacher to describe the
school administration and support staff at each school and explain the duties of each person. This
might include some or all of the following (as well as others):
Principal
Vice principal
Assistant principal
Dean
School psychologist
2. School Personnel
Visit a school at a level in which you plan to teach. How does the receptionist greet you? Is she
reception area watch
the receptionist. How does she treat students when they come into the area? Again, is she pleasant and
cordial, or cool and businesslike? What does this tell you about the school from a student perspective?
From a teacher perspective?
3. Characteristics of an Effective School
Visit a school and stand in a hallway as students are moving to or from lunch, or from one class to
another. Describe the behavior of the students and the teachers as students are making these transitions.
In particular, look for the following:
How orderly is the movement? Do students move quickly and with a minimum of apparent
confusion?
directives pleasant and cordial or harsh and critical?
4. Personal Teaching Efficacy
Interview a teacher to investigate their personal teaching efficacy; place special emphasis on questions
How capable of learning are the students?
What are their lives like at home?
Can you overcome home problems if they exist? Why?
What could be done to organize the school so that learning could be increased for all students?
What is the toughest part of your job?
5. Effective Classrooms
Observe the class of the teacher you interviewed above. Look for the following:
The number of questions the teacher asks. Does he or she ask large numbers of questions, or is
most of the instructional time spent lecturing?
on (explaining and lecturing or question and
answer) versus management?
How much of the allocated time do students spend doing seatwork? Does the teacher actively
6. Developmental Differences
Interview a teacher about developmental differences in their classrooms.
a. How do developmental differences influence their teaching?
b. What are the most important developmental differences that they deal with in their classrooms?
c. What developmental differences does the teacher notice in terms of cognitive development? Moral
development? Personal and social development?