California Foundations of Education: Educational Development within a Diverse Social History

by Jana Noel

Overview

Using details from California’s unique, diverse social and political history makes the potentially dry foundations course into a very personal and dynamic topic for students to wrap their minds around.

The book is a critical analysis of the evolution of educational policies that frame teachers’ and students’ roles and responsibilities in the historical and contemporary context of public education and thoroughly covers topics such as school segregation; the political structure of the state; bilingual education, school funding, NCLB, school choice, how policies arise and how they are legislated.

Perfect for courses such as:
Educational Foundations | Social Foundations of Education | Introduction to Teaching Multicultural Education | Curriculum and Instruction

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781975502171
Publisher:	Myers Education Press
Publication date:	10/28/2019
Pages:	160
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jana
Noel (Ph.D. in Philosophy of Education, UCLA) is Professor of Education and former Director of Educational and Community Research Partnerships at Sacramento
State University. Dr. Noel created and coordinated the Sacramento State Urban
Teacher Education Center, which moved a teacher education program off the university campus and into a school serving children from public housing. Her book on this and other similar programs, Moving
Teacher Education into Urban Schools and Communities: Prioritizing Community
Strengths, received a 2013 Critics Choice Book Award from the American
Educational Studies Association. She has published numerous articles and several books, and has received both research and service awards. She has received grants from the Spencer Foundation to study the segregated
"Colored Schools" of 1860s California and Native American Boarding
Schools of the late 1800s. She currently directs two large, U.S. Department of Education funded grants preparing diverse students for educational research and preparing
Latinx students to become teachers and advocates in their communities.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Diverse from the Start

Chapter 1. History and Purposes of Education in California

Chapter 2. Political Influences and Organizational Structure of Education in California

Chapter 3. Funding Education in California

Chapter 4. Curriculum, Content Standards, and Instructional Materials

Chapter 5. Assessment and Accountability Practices and Issues

Chapter 6. Immigration and Language Policies in California Education

Chapter 7. Family and Community Engagement

Chapter 8. The Teaching Profession, California Style

Appendices. (A) Education Code

     (B) California Department of Education

     (C) California Commission on Teacher Credentialing

References

Editorial Reviews

Jana Noel’s book explicates the forces that have shaped California’s educational system–and in turn California itself–in profound ways. She illustrates how the beliefs and actions of people and policymakers in communities and in the courts play out in materially important ways, from the earliest days of Statehood with its nascent public school system, to its 19th and 20th century struggles and strivings to expand educational opportunities to non-white children, right through the more recent days of A Nation at Risk, NCLB, the ESSA act, and including current issues related to school choice and privatization. The scope of the book is sweeping: she clarifies how policies arise and are shaped by subsequent legal decisions, tackling big-ticket issues such as how schools are funded, who controls budgets, who decides what gets taught (and what gets left out), what gets assessed, who gets certified to teach, and how all of these issues relate to equity and social justice in a state that has seen more change demographically, socially, and economically than any other state in the union. Any serious student of the history of education in California – and indeed the history of California more generally – will find this work illuminating.

From the Publisher

I enjoyed how accessible and useful this is for teacher candidates and even faculty. This text is critical to the work we do to prepare socially- and politically-aware educators. Noel succinctly captures the historical and contemporary foundations of K12 education in California that weaves in pertinent issues of race/ethnicity, culture, and language. The use of reflective and action-based discussion questions make this an essential read for K12 educators and teacher education faculty.”

Patricia D. López

Jana Noel’s book explicates the forces that have shaped California’s educational system–and in turn California itself–in profound ways. She illustrates how the beliefs and actions of people and policymakers in communities and in the courts play out in materially important ways, from the earliest days of Statehood with its nascent public school system, to its 19th and 20th century struggles and strivings to expand educational opportunities to non-white children, right through the more recent days of A Nation at Risk, NCLB, the ESSA act, and including current issues related to school choice and privatization. The scope of the book is sweeping: she clarifies how policies arise and are shaped by subsequent legal decisions, tackling big-ticket issues such as how schools are funded, who controls budgets, who decides what gets taught (and what gets left out), what gets assessed, who gets certified to teach, and how all of these issues relate to equity and social justice in a state that has seen more change demographically, socially, and economically than any other state in the union. Any serious student of the history of education in California – and indeed the history of California more generally – will find this work illuminating.

Grinell Smith