Chapter Outline

Introduction

Secondary education refers to middle schools, junior high schools, and high schools.

Secondary Education in America

More than half of American youth continue their education after high school.
In 1900, only 1 in 10 adolescents were enrolled in school.
Today, adolescents also spend considerably more time in school.

The origins of compulsory education

Trends in industrialization, urbanization, and immigration contributed to the rise in secondary education in America.
With widespread industrialization during the late 1800s, many families could make ends meet without the necessity of children bringing in earnings.
Employers realized they needed workers with more skills and who were more reliable than the typical child.
Social reformers also expressed concern for the dangers children faced in factories.
Organized labor unions sought to protect jobs - and pay scales - for adults.
Rising immigration to the industrialized cities created crowding and stressful living situations; social reformers believed education would improve the life circumstances of the lower class.
They also saw compulsory education as a means of social control, and a way of socializing immigrants into the American way of life.

The rise of the comprehensive high school

Prior to the 1900s, high schools were designed for the upper class.
With compulsory education laws came school curricular reform; classes and curricula were designed to prepare all individuals for a successful life.
Classes in general education, college preparation, and vocational education were all included.

School Reform: Past and Present

Recently, politicians and parents have suggested that schools scale down general education offerings and place greater emphasis on traditional subjects such as english, math, science, social studies, and the new basic - computer science.
During the 1970s, schools created classes that they believed would prepare students for real-world experiences after graduation.
But basic achievement test scores declined sharply, and the 1980s brought a curricular shift back to the basics.
During the 1980s schools also placed an emphasis on higher order thinking, by encouraging students to interpret, analyze, and evaluate information, rather than simply memorizing or applying it in a routine way.
In the 1990s, many claimed that the focus on higher order thinking had taken too much away from a focus on the content of the curriculum.
Today, many parents believe that charter schools, which allow parents and school staff more flexibility in curricular design, are a necessary alternative to the public comprehensive high school.

Education in the inner cities

Achievement scores in poor inner-city schools plummeted during the 1990s.
The concentration of poverty in inner-city communities has produced a population of students with serious academic and behavioral problems.
The erosion of job opportunities in inner cities has eroded the motivation of students in these contexts.

Characteristics of good schools

Good schools emphasize and value intellectual activities, and this value is shared by students, teachers, administrators, and parents.
Good schools have teachers who are committed to their students and are given the necessary autonomy by the administrators to teach how they believe they should teach.
Good schools constantly monitor themselves in order to improve.
Good schools are integrated into the communities they serve; active attempts are made to involve parents in school activities.
In good schools, students are active participants in the classroom.

The Social Organization of Schools

School size and class size

Numerous studies show that students achieve and learn more in smaller schools.
While larger schools offer more extracurricular activities, only a small percentage of students are involved in these activities.
Students in small schools are also more likely to be a leader in a school organization.
In large schools, students with average or below average grades are also less likely to participate in extracurricular activities.

Age grouping and school transitions

Which grades should be grouped together in a school?
Junior high schools and, more recently, middle schools, have been created with the knowledge that the intellectual and emotional maturity of 6th-8th graders is not similar to that of 9th-12th graders, and as such these students should benefit from attending a school that is designed specifically for their abilities.
Research shows that middle schools are more beneficial than junior high schools.
Teachers treat adolescents differently in middle schools than in junior high schools, in ways that are more appropriate for their age.
Changing schools, no matter when it occurs, is disruptive to adolescents' academic performance, behavior, and self-image.
Not all adolescents experience the transition to new schools to be extremely stressful.
Students who have more academic and psychosocial problems before making a school transition cope less successfully with the transition.
Students with close friends before and during the transition adapt more successfully to the new school environment.

Tracking

Tracking is the process of separating students with different levels of abilities into different classes.
The positive aspect of tracking is that students receive teaching at the level they need; the negative side of tracking is that students in lower tracks may not succeed at their highest level.
Another negative aspect of tracking is that students tend to socialize with other students who are very much like them, rather than forming friendships with a variety of different types of peers from different backgrounds.
Further, tracking may increase competition and hostility between students if they feel "different" from one another because of the value placed on higher versus lower tracks.
Some argue that tracking discriminates against minority students.

The sexes: Ability grouping, coeducation, and sex differences in mathematics education

While girls generally outperform boys in math during elementary school, junior and senior high school males are more likely to take advanced math classes, and the high math performers are more likely to be males.
During adolescence, girls may develop the attitude that math is a subject for males.
Girls also have fewer female role models in math-oriented fields, and may receive pressure from males to not excel in math.
Teachers are more likely to communicate to girls that low scores reflect ability, while they communicate to boys that low scores reflect poor effort.
Tracking, then, likely increases preexisting differences among students.
Being placed in an advanced track has a positive influence on school achievement, subsequent course selection, and on ultimate educational attainment.
Gifted students are those who score 130 or higher on an intelligence test.
Students with a learning disability are those whose achievement is lower than their expected performance.
Educators have debated whether gifted and learning disabled students are best served by instruction in separate classes or by mainstreaming, the integration of all students with special needs into regular classrooms.
While isolating these students may meet their educational needs better, such isolation may stigmatize these students in the eyes of others, including their peers.
In general, educators have favored mainstreaming over isolating students in separate classrooms.

School desegregation

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka outlawed school segregation on the basis of race.
The supreme court judges believed that school segregation hindered the academic and economic progress of minority students, because such segregation generates a feeling of inferiority among minorities.
Many schools in the country remain segregated due to continuing residential segregation.
Research on the effects of desegregation have not been encouraging.
Desegregation has little effect on student achievement.
Some studies show that minority youth self-esteem is higher when they attend minority-dominated schools.
Students in desegregated schools still generally keep to their own ethnic group.
African-American students who attend desegregated high schools are more likely to graduate and continue their education, and they adjust better to integrated colleges.
African-American students from desegregated schools are also more likely to work in integrated environments and live in integrated neighborhoods as adults.

Public schools versus private schools

The 1990s saw the emergence of education vouchers, wherein parents could "purchase" enrollment for their child at the school of their choice, either public or private.
Another recent option is a type of school called charter schools, which are independent public schools that are free to operate as they desire, without as much accountability to state governments as public schools.
Not enough time has passed to evaluate the effectiveness of charter schools relative to public schools.
Some argue that one strong benefit of private schools, including Catholic or other denominational schools, is the close link between the school and family members.
Schools and parents in such communities generate social capital, interpersonal resources that give privileged students advantages that poorer students do not usually receive.
In these situations, the lessons taught at school are the same lessons taught at home and in church.
Private schools are also more disciplined and assign more homework.

The importance of school climate

The way teachers interact with students, the way classroom time is used, the sorts of standards and expectations teachers hold for students, are all more important than the size of the school, the way age groups are combined, or the racial composition of the school.
Students achieve and are engaged more in school when the schools are responsive and demanding.
When relationships between students are teachers are positive, teachers are supportive, and teachers are demanding, this enhances adolescents' psychological well-being and academic achievement.
Such an environment is very much like the authoritative parenting style.
Unfortunately, many students attend schools that experience high levels of violence.
One in four students in the U.S. has been a victim of violence in or around school.
One-third reported carrying a weapon to school.
High teacher expectations also positively affect students.
Teacher expectations, unfortunately, often are based on a student's ethnic and socioeconomic background.
We need to understand how to enhance student engagement in learning: the extent to which students are psychologically committed to learning and mastering the material, rather than merely completing the assigned work.
Students frequently say they are bored in school, especially in high school.
What elicits student engagement? Teachers need to provide opportunities for students to really display their abilities. Schools should try to facilitate student feelings that they "belong" to their school. Further, teachers should assign work that is "authentic" - work that is interesting, enjoyable, and relevant to the real world.
Other aspects of the culture of the school affect engagement, however. The degree to which the prevailing peer culture values academic success is critical.
Some groups in minority schools, for example, believe that succeeding in school is "acting white," reflecting a concern that one adheres to one's ethnic identity rather than "buying into" the white majority culture.

Teacher expectations and student performance

Researchers followed teacher expectations and student performance longitudinally - that is, over time, looking for changes.
Only about 20% of the prediction of changes in achievement were "due to" teacher expectations; the other 80% were "due to" accurate teacher perceptions of student abilities.

Beyond High School

The college bound

Early colleges in the U.S. were small and designed primarily for the upper class.
At the turn of the 20th century, many more colleges and universities emerged to serve a much larger segment of the population.
Even as late as the 1950s, few Americans (1 in 5) attended college.
Today, two-thirds of high school graduates enroll in college.
There are still large disparities between Caucasian and minority group enrollment in college.
Outside of the U.S., a much smaller percentage of students attend college.
Students are more often separated into college-bound and non-college-bound students in secondary school, typically based on standardized exams.
Many students who attend college drop out in the first year (30%).
Half of the students who enroll in college do not complete their degree.

The "forgotten half"

Approximately 50% of youth do not currently earn a college degree.
This is the forgotten half of American youth.
Secondary schools are primarily designed to prepare students who are planning to attend college, and are not nearly as good at preparing students for a career that does not include college.
Many of these non-college-bound students spend years floundering from job to job, in and out of employment.
As the economic and employment structure of America has changed, well-paying rewarding jobs for non-college graduates have declined.
Many argue that secondary schools should strengthen the connections between classes and outside "apprenticeships" for high school students who will not attend college.

Schools and Adolescent Development

The collection of research on the effect of school achievement shows that staying in school leads to far more benefits than dropping out of school, not only in terms of earnings but in terms of cognitive development as well.
Students who drop out are the students who can least afford to do so, both in terms of cognitive growth and earning potential.
Schools also serve as a socializing agent for adolescents, both for growth in social skills with adults and understanding society, and for growth in social skills with one's peers.

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