Educational Foundations - Soc Comp Exam

Updated 10/26/2009
Study Guide for Educational Foundations

Educational Sociology
Congratulations!
You've made it this far, completed the course work and are preparing for the "comps."
We hope this guide will aid you in that preparation.
The comprehensive examination allows the doctoral student the opportunity to synthesize
knowledge at an advanced academic level; each category represented in the Program of
Studies is included in the comprehensive examination. It is not simply another final
exam on courses completed, but rather reflects your ability to demonstrate a
comprehensive knowledge of your field of study.
The Educational Sociology comps are take-home exams. You will receive the comps via
e-mail and have approximately two weeks to complete the exam. The dates are listed on
the Educational Leadership home page. The take-home format of the exam suggests you
will have ample time to provide well-organized, well-developed, comprehensive, and
well-cited responses drawing on both materials you have used in relevant classes as well
as outside resources.
PURPOSE: The COE/EDL doctoral handbook includes the following statements of
purpose for the doctoral comprehensive exam (p. 13): "Their primary purpose is to give
students an opportunity to (1) Demonstrate their understanding of basic concepts beyond
the final examinations taken in specific courses; (2) Form and articulate opinions and
concepts in areas of study; (3) use methods of argument, presentations, conclusions,
implications, applications, and organization as they synthesize knowledge from their
studies; (4) Integrate knowledge with their own professional experiences."
PREPARATION: You should prepare for the take-home exam well before you receive the
exam. Begin by reviewing the materials (e.g. readings, notes, discussions, essays, or other
materials) from related courses and identifying major concepts or ideas. Use course
syllabi and class readings to review major arguments presented in readings. If possible,
identify a group of students with whom you can study and exchange ideas. If not familiar
with APA 5th edition guidelines, borrow a manual or look for websites that will help you
EXPECTATIONS: As doctoral students, you are expected to add to the body of
knowledge by formulating your own arguments while using an extensive body of
literature. While some questions will have several subsets of questions, you should be
able to frame these questions within a larger argument, which you identify in the
introduction and thesis statement. The reader should be able to easily identify your
argument within the first or second paragraph.
You are expected to answer all parts of the question, use an appropriate number of
sources (4-6 sources), be able to demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of the
question, and be able to bring these various sources into conversation with each other to
Updated 10/26/2009
show the nuances within different understandings. The writing should be clear, coherent,
and follow all professional guidelines as stipulated by the discipline. See below for
appropriate citations.
FORM: You will have to answer two questions out of the questions provided. The
questions are written to help you compare and contrast various
theoretical explanations of school as a social construct and context. In
some cases, you will be asked to draw on your professional and/or
personal experiences.
LENGTH: While there is a not a required number of pages, a well-developed response
should probably range from about 5 to 15 pages. It would be fair to say that any response
less than five (5) pages would not allow you to develop a comprehensive response.
CITATIONS: All responses should use APA 5th edition with regards to citations and
should include a bibliography at the end of each question.
EVALUATION: Questions are prepared and read by faculty members in each area of
expertise; blind reads are used when possible and a rubric has been developed and used in
each area. . . Responses to the foundations questions in education sociology will be
evaluated by two readers (with the student name removed from the exam) for accuracy,
thoroughness, comprehensiveness, clarity, and appropriateness. Evaluation criteria are
keyed to the purposes of comps cited above and to the content underpinning sociological
foundations of educational leadership. The exam is graded as "pass," "conditional pass,"
or "failure." Successful completion of all sections of the comprehensive exams is a
requirement for Advancement to Candidacy (p. 10). There is a 60-day period required
between receiving Advancement to Candidacy status and dissertation defense.
Evaluation criteria are keyed to the purposes of comps cited above and to the content
underpinning sociological foundations of educational leadership.
Should you require further assistance or have other questions, please don't hesitate to
contact any of us in the Foundations - Sociology emphasis.
Good Luck!
CONCEPT GUIDE:
Some of the major concepts with which you should have familiarity
are:
social transmission theories, interpretive theories, and theories of
transformation: their assumptions, their defining characteristics, their
proponents, their critics, their inter-relationships, their theoretical and
applied aspects. Understanding of key terms, touchstone references,
key people, key focus questions, and key educational issues from more
than a single theoretical perspective is expected.
relationships between education systems and society, including a
historical and contemporary understanding of economic and political
influences.
2
Updated 10/26/2009
the influence of societal organization on aspects of schooling (e.g.
power, control).
the nature of sociological inquiry: its characteristics, what it enables,
what it constrains.
the contributions of various theoretical perspectives (e.g.

functionalism, labeling theory, conflict theory, reproduction theory,
phenomenology, critical theory) to discussions of educational reform in
historical and contemporary settings.
EXAMPLE QUESTIONS
The following questions are from previous comprehensive exams.
They are presented here to give you an idea of the kinds of
questions that appear in the sociology foundations exam.
1. Sociologists have long been interested in the relationship of social

class and education. Identify three social theorists who address this
relationship and describe their arguments. Delineate the
similarities and differences in their positions and explain how their
work links participation in school to educational achievement and
occupational attainment.
2. Sociologists and educators have developed a range of arguments to
explain the low academic achievement of members of particular
minority groups. Identify and describe two contrasting theoretical
interpretations of school failure and delineate the differences
between the two positions. In your response, refer to the empirical
work of at least two theorists within each paradigm and their
contributions to the theoretical arguments. Discuss the implications
of each theoretical argument on school-based interventions and the
recommendations each theorist would make to improve academic
achievement.
3. School districts throughout the country are experimenting with
strategies to increase parental choice in schooling (e.g., charter
schools, vouchers, etc.). Select four individuals from the following
list of educational sociologists and social theorists and discuss how
their work relates to issues around school choice. How do the
central themes of each theorists work justify or critique the
advantages and disadvantages of this school reform movement?
Updated 10/26/2009
THEORIST AND TEXT REFERENCES
The following theorists and texts are listed to help you identify sources
from which to draw:
Updated 10/26/2009
Thomas Adorno
Jurgen Habermas
Paula Gunn Allen
Donna Haraway
Michael Apple
Nancy Hartsock
Jean Baudrillard
Max Horkheimer
Walter Benjamin
William James
Peter Berger
Jonathan Kozol
Basil Bernstein
Annette Lareau
Allan Bloom
Jean-Francois Lyotard
Barry Bluestone
Karl Mannheim
Pierre Bourdieu
Karl Marx
Samuel Bowles
Ray McDermott
Nancy Chodorow
Peggy McIntosh
John Chubb
Peter McLaren
James Coleman
George Herbert Mead
R.W. Connell
Robert Merton
Linda Darling Hammond C. Wright Mills

Lisa Delpit
Jeannie Oakes
Jacques Derrida
John Ogbu
John Dewey
Talcott Parsons
Emile Durkheim
Susan Urmston Philips
Frederick Erickson
Theodore Schultz
Michelle Fine
Gayatri Chakravorty
Spivak
Michel Foucault
Paulo Freire
Harold Garfinkel
Carol Gilligan
Henry Giroux
Joel Spring
Lester Thurow
Herve Varenne
Max Weber
Amy Stuart Wells
Updated 10/26/2009
Erving Goffman
Cornel West
Paul Willis
Good overall texts/class texts

Arum, R., & Beattie, I.R. (2000). The structure of schooling: Readings in
the sociology of education. Mountain View, CA: Mayfield
Publishing Company.
Ballantine, J.H. (12001). The sociology of education: A systematic
analysis (5tg ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
deMarrais, K.B., & LeCompte, M. (1999). The way schools work: A
sociological analysis of education (3rd ed). New York: Longman.
Halsey, A.H., Lauder, H., Brown, P., & Wells, A.S. (1997). Education:
culture, economy, society. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Lemert, C. (1999). Social theory: The multicultural & classic readings
(2nd ed). Boulder CO: Westview Press.
Levinson, D.L., Cookson, P.W., & Sadnovnik, A.R. (2002). Education and
sociology: An encyclopedia. Florence, KY: Routledge-Falmer.
Related Primary Source Texts related to Sociological

Foundations of Education
Apple, M. (1993). Official knowledge: Democratic education in a
conservative age. New York: Routledge.
Apple, M. (1979). Ideology and curriculum. Boston: Routledge Falmer.
Berger, P. (1967). The social construction of reality: A treatise in the
sociology of knowledge. Garden City, NY: Anchor.
Bloom, A. (1987). The closing of the American mind: How higher
education has failed democracy and impoverished the souls of
todays students. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a theory of practice. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
Bourdieu, P. (1984). Distinction: A social critique of the judgment of
taste. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
6
Updated 10/26/2009
Bowles, S., & Gintis, H. (1976). Schooling in capitalist America:
Educational reform and the contradictions of economic life. New
York: Basic Books.
Bernstein, B. (1971). Class, codes, and control. London: Routledge &
Paul.
Carnoy, M. (1974). Education as cultural imperialism. New York: David
McKay Company.
Chubb, J.E., & Moe, T.M. (1990). Politics, markets, and Americans
schools. Washington DC: Brookings.
Delpit, L. (1995). Other peoples children: Cultural conflict in the
classroom. New York: W.W. Norton.
Dewey, J. (1916/1966). Democracy and education: An introduction to
the philosophy of education. New York: Free Press.
Dewey, J. (1938/1997). Experience and education. New York: Free
Press.
Durkheim, E. (1956). Education and society. New York: Teachers
College Press.
Fine, M. (1991). Framing drop-outs. Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press.
Freire, P. (1995). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum.
Garfinkel, H. (1967). Studies in ethnomethodology. Englewood Cliffs,
NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Gilligan, C. (1982/1993). In a different voice: Psychological theory and
womens development. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Giroux, H. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals: Toward a critical pedagogy
of learning. Granby, MA: Bergin & Garvey.
Giroux, H. (1999). The mouse that roared: Disney and the end of
innocence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Giroux, H. (2001). Theory and resistance in education: A pedagogy for
the opposition. South Hadley, MA: Bergin & Garvey.
Goffman, E. (1959/1990). The presentation of self in everyday life. New
York: Doubleday.
Haraway, D.J. (1989). Primate visions: Gender, race, and nature in the
world of modern science. New York: Routledge.
Updated 10/26/2009
Kozol, J. (1991). Savage inequalities: Children in Americas schools.
New York: Crown Publishers.
Lareau, A. (2000). Home advantage: Social class and parental
intervention in elementary education (2nd ed.). Lanham, MD:
Rowman & Littlefield Publishers.
Lyotard, J.F. (1984). Condition postmoderme. Minneapolis: University of
Minnesota Press.
Mannheim, K. (1952). Essays on the sociology of knowledge. London:
Routledge & Paul.
Marx, K. (1961/1962/1977). Kapital. New York: Vintage Books.
McLaren, P. (1993). Between borders: Pedagogy and the politics of
cultural studies. New York: Routledge.
McLaren, P. (1998). Life in schools: An introduction to critical pedagogy
in the foundations of education (3rd ed.). New York: Longman.
Mead, G.H. (1934/1962). Mind, self & society from the standpoint of a
social behaviorist. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Merton, R. (1949/1957/1968). Social theory and social structure. New
York: Free Press.
Mills, C.W. (1956). The power elite. New York: Oxford University Press.
Oakes, J. (1985). Keeping track: How schools structure inequality. New
Haven CT: Yale University Press.
Ogbu, J. (1974). The next generation: An ethnography of education in
an urban neighborhood. New York: Academic Press.
Ogbu, J. (1991). Minority status and schooling: A comparative study of
immigrant and involuntary minorities. New York: Garland.
Parsons,T.(1977).Socialsystemsandtheevolutionofactiontheory.NewYork:Free
Press.
Parsons, T., & Shils. E.A. (1951). Toward a general theory of action.
Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Philips,S.U.(1983).Theinvisibleculture:Communicationinclassroomandcommunity
ontheWarmSpringsIndianReservation.NewYork:Longman.
Schultz,T.W.(1970/1971).Investmentinhumancapital:Theroleofeducationandof
research.NewYork:FreePress.
Spivak,G.C.(1999).Acritiqueofpostcolonialreason:Towardahistoryofthevanishing
present.Cambridge,MA:HarvardUniversityPress.
8
Updated 10/26/2009
Spring, J. (1994/2002). American education. Boston: McGraw-Hill.
Spring,J.(1997).Deculturalizationandthestruggleforequality:Abriefhistoryofthe
educationofdominatedculturesintheUnitedStates.NewYork:McGrawHill.
Varenne,H.,&McDermott,R.(1998).Successfulfailure:TheschoolAmericabuilds.
Boulder,Co:WestviewPress.
Weber, M. (1947/1964). The theory of social and economic
organization. New York: Free Press.
Weber,M.(1958/1985/2002).Protestantethicandthespiritofcapitalism.LosAngeles,
CA:RoxburyPublishingCo.
Wells,A.S.,&Crain,R.L.(1997).Steppingoverthecolorline:AfricanAmerican
studentsinwhitesuburbanschools.NewHaven,CT:YaleUniversityPress.
West,C.(1993).Racematters.Boston:BeaconPress.
Weis, L. (1990). Working class without work: High school students in a
de-industrializing economy. New York: Routledge.
Willis,P.(1977).Learningtolabour:Howworkingclasskidsgetworkingclassjobs.
Farnborough,UK:SaxonHouse.

Educational Foundations - Soc Comp Exam

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Educational Foundations - Soc Comp Exam

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Educational Foundations - Soc Comp Exam

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What is the purpose of the comprehensive exam according to the document?

What are some expectations for answering the exam questions?

Updated 10/26/2009

Study Guide for Educational Foundations

the contributions of various theoretical perspectives (e.g.

1. Sociologists have long been interested in the relationship of social

Paula Gunn Allen

George Herbert Mead

Linda Darling Hammond C. Wright Mills

Susan Urmston Philips

Good overall texts/class texts

Related Primary Source Texts related to Sociological

You might also like