Schools and Communities: Ecological and Institutional Dimensions

Abstract

Research on the relationship between schools and communities has reemerged as a principal focus of the sociology of education. Current research, however, rejects earlier conceptualizations of school communities as being organized locally and identifiable by reference to demographic and neighborhood characteristics. Neoinstitutional research on schools has focused examination instead on school communities defined as organizational fields. From this perspective, state regulation, professional associations, and market competition are institutional forces that combine with local neighborhood characteristics to shape school-level practices. The historical development of this theoretical approach is first discussed; current research on neighborhood effects is then critiqued for ignoring how schools vary in response to institutional environments; finally, examples of the utility of a broader institutional conceptualization of community are suggested in five current areas of educational research: racial segregation, resource inequality, curriculum variation, school-to-work transitions, and school discipline.

The impacts of a school closure on neighbourhood social cohesion: narratives from Invercargill, New Zealand

“…through a collection of elements, which in their combined outcome form something of a functioning system. The work of American sociologist Arum (2000), who attempts to deal with the absence of a discussion of broader dependencies of education, or rather of society-wide, legisla-tive and political infl uences on the operations of a school, comes closest to such an approach. According to Arum, research on the relationships of schools with their so-called demographic communities, meaning the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the population within their direct service area, in the sense that researchers from the Chicago school (see below) conducted such studies, has lost its signifi cance in today's modernizing and globalizing world.…”

“…We shall attempt to show that the school network represents one of the fundamental infrastructures within a given territory, through which it can partially infl uence development of the region. School is a remarkable institution in that it trains and teaches others to act, while, at the same time, it must act for itself in some way, within the environment, in which it is located (Arum 2000). Therefore, we are able to focus both on the position of a school in its network of institutional relationships, as well as on processes of networking in space, which take place as a result of the impact of a school on individuals and on the local community.…”

Punished For Being Normal! A Culturally Relevant Critique of the Deviant Behaviors of Minority Millennials

“…Some scholars refer to this as -Anglo-conformity‖ (Banks, 1979). It is imperative to recognize that the disciplinary climates of every school emerge out of a -complex interaction‖ between the demographic characteristics of everyone involved, as well as interpersonal communities surrounding the school environments (Arum, 2000). Discontinuity continues to exist between a child's home experience and the value structures typically encouraged in many public schools (Council for Exceptional Children & National Alliance of Black School Educators, 2002).…”

Związek wyników egzaminu maturalnego z pochodzeniem społecznym i regułami merytokracji

“…o różnice pod względem organizacji programu szkolnego, profili nauczania, metod prowadzenia zajęć oraz porozumiewania się nauczycieli z uczniami. Ważnymi aspektem instytucjonalnym jest system finansowania szkół średnich i udzielania im pomocy przez władze samorządowe (Arum, 2000;Eccles i in., 1993). Można założyć, że zróżnicowanie między szkołami układa się hierarchicznie, a osią tego podziału są lepsze lub gorsze wyniki nauczania.…”