A university professor and two elementary principals met to discuss their lives and development as principals, focusing on the role of curriculum theory. The article discusses principals as leaders and learners, the teacher as curriculum, inquiry, reflection, and the theory practice relationship. (SM)

School improvement involves more than just fitting different packages into existing structures. Though education should empower students to become skilled and vital, it often encourages obedience and conformity. There is a bureaucratization that distorts teaching and learning. Theory and cooperative planning are both crucial to educational…

Though the second wave of curriculum theorizing attempts to improve students' and teachers' lives, transform conventional curriculum development, and challenge neoconservative curricula, this paper argues that it has not affected K-12 education. The article discusses absence of reflective action in school-based settings within contemporary…

Discusses contemporary curriculum discourse, reflecting on the split between (1) academic curricularists whose work focuses on school practice and those whose work does not and (2) those who believe curriculum reform is possible without social reconstruction and those who do not. The role of corporate discourse is examined. (SM)

Examines the reconceptualization of curriculum studies, noting responses to interpretation, praxis, and institutional change. Rejecting the traditional theory-practice split in education raises the challenge of how to design empowering curriculum practice. The article describes preservice teacher education based on a specific interpretation of…

Discusses controversy over language, clarity, and experience in educational theory, recommending a language theory that recognizes complexity and difference. Linguistic clarity suppresses differences and multiplicity and reproduces a populist elitism that disempowers educators. People need knowledge and skills to be able to govern and shape…

Examines dimensions of theoretical perspective on curriculum, noting influences of teachers who were the author's graduate students. The article covers curriculum theorizing, synoptic and historical portrayals, comparative orientations, ideological considerations, teacher/student lore, outside curriculum, preservice/inservice teacher education…

Tells the story of a partnership that involved university researchers, school administrators, and preservice and inservice teachers in the African and African American Curriculum Program. Examines commitments that brought in participants, tensions encountered, and areas of learning about curriculum reform and collaboration. (SM)