Context: No Child Left Behind is only the most recent manifestation of a longstanding American impulse to reform schools through accountability systems created from afar. While research has explored the causes and consequences of No Child Left Behind, this study puts the modern accountability movement in longer historical perspective, seeking to…

Background/Context: Educational researchers and policymakers have often lamented the failure of teachers to implement what they consider to be technically sound assessment procedures. In recent years, the belief that teachers are unwilling or unable to implement appropriate assessment procedures has contributed to the rapid expansion of high…

Background/Context: Educational historians have given a great deal of attention to the early-twentieth-century growth, development, and implementation of liberal progressive educational theories and techniques. However, with the exception of a few scholars, they have devoted far less attention to the religious dimensions of liberal progressive…

Background/Context: Although the dominant narrative of the civil rights movement marginalizes the role of black educators, revisionist scholars have shown that a significant number of black teachers encouraged student protest and activism. There has, however, been little analysis of the work of black teachers inside segregated schools in the…

Background/Context: This article is part of a special issue on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Hannah Arendt's essay, "The Crisis in Education" and her book The Human Condition. Despite the proliferation of books and articles on Arendt's work since the mid-90s, "The Crisis in Education" does not figure all that much in writing on…

Background/Context: Our article examines some of the philosophical underpinnings of knowledge-producing schools (KPS). KPS is an Australian initiative advanced by such researchers as Chris Bigum, Colin Lankshear, and Michael Knobel. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study: We examine the epistemology and the theory of new literacy that…

Background/Context: Determining John Dewey's exact influence on civic and social education during the early 20th century has been one of the most vexing issues facing curriculum historians. Generally speaking, interpretations of Dewey's work and influence have been plagued by four recurring methodological limitations: First, historians tend to…

Background/Context: The contemporary small-school movement traces its roots to the alternative schools of the 1960s and the development of small urban schools in the 1980s. However, the small-school movement has its roots in the progressive movement of the early twentieth century. Although there is a significant amount of research on the early…

Background/Context: New technologies have been largely absent in arts education curriculum even though they offer opportunities to address arts integration, equity, and the technological prerequisites of an increasingly digital age. This paper draws upon the emerging professional field of "media arts" and the ways in which youth use new…

This article addresses the tension between the need to prepare students for functional activity in organizations on the one hand, and the need to instill dispositions and competencies that transcend these determinate roles on the other. I take for granted that schools must fulfill both tasks, and I suggest that they are failing at the latter in…

Interpretations of John Dewey's philosophy by pragmatic and romantic progressivists are outlined and contrasted with Dewey's own writings. (JMF)

Describes progressive preservice teacher education during the 1930s at the Bank Street College of Education, providing examples of teaching in courses on environment and language. The courses emphasized the student as a knower and constructor of knowledge and connected school and social context. The paper discusses characteristics of progressive…

Author suggests a rereading of educational articles written by progressive'' reformers in the 1920's and 30's, to profit from earlier experiences. (SP)

This artice discusses how Progressive views on education were shaped by Protestant ideology. The educational theories of Dewey and Kilpatrick are given as examples of the influence of Protestant religion. (DF)

This study focuses on two pioneer American educators embraced by anarchists and held up by them as having come closest to realizing anarchistic educational theory in practice. (MM)