Reforming Schools: Working within a Progressive Tradition during Conservative Times

PREFACE

Efforts to reform schools are intimately rooted in the conscious and/or subconscious visions of what one might consider to be a “good society.” As mentioned in the first chapter, this book represents an effort to create images and discuss issues of school reform that are contextualized within a progressive history of the United States. Given the failures of twentieth century socialist experiments and the unfortunate shift of the United States towards conservative ideology during the last twenty to thirty years, the development of a progressive vision is crucial. Without this historical orientation, it is far too easy for progressive-thinking educators, scholars, and other cultural workers to become overly discouraged in light of recent developments, and thus withdraw from involvement in our schools and other important realms (e.g., economics , politics, media, religion) of society. As discussed in the second chapter , this book suggests that school reform efforts are best conceptualized within a larger effort to create a more critical, social, liberal democracy. Since this book is concerned with the interaction of both social theory and the lived experience of actual work in school reform, it may appeal to people with different interests. As a result, individual readers may wish to approach the book differently. Those who want to be more fully informed about this author’s vision of progressive history, and its relationship to school reform will most likely want to read the book from beginning to end in the order that it is written.Those who are particularly interested in the lived experiences of school reform efforts and lessons learned from these experiences may wish to begin their reading with chapters 3–6, and then after reading these chapters, if the reader is interested in placing this work into a more comprehensive theoretical and historical context, s/he should consider reading the first two chapters. Some might argue that discussing the lived experiences of progressive school reformers (chapters 3–6) within a reading of western history (chapters 1–2) is a bit schizophrenic. To some degree, this concern is valid. However, as school reformers, our work has been significantly influenced by this reading of history, and an understanding of our work would be incomplete without this historical context. Others might question if our experiences in a relatively small number of schools can really offer insights useful to the vast majority of school reformers who might find themselves in very different situations . Of course, we are not in a position to answer this question. Nevertheless , it is important to remember that if we are ever going to substantively xvii P R E F A C E alter the current organization of and practices in schools, then it makes sense to take a careful look at various efforts toward these goals. Only by comprehending a diversity of approaches can we learn from each other. What is being suggested is that we can learn as much, if not more, from carefully examining what happens in unique settings as we can from the generalized norm. The creative challenge for the reader of this book is to vicariously apply what s/he has read to his/her own specific set of circumstances, be that of a single school reformer, an administrator who desires to become a transformative leader and thus move beyond the mere management of a school or district, a group of teachers in a school who might wish to create a “school within a school,” or scholars who are interested in studying and/or assisting those educators involved in the reform of conventional schooling in our society. Of course, no book is ever written by one individual. As I have indicated in a footnote on the first page of each chapter, several key individuals helped me compose the ideas found within this manuscript. In addition, much of the analysis for the first two chapters emerged from a study group I organized that included the following individuals: Jim Ansaldo, Jeffery Woods, Joanne Turk, Karen Grady, Mary Bourke, Ruth Nieboer, Sally Hood, and Becky McGraw. Other colleagues who have provided feedback along the way include: Wendy Walter-Bailey, Tom Kelly, Andrew Gitlin, and Lynne Boyle-Baise. This book could never have been completed without the help of my wife, Dona Naeser. Although she did not participate in its actual composition, I would never have had the time to do this scholarship if she had not been my willing partner in life and in raising our children. As is common in our occupation...