The Progressive Education Tradition

PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION: GRAND TRADITION, CONTEMPORARY TRANSITIONS

Beaver Country Day School

April 19, 2005

P. Gow

P. Gow/BCDS Professional Day 2April 19, 2005

BACKGROUND

“Progressive” at the turn of the previous century meant populist, reformist, left-leaning; impulses and accomplishments included abolitionism, woman suffrage, trust-busting, and even “environmentalism”

These in turn grew out of the tradition of Locke and Rousseau—that human society, properly structured (less is more, for Rousseau) can be brought to a state of moral perfection and universal happiness

Progressive education was explicitly political in its origins—education to support these principles


FROM ED SCHOOL TO KIDS Educators educating teachers: Francis W. Parker (U.

Chicago); John Dewey (U. Chicago Columbia); William H. Kilpatrick (Columbia; the project guy)

Lab and prototype schools: F.W. Parker (Chicago); City & Country School (NY); Horace Mann School (NY); Winnetka (IL) public schools

Independent early adopters: Park (NY)—1912; Park (MD)—inc. 1912; Shady Hill—1915; Dalton (NY)—1919; BCDS—inc. 1920; The School in Rose Valley (PA)—1929

Maria Montessori (1870–1952)—child-centered and intentional in every respect; first U.S. school—1912


SERIOUS SOCIAL EXPERIMENTS

Ethical Culture schools (NY)—1890s; high school since 1904 (Felix Adler was ahead of Dewey on social aspects of education)

Marietta Johnson School of Organic Education (AL)—1907

The Lincoln School (NY)—1917, by the Rockefeller Foundation/Teachers College; political and pedagogical agendas

Arthurdale (WV) community schools—New Deal community building


PROGRESSIVE INNOVATIONS FROM “BACK IN THE DAY” School-provided lunch Advisors Field trips (okay, also from H. D. Thoreau) Physical education as a class and a discipline Project-based learning The syllabus (E. R. Smith on geometry) School-based teacher training programs Developmental psychology as aspect of teacher training Folklore and folk traditions as academic study


PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION, 1930 (BCDS) Students are free to develop naturally Interest is the key to motivation The teacher is a guide, not a taskmaster Scientific study is made of student development and

ability; psychometric testing as a key tool Attention paid to all factors in a student’s physical

development: light, air, nutrition, activity Cooperation between school and family is key “The progressive school a leader in educational

movements”—ideas and new approaches are valued


EIGHT-YEAR STUDY (1933–41)

QUESTION: Does “Progressive Education” work? Funded by the Carnegie Corporation; officially known

as Commission of the Progressive Education Association on School and College Relations

Eight years; thirty schools; control group included Careful investigation of each school Careful tracking of student progress in secondary

schools and in college study Report published in 1942; WW II in progress; no one

much interested in progressive education


THE FINDINGS OF THE STUDY

Progressively educated students the equal of traditionally educated students in college

School recommendations as accurate a predictor of college success as standardized tests

“Grades” less important than clear description of skills and accomplishments

In other words, progressive methods are as effective as traditional methods in preparing students for college work (and perhaps better, it was implied, at preparing students to make the life decisions associated with the college experience)


THE EISENHOWER YEARS

“Classical” progressive education falters and fades amid Cold War anxieties; the fascination of Skinner’s Walden II and behaviorism

Many progressive schools drift into the mainstream; Our Miss Brooks is good enough for now

“Sputnik Panic” and the beginnings of the Civil Rights movement refocus attention on schools as 1960s begin; progressive ideas of emphasis on the child and on curriculum design resurface and head off in many directions


PROGRESSIVE to PERMISSIVE, 1960s–1980s: Things Critics Love to Hate A. S. Neill’s Summerhill (published 1960) The New Math—concepts over “times tables” Open classrooms (from England) Free schools—politics trump pedagogy Alternative schools—acknowledging the legitimacy of

resistance to “traditional” schooling and authority “Rules” seemingly optional—attendance, homework The “self-esteem movement” An endless sequence of fads and change


BUT YET… The charter school movement—American

legislators “letting a hundred flowers bloom” Central Park East (NY), Urban Academy (NY) and

the “Small Schools” movement Parent- or educator-founded small schools with

child-centered mission, social-justice orientation, and strong community purpose

The Coalition of Essential Schools—a set of ideals growing out of the Horace books by Theodore Sizer


REMEMBER…

Progressive education came into being to change the world—to effect the moral and social transformation of students (and thus society) in order to move the human condition forward towards a state of perfection

This is not a modest goal, nor is it easily set aside

A New Progressivism for the 21st Century

Some propositions


THE RECENT CRITIQUE Progressive education is often misunderstood

to be about endless experimentation, cultural relativism, and an absence of standards

John Dewey has become to social conservatives writing on education what Bill Clinton was to the religious right

Some names: Arthur Bestor; E.D. Hirsch, Jr.; Diane Ravitch; Chester Finn; Abigail Thernstrom


THE RESPONSE

Progressive education in this century is not a slavish attempt to follow the letter of Dewey’s “law” (if he had written one), nor is it a remnant of the free and alternative schools of the later 1900s

Contemporary progressive education responds to new understanding about cognition and to new ideas about the design and delivery of challenging learning experiences

Contemporary progressive education continues to have an important social role in a society struggling towards equity


SUCCESSORS OF DEWEY et al. Howard Gardner, Robert Sternberg, Mel Levine—the

nature of intelligence, learning “styles” Theodore & Nancy Faust Sizer, Deborah Meier—

school in society, school structure Grant Wiggins, Rick Stiggins, Heidi Hayes Jacobs,

David Perkins—learning, curriculum, and assessment Alan November, Jason Ohler—technology James Banks, Linda Chavez, Peggy McIntosh, Lisa

Delpit, Carol Gilligan, Jaime Wurzel—equity issues around gender and race; multicultural education

Project Zero, the regional education laboratories, the Coalition of Essential Schools—”think tanks” of a new progressivism

Aspects of the New Progressivism: Institutional Values


VALUES All children are worthy as individuals Human institutions and human beings can always

be made more righteous, more just; progressivism is an agent of change

Deeply humanistic, nurturing values are fundamental to any progressive institution or impulse

Progressive educational values need not be spiritual values, but they are essentially and undeniably values of the spirit


STANDARDS The standards are forward-thinking and must

support preparation for challenging work in college and beyond—changing the world

Progressive standards must be rigorous, and must be based on goals that are authentic and worthy

Standards are about intention, not about work for work’s sake; “sweat equity” is a valid progressive concept, but effort unrelated to actual learning is not

Accountability is a progressive value


CULTURALLY INCLUSIVE

Explicit and positive acknowledgement of cultures and ways of being embedded in curriculum and programs

Beyond tolerance; rejects content and assessment that perpetuate oppression and cultural evaluation

Insists upon core values of respect, kindness, non-violence, and hard work that transcend cultural differences and bind the members of an intentional community

Schools, as small utopias, can model the future of the planet


ENGAGING

Learning should engage students in worthy work Engaging learning touches and inspires curiosity,

but not every task need engage every student Reveals to students the causal relationship between

intellectual effort and intellectual effect—that thought and struggle matter and bring rewards

The successful and happy individual has learned to engage positively in life’s challenges and tasks; the school must help students learn this


THE THIRD CULTURE

Beyond the home and peer cultures of village, suburb, or city, a Third Culture of school and work

Third Culture invites optimism, creative problem-solving, generous collaboration, and language and technique that evidence seriousness of purpose

Effective education must teach, nourish, and reward Third Culture values, skills, and habits of mind

Third Culture can be subversive: It’s about learning how to act within a certain cultural context to further the work of perfecting society

Aspects of the New Progressivism: Curriculum


“INTERDISCIPLINARY”

Invites students to see connections among the skills and content of different disciplines

Demands sophisticated analytical thinking and choices as to approach and emphasis

Acknowledges and preserves the essential modes, methods, and content of distinct academic disciplines; “inter-” does not mean “non-”


PROJECT-BASED

Effective project-based learning is by definition skill-based learning

Effective project-based curriculum contains opportunities for explicit skills instruction and rehearsal

While the product is important, the process is more important; good project design requires careful construction and evaluation of process

A project’s success is measured by the learning it engenders, not by its coolness


EXPERIENTIAL

Prior experience provides the context for new learning

Experience complements and supports other kinds of learning—from texts, from teachers

The experience of the senses and emotions is cognitively powerful—it tends to stick in the brain

But: “Even sitting at a desk is an experience”—Ted Sizer


ASSESSMENT-DRIVEN Assessment should reflect the goals of the

teaching Effective assessment tasks are varied in nature,

intensity, and scale—and timely in administration Effective assessment matches the nature of the

learning be measured The nature of assessment tasks should not run

ahead of the acquisition of fundamental skills needed for true mastery


FEEDBACK The purpose of evaluation is to give feedback

that improves future performance Effective feedback is clear, precise, timely, and

based on known criteria and standards Evaluative feedback should contain explicit

suggestions for the improvement of performance and should focus on areas over which the student has control

Feedback on effort (i.e., observed performance, including non-performance) is of great value

Aspects of the New Progressivism:Pedagogy


THE TEACHER-OBSERVER

The task of the teacher is carefully to observe and note the work and behavior of students

The teacher-observer’s concern is the character growth and academic success of students

The teacher-observer sees, notes, and analyzes student performance against the goals of the curriculum and the mission and values of the community

The teacher-observer eschews labels and embraces analysis and action


COLLABORATION

Collaboration is more than just conversation or cooperation

Collaborative learning begins with the intent and attention of the teacher-observer

Collaborative learning occurs best in a collaborative classroom culture

Collaborative classroom culture develops based on the teacher’s understanding of each student’s needs, strengths, and affinities and of how to design effective collaborative tasks


LEARNING STYLES Learning styles reflect the individual’s peculiar

cognitive and neurochemical nature as well as behaviors born of experience

Learning styles are “strengths” or “weaknesses” or even “disabilities” in context only

Learning styles are the chief subject of the teacher-observer

Students understand their own learning styles and learn to accommodate their strengths and preferences to rigorous educational demands


METACOGNITION

To know how one learns is to have power in one’s own learning

Each student’s learning can become visible to the careful teacher-observer

But to have learning become visible to the student is to open the doorway to knowledge and to intellectual maturity

Aspects of the New Progressivism:Some Implications


FOR CURRICULUM:

Students must be challenged by sophisticated ideas and rigorous work; there cannot be any holding back from the intellectual, social, and ethical demands of the Third Culture

Teachers must be purposeful in their preparation, cunning in their methods, and steadfast in maintaining the values and expectations of the Third Culture


FOR PEDAGOGY:

Kids have to be kids, but in a progressive environment they have to be taught how to be serious—about their work, about the school environment, about themselves

Teachers must have the opportunity to expand and practice their skills as observers and mentors and in clarifying and maintaining Third Culture values

Teachers must have opportunities to expand their capacities in classroom practice


FOR INSTITUTIONAL VALUES

Progressive schools must be unafraid to become bastions of the Third Culture

Schools must engage in continuous investigation and research into the ways children learn and into the best practices in the design of curriculum

In the realms of work, play, and care, schools must be serious and intentional at all times and in all areas


FOR STUDENTS: The values and expectations of the Third

Culture are not fixed and absolute, but in some way each person can be brought to a higher plane of being and knowing

The path to “perfection” involvesself-knowledgea belief that the self matters—one’s own and

others’a belief in one’s worthiness to be taken

seriously as a thinking and ethical beinga willingness to take one’s responsibility to

oneself and to the world seriously


FOR US: Hold to our values regarding connecting with students

and engaging in a continuous process of curriculum and program refinement

Continue tough discussions about equity and opportunity Enunciate and adhere to Third Culture values Don’t be afraid to set high standards for all students We are the inheritors of a grand and important tradition

that was designed to change the world We are innovators and leaders in this tradition Help our students learn and understand their own place,

not only in the Third Culture, but in this tradition and in what it means

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