The Practice of School Reform: Lessons from Two Centuries

Nehring (U. of Massachusetts Lowell) argues that the foremost problem in American public education is the absence of habits of inquiry and reflection, blaming six "conspirators" that work together to bar thoughtful practice in education: the application of industrial thinking, pervasive societal fears, top down views of schooling, institutional impediments to innovation, the politics of appeasement, and a societal failure of generosity and justice. He seeks to demonstrate how these conspirators work in stifling thoughtfulness in the classroom through the presentation of case studies, some reconstructed from the historical record and others drawn from his own experiences as a teacher. The case studies are also intended to provide lessons on how, in each case, "thoughtful, committed school reformers succeeded in creating and sustaining their vision of a school as a place where children and the adults who work with them make inquiry and reflection the chief activity of the day--every day." Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

James Nehring is Assistant Professor in the Leadership in Schooling Program at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. He is the author of The School within Us: The Creation of an Innovative Public School, also published by SUNY Press, and Upstart Startup: Creating and Sustaining a Public Charter School.