Student Experiences of

School Reform & Social Change• Progressive era reformers (such as

John Dewey and others, 1890s-1930s) called for bold changes in teaching and learning.

• How did various groups of students and teachers actually experience Progressive era school reform?

• Did educational policy influence classroom practice -- or not?

Larry Cuban, How Teachers Taught:

Constancy and Change in American Classrooms,

1890-1990

Research Question: Did Progressive-era “policy talk” influence classroom instructional practice?

Larry Cuban, How Teachers Taught

• Source materials to address the research question:– Photographs of Progressive-era classrooms– Textbooks used in classrooms– Student recollections from this period, in diaries or memoirs

– Teacher self-reports written during this period

– Reports written by classroom visitors– Descriptions of classroom architecture (building plans and classroom layouts, placement of desks, etc.)

Larry Cuban, How Teachers Taught

• Definitions for analyzing photographs:• Teacher-centered instruction:

– Teacher talk dominates student talk– Frequent use of whole-group instruction– Use of class time determined by teacher– Classroom organization usually rows facing board

• Student-centered instruction:– Student talk on learning tasks equal to teacher talk

– Individual or small/med group instruction, rather than whole

– Students help to choose and organize content– Teacher permits student to partly choose rules of behavior

– Varied instructional materials (centers) available in classroom

Using Cuban’s question and definitions, analyze this photo:

Source: Library of Congress

Using Cuban’s question and definitions, analyze this photo:

Cuban’s thesis:

• Some student-centered instructional practice appeared in elementary schools between 1920-40, but only in one-fourth of the school districts that systematically tried to implement it; unevenly throughout the day.

• These small changes were enough to allow policy rhetoric to flourish, though its real impact was quite limited.

In Cuban’s other book, Teachers and Machines, he argues that technological innovation (radio, television, computers) has not altered traditions of teacher-centered classroom instructional practice.

1927 Los Angeles

Students’ Views from Classrooms

• How did American Indian students experience Progressive-era schools?

From Carlisle Indian Industrial School (PA), 1879-1918

Student body assembled on the Carlisle Indian School Grounds, 1892.

Source Detective Q: Is this website a credible source?http://home.epix.net/~landis/index.html

Students’ Views from Classrooms

• How did Italian immigrant students experience Progressive era US schooling? Source: Leonard Covello autobiography

Source Detective Q: How to find a book review of Lassonde, Learning to Forget?

Students’ Views from Classrooms

• How did Puerto Rican migrants experience mainland US schooling in the post-1945 era?

• Source:– Esmeralda Santiago autobiography

Students’ Views from Classrooms

• What words would you use to characterize American Indian, Italian American, and Puerto Rican children’s experiences of schooling?

• Assimilation?• Integration?• Annihilation?• Segregation?• Americanization?