Education Commons^™

Beyond Child-Centered Constructivism: A Call For Culturally Sustaining Progressive Pedagogy, Alisa Algava

Occasional Paper Series

Algava argues that twentieth-century constructivist pedagogies are not sufficient to fulfill progressive education's inherently political, activist and democratic potential. She calls for a culturally sustaining progressive pedagogy that critically engages questions of power with both children and teachers.

The Center For Inquiry: Anatomy Of A Successful Progressive School, Christine H. Leland, Amy Wackerly, Christine Foxen Collier

Occasional Paper Series

Describes the work of the Center for Inquiry Schools in Indianapolis, Indiana. Authors Leland, Wackerly, and Collier were part of the original cohort of teachers and university faculty who founded a progressive magnet school. Premised on inquiry-based teaching and learning, the Center for Inquiry has grown from one to four schools.

City-As-School: Internship-Based Learning In New York City Public Schools, Rachel Seher, Melissa Birnbaum, Alan Y. Cheng

Occasional Paper Series

Paints a portrait of a high school with experiential learning at its core; at City-As-School in New York City, internships take the place of many classroom-based courses.

Reenvisioning The Classroom: Making Time For Students And Teachers To Play, Jill Leibowtiz, Corinthia Mirasol-Spath

Occasional Paper Series

Explores the benefits of play for students and teachers alike in a New York City elementary school that provides students with time to explore their interests through long-term projects of their choosing.

Now Is The Time, Jonathan Silin, Meredith Moore

Occasional Paper Series

In an era when intense pressure has been brought to bear on educators at all levels to “fix” education, Progressive Practices in Public Schools is designed to shine a light on the programs and pedagogy that are too often hidden from public view. The goal is to highlight what is hopeful by identifying educators who model rich, complex, and compelling alternatives to what is on offer from many contemporary “reformers.”

Leonard Covello: A Study Of Progressive Leadership And Community Empowerment, Lorenzo Krakowsky, Patrick Shannon

Occasional Paper Series

Describes Leonard Covello's progressive work at and around Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem, NY.

Beyond The Lone Hero: Providing Supports For New Teachers In High-Needs Schools, Sarah Elizabeth Barrett, Donna Ford, Carl James

Occasional Paper Series

This essay examines the activities and challenges encountered in a partnership between a faculty of education and a local school board in Toronto, Canada. The goal was to address concerns over a 40% drop-out rate amongst Black students in the Toronto District School Board.

Teachers were to identify areas of concern, and to use university resources to investigate and improve work with students. Initially, findings were disappointing, teachers often felt isolated working on their own, and some administrators perceived the project as disruptive to the overall running of the school.

Faculty came to the realization that to help support their …

No Shortcuts On The Journey To Learning For Students Or Teachers, Alison Coviello, Susan Stires

Occasional Paper Series

Despite the generally held view that children in low-performing, under-served schools have "deficits" teachers in such schools often have very different experiences. Students can succeed in all areas of schooling and beyond. But for this to happen, teacher education institutions need to provide teacher candidates with background information and knowledge about instruction, so they can see and support the strengths of students in high-needs schools.

Facilitating Student Documentary Projects Toward 21-Century Literacy And Civic Engagement, Steven Goodman

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes how he uses video making as a way to engage students in high-needs schools. Goodman believes video making projects can help counter the ways minority students are made invisible by school curriculum and the culture of testing. More importantly, creating video documentaries allows students to use multiple literacies and does not exclude those who struggle with the written word.

Preparing Teachers For High-Need Schools: A Focus On Thoughtfully Adaptive Teaching, Arlene Mascarenhas, Seth Parsons, Sarah Cohen Burrowbridge

Occasional Paper Series

Differentiated instruction, or thoughtfully adaptive teaching, helps teachers successfully meet the needs of students in under-served schools. Teacher education institutions can do their part by forming partnerships with high-needs schools so teacher candidates can gain experience in a supportive environment. Along with providing a solid grounding in pedagogy, teacher education programs need to help candidates develop their own vision of teaching. Vision is seen as a way for teachers to remain true to their core values, and as a way to stay focused on how to do the best for all of their students.

No Teaching More Fulfilling: An Interview With Pam Jones, Linda Levine

Occasional Paper Series

Teacher educator Linda Levine interviews colleague Pamela Jones on her enduring commitment to quality education for all. Pam shares her thoughts and insight into what it takes to be a successful teacher in high-needs urban schools. Two guiding principles emerge as prerequisites for success: teachers need to be true to themselves and to find teaching assignments in places that resonate with them.

The Right To Learn: Preparing Early Childhood Teachers To Work In High-Need Schools, Julie Diamond, Fretta Reitzes, Betsy Grob

Occasional Paper Series

Three teacher educators trained in the 1960's reflect on how to ensure educational equity in high-needs schools of today. The article starts with a description of the education the writers want for all children, and outline the processes and practices needed to sustain it. This is followed by a discussion on how schools of education can equip teachers with the values, understandings, and strategies they will need to achieve these goals.

Introduction: High Needs Schools - Preparing Teachers For Today's World, Jonathan Silin

Occasional Paper Series

The subject of this Occasional Paper is the preparation of teachers for schools that—lacking sufficient resources, effective leadership, or vocal advocates—are failing to educate their students by any reasonable measures.

Commentary, Marjorie Siegel

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Commentary, Susan Freeman

Occasional Paper Series

Commentary, Martha Foote

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Toward Meaningful Assessment: Lessons From Five First-Grade Classrooms, Laura Kates

Occasional Paper Series

A case study of six first grade teachers' responses to a performance assessment mandated in New York City Public Schools from 1998 to 2003.

Coda, Gail M. Boldt

Occasional Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Flip The Script, Kevin K. Kumashiro, Erica Meiners

Occasional Paper Series

"Each one of us must understand education reform as inseparable from our concurrent struggles in other sectors, including labor and healthcare, and the movements to secure full human and civil rights for all." --Authors.

A Glass Half Full, Jeffrey M. R. Duncan-Andrade

Occasional Paper Series

Presents a vision for remaking ourselves as a society by addressing the basic needs of all children and defining, assessing, and developing high quality teaching.

Creating The Schools We Need, Pedro Noguera

Occasional Paper Series

The struggle for education remains vital to the struggle for democracy, equality and justice. The only question is who will align themselves with those who must be integral to making this possibility a reality.

Silver Linings, Gil Schmerler

Occasional Paper Series

Looking for rays of sunshine amidst an educational landscape that has taken a particularly horrific beating in the last decade or two is a difficult – maybe quixotic – undertaking.

The New Orleans Reformed Public School System: National Model?, Raynard Sanders

Occasional Paper Series

The author describes what happened to the New Orleans Public Schools after Hurricane Katrina.

Schooling Of And For Democracy, Deborah Meier

Occasional Paper Series

The author asserts that it’s time for us to “measure” schools by the values we believe in for public life in general, and to “measure” our students, then, by the long-term impact they will have on our larger society and the vitality of our democracy.

“If We Look To Buy The Cheapest Paper, Why Not The Cheapest Teachers?”, Fred Klonsky

Occasional Paper Series

Describes the assessment driven state of the author's school district in Illinois.

Racing To The Top: Who’S Accounting For The Children?, Celia Genishi, Anne Haas Dyson

Occasional Paper Series

The authors argue that teachers are accountable not to some narrow “top” but to the rhythms and rhymes of their developing students.

Educational Revolution, Peter Taubman

Occasional Paper Series

Invites the reader to reclaim the conversation and turn back the on-going privatization and corporatization of public schools.

The Teacher Accountability Debate, Diane Ravitch

Occasional Paper Series

The teacher accountability narrative is part of a larger effort to restructure the teaching profession by turning it into a market-based activity.This paper seeks to deconstruct the assumptions embedded in the narrative.

Accountability And The Contemporary Intellectual, Greg Dimitriadis, Marc Lamont Hill

Occasional Paper Series

Analyzes the language and values that have framed the accountability movement.

Introduction: Diving Into The Wreckage: Our Schools, Education Reform, And The Future Society, William Ayers

Occasional Paper Series

"In this special issue of the Bank Street Occasional Papers, we will dive into the wreckage, engage the fight, and hope to reclaim the ground of education in and for democracy." --Author.