Description: An in-depth analysis of one of the most important educational experiments of the twentieth century.
Brief description: Craig Kridel is E. S. Gambrell Professor Emeritus of Educational Studies and Curator Emeritus of the Museum of Education at the University of South Carolina. His many books include Stories of the Eight-Year Study: Reexamining Secondary Education in America (with Robert V. Bullough Jr.), also published by SUNY Press.
Review Quotes:
"...well-researched book ... on the history of the Eight-Year Study and biographies of leading educators and theorists who spearheaded the project." -- CHOICE
"The archives of this majestic study and interviews with participants have ... been captured in [this] wonderful ... book." -- Wayne Jennings, The International Association for Learning Alternatives
"Skillfully blending intellectual history with biographies of leaders in reform, Kridel and Bullough give a balanced and persuasive account of the aims and achievements of progressive pedagogy at that time. The issues they raise about collaboration in reform, belief in democracy, trust in teachers, and faith in inquiry have powerful echoes in policy debates today." -- David Tyack, Stanford University
"This book fills in many empty places in the history of American education. It makes wonderfully visible some of the movers and thinkers who brought 'progressive education' to life in a not always sympathetic world." -- Maxine Greene, Teachers College, Columbia University
"Kridel and Bullough provide a view of education that can counteract the blinkered vision of schooling that permeates our current deliberations about school reform." -- Elliot W. Eisner, Stanford University
"Anyone who wants to understand the sorry state of our schools and the anemic condition of democracy today will find ample information and ideas in this book; anyone who wants to participate in rethinking what is to be done will find here a handbook for action." -- William C. Ayers, University of Illinois at Chicago