About Education Past and Present

In Education Past and Present: Reflections on Research, Policy, and Practice, leading scholars comment on developments in the field of education over the past seventy-five years. Conceived as a commemoration of the Harvard Educational Review's 75th anniversary, this book offers new insights into educational history, psychology, policy, international education, and U.S. public education. Together, these essays analyze how education scholars and practitioners have embraced, resisted, and sometimes provoked changes in the way society has approached key issues in this immensely important field.

The essays--from authors including Ellen Condliffe Lagemann, Kevin Kumashiro, Sonia Nieto, Jean Anyon, and Gary Orfield--address critical issues that have persisted for decades: the disconnect between educational psychologists and practitioners; the extent to which equity has been advanced through desegregation, bilingual education, and multicultural education; how history and the humanities might inform the practice of educational research; and how international education has shifted in concert with the expansion of service providers such as nongovernmental organizations.

Featuring some of the foremost scholars in the field, Education Past and Present offers a concise, multidisciplinary assessment of the last seventy-five years of developments in education. The book will prove indispensable for those interested in assessing educational progress to date and gaining a keen sense of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Education Past and Present is a Special Issue of the Harvard Educational Review. Subscribers to the Review will automatically receive this book in spring 2005 as part of their regular subscription.

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Table of Contents for Education Past and Present

Preface
Megin Charner-Laird, Morgaen Donaldson, and Soo Hong

Introduction
Gary Orfield

Does History Matter in Education Research? A Brief for the Humanities in an Age of Science
Ellen Condliffe Lagemann

Abstract: Ellen Lagemann, Charles Warren Professor of the History of American Education and Dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, focuses on developments within the history of education to examine questions about the role of humanities research in the study of education-an issue which has plagued education scholarship since its inception. In this article, Lagemann demonstrates that scholars of education have sought to base their work on factual or "scientific" authority since the inception of the discipline at the start of the twentieth century. Early students of education, however, were less concerned with the evolution of these academic standards and more interested in how humanistic studies of education might be relevant to their everyday encounters in the classroom. After tracing the development of this tension between academic and presentist concerns, Lagemann reveals how this conflict has dramatically reemerged in the field of history since the late 1960s. Lagemann argues that this historiography illuminates a broader tension between scientific and humanistic concerns in the field of education and seeks to reconcile this dualism. Asserting that educators and researchers need both scientific and humanistic knowledge in order to study education with sufficient power to support sensible policies and effective practices, Lagemann concludes that humanistic and scientific perspectives must work in partnership, complementing one another with their differences.

Students’ Development in Theory and Practice: The Doubtful Role of Research
Kieran Egan

Abstract: In this article, Kieran Egan contests the scientific foundations of Piaget’s developmental theories and the scientific basis of much educational research. In so doing, he pushes researchers and practitioners alike to rethink the centrality of Piaget’s tenets to teaching and learning. Egan traces the history of the developmental literature that preceded Piaget. In particular, he examines the thoughts of Rousseau and Spencer regarding cognitive development, and how the ideas of both men informed those of Piaget. Throughout, Egan critiques the notion that these developmental theories are based on empirical evidence. Through this critique, he enters the current debate on the role of scientific inquiry in educational research and practice.

Public Education in the Twentieth Century and Beyond: High Hopes, Broken Promises, and an Uncertain Future
Sonia Nieto

Abstract: What have been some of the high points and disappointments of K-12 education over the past 75 years? How have shifting demographics in terms of race, ethnicity, social class and other differences shaped the educational experiences of various segments of the U.S. population? Sonia Nieto examines these questions, beginning with a discussion of the impact of demographic changes on U.S. educational policy. Nieto traverses 75 years of theory, attempting to explain the differences in achievement among U.S. students; explicating cultural inferiority, social reproduction, cultural incompatibility, voluntary and involuntary immigrant, resistance, and various other achievement theories. Nieto then discusses three movements towards the eradication of these inequities: desegregation, bilingual education, and multicultural education, contending that all three of these advancements have been systematically eroded by domestic pressure and policy. Nieto concludes that U.S. education has drifted far from its democratic ideals, and that a recommitment to the possibilities of U.S. education envisioned by Dewey and Mann is necessary.

What “Counts” as Educational Policy? Notes toward a New Paradigm
Jean Anyon

Abstract: In this piece, Jean Anyon argues that the definition of education policy should be expanded to include the consideration of economic policies. She asserts that the impact of economic policies, such as minimum wage laws, have large and often ignored impacts on the experiences of urban students. Anyon argues that even small annual salary enhancements can have direct effects on the experiences of urban families living in poverty, and particularly on the educational experiences of children in those families. Ultimately, Anyon posits the need for the inclusion of economic policies under the rubric of educational policies as divorcing the two creates an artificial divide; one cannot hope to impact urban schools without first addressing the economic needs of the families who attend those schools.

Comparative and International Education: A Journey toward Equality and Equity
Nelly P. Stromquist

Abstract: In this article, Nelly Stromquist examines the trajectory of the Comparative and International Education (CIE) field over the past several decades. In this effort, she reviews the major journals in CIE over the many years of their existence and draws from her own professional experience, including five years as the associate editor for the Comparative Education Review. Asserting that educational systems should seek to have positive effects on society by providing essential skills and promoting social mobility and inclusion of all citizens, Stromquist focuses this article on issues of equality and equity in the comparative and international education context. The author calls for more cooperation between researchers and practitioners as well as between the North and South.

Afterword
Kevin K. Kumashiro

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Publishing Information

Education Past and Present: Reflections on Research, Policy, and Practice
Edited by Megin Charner-Laird, Morgaen L. Donaldson, and Soo Hong
©2005
ISBN 1-916690-45-8 $29.95 SALE PRICE: $19.95 paperback, ORDER
250 pages

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