In search of American progressives and teachers

Over half a century ago Lawrence Cremin set in motion a historical debate about educational progressivism, a movement, if it was one, that meant ‘different things to different people’ and roused passions for and against. Personified in many individual and institutional initiatives, it appeared to resonate with individual liberty, political democracy and social reform. Historians since, including Roy Lowe, have joined in the debate. Did it succeed and what were its effects? Perfecting or pernicious? Cohesive or divisive? Models for reforming pedagogy were found in Pestalozzi and Froebel, but translating ideals into practice was the challenge. Laboratory and model schools lent weight to advocacy of reform, but were often private or privileged in their constitution. Dewey and his daughter in Schools of Tomorrow publicised a selection of these. Against this backdrop, historians have subsequently sought to explain why traditional pedagogic practices remained so powerful. Cuban drew on a wide-ranging set of primary sources to reconstruct classroom practices and explore the conservative practice of the public schools. Exceptions can be explained by a confluence of factors, local demographic, school and district leadership, paradoxical exercise of authority and control in the implementation of progressive practice.