by
Craig Kridel, University of South Carolina
and
Robert V. Bullough, Jr., Brigham Young University

With a foreword by John I. Goodlad

SUNY PRESS, 2007

     “Even though I have read a good deal and written a little about the Eight Year Study, Stories of the Eight Year Study served as a primer on the subject, ridding me of myths, misunderstandings, and false premises . . . . I was barely into the prologue when I began to realize that I was in for a provocative, humbling intellectual journey.”—John I. Goodlad, University of Washington, from the foreword

     “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. And issues they raise about collaboration in reform, belief in democracy, faith in teachers, and trust in inquiry have powerful echoes in policy debates today.”—David Tyack, Stanford University

     “Stories of the Eight Year Study 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. Also, it corrects insightfully and eloquently some of the distortions that have prevented our publics from seeing or understanding the relation between progressivism and the “community in the making” John Dewey called democracy. Kridel and Bullough make clear the incompleteness of a movement that anticipated the urgent difficulties facing public education today. In doing so, in shedding light on a democratic education still “in the making,” they remind us of open possibilities, of responsible and imaginative work still to be done.”—Maxine Greene, Teachers College, Columbia University

     “Stories of the Eight Year Study reminds us of a time in American educational history when our educational values embraced a broad array of important educational goals. Schools were to attend to not only the intellectual life of the student, but to their social, physical, and emotional life as well. One of the ideas progressives did not forget is that relationships matter and it is not possible to isolate specific causes from broader consequences. The child, one might say, is ineluctably whole and so, too, must be education. Craig Kridel and Robert V. Bullough have given us a useful resource for anyone interested in understanding an important aspect of American educational history. But its lessons go beyond historical understanding, they 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

     “Historians, educational philosophers, and curriculum scholars will find in this book a lasting resource and reference. But it is destined for a wider audience and a more active purpose: 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. Stories of the Eight Year Study is the most important education book to appear in years.”—William C. Ayers, Distinguished Professor of Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago

     “Stories of the Eight Year Study tells the story of the dozen most creative years of reflection about American education, along with sparkling biographical narratives of nine educators who contributed centrally to creative inquiry into educational reform. This remarkable book is rich with details that bring the lives of our predecessors vividly before us. In this imaginative inquiry, social change is encountered along with experiment, exploration, and discovery. These nine educators made a fresh start. So can we. Kridel and Bullough’s book gives us the hope that if such exciting times and lives existed once, they can live again in our present day, and in us.”—Jay Martin, University of Southern California and author of The Education of John Dewey

Unpublished Speeches:

The Eighteen Year Study: deciding to embark upon a life's work

Craig and John King at the 2007 College of Education Research Award Lecture

"Whatever Happened to the Curriculum Field?" from the 2005 AERA Conference

Whither Curriculum? from the 2003 AERA Conference

Past Projects:

Teachers and Mentors