An Elusive Science: The Troubling History of Education Research

by Lagemann, Ellen Condliffe

• ISBN13: 9780226467733
• ISBN10: 0226467732
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-15
• Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr

Summary

Since its beginnings at the start of the 20th century, educational scholarship has been a marginal field, criticized by public policy makers and relegated to the fringes of academe. An Elusive Science explains why, providing a critical history of the traditions, conflicts, and institutions that have shaped the study of education over the past century.

Author Biography

Ellen Condliffe Lagemann is the president of the Spencer Foundation and a professor of history and education at New York University.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction: A Slow Evolution: Education Becomes a Subject of University Research	p. 1
The Feminization of Teaching	p. 1
Conflict and Competition: High Schools, Normal Schools, Colleges, and Universities	p. 7
In Quest of Science: the Early Years of Education Research	p. 19
Reluctant Allies: Psychologists Turn to Education	p. 23
G. Stanley Hall and the Child-Study Movement	p. 24
Clark University: "The Perfect Non-University of G. Stanley Hall"	p. 29
William James's Search for Vocation	p. 32
Psychology and Education at Harvard	p. 35
From Child Study to Child Hygiene	p. 39
Specialization and Isolation: Education Research Becomes a Profession	p. 41
John Dewey's Youth and Early Career	p. 43
Dewey at the Laboratory School	p. 47
A Creative Community: The Social Sources of Dewey's Thought	p. 51
Edward L. Thorndike: "Conquering the New World of Pedagogy"	p. 56
Thorndike and Teachers College: A Reciprocal Relationship	p. 62
Dewey Displaced: Charles Hubbard Judd at the University of Chicago	p. 66
Technologies of Influence: Testing and School Surveying	p. 71
The History and Philosophy of Education: From Center to Periphery	p. 73
Dignity amidst Disdain: Ellwood Patterson Cubberley and the First Generation of Scholars of School Administration	p. 76
Leonard P. Ayres, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the School Survey Movement	p. 80
The Cleveland Survey	p. 83
Lewis M. Terman and the Testing Movement	p. 87
Consensus and Community: A Science for School Administration	p. 94
Cacophony: Curriculum Study During the Interwar Years	p. 99
Politics, Patronage, and Entrepreneurship: The Dynamics of Curriculum Change	p. 105
The Scientific Study of Society	p. 107
Child Interest	p. 109
The Teachers College "School System"	p. 112
Denver, Colorado, Teachers Study the Curriculum	p. 118
The Emergence of a New Specialization: Curriculum and Instruction	p. 120
Social Reconstructionism and Its Transformation	p. 123
Developmental Perspectives: Critics Challenge Determinism in Education	p. 130
The Laura Spelman Rockefeller Memorial Fund	p. 131
Nature versus Nurture: The Iowa Child Welfare Research Station	p. 134
The Progressive Education Association's Eight-Year Study	p. 139
Ralph W. Tyler: From Mental Measurement to Evaluation	p. 142
Human Development: The PEA's Commission on Curriculum and Human Relations	p. 145
Class, Caste, Mobility, and Cultural Bias: The University of Chicago Committee on Human Development	p. 151
The Educational Testing Service	p. 156
Excellence and Equity: The Continuing Problems and Potential of Education Research	p. 159
Contested Terrain: The Disciplines versus Education	p. 165
The "New Math"	p. 166
The National Science Foundation	p. 168
Jerrold R. Zacharias and the Physical Sciences Study Committee	p. 169
The Process of Education: "St. Jerome's Gospel"	p. 172
From the History of Education to History and Education	p. 176
The Theory Movement in Educational Administration	p. 178
Gaining Ground and Losing Support: The Federal Role in Education Research	p. 184
The Cooperative Research Program	p. 185
The National Assessment of Educational Progress	p. 188
James S. Coleman and Equality of Educational Opportunity	p. 193
Title I Evaluation Studies	p. 200
The National Institute of Education	p. 204
Promoting Learning and Reform: New Directions in Education Research	p. 212
The Beginnings of Cognitive Science	p. 212
The Center for Cognitive Studies at Harvard	p. 216
Cognition and Education	p. 218
Qualitative Methods and Interpretive Studies	p. 219
New Links between Research and Practice	p. 223
Systemic Research	p. 226
Conclusion: Toward the Reconfiguration of Educational Study	p. 231
Problems of Status, Reputation, and Isolation	p. 232
Problems of Governance and Regulation	p. 238
What's to Be Done?	p. 241
Notes	p. 247
Index	p. 283
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