"Progressive"

[Peter Gow]

I work in a school that calls itself progressive, and which was founded 88 years ago by people who were entranced with John Dewey and his ideas.

We spent the years from about 1945 to 1993 mumbling about or apologizing for our progressive history, but in recent years we've embraced and trumpeted both the heritage and a set of practices that we have chosen to describe as "progressive teaching." Most of these practices are based on ideas that have flourished in the past couple of decades, ideas that find their own sources in the work of Howard Gardner, the Sizers, Robert Sternberg, Grant Wiggins, Heidi Hayes Jacobs, and more lately Carol Tomlinson and others. We have also become a diverse community and have paid close heed to some of the more renowned thinkers in the areas of equity pedagogy and multicultural education: James Banks, Lisa Delpit, Gloria Ladson Billings, Jaime Wurzel, Peggy McIntosh, Carol Gilligan, Claude Steele, and the Sadkers.

While all these folks have produced ideas that seem to be clearly connected philosophically with the aims of Dewey et al., there seemed to be something inadequate, and even misleading, about calling the work we are engaged in "progressive." The problematic areas were simply that the received critique of Progressive Education (from the likes of Ravitch, Hirsch, the Thernstroms, and the Hoover Institute folks) was really aimed at aspects of Old Progressive practice that have largely been abandoned by contemporary educators or whose implementation on a large scale in public school systems has failed owing largely to a watering-down of both aims and methods. (Then there is the whole permissive/"free school" thing leftover from the 60s and 70s.) I have noted that Ravitch sent her own kids to what she called a "progressive" independent school and that in each section of Hirsch's point-by-point attack on what he calls "progressive" practice in THE SCHOOLS WE NEED he allows that, properly implemented, all the practices he derides could provide valuable learning experiences. The long and the short of it is that the term "progressive education" means too many things to too many people, and we here spend too much time explaining it, and ourselves.

The EdWeek piece (attached to this message) was designed to put the modern practices that we favor (and that seem to be the meat and drink of NAIS conference content these days, much to my delight, even if not every school is embracing these ideas whole-hog) under an umbrella and give the umbrella a name. The New Progressivism seemed as good as any--acknowledges the heritage but allows for new content. Selfishly, I am hoping that the term takes hold simply to allow our school and schools like ours to be able to talk about what we do in a positive, non-defensive way. I might hope that it could also become a way for all educators to celebrate the work of the New Progressive gurus mentioned above, and perhaps--this is the biggie--to give a name to a movement that might someday unseat the monsters of standardized testing and lockstep curriculum that seem to be stultifying public education in so many places.

So that's where I'm coming from on this. Your thoughts?

Thanks--PG

[Josie Holford]

Hi Laurie:
Here's one list: It's from the Free Child Project
I know there are more out there.
- Josie

[Laurie Bartels]

Hi Josie,
Thanks for the link. Tickled to see Saint Ann's on it – that was the first school at which I taught. Am off to read the rest of the site.

Happy Thanksgiving a few days ago!
Cheers,
Laurie

[Alex Ragone]

Laurie -- Peter Gow's the go to guy for Progressives in Independent Schools (and he's right above you in this thread, so hopefully you'll get a good response). It's funny though, I think that in this day and age with progressive schools like Science Leadership Academy, The MET and High Tech High, there is a healthy competition between private and public schools. Happy Thanksgiving!

[Laurie Bartels]

Hi Alex,

Thanks for your response. Yup, kind of figured Peter would be the ace of information about progressive independent schools.

Am in the midst of Christensen's book, "Disrupting Class", and enjoying the Ning conversation about it. Also enjoyed listening to the 21st Century Learning podcast interview with Michael Horn (one of the authors of "Disrupting Class", for those who might not know.)

Will be sure to tune in for the 12/4 interview with Curtis Johnson, another of the authors. And, am now going to back up and listen to your interview with Peter Gow!

Hope you had a delightful Thanksgiving, as well :-)
Cheers,
Laurie

[Peter Gow]

You know, people ask me all the time about progressive schools, and I think my answer is always disappointing. I think there are a whole lot of schools that have some very progressive things going on--in curriculum, in diversity and social justice ed, in sustainability/green initiatives, in global education, in student services--and so I think a list could be pretty long.

The other approach is to imagine a set of litmus test practices that would certify a school as progressive. I guess I could make my own, and some day I might: "The Peter Gow PROGRESSIVE EDge."

For example, I noted with both pride and some amusement a few years back when our school started forking over $500 a year to be a "national affiliate" of the Coalition of Essential Schools that, based on the Coalition's assessment of the lengthy profile I posted as part of our membership, that we were a "very high implementing" Coalition school. We did this without ever having consciously set out to be a Coalition school or to explicitly embrace Coalition practices; we knew about the CES, of course, and we'd read Sizer and other authors with CES connections, but we were already doing what many schools had had to change course to accomplish.

In the end, what "progressive" means to me is what Christensen et al. call "student-centric" in all regards, but going beyond what I think they mean, because it feels as though most of what they have to say about school is really focusing on curriculum and instruction. (I finished the book yesterday, so I'm practically an expert--ho ho!) It's about the way the school thinks about and treats kids, and how the school acknowledges and manages difference, whether racial, cultural, spiritual, or philosophical. It has a great deal to to with the nature of the professional culture among the adults and how the school sustains and develops its teaching faculty in the service of its students.

Progressive is about turning away from deficit models of student learning or character or behavior--about not being a KIPP school bent on correcting deficiencies in students' upbringing, I guess, but that's just one way of looking at what they do, I realize--and embracing the idea that there are ways to reach every student and that the job of teachers is to find that way.

Progressive is about the school enthusiastically embracing the idea that the job of the school is not to create graduates who fit some ideal model of an independent school graduate but who are the very best versions of their individual selves that they can be--and that these students understand and embrace a set of optimistic and activist human values. These values are themselves progressive in a social or even political sense--they must be about peace, understanding, justice, and moving across boundaries.

I don't think it's so bad to remind ourselves that the roots of progressive education lie in aJean-Jacques Rousseau's notion of human nature: that the individual is born with powerful tendencies for goodness, curiosity, and generosity of spirit, and that progressive education allows these traits to flourish as it minimizes the constraints that breed selfishness and apathy. The other side, that individuals are by nature weak and self-centered and cruel and that education's task is to systematically suppress these characteristics by imposing external moral order, is clear enough in its manifestations.

Here's a litmus test we could post on the ISED list:

List five pervasive practices at your school that you would deem progressive; these cannot be practices that exist in only a few classrooms or program areas. Justify your list, citing specific philosophical progressives sources and or practical progressive inspiration. The committee (!!!) will also review documentary evidence such as the school's mission statement, published values, and standards for effective teaching.

(I also am of the opinion that effective progressive education doesn't happen by accident. And of course my proposed certification process violates the most excellent Coalition Principle of school being a place of unanxious expectations.)

So, Laurie and Alex, there's my non-answer to the query. I will now step down from my soap box to reheat some leftover squash.

Cheers, guys; I love you all--PG

[Laurie Bartels]

Dear Peter,

Well, you may be reheating some squash, but you unsquashed my question and answered it with so much heart that I really just want to apply for a teaching position at the PG School of Progressive learning and teaching :-)

Thank you. I truly hope we get to meet in person sometime!

Cheers,
Laurie

[Bill Ivey]

For me, three parts of this resonated particularly strongly - that progressive education is student-centric in all aspects, that it is not a deficit model, and that it does not happen by accident. I think whenever I find a program I admire, those elements predominate, whether or not that school considers it to be progressive. Similarly, for all a school may consider itself to be exemplary, if any of those elements are missing, I get the sense the school is much less than it could be.
I wonder if the different attitudes on progressivism in education spring in part from what people consider in their hearts and souls to be the essence of human nature - people who see humans as essentially good (or at least well-meaning!) would be more likely to embrace progressivism, people who see humans as needing to overcome a propensity toward negative behaviors would be less likely to embrace progressivism. If so, as we do what we can to promote a progressive model of education, we may need to engage at a more fundamental level - not so much arguing directly about human nature, but more taking differing perspectives into account.
By all means, let's see what ISED-L has to say about all this.
Is the squash heated now? If so, I yield the soapbox, and head off to heat some coffee and complete my application to the Peter Gow School of Progressive Learning and Teaching. As a student :-)

[Peter Gow]

I'm going to recycle and modify my long post above on the New Progressivism blog, and I will raise the "Is your school progressive?" question there; perhaps a bit too whimsical for the ISED, and frankly I'd like to see more traffic on the blog.

Of course, this sounds like one of those awful little, "You know you're a Buffalonian if..." joke books.

Hey, I'M a Buffalonian!

Appreciate the nice words

[Peter Gow]

Please check out the Progressive Schools wiki and add your ideas about progressive schools and your thoughts and questions about progressive education and the New Progressivism.

I'm hoping to see if we can't combine "old school" and new ideas to create a comprehensive resource on progressive education and for progressive educators. Could be that a Ning will be better, but I wanted to give the wiki concept a try.

Please check it out, and in the meantime I'd be interested in your thoughts. Thanks--PG