Annotated Bibliography of Resources for Educational Reform, Coherent Teaching Practice, and Improved Student Learning

You are viewing a resource record entry from SEDL's Annotated Bibliography Database.

• Wilson, S. M., Peterson, P. L., Ball, D. T., & Cohen, D. K. (1996). Learning by all. Phi Delta Kappan, 77, 468-476.

The teaching and learning envisioned by reformers is not what occurs in most school classrooms, in part because most teachers do not know how to create this kind of education for their students. The reforms are visions, not programs for practice; schoolpeople must construct practice from these sketches of what teaching and learning could be. The authors report on a longitudinal study of the ways policymakers and practitioners think about curricular reform in elementary mathematics and literacy in three states, California, Michigan, and South Carolina. The new policies demand many changes, but more critically, they represent different views of knowledge, of school subjects, of learning, of diversity, and of teaching. In this article, the authors present three stories of learningÑby some policymakers, by a teacher educator, and by a teacher. These stories illustrate the complexity of the learning required by the reform policies. However, many of the actors in the reform efforts have not yet committed themselves to participate as learners. In each of the stories, the notion of "community" was important. They conclude that reform-related learning can be facilitated when concrete classroom examples and experiences are used to ground the conversation about practice; when inquiry and reflection are components of the learning; when people from different parts of the system come to the table to talk together; and when all of the actors view themselves as learners.

Return to: Annotated Bibliography Search Page