This article follows Mary Hebron's journey alongside Patricia F. Carini for more than 30 years. The journey begins with the author's first visit to the Prospect School and Center in North Bennington, Vermont, and continues across her work alongside Pat Carini in the Mamaroneck School District and in the Art of Teaching Graduate Program at Sarah…

This piece describes how the faculty of City-As-School used Descriptive Inquiry to generate shared educational principles during the 2020-21 school year during the coronavirus pandemic. City-As-School is a public experiential learning school in New York City serving older adolescents seeking an alternative to traditional high school. Descriptive…

Patricia Carini (1932-2021) was a progressive educator and thinker who was among the key figures of open education. This article reflects on her work, illuminating its quality as an art of listening. The idea of listening has been of primary importance within the tradition of progressive education in the United States and internationally.…

In this article, Himley traces the development of Patricia F. Carini's philosophy of education and the descriptive processes she developed with others at the Prospect School in North Bennington, Vermont. The article introduces these big ideas through publications by Pat and others connected to Prospect--the person as active maker of meaning, the…

One of Pat Carini's great accomplishments is the collection of children's visual, written and other work that became the Prospect Archive of Children's Work, now housed at the University of Vermont. This article recounts the story of the archive--a long collaboration with Prospect colleagues, teachers, and others--from its beginnings in the 1960s…

When school communities are troubled by violence, or threats of violence, at the hands of young people, educators have an opportunity to learn about aggression and adolescent identity development. A disturbing threat incident provides the point of departure for this principal's reflection on how high school curriculum can better meet the identity…

John Dewey was inspired by what he termed "the miracle of shared experience and shared communication." His faith in the power of individuals working in democratic association also included warnings of a darker side, the "monstrosities" that individuals can become when they live and work in isolation from others. In this…