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 reflection seeks to explore the role that power plays both in schooling and in research, specifically through the use of action research. The authors began this process in informal conversations reflecting on their personal experience with action research methods. Qualitative methods were then used with the authors using semistructured…

This literature review reports findings from 19 empirical studies on the experiences of African American teachers in PK-12 desegregated schools. The research questions were: What do we know about the experiences of African American teachers in desegregated PK-12 schools? What are the challenges African American teachers experience in desegregated…

This article shows how City-As-School, a progressive public school in New York City, used descriptive inquiry to deepen shared decision making, which is a central value of the school and part of a democratic way of life. Descriptive inquiry is a democratic knowledge-making process that was developed at the Prospect School in North Bennington,…

Given the current challenges facing our democracy in the United States, the role of public schools in forming habits of democratic practice in our citizenry is as important today as ever. To explore this urgent topic, the author interviewed 13 leaders of 10 New York City public schools committed to educating for and with democracy. Six patterns of…

In this essay, the authors reflect on the ongoing teacher effectiveness debate. W. David Hibler is an experienced language arts teacher, who has taught in public high schools and middle schools in Alaska, North Carolina, and New York City. Jeffrey Aaron Snyder is a historian of education who writes about schooling in the twentieth-century United…

In this article, we tackle the disadvantaging conditions of zero tolerance policies in school settings and advocate using an alternative approach--critical restorative justice through peacemaking circles--to nurture resilience and open opportunity at the school level. In the process, this article builds on theory and qualitative research and…

A death within a school is a traumatic event that touches everyone in the school community. How teachers, students, and administrators respond to loss has ongoing implications for the adaptation of all involved. Therapists Colin Pereira-Webber and Evelina Pereira-Webber explore the topic of loss within a school through a written dialogue. Drawing…

By conducting in-depth interviews with new teachers who are about to become full-time teachers and then reinterviewing them two years later, the author of this article presents how beginning teachers think and feel about teaching and describes the challenges they face as beginning teachers in the context of Hong Kong. The stories of the teachers,…

We examine whether the "acting white" labeling practice and subsequent peer isolation exist (or do not exist) within Somali immigrant adolescents, one of the most underresearched black immigrant student groups, and what school contexts are associated with their presence (or absence). Using a case study, we found that high-achieving…

In this article the author examines the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) to argue for changes in "standards-based" perspectives and practices that grew out of No Child Left Behind. Drawing on an article by David T. Conley, cochairman of the Validation Committee for the CCSS, the author offers a new model for the professional…

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…

This essay is a call for a more psychoanalytically informed approach to educational psychology and teacher formation. To this end, the author gives an overview of a course in psychology that he recommends for inclusion in teacher education. This course is in two parts. The first part is an introduction to some important elements of psychoanalytic…

The work of Colonel Francis W. Parker, the man whom Dewey called "the father of progressive education," provides a starting point for reconstructing the loose ambiguities of progressive education into a coherent social and educational philosophy. Although progressives have claimed their approach is more humane and sensitive to children, we need…

Scoring SAT-style exam essays, John S. O'Connor is struck by the disconnection between the subject matter and students' personal lives. Further, O'Connor notes that such tests draw an alarming distinction between writing and "content"--as if the two are unrelated. O'Connor calls for a broader understanding of literacy, and he warns of dire…