Progressive Education

Progressive Education
By : Drs. Agus Subandi, MBA
Educational progressivism is the belief that education must be based on the principle that humans are social animals who learn best in real-life activities with other people. Most progressive educators believe that children learn as if they were scientists, following a process similar to John Dewey's model of learning:
1. Become aware of the problem.
2. Define the problem.
3. Propose hypotheses to solve it.
4. Evaluate the consequences of the hypotheses from one's past experience.
5. Test the likeliest solution.
Given this view of human nature, a progressivist teacher desires to provide not just reading and drill, but also real-world experiences and activities that center on the real life of the students. Typical progressivist slogans are "Learn by Doing!" and "Learn by Discovery."
Philosophy
Progressive education is a pedagogical movement that began in the late nineteenth century and has persisted in various forms to the present. More recently, it has been viewed as an alternative to the test-oriented instruction legislated by the No Child Left Behind educational funding act.
The term "progressive" was engaged to distinguish this education from the traditional curriculum of the 19th century, which was rooted in classical preparation for the university and strongly differentiated by socioeconomic level. By contrast, progressive education finds its roots in present experience. Most progressive education programs have these qualities in common:
 Emphasis on learning by doing – hands-on projects, expeditionary learning, experiential learning
 Integrated curriculum focused on thematic units
 Strong emphasis on problem solving and critical thinking
 Group work and development of social skills
 Understanding and action as the goals of learning as opposed to rote knowledge
 Collaborative and cooperative learning projects
 Education for social responsibility and democracy
 Integration of community service and service learning projects into the daily curriculum
 Selection of subject content by looking forward to ask what skills will be needed in future society
 De-emphasis on textbooks in favor of varied learning resources
 Emphasis on life-long learning and social skills
 Assessment by evaluation of child’s projects and productions
Development in the United States
The most famous early practitioner of progressive education was Francis Parker; its best-known spokesperson was the philosopher John Dewey.
In 1875 Francis Parker became superintendent of schools in Quincy, Massachusetts after spending two years in Germany studying emerging educational trends on the continent. Parker was opposed to rote learning, believing that there was no value in knowledge without understanding. He argued instead that schools should encourage and respect the child’s creativity. Parker’s Quincy System called for child-centered and experience-based learning. He replaced the traditional curriculum with integrated learning units based on core themes that related knowledge of different disciplines. He replaced traditional readers, spellers and grammar books with children’s own writing, literature, and teacher prepared materials. In 1883 Parker left Massachusetts to become Principal of the Cook County Normal School in Chicago, a school that also served to train teachers in Parker’s methods. In 1894 Parker’s Talks on Pedagogics, which drew heavily on the thinking ofFröbel, Pestalozzi and Herbart, became one of the first American writings on education to gain international fame.
That same year, philosopher John Dewey moved from the University of Michigan to the newly established University of Chicago where he became chair of the department of philosophy, psychology and education. He and his wife enrolled their children in Parker’s school before founding their own school two years later.
Whereas Parker started with practice and then moved to theory, Dewey began with hypotheses and then devised methods and curricula to test them. By the time Dewey moved to Chicago at the age of thirty-five, he had already published two books on psychology and applied psychology. He had become dissatisfied with philosophy as pure speculation and was seeking ways to make philosophy directly relevant to practical issues. Moving away from an early interest in Hegel, Dewey proceeded to reject all forms of dualism and dichotomy in favor of a philosophy of experience as a series of unified wholes in which everything can be ultimately related.
In 1896, John Dewey opened what he called the laboratory school to test his theories and their sociological implications. With Dewey as the director and his wife as principal, the University of Chicago Laboratory school, was dedicated “to discover in administration, selection of subject-matter, methods of learning, teaching, and discipline, how a school could become a cooperative community while developing in individuals their own capacities and satisfy their own needs.” (Cremin, 136) For Dewey the two key goals of developing a cooperativecommunity and developing individuals’ own capacities were not at odds; they were necessary to each other. This unity of purpose lies at the heart of the progressive education philosophy. In 1912, Dewey sent out students of his philosophy to found The Park School of Buffalo andThe Park School of Baltimore to put it into practice. These schools operate to this day within a similar progressive approach.
At Columbia, Dewey worked with other educators such as Charles Eliot and Abraham Flexner to help bring progressivism into the mainstream of American education. In 1917 Columbia established the Lincoln School of Teachers College “as a laboratory for the working out of an elementary and secondary curriculum which shall eliminate obsolete material and endeavor to work up in usable form material adapted to the needs of modern living.” (Cremin, 282) Based on Flexner’s demand that the modern curriculum “include nothing for which an affirmative case can not be made out” (Cremin, 281) the new school organized its activities around four fundamental fields: science, industry, aestheticsand civics. The Lincoln School built its curriculum around “units of work” that reorganized traditional subject matter into forms embracing the development of children and the changing needs of adult life. The first and second grades carried on a study of community life in which they actually built a city. A third grade project growing out of the day to day life of the nearby Hudson river became one of the most celebrated units of the school, a unit on boats, which under the guidance of its legendary teacher Miss Curtis, became an entrée into history,geography, reading, writing, arithmetic, science, art and literature. Each of the units was broadly enough conceived so that different children could concentrate on different aspects depending on their own interests and needs. Each of the units called for widely diverse student activities, and each sought to deal in depth with some critical aspect of contemporary civilization. Finally each unit engaged children working together cooperatively and also provided opportunities for individual research and exploration.
From 1919 to 1955 the Progressive Education Association founded by Stanwood Cobb and others worked to promote a more student-centered approach to education. During the Great Depression the organization conducted an Eight Year study evaluating the effects of progressive programs. More than 1500 students over four years were compared to an equal number of carefully matched students at conventional schools. When they reached college, the experimental students were found to equal or surpass traditionally educated students on all outcomes: grades, extracurricular participation, dropout rates, intellectual curiosity, and resourcefulness. Moreover, the study found that the more the school departed from the traditional college preparatory program, the better was the record of the graduates. (Kohn, Schools, 232)
By mid-century many public school programs had also adopted elements of progressive curriculum. At mid-century Dewey believed that progressive education had “not really penetrated and permeated the foundations of the educational institution.”(Kohn, Schools, 6,7) As the influence of progressive pedagogy grew broader and more diffuse, practitioners began to vary their application of progressive principles. As varying interpretations and practices made evaluation of progressive reforms more difficult to assess, critics began to propose alternative approaches.
The seeds of the debate over progressive education can be seen in the differences of Parker and Dewey. These have to do with how much and by whom curriculum should be worked out from grade to grade, how much the child’s emerging interests should determine classroom activities, the importance of child-centered vs. societal–centered learning, the relationship of community building to individual growth, and especially the relationship between emotion, thought and experience.
In 1955 the publication of Rudolf Flesch's Why Johnny Can’t Read leveled criticism of reading programs at the progressive emphasis on reading in context. The conservative McCarthy era raised questions about the liberal ideas at the roots of the progressive reforms. The launching of Sputnik in 1957 at the height of the cold war gave rise to number of intellectually competitive approaches to disciplinary knowledge, such as BSCS biology PSSC physics, led by university professors such as Jerome Bruner and Jerrold Zacharias.
Interestingly, some of the cold war reforms incorporated elements of progressivism. For example, the work of Zacharias and Bruner was based in the developmental psychology of Jean Piaget and incorporated many of Dewey’s ideas of experiential education. Bruner’s analysis of developmental psychology became the core of a pedagogical movement known as constructivism, which argues that that the child is an active participant in making meaning and must be engaged in the progress of education for learning to be effective. This psychological approach has deep connections to the work of both Parker and Dewey and led to a resurgence of their ideas in second half of the century.
In 1963 President Johnson inaugurated the Great Society and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act suffused public school programs with funds for sweeping education reforms. At the same time the influx of federal funding also gave rise to demands for accountability and the behavioral objectives approach of Robert F. Mager and others foreshadowed the No Child Left Behind Act passed in 2002. Against these critics eloquent spokespersons stepped forward in defense of the progressive tradition. The Open Classroom movement, led by Herb Kohl and George Dennison, recalled many of Parker's child centered reforms. More recently Alfie Kohn has been an outspoken critic of the No Child Left Behind Act and a passionate defender of the progressive tradition.[1][2][3][4][5]
Taxpayer revolts, leading to cuts in funding for public education in many states, have led to the founding of an unprecedented number of independent schools, many of which have progressive philosophies. The charter school movement has also spawned an increase in progressive programs. Most recently, public outcry against No Child Left Behind testing and teaching to the test has brought progressive education again into the limelight. Despite the variations that still exist among the progressive programs throughout the country, most progressive schools today are vitalized by these common practices:
 The curriculum is more flexible and is influenced by student interest
 Teachers are facilitators of learning who encourage students to use a wide variety of activities to learn
 Progressive teachers use a wider variety of materials allowing for individual and group research.
 Progressive teachers encourage students to learn by discovery
 Progressive education programs often include the use of community resources and encourage service-learning projects.
Education outside of schools
Organizations like the Boy Scouts of America rose, even amidst concerns by opponents of the progressive movement in the United States, because some people felt that social welfare of young men should be maintained through education alone. After decades of growing interest in and development of experiential education and scouting (not Scouting) in the United States, and the emergence of the Scout Movement in 1907, in 1910 Boy Scouts of America was founded in the merger of three older Scouting organizations: Boy Scouts of the United States, the National Scouts of America and the Peace Scouts of California.[6] Its founder, Chicago publisher W. D. Boyce was visiting London, in 1909, when he met the Unknown Scout and learned of the Scouting movement.[7] Soon after his return to the U.S., Boyce incorporated the Boy Scouts of America on February 8, 1910.[8] Edgar M. Robinson and Lee F. Hanmer became interested in the nascent BSA program and convinced Boyce to turn the program over to the YMCA for development.[9][10] Robinson enlisted Ernest Thompson Seton, Daniel Carter Beard and other prominent leaders in the early youth movements. After initial development, Robinson turned the movement over to James E. West who became the first Chief Scout Executive and the Scouting movement began to expand in the U.S.[10][11] As BSA grew, it absorbed other Scouting organizations.
See also: History of the Boy Scouts of America
See also: Girl Scouts of the USA
See also: Camp Fire Girls
Recent developments
Changes in educational establishments came about as Americans and Europeans felt they had fallen behind the Soviet Union technologically after the success of Sputnik in October, 1957. A rethinking of education theory followed that, together with the prevailing conservative political climate, helped to cause progressivism to fall from favor.
However, today many schools use progressive education methods, such as hands on activities and science experiments in Junior High Schools. Numerous schools also self-identify as progressive in educational philosophy.
Schools and colleges employing the Dewey model
 Ann Arbor Open School - A progressive K-8 school in the Ann Arbor Public School District in Michigan
 Bank Street College of Education - A Progressive Children's School and College of Education in New York, New York, founded in 1916.
 The Cambridge School of Weston - A progressive day/boarding school, grades 9-12, founded in 1886 and located in Weston, Mass.
 Stevens Cooperative School - A progressive elementary school and parent cooperative with two campuses in Hoboken and Jersey City,NJ, founded in 1949.
 The Crefeld School - A Progressive secondary school serving approximately 100 students in Grades 7-12 in the greater Philadelphia area.
 The Park School of Buffalo - A Progressive school for grades K-12 in Snyder, New York, founded in 1912.
 Christa McAuliffe School - A progressive K-8 school in the Cupertino Union School District in California
 The Peninsula School - A Progressive elementary school in Menlo Park, California
 Friends School of Minnesota - A Progressive K-8 Quaker school in St. Paul, Minnesota.
 Ethical Culture Fieldston School - An independent Progressive K-12 school in Riverdale, New York.
 Little Red School House & Elisabeth Irwin High School - An independent Progressive preK-12 school in Manhattan, New York.
 Children's Community School - A progressive elementary school in Van Nuys, California
 Oakwood School - A progressive junior high to high school in North Hollywood, California
 Sequoyah School - A child-centered/progressive school for 5 to 14 year olds in Pasadena, California
 The Little School - A Progressive school for ages 3–12 in Bellevue, Washington, founded in 1959
 The Park School of Baltimore - A Progressive school for grades K-12 in Pikesville, Maryland, founded in 1912.
 Buxton School A Progressive coed boarding/day school for grade 9-12 in Williamstown, MA, founded in 1928.
 The Putney School - A Progressive coed boarding/day school for grades 9-12 in Putney, VT, founded in 1935
 St. Francis School - A progressive K-8 school in Goshen, Kentucky
 Summers-Knoll School - A progressive K-8 independent school in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
 The Dragon Academy - A progressive museum based middle and high school in Toronto, Canada
 Oak Lane Day School - A progressive preschool through sixth grade near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1916
 The Miquon School - A progressive PK-6 school founded in 1932 near Philadelphia PA
 Chatsworth Hills Academy - Preschool through 8th grade located in Chatsworth, California (San Fernando Valley)
 Wildwood School Wildwood School is a K-12, co-educational, college preparatory day school located in Los Angeles, California. As a nationally-acclaimed independent school founded on a progressive, research-based approach, Wildwood emphasizes academic excellence and instills a genuine passion for learning. The program focuses on project-based learning, a proven methodology that blends math, science, the arts, and humanities to provide students with a deep educational experience.
 Voyagers' Community School - A progressive, independent, private school for Early Kindergarten through 12th grade located in Farmingdale, New Jersey, founded in 2004
 The School in Rose Valley SRV is a pre-school through 6th grade, co-educational day school near Philadelphia. It was founded in 1929 based on John Dewey's principles.
 Oak Grove School (Ojai, California) is a pre-k through 12 co-educational day and boarding school in Ojai, CA, founded in 1975 by Jiddu Krishnamurti.
Colleges
 Bank Street College of Education - Founded in 1916, Bank Street is known for its progressive educational approach. Combining current scholarship on child-centered education, psychological development, and practical experience, the College offers three program areas: The Graduate School of Education, Children's Programs, and the Division of Continuing Education. The Bank Street Bookstore specializes in children's books and educational materials for children and educators, and is considered one of the best children's bookstores in New York City.
 Goddard College - A progressive college founded on the ideals and work of John Dewey. Goddard offers BA, MA and MFA low residency programs in Writing, Education, Psychology, Health Arts, Interdisciplinary Arts and Individually designed programs for working adults. Eight day residencies in Plainfield, Vermont and Port Townsend, Washington
 Soka University of America - A four year college founded in 2001 in Aliso Viejo, California.
 The Evergreen State College - A state sponsored college in Olympia, Washington that emphasizes book seminars, an open interdisciplinary curricula with students taking a single course at a time that may last several quarters and written evaluations rather than numerical grades.
 Antioch University - A six-campus American university with campuses with campuses in Los Angeles, Seattle, Santa Barbara, Ohio, and New England. It is founded on principles of rigorous liberal arts education, innovative experiential learning and socially engaged citizenship. Antioch College is the result of American educator Horace Mann's dream to establish a college comparable to Harvard but with some notable differences. This college was to be completely non-sectarian and co-educational, and with a curriculum that would not only include the traditional treatment of the classics, but would emphasize science and the scientific method, history and modern literature of
 Sarah Lawrence College- a private, independent, co-educational liberal arts college founded on the principles of John Dewey. Its unique pedagogy, emphasizing students' individual development through tutorials ("conferencing") and personal mentoring of students by faculty ("donning"), together with an emphasis on writing, an open curriculum and education of the "whole person"produces engaged students in fields that range from the arts to medicine; from public service to law.
 Union Institute & University BA program in Montpelier and Brattleboro, Vermont, offering Bachelor of Arts in low-residency and online programs, a leader in progressive student-centered higher education for working adults. Offering Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Studies with concentrations in Women's and Gender Studies, Literature and Writing, Psychology, Education, Historical,Social and Cultural Studies, the Arts, Religious, Spiritual and Holitistic Studies, Environmental Studies, and a Teacher Licensure Program. The low-residency M.Ed. in Montpelier, Vermont is designed for working adults and uses a progressive, student-centered model.
See also
 Constructionist learning (Seymour Papert)
 Constitutional economics
 Political economy
 Rule according to higher law
 Student voice
 Experiential education
 Educational philosophies
 Education reform
 Humanistic education
 Laboratory school
 Learning by teaching (LdL)
 Teaching for social justice
 Minnesota State University, Mankato Masters Degree in Experiential Education
 Democratic education
 Oswego Movement
References
1. ^ Barrow Street Nursery School--A private progressive nursery school in the West Village of Manhattan. New York, NY 10014
2. ^ World Book 2004
3. ^ /A Brief Overview of Progressive Education
4. ^ / International Journal of Progressive Education
5. ^ / Progressive Education: Contrasting Methodologies by Steven Nelson
6. ^ Peterson, Robert W. (1984). The Boy Scouts: An American Adventure. American Heritage. ISBN 0-8281-1173-1.
7. ^ Peterson, Robert (2001). "The Man Who Got Lost in the Fog". Scouting (Boy Scouts of America). Retrieved 2008-06-24.
8. ^ Rowan, Edward L (2005). To Do My Best: James E. West and the History of the Boy Scouts of America. Las Vegas International Scouting Museum. ISBN 0-9746479-1-8.
9. ^ "Lee F. Hanmer, 89, A Social Worker" (PDF). The New York Times. 1961-04-28. Retrieved 2008-07-06.
10. ^ a b Peterson, Robert (1998). "The BSA's 'forgotten' founding father". Scouting Magazine. Boy Scouts of America. Retrieved 2006-03-10.
11. ^ Macleod, David L. (1983). Building Character in the American Boy: The Boy Scouts, YMCA and Their Forerunners, 1870–1920. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 0-299-09400-6.
Further reading
 Bernstein, Richard J. “John Dewey,” Encyclopedia of Philosophy, New York: Macmillan, 1967, 380-385
 Kevin J. Brehony, What's Left of Progressive Primary Education. Rethinking Radical Education. A. Rattansi and D. Reeder. London, Lawrence and Wishart: 1992: 196-221.
 Kevin J. Brehony. "An ‘undeniable’ and ‘disastrous’ Influence? John Dewey and English Education (1895–1939)." Oxford Review of Education 23(4) 1997: 427-445.
 Kevin J. Brehony "From the particular to the general, the continuous to the discontinuous: progressive education revisited." History of Education 30(5) 2001: 413-432.
 Beck, Robert. "Progressive Education and American Progressivism: Margaret Naumburg." Teachers College Record, 60(4) (1959), 198-208.
 Bruner, Jerome. The Process of Education. New York: Random House, 1960
 Bruner, Jerome. The Relevance of Education. New York: Norton, 1971.
 Cappel, Constance, Utopian Colleges, New York: Peter Lang, 1999.
 Cremin, Lawrence. The Transformation of the School: Progressivism in American Education, 1876-1957. New York: Knopf, 1962
 Dewey, John. Experience and Education. New York: Kappa Delta Pi 1938
 Dewey, John. Dewey on Education, edited by Martin Dworkin. New York: Teachers college Press, 1959
 Dewey, John. Democracy and Education. New York: Free Press, 1944.
 Dewey, John. Experience and Nature. New York: Dover, 1958.
 Harms, William and De Pencier, Ida. Experiencing Education: 100 Years of Learning at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, 1996
 Hayes, William, The Progressive Education Movement: Is it Still a Factor in Today’s’ Schools? New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 2006
 Flesch, Rudolf, Why Johnny Can’t Read, New York: Harper and Row, 1955
 Holt, John, How Children Fail, New York: Pitman, 1964
 Kohn, Alfie. The Case Against Standardized Testing. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann, 2000
 Kohn, Alfie. The Schools Our Children Deserve. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1999
 Kozol, Jonathon. Free Schools, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1972
 Kohl, Herb. The Discipline of Hope, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1998
 Kohl, Herb. Teaching the Unteachable, New York Review of Books, 1967.
 Mager, Robert F. Preparing Behavioral Objectives, Atlanta, Georgia, Center for Effective Instruction, 1969
 Noddings, Nel. “What Does it Mean to Educate the Whole Child?” Educational Leadership, September 2005, volume 63, no 1
 Progressive Education Network. www.progressiveed.org
 Ravitch, Dianne. Left Back: A Century of Battles over School Reform. New York, Simon and Schuster, 2000.
 Schutz, Aaron. Social Class, Social Action, and Education: The Failure of Progressive Democracy. New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.introduction
 Evers, Williamson M. "How Progressive Education Gets It Wrong". Hoover Institute.