Synopses & Reviews
Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice takes as its starting point a strikingly blunt question: “With so many major structural changes in U.S. public schools over the past century, why have classroom practices been largely stable, with a modest blending of new and old teaching practices, leaving contemporary classroom lessons familiar to earlier generations of school-goers?”
It is a question that ought to be of paramount interest to all who are interested in school reform in the United States. It is also a question that comes naturally to Larry Cuban, whose much-admired books have focused on various aspects of school reform—their promises, wrong turns, partial successes, and troubling failures. In this book, he returns to this territory, but trains his focus on the still baffling fact that policy reforms—no matter how ambitious or determined—have generally had little effect on classroom conduct and practice.
“For forty years, Larry Cuban has been a voice of thoughtful analysis amid the overwrought rhetoric of American education reform. His distinctive contribution—updated, deepened, and extended in this book—has been to focus our attention on the persistent gap between the misconceptions of policy elites and the realities of daily practice in the classroom. One hopes that the next generation of American educators will learn the essential lessons of Cuban’s analysis more deeply than the current generation. Young people considering a career in education should hold the lessons of this book close to their hearts.” — Richard F. Elmore, Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education
“Larry Cuban’s well-written book convincingly demonstrates why current education reforms don’t work, can’t work, and won’t work.” — Diane Ravitch, research professor of education, New York University
“Anyone with a deep interest in public schools should read Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice. Cuban takes the reader through the history of earnest efforts to improve our schools—through technology, structural reforms, and accountability systems—and shows why they have met with mixed and often disappointing results. His recommendations for us are both cautionary and hopeful, and always respectful of the dilemmas that teachers face each day they walk through the classroom door.” — Gary Yee, board director, District Four, Oakland Unified School District, and retired vice chancellor, Educational Services, Peralta Community College District
Larry Cuban is professor emeritus of education at Stanford University.
Review
“For forty years, Larry Cuban has been a voice of thoughtful analysis amid the overwrought rhetoric of American education reform. His distinctive contribution—updated, deepened, and extended in this book—has been to focus our attention on the persistent gap between the misconceptions of policy elites and the realities of daily practice in the classroom. One hopes that the next generation of American educators will learn the essential lessons of Cuban’s analysis more deeply than the current generation. Young people considering a career in education should hold the lessons of this book close to their hearts.” —
Richard F. Elmore, Gregory R. Anrig Professor of Educational Leadership, Harvard Graduate School of Education
Review
“Larry Cuban’s well-written book convincingly demonstrates why current education reforms don’t work, can’t work, and won’t work.” —
Diane Ravitch, research professor of education, New York University
Review
“Anyone with a deep interest in public schools should read Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice. Cuban takes the reader through the history of earnest efforts to improve our schools—through technology, structural reforms, and accountability systems—and shows why they have met with mixed and often disappointing results. His recommendations for us are both cautionary and hopeful, and always respectful of the dilemmas that teachers face each day they walk through the classroom door.” — Gary Yee, board director, District Four, Oakland Unified School District, and retired vice chancellor, Educational Services, Peralta Community College District
Review
"Timely and thoughtful, Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice would be a marvelous work for introductory and seminar classes or any level in between." — S.T. Schroth, Choice Magazine
Synopsis
In an era of major reform in education, this book poses a serious question: Why havent classroom practices evolved to reflect changes in policy? The book exposes persistent, routine teacher strategies that must be addressed to optimize reform efforts.
Synopsis
2015 Outstanding Book Award, Association for Educational Communications & Technology (AECT)
A book that explores the problematic connection between education policy and practice while pointing in the direction of a more fruitful relationship, Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice is a provocative culminating statement from one of America's most insightful education scholars and leaders.
Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice takes as its starting point a strikingly blunt question: "With so many major structural changes in U.S. public schools over the past century, why have classroom practices been largely stable, with a modest blending of new and old teaching practices, leaving contemporary classroom lessons familiar to earlier generations of school-goers?"
It is a question that ought to be of paramount interest to all who are interested in school reform in the United States. It is also a question that comes naturally to Larry Cuban, whose much-admired books have focused on various aspects of school reform--their promises, wrong turns, partial successes, and troubling failures. In this book, he returns to this territory, but trains his focus on the still baffling fact that policy reforms--no matter how ambitious or determined--have generally had little effect on classroom conduct and practice.
Cuban explores this problem from a variety of angles. Several chapters look at how teachers, in responding to major policy initiatives, persistently adopt changes and alter particular routine practices while leaving dominant ways of teaching largely undisturbed. Other chapters contrast recent changes in clinical medical practice with those in classroom teaching, comparing the practical effects of varying medical and education policies. The book's concluding chapter distills important insights from these various explorations, taking us inside the "black box" of the book's title: those workings that have repeatedly transformed dramatic policy initiatives into familiar--and largely unchanged--classroom practices.
Synopsis
A book that explores the problematic connection between education policy and practice while pointing in the direction of a more fruitful relationship,
Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice is a provocative culminating statement from one of America’s most insightful education scholars and leaders.
Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice takes as its starting point a strikingly blunt question: “With so many major structural changes in U.S. public schools over the past century, why have classroom practices been largely stable, with a modest blending of new and old teaching practices, leaving contemporary classroom lessons familiar to earlier generations of school-goers?”
It is a question that ought to be of paramount interest to all who are interested in school reform in the United States. It is also a question that comes naturally to Larry Cuban, whose much-admired books have focused on various aspects of school reform—their promises, wrong turns, partial successes, and troubling failures. In this book, he returns to this territory, but trains his focus on the still baffling fact that policy reforms—no matter how ambitious or determined—have generally had little effect on classroom conduct and practice.
Cuban explores this problem from a variety of angles. Several chapters look at how teachers, in responding to major policy initiatives, persistently adopt changes and alter particular routine practices while leaving dominant ways of teaching largely undisturbed. Other chapters contrast recent changes in clinical medical practice with those in classroom teaching, comparing the practical effects of varying medical and education policies. The book’s concluding chapter distills important insights from these various explorations, taking us inside the “black box” of the book’s title: those workings that have repeatedly transformed dramatic policy initiatives into familiar—and largely unchanged—classroom practices.
About the Author
Larry Cuban is professor emeritus of education at Stanford University. His most recent books are As Good As It Gets: What School Reform Brought to Austin and Cutting Through the Hype: The Essential Guide to School Reform (Harvard Education Press).