WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE EDUCATION?
By Chris McNutt
Edited by Aaron Blackwelder
Beyond the Curriculum promotes progressive education and progressive educators.
Progressive education emphasizes the human experience in learning and places the learner at the center of the curriculum. It focuses on the individual’s understanding over an intended purpose or “right answer.”
Progressive educators embrace the changing of broken systems. They want strategies that make do with what they have rather than data-driven, results-oriented approaches that expect compliance and standardization.
Humanistic education isn’t just moral, it’s also backed by extensive research. Drill and kill, faux rigor, and extensive standardization may make students better at tests, but we’re focused on the big picture.
Progressive Ed Emphasizes
Intrinsic Motivation
When giving feedback, no grades combined with purely written or oral comments for improvement had the highest impact on the continued motivation of students. (Butler)
Multiple experiments reveal that students, when pressured with a grade, are less likely to be motivated and/or would be less likely to perform as best as possible. (Pulfrey and Buchs)
When members of a group knew that their contribution would be visible and graded, they shared less relevant information in comparison to those who were not expecting a contribution grade. (Hayek et. al.)
Students who were presented with their grade cards halfway through the year showcased decreased motivation, engagement, and performance after receiving a low marking. (Poorthuis et. al.)
De-Testing
High-stakes testing has made no improvement to students’ learning, but rather demotivate and diminish learning outcomes. (Amrein and Berliner)
Standardized testing negatively impacts African American and Latinx students. (Camara)
Autonomy
Study shows how children, when left alone to develop their own structure, are better at self-directed processes in the future. (Barker et. al.)
Adolescents had incredibly close ties between their purpose and identity. When teenagers understood their place in the world, they took more purposeful actions and understood more about who they were. (Cotton Bronk)
Research finds that 9th and 10th-grade students had greater life satisfaction and less depressive symptoms when they find meaning and love in their lives. (Gillham et. al.)
Equity
An overview of 186 research studies in K-12 that demonstrate “new racism”- hidden racism within schools in the curriculum and in systemic practices. (Kohlio et. Al)
An overview of understanding school inequity through the lens of race, including arguments from law and social studies. (Ladson-Billings and Tate)
Restorative Discipline
Restorative Discipline offers a positive approach to conflict mediation. It empowers students to resolve differences constructively and work towards solutions on their own. (Varnham)
Punitive discipline promotes the School to Prison Pipeline that disproportionately impacts African American youth while Restorative Discipline combats this. (Gonzalez)
Progressive Educators
John Dewey
Dewey championed experiential learning and the need for reflective thought.
Maria Montessori
Montessori advocated for a mixed grade education that focused on play and hands-on learning.
Jean Piaget
Piaget was the pioneer of the constructivist theory of knowing, a cornerstone of progressive education.
Paulo Freire
Freire advocated for his concept of critical pedagogy — the need to recognize learners for who they are, teach based on their lives, and disestablish systems that place them at a lower echelon than educators.
John Holt
Holt, a champion of the unschooling movement, wrote about how traditional schools do a poor job of preparing students to live healthy, happy lives.
Jonathan Kozol
Kozol has spent much of his life detailing the inequalities of communities, particularly through the school system.
Henry Giroux
Giroux is a contemporary of Freire who writes on the dangers of neoliberalism and corruption of education due to corporate control and consumerist culture.
bell hooks
hooks, a feminist and social activist, writes on the oppressive nature of schooling and the ways that race, capitalism, and gender affect the classroom.
Alfie Kohn
Kohn dedicates his writing to critique the traditional education system, calling upon educators to seek a pedagogy of unconditional love that puts students at the center of learning.
Deborah Meier
Meier is a champion of the small school movement.
Susan Engel
Engel focuses on the development of curiosity, play, and teaching.
Aaron Blackwelder
Aaron is a high school English teacher. He is a co-founder of Teachers Going Gradeless and co-host of the podcast TG2Cast. Aaron is a Google Certified Educator Level II, 2019 Washington State Teacher of the Year candidate, Washington State English Teachers Fellow, and 5 time GSHL Golf Coach of the Year.
Aaron lives, works and podcasts from Vancouver, Washington, and is available for Professional Development.