Inside the Black Box of Classroom Practice: Change without Reform in American Education

Abstract

Harvard Education Press, 2013, $29.95; 243 pages. By Larry Cuban Reviewed by Mark Bauerlein One of the abiding features of education reform in the United States, including the continuing saga of Common Core, is an unfortunate reality Larry Cuban addresses in his latest book (his sixth since 2009). It is the vast, multilayered distance from one end of a reform effort to the other. At the beginning, we find governors and mayors, foundations and advocacy groups that propose changes in funding, governance, and curriculum. At the end lies what actually transpires in classrooms: the things students study, the assignments they complete, where they sit and the teacher stands, and other factors that make up on-the-ground instruction. In between, a complex and unreliable process of policy formulation, adoption, and implementation unfolds. An idea arises, say, digital learning, that attracts researchers and educators, then thrills a politician and a donor, which then yields a 1:1 laptop program, which calls for the purchase of hardware, software, and curricular materials, which requires training for teachers and a support team of tech experts ... before the crucial engagement of teacher, student, and laptop happens in class. Cuban monitored one such initiative in a Bay Area high school during 1998-99 and 2008-10. Charting the history of the school, conducting interviews, and observing classes, Cuban found that * in both periods, student and faculty populations changed significantly, drawing energy away from technology matters * test scores fell below state and national averages, pressuring staff to orient instruction to test-taking skills (California put the school on Probation in 2004.) * the 1990s principal spearheading the initiative left just as it was blossoming (The school had four different principals from 1998 to 2010.) * teachers themselves varied in their commitment, some using technology all the time, others sparingly * every year, costs of maintaining equipment went up, while funding was inconsistent. The fits and starts explain one conclusion Cuban submitted to the school: "Connections between student achievement and teacher and student use of laptops are, at best, indirect and, at worst, nonexistent." The idea was sound (digital technology can enhance learning), initial funding was generous (federal and state grants, Silicon Valley donors), and school leaders were enthusiastic. But when the technology finally made it to the classroom, integration was an inconsistent activity. Even when teachers adopted the tools, they largely maintained customary pedagogical styles. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The case illustrates Cuban's subtitle, "Change Without Reform." Big ideas and well-backed programs end up affecting instruction barely at all, particularly the teacher-centered approach, which Cuban singles out as especially hard to dislodge (though he holds back from insisting on child-centered tactics as clearly superior). Reforms are debated in public and argued at length by researchers, commentators, and stakeholders, but those that win adoption run through so many distorting and deflecting circumstances that the critical party and setting, teachers in classrooms, may or may not embrace the changes. Not only that, but we don't even know whether they do or not. As Cuban remarks of recent changes in science curricula, "these curricular frameworks will have only a passing similarity to the science content and skills that teachers will teach once they close their classroom doors. …