Re: evaluating the informal
Ken Goodman (kgoodman who-is-at u.arizona.edu)
Sat, 16 Jan 1999 09:08:42 -0700
There are a number of examples in contemporary education where practices
have become institutionalized that could not be evaluated with
positivistic evaluation. That's true in England particularly in what was
the Inner London Education Authority where integrative curriculum and
holistic methodology had become the norm. The same is true of New
Zealand (a single educational authority) which institutionalized
progressive education in its fullest sense. Positivistic evaluation has
been used in these countries to attack and attempt to destroy the
institutionalized practice- as it has in North America in attacking
whole language which never became institutionalized but was broadly
successful in challenging such firmly entrenched institutions such as
basal readers and skill based curricula.
I guess I'm saying the relation of positivistic evaluation to
institutionalized practice depends on what is institutionalized.
Ken --
Kenneth S. Goodman, Professor, Language, Reading & Culture
504 College of Education, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
fax 520 7456895 phone 520 6217868
These are mean times- and in the mean time
We need to Learn to Live Under Water