Jo Anne Pagano

Bio: Jo Anne Pagano is an academic researcher from University of Rochester. The author has contributed to research in topics: Curriculum theory & Curriculum studies. The author has an hindex of 2, co-authored 2 publications receiving 901 citations.

The Schools We Deserve@@@A Place Called School: Prospects for the Future

Abstract: This is an account of the largest on-the-scene study of U.S. schools ever undertaken. Called A Study of Schooling' and carried on over 4 years, trained investigators went into more than 1,000 classrooms in 38 elementary and secondary schools in seven different sections of the United States. These schools were located in urban, rural, and suburban areas. The investigators talked to teachers, students, administrators, school board officials, parents, and other members of the community. The result is this landmark report, written by one of the country's most astute and experienced educators. His message is one of cautious optimism, despite the extensive problems uncovered, and he provides a realistic agenda for improvement. This report will be a rich and stimulating resource for all those concerned with the education of our youth.

Foundations for a Unified Approach to Evaluation Research

Abstract: As a species of practical or applied research in the social sciences, curriculum studies are intended, in fact, to perfect the means of maintaining a balance between social stability and social evolution. The mandate for doing so is clearly embedded in the history of public education as "that process by which human culture is transmitted across the generations" (Bailyn 1972). But crisis-provoked shifts in the structure of society itself have created in recent years a crisis for the taken-for-granted stock of knowledge which grounds theory formation and methodology in curriculum. Curriculum theory and research of the past twenty years are distinguished by progressive failure to maintain the identity of curriculum as a regulatory force in the process of cultural transmission and social evolution. Criticism, generated internally and sometimes more devastating than that generated from outside, has proliferated during this time. A demand for new programs to meliorate perceived social crises has resulted in a call for the restructuring of curriculum theory. New programs seen as emergent from new theories have in turn called into question the traditional pretest-post-test, input-output evaluation strategy. Theoretical and methodological criticism from within a field provoke proliferation of alternative theories and eventually culminate in an intellectual schism among researchers and scholars in that field. Contestants standing on one side of the schism will be engaged in a kind of salvage operation involving a stretching and reshaping of the entrenched models so as to enable them to accommodate new or changing observations even when such an attempt appears impossible. Critics on the other side will typically propose a radical rethinking and restructuring of the entire field (Kuhn 1970). Conceptual utility is doubtless served by the critical activity of this polarization phase. Ideas are articulated and clarified against a background of conflict and contradiction. There comes a time, however, when argument degenerates into mere contradiction if the insights gained and

Four Ages of Professionalism and Professional Learning

Abstract: This paper conceptualizes the development of teacher professionalism as passing through four historical phases in many countries: the pre-professional age, the age of the autonomous professional, the age of the collegial professional and the fourth age-post-professional or postmodern. Current experiences and perceptions of teacher professionalism and professionalization, it is argued, draw on all these ages. Conclusions are drawn regarding new directions in teacher professionalism, and the linking of professional projects to wider social movements for public education and its transformation.

Collective Sensemaking about Reading: How Teachers Mediate Reading Policy in Their Professional Communities:

Abstract: Recent research on the relationship between instructional policy and classroom practice suggests that teachers interpret, adapt, and even transform policies as they put them into place. This paper extends this line of research, using an in-depth case study of one California elementary school to examine the processes by which teachers construct and reconstruct multiple policy messages about reading instruction in the context of their professional communities. Drawing primarily on institutional and sensemaking theory, this paper puts forth a model of collective sensemaking that focuses on the ways teachers co-construct understandings of policy messages, make decisions about which messages to pursue in their classrooms, and negotiate the technical and practical details of implementation in conversations with their colleagues. It also argues that the nature and structure of formal networks and informal alliances among teachers shape the process, with implications for ways in which messages from the policy env...

The Mathematical Understandings that Prospective Teachers Bring to Teacher Education.

Abstract: This article focuses on the subject matter knowledge of preservice elementary and secondary mathematics teachers. In order to examine what teacher candidates understand about mathematics as they enter formal teacher education, results from questionnaires and interviews with 252 prospective teachers participating in a large study of teacher education are discussed. The results reveal the mathematical understandings that these elementary and secondary teacher candidates brought with them to teacher education from their precollege and college mathematics experiences, understandings that tended to be rule-bound and thin. Based on these data, the article challenges 3 common assumptions about learning to teach elementary or secondary mathematics: (1) that traditional school mathematics content is not difficult, (2) that precollege education provides teachers with much of what they need to know about mathematics, and (3) that majoring in mathematics ensures subject matter knowledge. These assumptions underlie cu...

Student engagement in high school classrooms from the perspective of flow theory.

Abstract: We present a conceptualization of student engagement based on the culmination of concentration, interest, and enjoyment (i.e., flow). Using a longitudinal sample of 526 high school students across the U.S., we investigated how adolescents spent their time in high school and the conditions under which they reported being engaged. Participants experienced increased engagement when the perceived challenge of the task and their own skills were high and in balance, the instruction was relevant, and the learning environment was under their control. Participants were also more engaged in individual and group work versus listening to lectures, watching videos, or taking exams. Suggestions to increase engagement, such as focusing on learning activities that support students’ autonomy and provide an appropriate level of challenge for students’ skills, conclude the article.

The Canon Debate, Knowledge Construction, and Multicultural Education

Abstract: I review the debate over multicultural education in this article, state that all knowledge reflects the values and interests of its creators, and illustrate how the debate between the multiculturalists and the Western traditionalists is rooted in their conflicting conceptions about the nature of knowledge and their divergent political and social interests. I present a typology that describes five types of knowledge and contend that each type should be a part of the school, college, and university curriculum.