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1997 AESA Critics’ Choice Award
"Breaks the ‘historical silence.’"
–Harvard Educational Review
"A useful text in courses in the history of American education."
–The Journal of American History
"Gives us new lenses through which to understand the historic dilemmas of teaching and the follies of traditional attempts to reform it."
–Barbara Finkelstein, University of Maryland
Drawing on extensive interviews with teachers of an earlier generation, Rousmaniere lets readers see the complexity of teachers’ work, their problems with reform implementation, and the conditions they believed were necessary for real change. It is an important book because it raises questions about the power and legacy of teachers’ historical work culture and the effect of teachers’ working conditions on teacher practice and broader school reform policy.
