Selected Papers

Perils of the professionalized historian. (2017). Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education, 7:1, 95-6.

An affair to remember: America's brief fling with the university as a public good. (2016). Journal of Philosophy of Education, 50: 1, 20-36.

College – What is it good for? (2014). Education and Culture, 30: 1, 3-15.

Let’s measure what no one teaches: PISA, NCLB, and the shrinking aims of education. (2014). Teachers College Record, 116: 090303, 14 pages.

Learning to love the bomb: The Cold War brings the best of times to American higher education. (In press). In Paul Smeyers & Marc Depaepe (Eds.), Educational research: Discourses of change and changes in discourse. Dordrecht: Springer.

Schooling in the United States: Historical analyses. (2014). In D.C. Phillips (Ed.), Encyclopedia of educational theory and philosophy (pp. 740-43). Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA.

Balancing access and advantage in the history of American schooling. (2013). In Rolf Becker, Patrick Bühler, & Thomas Bühler (Eds.), Bildungsungleichheit und Gerechtigkeit: Wissenschaftliche und Gesellschaftliche Herausforderungen (pp. 101-114). Bern: Haupt Verlag.

A system without a plan: Emergence of an American system of higher education in the twentieth century. (2013). Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education, 3:1, 46-59.

The power of the parochial in shaping the American system of higher education.(2013). In Paul Smeyers and Marc Depaepe (Eds.), Educational research: Institutional spaces of educational research (pp. 31-46). Dordrecht: Springer.

School Syndrome: Understanding the USA's Magical Belief that Schooling Can Somehow Improve Society, Promote Access, and Preserve Advantage (2012). Journal of Curriculum Studies, 44:2, 143-163.

Sermon on educational research.(2012). Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education, 2:1, 78-87. (Discussion of the Paper)

A System Without a Plan: Emergence of an American System of Higher Education in the 20th Century.(2011). Paper presented at the international research congress on "International and National Standardization and Differentiation of Education Systems from a Historical Perspective," Centro Stefano Franscini, Monte Verità, Ascona, Switzerland. Forthcoming in Bildungsgeschichte: International Journal for the Historiography of Education.

The Power of the Parochial in Shaping the American System of Higher EducationPaper presented at conference on "The Role of Space in Education," Nuremburg, November, 2011.

Do no harm.(2011). Teacher Education and Practice, 24:4, 434-439.

Consuming the public school. (2011). Educational Theory,61: 4, 381-394.

When is school an answer to what social problems? Lessons from the early American republic. (2011). In Daniel Tröhler & Ragnhild Barbu (Eds.), Educational systems in historical, cultural and sociological perspectives (pp. 77-90). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Adventures in scholarship(2011). Adventures in scholarship. In Wayne Urban (Ed.), Leaders in the historical study of American education (pp. 193-204). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Citizens and Consumers: Changing Visions of Virtue and Opportunity in U.S. Education, 1841-2002(2011). In Daniel Tröhler, Thomas Popkewitz, and David F. Labaree (Eds.), Schooling and the making of citizens in the long nineteenth century. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

How Dewey lost: The victory of David Snedden and social efficiency in the reform of American education. (2011). In Daniel Tröhler, Thomas Schlag, and Fritz Ostervalder (Eds.), Pragmatism and modernities. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

The Lure of Statistics for Educational Researchers(2011). Educational Theory,61: 6, 381-394.

Understanding the Rise of American Higher Education: How Complexity Breeds Autonomy(2010). Understanding the rise of American higher education: How complexity breeds autonomy (in Chinese). Peking University Educational Review, 31:3.

What Schools Can’t DoForthcoming, 2010. Zeitschrift für Pädagogische Historiographie, 16:1, 12-18.

Teach for America and Teacher Ed: Heads They Win, Tails We Lose(2009). Journal of Teacher Education, 61:1-2, 48-55.

The Winning Ways of a Losing Strategy: Educationalizing Social Problems in the U.S.(2008). Educational Theory, 58:4 (November), 447-460.

The Dysfunctional Pursuit of Relevance in Educational Research.(2008). Educational Researcher, 37:7 (October), 421-23.

Limits on the Impact of Educational Reform: The Case of Progressivism and U.S. Schools, 1900-1950(2008). In Claudia Crotti & Fritz Osterwalder (Eds.), Das Jahrhundert der Schulreformen: Internationale und nationale Perspektiven, 1900-1950 (pp. 105-133). Berne: Haupt.

An Uneasy Relationship: The History of Teacher Education in the UniversityForthcoming 2008. In Cochran-Smith, Marilyn, Feiman Nemser, Sharon, & McIntyre, John (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Teacher Education: Enduring Issues in Changing Contexts (3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Association of Teacher Educators.

Mutual Subversion: A Short History of the Liberal and the Professional in American Higher Education(2005). History of Education Quarterly, 46:1 (October), pp. 1-15, Spring 2006; a shorter version was given as the Presidential Address, History of Education Society.

Life on the Margins(2005). Journal of Teacher Education, 56:3 (May/June), pp. 186-191.

Progressivism, Schools, and Schools of Education: An American Romance(2005). Paedagogica Historica, 41:1&2 (February), pp. 275-288.

The Ed School's Romance with Progressivism(2004). In Diane Ravitch, Ed., Brookings Papers on Education Policy.

The Peculiar Problems of Preparing Educational Researchers (2003). Educational Researcher, 32:4 (May), pp. 13-22.

No Exit: Public Education as an Inescapably Public Good (2000). In Larry Cuban and Dorothy Shipps, Eds., Reconstructing the Common Good, Stanford University Press, pp. 110-129.

On the Nature of Teaching and Teacher Education: Difficult Practices That Look Easy(2000). Journal of Teacher Education, 51:3, pp. 228-233.

Educational Researchers: Living with a Lesser Form of Knowledge(1998). Educational Researcher, 27:8 (November), pp. 4-12.

Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle over Educational Goals(1997). American Educational Research Journal, 34:1 (Spring), pp. 39-81.

The Trouble with Ed Schools(1996). Educational Foundations, 10:3 (Summer), 27-45.

A disabling vision: Rhetoric and reality in Tomorrow's Schools of Education.(1995). Teachers College Record, 97:2 (Winter), 166-205.

Why do schools cooperate with reformers? The case of the teacher professionalization movement.(1995). In Petrie, H. G. (Ed.), Professionalization, Partnership and Power: Building Professional Development Schools (pp. 93-109). Albany: SUNY Press.

The lowly status of teacher education in the U.S.: The impact of markets and the implications for reform. (1995). In Shimihara, N. K., & Holowinsky, I. Z. (Eds.), Teacher Education in Industrialized Nations: Issues in Changing Social Contexts (pp. 41-85). New York: Garland Publishing.

Power, knowledge, and the rationalization of teaching: A genealogy of the movement to professionalize teaching.(1992). Harvard Educational Review, 62:2 (Summer), 123-154.

Doing good, doing science: The Holmes Group reports and the rhetorics of educational reform.(1992). Teachers College Record, 93:4 (Summer), 628-640.

Does the subject matter? Dewey, democracy, and the history of curriculum. (1991). History of Education Quarterly, 31:4 (Winter), 513-521.

A kinder and gentler report: Turning Points and the Carnegie tradition.(1990). Journal of Education Policy 5:3, 249-264.

From comprehensive high school to community college: Politics, markets, and the evolution of educational opportunity.(1990). In Corwin, R. G. (Ed.), Research on Sociology of Education and Socialization, 9, 203-240. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press.

Career ladders and the early public high school teacher: A study of inequality and opportunity.(1989). In Warren, D. (Ed.), American Teachers: Histories of a Profession at Work (pp. 157-189). New York: Macmillan.

Politics, markets and the compromised curriculum.(1987). Harvard Educational Review 57:4 (November), 483-494.

Parens patriae: The private roots of public policy toward children.(1986). History of Education Quarterly, 26:1 (Spring), 111-116.

Curriculum, credentials, and the middle class: A case study of a nineteenth century high school. (1986). Sociology of Education, 59:1 (January), 42-57.

Academic excellence in an early U.S. high school. (1984). Social Problems, 31:5 (June), 558-567.

Setting the standard: Alternative policies for student promotion.(1984). Harvard Educational Review, 54:1 (February), 67-87.