Böcker av Larry Cuban

With this significant new work, Larry Cuban provides a unique and insightful perspective on the bridging of the long-standing and well-known gap between teachers and administrators. Drawing on the literature of the field as well as personal experience, Cuban recognizes the enduring structural relationship within school organizations inherited by teachers, principals, and superintendents, and calls for a renewal of their sense of common purpose regarding the role of schooling in a democratic society.Cuban analyzes the dominant images (moral and technical), roles (instructional, managerial, and political), and contexts (classroom, school, and district) within which teachers, principals, and superintendents have worked over the last century. He concludes that when these powerful images and roles are wedded to the structural conditions in which schooling occurs, "managerial behavior" results, thus narrowing the potential for more thoughtful, effective, and appropriate leadership. Cuban then turns to consider this situation with respect to the contemporary movement for school reform, identifying significant concerns both for policymakers and practitioners.This honest, thought-provoking book by a leading scholar, writer, and practitioner in the field represents an invaluable resource-an insightful introduction for those just entering the field and a fresh, new perspective for those long-familiar with its complexities. Cuban's ethnographic approach to the development of his own career and viewpoint, as well as his highly readable style, make this a work of lasting value.

One of the most respected voices in American education demonstrates that when teachers are not given a say in how new technology might reshape schools, students and teachers use that technology far less in the classroom than they do at home, and that teachers who use computers for instruction do so infrequently and unimaginatively.

Cuban takes a richly detailed history of the Austin, Texas, school district, under Superintendent Pat Forgione, to ask the question that few politicians and school reformers want to touch: given effective use of widely welcomed reforms, can school policies and practices put all children at the same academic level?

In this provocative new book, Cuban takes aim at the alluring cliche that schools should be more businesslike, and shows that in its long history in business-minded America, no one has shown that a business model can be successfully applied to education.