Holding Values : What We Mean by Progressive Education

The essays in Holding Values together constitute both a critique of current policies in education and a clear statement of an alternative vision of progressive education practice. Addressing important topics, like the ways children learn, testing, evaluation and assessment, staff development, racial diversity, and community, are some of the nation's most experienced and thoughtful voices, including:

• Vito Perrone
• Lillian Weber
• Joseph and Helen Featherstone
• Deborah Meier
• Harold Berlak
• Kathe Jervis
• Eleanor Duckwort
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• Edward Chittenden
• Susan Harman
• Patricia Carini
• George Hein

The essays provide compelling, jargon-free explanations of the ideas embodied in the progressive perspective, along with classroom stories that will strike a chord of recognition in anyone who has worked with children in schools.

Speaking to the pressing need to expand boundaries and open possibilities for children, Holding Values makes an eloquent plea to keep alive the humanistic values and practices that have been in large part abandoned in schools. At the same time, it provides practical examples of how to implement an education that upholds social justice, creativity, thoughtfulness, and intellectual and social growth.

Brenda S. Engel has been a teacher, a consultant on Open Education, an educational evaluator, a researcher, a teacher of teachers, and, since 1973, an active member of the North Dakota Study Group. Recently retired from her position as associate professor at Lesley University, she is the author of a number of journal articles, monographs, and a book on appreciating children's art. She is a lifelong watercolorist.

Anne C. Martin, now retired, taught in public elementary schools for over 30 years. She has published numerous articles and is the author of an NDSG monograph.