Out of the Dark: A Direction for Change in Education

Out of the Dark is a call for teacher leaders to take a stand against the current neoliberal take over of our educational system today. This book investigates where this political power hold began, theorizes why is it so hard for us to change what is happening, and then explores theory into practice for supporting the development of a democratic curriculum. Out of the Dark highlights example schools in various states that are fighting the monopoly of standardization by implementing their own version of visionary democratic education. This book is purposefully heavy on references as to encourage teachers to become curriculum leaders through research and complicated conversation that they have with themselves and with each other. It is time to stand together against the over utilization and magnified importance of standardized testing in our educational system in the United States. The time is now to envision a democratic education based on an eclectic compilation of curriculum theory and fight for the significant educational contribution of our own professional wisdom, prompting democratic empowerment for our students.

Wendy L. Samford, PhD, is a prior administrator of thirteen years, currently teaching graduate classes at two universities. Her current passion lies in co-investigating a state grant at Kent State University for implementing a democratic form of teacher leadership. She is a contributing author to Reconceptualizing Curriculum Development (2015) and Theory of Educational Leadership (in press). She is happily married with four great kids and continues her work for the renewal of education in the U.S.