Getting to Where We Meant to Be

"As any preservice teacher can attest, interrogating our taken-for-granted assumptions about education, teaching, and learning is a fundamental proposition in becoming an effective, quality teacher. Hence, this practice is embedded in many preservice teacher education courses and programs, in the attempt to develop preservice teachers’ ability to think critically about teaching and learning. But what happens when preservice teachers move into the field and join the educational workforce? The practice of examining these assumptions remains crucial to the role and responsibilities of all stakeholders engaged in any education endeavor. Hinchey and Konkol’s (2018) book, Getting to Where We Meant to Be, supports this key stance, making a strong case for the importance of reevaluating assumptions that currently dominate the education landscape in the hopes of clearly articulating our goals and determining whether or not our actions are placing us on a path to successfully achieving them." (Read the full review HERE.)

Rachel Ginsburg for The Educational Forum (2020), 84:2, 194-196,

"The value of this book lies in its detailed analysis of common assumptions related to the various futures imagined for K-12 education. The authors treat each of the assumptions with an even hand and bring a variety of important research into the conversation. At a minimum, this book is useful for early-career educators looking to understand the complexity of the U.S. system of education. Also, this volume would serve as an invaluable resource to schools, districts, or systems looking to either consider future directions or to understand the implications of some of the broader policy changes. Finally, the volume is useful for professionals working in higher education, looking to understand more about the education that students receive before they are admitted to college. In each area, the evenhanded and accessible style of Hinchey and Konkel provides exceptional value."

Ryan Korstange, Middle Tennessee State University, Education Review, Vol. 27 (2020)

“If you’d like to see public education thrive, here is a book to bolster your arguments. Down-to-earth writing and excellent choice of content allow vitally important concepts about schooling in contemporary America to be analyzed and easily comprehended. It is one of the clearest discussions of curriculum issues and their meaning and importance for our teachers, schools, parents and yes, for our nation as well. Every schools’ decision about curriculum is a decision about what’s in and what’s out of the knowledge base for students in their state or nation. This insightful and highly readable book explains why these decisions should never be made lightly.”

David C. Berliner - Arizona State University

"Getting to Where We Meant to Be is an insightful, thoughtful, and readable book well-suited for undergraduates in teacher education programs. The authors stimulate the reader’s critical reflection on the assumptions they may hold about schools while also discussing social justice orientations and the importance of the relationship between public education and democracy."

- Melanie Janzen for Teachers College Record (ID Number 22615)

“This wonderful book, written for easy understanding, provokes the reader to rethink the decisions being made for the public schools. Through addressing general assumptions surrounding the public school, Hinchey and Konkol challenge readers to reconsider their understandings and expectations about curriculum and school politics. ..." (Read the full review in Multicultural Education, Spring/Summer 2018, Vol 25, No. 3-4)

H. Prentice Baptiste and Mika C. Leck - New Mexico State University, Las Cruces

“Education is plagued with good intentions gone awry, particularly when the follow-through is framed by commonsensical assumptions that lack a sound research basis. Hinchey and Konkol paint a compelling and nuanced picture of exactly how this is happening in many core areas of schooling, and then offer concrete tools for reframing and reimagining. In this moment when too many so-called reforms are taking advantage of seductive rhetoric, educators and policy makers alike who are fortunate enough to pick up this book will find themselves at once enraptured, unsettled, and more hopeful.”

Kevin Kumashiro, Author of Bad Teacher!: How Blaming Teachers Distorts the Bigger Picture

“In this provocative and compelling book, Pat Hinchey and Pamela Konkol challenge us to rethink assumptions about teaching, learning, and curriculum. Their powerful text details assumptions currently dominating neoliberal education reform as well as alternative perspectives, illuminating complexities
in critical issues that often go unexamined. Those who care about public education and the imperative of its deep potential need to read, contemplate, and take purposeful action prompted in Getting to Where We Meant to Be.”

Brian D. Schultz, Professor and Chair of Teacher Education at Miami University

A Message from the Publisher

Preface

1. “You Have Arrived at Your Destination.” Oh, Really?
The Many Ways We Lose Our Way
The Many Ways We Lose Our Way in Schools
Where Do You Want to Go . . . and How Will You Get There?
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

2. What Are Schools for, Anyway?
Assumptions about the Goals of Public Schools
Frameworks for Goal Setting
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

3. Whither and Whence Curriculum?
Assumptions about Curriculum
Frameworks for Curriculum
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

4. What Does It Mean to Educate for Citizenship?
Assumptions about Educating for Citizenship
Frameworks for Citizenship Education
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

5. How Much Control Does a (Student) Body Need? 
Assumptions about Control in Schools
Frameworks for Disciplinary Policies
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

6. Reform? By Whom and for What?
Assumptions about Reform
Frameworks for Reform
Choices for Educators
Things to Think About
Things to Explore
Notes

7. The Way Forward . . .
This book invites readers to think deeply about their own intentions and to consider whether their actions are leading toward or away from their original goals—and to follow up with action. Those who feel encouraged because they seem to be on the right path might consider trying to persuade others to come along. Those who feel the need for a course correction might consider possible changes. No matter any individual’s specifically intended destination, no step in the right direction is too small to be worth the effort.
Notes

Index

Patricia H. Hinchey

Patricia H. Hinchey is Penn State Professor Emerita of Education and a Fellow of the National Education Policy Center. She holds a doctorate from Teachers College, Columbia University, where she taught several graduate courses in secondary English education. In addition to teaching a wide variety of both undergraduate and graduate education courses at Penn State, she has conducted professional development for K-12 and university faculty nationally and internationally. She also served as director of a professional development unit serving university faculty at multiple campus locations. In addition to teacher education, professional development, and action research, her interests include the intersection of theory and classroom practice, a focus of this most recent work from Myers Education Press. She is as well the author or co-author of several well-known books and numerous articles.

Pamela J. Konkol

Pamela J. Konkol, PhD is the Executive Director of the American Educational Studies Association and a professor of foundations, social policy, and research at Concordia University. She holds a PhD in Policy Studies in Urban Education and an MEd in Curriculum Studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a BS in Communication/Cultural Studies and Women’s Studies from Northwestern University. When not fighting the good fight for children, families, and communities, she’s active in English Bull Terrier rescue efforts.