Bullough Receives Second Outstanding Book Award

Bob Bullough

Robert Bullough, MSE professor of teacher education and associate director of CITES, has won the Outstanding Book Award from the American Educational Research Association, Division B, Curriculum Studies, for his book, Stories of the Eight-Year Study: Reexamining Secondary Education in America, coauthored with Dr. Craig Kridel of the University of South Carolina.

The book is the product of a lot of hard work and research. Bullough actually began the process more than 30 years ago. "The first thing I wrote on the Eight Year Study was in 1975," he said, "but we have been actively involved in [working on the book] for a decade." Bullough has collaborated extensively with Kridel. "We've been friends since graduate school. He is a remarkable man," Bullough said.

The book recounts a massive effort by the Progressive Education Association to improve American secondary education and then applies the lessons learned from the Study to our current situation. According to Bullough, we are facing a challenge today of forgetting the past. "It's amnesia. Nobody has any memory," he explained. "So what happens is that innovations are celebrated, but it often turns out that they are based upon ignorance of what has been done in the past, what works, and why it works."

"Each section has a biographical piece-a vignette-that focuses on a person of considerable consequence who grappled with the issues of the chapter," Bullough said. "You will see these issues played out in the lives of a number of folks, each of whom made a significant contribution." Such a focus on the past allows modern-day readers and educators to learn from past accomplishments and mistakes through interesting and lively stories and personalities.

Speaking of the authors' intent, Bullough remarked: "[The book] takes an important historical study and presents it with sufficient detail for people to understand it. We hope educators and students will then use that knowledge gained in their own situations." The book is really a cure for the amnesia that affects our perception of education.

This is not the first time Bullough has won an AERA award. His book Uncertain Lives published in 2001, also won an AERA division B Outstanding Book Award. "Winning the most recent award really came as a surprise," Bullough said. "I won the 2002 award, so winning this was a double surprise."

The American Educational Research Association "strives to advance knowledge about education, to encourage scholarly inquiry related to education, and to promote the use of research to improve education and serve the public good." Among its functions, the organization allows education researchers to recognize and honor the outstanding scholarship and service of their peers.

4 April 2008