John I. Goodlad

Background

Goodlad was born on August 19, 1920, and grew up in British Columbia, Canada. During the Depression he entered teaching, obtaining an elementary-school teaching certificate in 1939 after studying at Vancouver Normal School. His early classroom experience included teaching in a one-room, eight-grade rural school and later serving as a principal and director of education in British Columbia. Those experiences with multigrade instruction, grade placement, and the practical challenges of serving diverse learners informed the educational questions that shaped his later research.

Education

Goodlad earned a teaching certificate from Vancouver Normal School in 1939, a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of British Columbia in 1945, and a Master of Arts degree from the same university in 1946. He received a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1949. His academic preparation was followed by a long program of research and professional work focused on curriculum, schooling, teacher education, educational change, and the democratic purposes of education. He later received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities in the United States and Canada.

Career

Goodlad began his professional life as a teacher in Surrey Schools, British Columbia, including service in a one-room, eight-grade rural school, and later became a principal in the Surrey school system. From 1942 to 1946 he directed education at the Provincial Industrial School for Boys in British Columbia. He then worked as a curriculum consultant for the Atlanta Area Teacher Education Service from 1947 to 1949. After completing his doctorate, Goodlad joined Emory University and Agnes Scott College as an associate professor in 1949–1950. From 1950 to 1956 he was professor and director of the Division of Teacher Education at Emory University and director of the Agnes Scott College–Emory University Teacher Education Program. He served as professor and director of the Center for Teacher Education at the University of Chicago from 1956 to 1960. In 1960 Goodlad joined the University of California at Los Angeles as director of the Corinne A. Seeds University Elementary School and professor in the Graduate School of Education. He directed the university elementary school through 1984, served as dean of the UCLA Graduate School of Education from 1967 to 1983, and directed the Laboratory in School and Community Education from 1981 to 1984. From 1966 to 1982 he was also director of research at the Institute for Development of Educational Activities. At UCLA he promoted nongraded schooling, team teaching, and multiyear grouping, while building the graduate school into a major center for educational research, policy, and practice. Goodlad became a visiting professor at the University of Washington and a distinguished visiting professor at Brigham Young University from 1983 to 1985. He joined the University of Washington faculty in 1985, served as director of its Center for Educational Renewal from 1986 to 2000, and became professor emeritus in 1991. In 1992 he founded the Institute for Educational Inquiry in Seattle and served as its president. Through the Center, the Institute, and the National Network for Educational Renewal, he developed school–university partnerships linking educational research with teacher preparation and school improvement.

Achievements

• Led the large-scale Study of Schooling that examined more than 1,000 schools and informed his influential book A Place Called School.

• Advanced nongraded elementary schooling, team teaching, and multiyear grouping through research and educational leadership.

• Developed school–university partnerships and the concept of simultaneous renewal to connect teacher education with improvement in public schools.

• Founded the Center for Educational Renewal at the University of Washington and the Institute for Educational Inquiry in Seattle.

• Produced more than three dozen books, approximately 200 scholarly articles, and numerous book chapters and encyclopedia entries on education.

Works

• book

  • A Place Called School: Prospects for the Future

    (Goodlad's major study of American schooling, based on ext...)

    1984

  • Behind the Classroom Door

    (Co-authored study of classroom life, later revised and re...)

    1970

  • Teachers for Our Nation's Schools

    (Study of teacher preparation and the institutions respons...)

    1990

  • Educational Renewal: Better Teachers, Better Schools

    (Work on school–university partnerships, teacher education...)

    1994

  • School, Curriculum, and the Individual

    (Book examining relationships among schooling, curriculum,...)

    1966

  • Education and the Making of a Democratic People

    (Work on the relationship between education and democratic...)

    2008

  • In Praise of Education

    (Statement of Goodlad's democratic and moral conception of...)

    1997

  • Computers and Information Systems in Education

    (Co-authored work on computers and information systems in ...)

    1966

  • The Nongraded Elementary School

    (Re-release of the earlier co-authored work with a new int...)

    1987

  • Education for Everyone: Agenda for Education in a Democracy

    (Work presenting an agenda for education in a democratic s...)

    2004

  • Developing Democratic Character in the Young

    (Work on education and the development of democratic chara...)

    2001

  • The Nongraded Elementary School

    (Co-authored work advocating nongraded elementary education.)

    1963

  • Early Schooling in the United States

    (Co-authored study of early schooling in the United States.)

    1973

  • Facing the Future: Issues in Education and Schooling

    (Analysis of major issues in education and schooling.)

    1976

  • The Dynamics of Educational Change: Toward Responsive Schools

    (Study of educational change and responsive schools.)

    1975

  • Educational Leadership and the Elementary School Principal

    (Co-authored work on elementary-school leadership.)

    1956

  • School Curriculum Reform in the United States

    (Study of curriculum reform in the United States.)

    1964

  • Toward a Mankind School: An Adventure in Humanistic Education

    (Co-authored work on humanistic education.)

    1974

  • Curriculum Inquiry: The Study of Curriculum Practice

    (Co-authored study of curriculum practice.)

    1979

  • What Schools Are For

    (Work examining the purposes of schooling.)

    1979

  • Planning and Organizing for Teaching

    (Book on the organization of teaching.)

    1963

  • The Changing School Curriculum

    (Study of change in school curriculum.)

    1966

  • The Teaching Career

    (Work examining the teaching career.)

    2004

  • The Elementary School

    (Co-authored educational work.)

    1956

• edited book

  • The Changing American School

    (Edited volume published as the sixty-fifth yearbook of th...)

    1966

• memoir

  • Romances with Schools: A Life of Education

    (Memoir-like reflection on Goodlad's lifelong engagement w...)

    2004

Views

Goodlad regarded education as a democratic and moral responsibility rather than merely a mechanism for sorting students or preparing workers. He argued that teaching is an ethical act and advocated educational renewal through collaboration among schools, universities, families, communities, and professionals in the arts and sciences. His work challenged rigid age grading, excessive reliance on test scores, and teacher-preparation systems that separated educational research from classroom practice.

Membership

Goodlad held leadership roles in major educational and research organizations. He served as president of the American Educational Research Association in 1967–1968, president of the National Society of College Teachers of Education in 1962–1963, and president of the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education in 1989–1990. He was a charter member and secretary-treasurer of the National Academy of Education, served on the board of directors of the National Society for the Study of Education, and participated in the American Council on Education, the National Education Association, the National Research Council, UNESCO's Institute for Education, the International Bureau of Education, the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, and the National Commission on the Humanities. He also served on numerous advisory boards, research committees, and editorial boards concerned with curriculum, teacher education, educational policy, and school renewal.

• President.

  American Educational Research Association , United States

  1967 - 1968

• President; member of the executive committee from 1958 to 1964.

  National Society of College Teachers of Education , United States

  1962 - 1963

• President.

  American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education , United States

  1989 - 1990

• Charter member and secretary-treasurer.

  National Academy of Education , United States

  1972 - 1975

• Member of the board of directors.

  National Society for the Study of Education , United States

  1961 - 1989

• Chairman of the Council on Cooperation in Teacher Education.

  American Council on Education , United States

  1959 - 1962

• Committee member and chairman of the Publications Committee from 1955 to 1957.

  Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development , United States

  1953 - 1958

• Alternate member from 1968 to 1972, full member of the governing board from 1972 to 1979, and vice chairman from 1974 to 1975.

  UNESCO Institute for Education , Germany

  1968 - 1979

• Member of the Panel on Innovation.

  International Bureau of Education , Switzerland

  1973 - 1976

• Member of the Committee on Basic Research in Education.

  National Research Council , United States

  1968 - 1970

• Member of the Subcommittee on Precollegiate Education.

  National Commission on the Humanities , United States

  1979 - 1982

• State Chancellor for California.

  International Association of Educators for World Peace , United States

  1970 - 1974

• Member of the editorial board.

  American Educational Research Journal , United States

  1964 - 1966

Personality

Colleagues and former students described Goodlad as intellectually curious, generous, demanding of himself and others, analytically forceful, and deeply committed to teachers, students, and public education. Accounts of his work emphasize his capacity to connect systematic empirical research with philosophical reflection and practical educational initiatives.

Quotes from others about the person

• Colleagues described Goodlad as an extraordinary mentor, generous colleague, and major influence on educational research and practice. He was remembered for combining empirical study with a morally and democratically grounded vision of schooling.

Interests

• Schooling, educational renewal, democratic education, curriculum, teacher education, and school–university partnerships.

• Philosophers & Thinkers

  John Dewey

• Music & Bands

  Jazz

Connections

Goodlad was married to Evalene M. Pearson. They had two children, Stephen John and Mary Paula. His professional relationships with teachers, school administrators, university educators, and educational researchers were central to his work on school–university partnerships and educational renewal.

Father:

William

Mother:

Mary

Wife:

Evalene M. Pearson

Goodlad's spouse.

Son:

Stephen John Goodlad

One of Goodlad's two children.

Daughter:

Mary Paula Goodlad

One of Goodlad's two children.

References

• UCLA In Memoriam: John Goodlad Documents Goodlad's UCLA deanship, educational research, major study of schooling, awards, teaching career, and death in Seattle.
  2014
• Inside the Academy of Education: John Goodlad Documents Goodlad's educational philosophy, research on nongraded schooling, educational renewal, professional career, and influence on colleagues and students.
• John I. Goodlad Curriculum Vitae Documents Goodlad's education, honorary degrees, professional positions, organizational memberships, awards, and publications.