Individual Listing

SPROUL HALL
University of California
Riverside, CA 92521

Page, Reba N

Professor

Graduate School of Education

Graduate School of Education


Biography

Major teaching interests: Curriculum theory and practice; interpretive research methods; secondary education; organizational cultures. Professional Notes: Vice-President Elect, American Educational Research Association, for Division B (Curriculum Studies); Editorial Board, Journal of Curriculum Studies and American Journal of Education;

Degrees

B.A. History 1964

Washington University

M.L.A. Literature and History 1973

The Johns Hopkins University

Ph.D. Curriculum and Instruction 1984

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Awards

Visiting Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University, 1995-1997.
Outstanding Recent Graduate Award, School of Education, University of Wisconsin, Madison. 1994.
Distinguished Teaching Award Nomination, UC Riverside, 1994-95.
Spencer Fellow, 1986-87, National Academy of Education.
Outstanding Dissertation Award, Division G (Social Context of Education) American Educational Research Association, 1986.


Research Area

Curriculum and cultural differentiation, particularly as they are manifested in tracking in US secondary schools. High school science What is it? Who decides? How does it matter? The complexities of qualitative research. Findings: The impact on classroom practice of recent state and national policies in science education has been paradoxical, at best. This should not surprise us, however, because US culture is deeply paradoxical, most centrally in the value it places on both individualism and competition and the common good. Accordingly, reforms in science education make ambiguous and often contradictory demands for greater excellence and equity in school science. However, they provide woefully inadequate material and intellectual support for meeting these ambitious demands. Without support, teachers haphazardly mix elements of the initiatives with more established practices. The result is a hodgepodge curriculum that presents different versions of school science, any one of which may contradict and cancel out the others. Students see the contradictions. They respond by rejecting school science and remaining content with the science they already know. With teachers, they produce an ABSENCE of science in high school science classes.

Publications

Page, R., Samson, Y., & Crockett, M. (2000). Reporting ethnography to informants. In B. Brizuela, J. Stewart, R. Carrillo, and J. Berger (Eds.), Acts of Inquiry in Qualitative Research. Cambridge, MA Harvard Educational Review.
Page, R. (1999). The uncertain value of school knowledge Biology at Westridge High. Teachers College Record, 100(3),554-601.
Page, R. (1994). Do-good ethnography. Curriculum Inquiry, 24, 479-502.
Page, R. (1991). Lower-track classrooms A curricular and cultural perspective. New York Teachers College Press.
Page, R. & Valli, L. (1990). Curriculum differentiation Interpretive studies in US secondary schools. Albany, NY State University of New York Press