The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the international debate over the university as the service provider for school administrator preparation programs from the United States perspective.
The author's approach is that of using historical analysis in developing a conceptual position: the author argues that the university professoriate in the United States now has little choice but to heal the historic rift between theory and practice if it wants to survive this current ideological era characterized by accountability for public schools to improve student outcomes and by the competitive marketplace.
The author's analysis consists of four separate explications. He first explains the genesis of the schism between theory and practice endemic to all professional schools: 19th century Positivism and early 20th century Technical Rationality. Second, he points out that the university, which traditionally protected education administration programs from constituency attacks, can no longer do so in large part because the field's weak knowledge base is perceived by many reformers and practitioners alike as counter‐productive to improving schooling's core technology: teaching and learning. Third, based primarily upon the work of Culbertson, Willower, and Schon, the author draws on over a century's rich counter tradition to the forces of Positivism and Technical Rationality in advocating that practitioners should develop and test their own theories of practice.
The last explication infers the practical value to this concept paper.
The author suggests how professors can exploit the university's institutional advantages in adopting practitioner‐developed theories in practice as a curricular centerpiece.
