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Click here for an index to all these articles by subject.

Click here for a list of articles dealing only with standards and testing.

Haga click aquí para ver la lista de artículos que han sido traducidos al Español.
 

Spotlight Articles

 

 

(*) = included in What to Look for in a Classroom ... and Other Essays

(**) = included in What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated? ... and Other Essays

 

Education Periodicals

General Interest Periodicals

Parenting Magazines

Business Magazines

Interviews and Profiles

Book Chapters & Forewords

Education Periodicals

Phi Delta Kappan

  • "Abusing Research: The Study of Homework and Other Examples," September 2006
  • "Challenging Students -- And How to Have More of Them," November 2004
  • "Test Today, Privatize Tomorrow," April 2004
  • "The 500-Pound Gorilla," [corporations & the schools], October 2002 (**)
  • "Fighting the Tests: A Practical Guide to Rescuing Our Schools," January 2001
  • "Only for My Kid: How Privileged Parents Undermine School Reform," April 1998 (*)
  • "How Not to Teach Values: A Critical Look at Character Education," Feb. 1997 (*)
  • "The Truth About Self-Esteem," December 1994 (*)
  • "Choices for Children: Why and How to Let Students Decide," September 1993 (*)
  • "Caring Kids: The Role of the Schools," March 1991 (*)

    • Education Week

  • "The Truth About Homework," September 6, 2006

  • "Getting-Hit-on-the-Head Lessons," September 7, 2005

  • "Feel-Bad Education: The Cult of Rigor and the Loss of Joy," September 15, 2004

  • "The Folly of Merit Pay," September 17, 2003 (**)

  • "Education's Rotten Apples," September 18, 2002 (**)

  • "Beware of the Standards, Not Just the Tests," September 26, 2001 (**)

  • "Standardized Testing and Its Victims," September 27, 2000 (**)

  • "Confusing Harder with Better," September 15, 1999 (**)

  • "Students Don't 'Work' - They Learn," September 3, 1997 (*)

  • "Beyond Discipline," November 20, 1996 (*)

  • "Newt Gingrich's Reading Plan," April 19, 1995 (*)

    Chronicle of Higher Education

  • "The Dangerous Myth of Grade Inflation" November 8, 2002 (**)

  • "Two Cheers for an End to the SAT," March 9, 2001 (**)

    Young Children

  • "Five Reasons to Stop Saying 'Good Job!'", September 2001 (**)

  • "Fighting the Tests: Turning Frustration into Action," March 2001

    American School Board Journal

  • "The Goldilocks Paradox" [excerpt from The Homework Myth], February 2007

  • "Raising the Scores, Ruining the Schools" [excerpt from The Schools Our Children Deserve], October 1999

  • "Constant Frustration and Occasional Violence: The Legacy of American High Schools," September 1999 (**)

    School Administrator

  • "The Costs of Overemphasizing Achievement", November 1999 (**)

  • "Save Our Schools . . . from Business" (viewpoint), October 1995

    Educational Leadership [also see INTERVIEWS, below]

  • "Unconditional Teaching," September 2005

  • "Almost There, But Not Quite," March 2003 (**)

  • "What to Look for in a Classroom," September 1996 (*)

  • "Grading: The Issue Is Not How but Why," October 1994 (*)

  • "Turning Learning into a Business: Concerns About Total Quality," September 1993 (*)

  • "Group Grade Grubbing versus Cooperative Learning," February 1991

    Principal Leadership [NASSP]

  • "What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated?", March 2003 (**)

    NewsLeader [NASSP]

  • "A Promise Unfulfilled: 150 Words on Brown v. Board," May 2004

    Principal [NAESP]

  • "Rethinking Homework," January-February 2007

  • "Unlearning How We Learned" [reprint of Washington Post article], March 2000

    Streamlined Seminar [NAESP]

  • "The Worst Kind of Cheating", Winter 2002-03

    High School Magazine

  • "From Degrading to De-Grading," March 1999 (**)

    Educational Horizons

  • "Safety from the Inside Out," Fall 2004

    Independent School [also see INTERVIEWS, below]

  • "Changing the Homework Default," Winter 2007

  • "How Not to Get Into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation," Winter 2002-03

  • "How to Make the Least of Your College Years," February 1981

    English Journal

  • "The Trouble with Rubrics", March 2006. (Or click here for PDF version.)

  • Accelerated Direct Success [a parody advertisement], September 2001

    Language Arts

  • "Poor Teaching for Poor Kids," January 2002

    Schools: Studies in Education

  • "The (Progressive) Schools Our Children Deserve," Fall 2005

    Rethinking Schools

  • "The Tougher Standards Fad Hits Home", Fall 2006

  • "Requesting Testing," Summer 2002

  • "September 11", Winter 2001/02 (**)

  • "Forward . . . Into the Past," Fall 1999

    Kappa Delta Pi Record

  • "Professors Who Profess: Making a Difference as Scholar-Activists," Spring 2003 (**)

    Reaching Today's Youth

  • "The Limits of Teaching Skills," Summer 1997 (*)

    Instructor

  • "Down With Homework," September 2006

    Learning Magazine

  • "Discipline Is the Problem -- Not the Solution," October-November 1995

    Camping Magazine

  • "Rethinking Character Education: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Camp and Kids," September/October 2003

    School Board News

  • "The Trouble with 'Back-to-Basics' and 'Tougher Standards,'" September 14, 1999

    NAMTA Journal

  • "The Schools Our Children Deserve: Helping Parents Understand the Rationale for Alternative Education," Winter 2007

  • "Raising Children Who Care," Spring 2000

  • "Beyond Bribes and Threats: How Not to Get Control of the Classroom," Winter 1998

    Journal of Teacher Education

  • "Burnt at the High Stakes," vol. 51, no. 4, September/October 2000

    Journal of Education

  • "Resistance to Cooperative Learning: Making Sense of Its Deletion and Dilution," vol. 174 (1992) (*)

    Teacher Magazine

  • "Joyless Endeavors" [reprint of "Feel-Bad Education" in Education Week], November/December 2004

  • "The ABCs of Caring," January/February 1990

  • "Human Nature's Brighter Side," June/July 1990

    ERIC Digest

  • "The Risks of Rewards," December 1994 (PDF)

    Cooperative Learning Magazine

  • "Rewards in the 'Real World': The Workplace, the Classroom, and the Status Quo," vol. 14, no. 2, (1994)

  • "Is Competition Ever Appropriate in a Cooperative Classroom?", vol. 13, no. 3 (1993)

  • "The ABCs of Caring," vol. 10, no. 3 (1990)

    Cooperative Learning and College Teaching

  • "Beyond the Traditional Classroom: From Degrading to De-Grading," Spring 1994

    General Interest Periodicals

    New York Times

  • "Tests That Cheat Students" (op ed), December 9, 1999

  • "In Pursuit of Affluence, at a High Price," (Science Times), February 2, 1999

  • "For Best Results, Forget the Bonus," (Business section), October 17, 1993

  • "Competition vs. Excellence" (op ed), April 26, 1991

    Washington Post [also see INTERVIEWS, below]

  • "First Lesson: Unlearn How We Learned" (commentary), October 10, 1999

    USA Today

  • "Kids May Be Right After All: Homework Stinks" (op ed), September 14, 2006

  • "Emphasis on Testing Leads to Sacrifices in Other Areas" (op ed), August 22, 2001 (**)

  • Opposing View editorials, 2000-07

    Boston Globe

  • "One-Size-Fits-All Education Doesn't Work," June 10, 2001

  • "No to More Standardized Testing," January 26, 2001

  • "Poor Teaching for Poor Students: More Reasons to Boycott the MCAS Tests," March 20, 2000

  • "Tougher Tests = Lower Standards", September 29, 1999

  • "The Trouble with School Uniforms," October 2, 1996 (*)

  • "Emphasis Belongs on Learning, Not Grades" (on grade inflation), September 15, 1995 (*)

  • "School Choice Myths," April 24, 1993 (*)

  • "Value Human Life, Not American Power," March 16, 1991

  • "Paris Slide Show," June 19, 1988

    The Nation

  • "Atrocious Advice from 'Supernanny,'" May 23, 2005

  • "Altruism Within Egoism," May 29, 1989

    The Atlantic Monthly

  • "Suffer the Restless Children," November 1989 (*)
    NOTE: An expanded and updated version of this article, which offers a critical look at attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, is included in What to Look for in a Classroom...and Other Essays

  • "Home Schooling," April 1988

    American Health

  • "Back to Nurture" (against genetic determinism), April 1993

    Health

  • "The Risks of Rewards," May 1990

    Reader's Digest

  • "Don't Believe Everything You Hear," July 1992

  • "You Know What They Say...," July 1988

    Psychology Today

  • "Do Religious People Help More? Not So You'd Notice," December 1989

  • "After Happily Ever After," January-February 1989

  • "Evidence for a Moral Tradition," January-February 1989

  • "Beyond Selfishness," October 1988

  • "Are Humans Innately Aggressive?", June 1988

  • "You Know What They Say...," April 1988

  • "Girl Talk, Guy Talk," February 1988

  • "Making the Most of Marriage," December 1987

  • "It's Hard to Get Left Out of a Pair" (profile of Johnson brothers), October 1987

  • "Art for Art's Sake" (profile of Teresa Amabile), September 1987

  • "How to Succeed Without Even Vying," September 1986

    Boston Phoenix

  • "Lottery Lies," April 10, 1984

    Women's Sports & Fitness

  • "Fun & Fitness Without Competition," July/August 1990

    The Georgia Review

  • "Existentialism Here and Now," Summer 1984

    Tikkun

  • "The Real Threat to American Schools," March/April 2001

    The Sondheim Review

  • "The Case for Sondheim as Existentialist," Spring 2000

    Back to Top

    Parenting Magazines

    Parents Magazine

  • "Five Reasons to Stop Saying 'Good Job!,'" [published as "Hooked on Praise"], May 2000

  • "The Case Against Gold Stars," October 1993

    Parenting Magazine

  • "How to Raise an Assertive Child (But Not an Aggressive One)," April 1995

    Growing Without Schooling

  • "Rethinking Discipline: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," May-June 1997

    Ladies Home Journal

  • "The Spoiled Child," May 1991

  • "Raising Kids Who Care," December 1989

  • "The New Discipline," November 1989

    Working Mother

  • "The Case Against Competition," September 1987

    Back to Top

     

    Business Magazines

    Harvard Business Review

  • "Why Incentive Plans Cannot Work," September-October 1993

    Compensation and Benefits Review

  • "Challenging Behaviorist Dogma: Myths About Money and Motivation," March-April 1998

    Inc. magazine

  • "Incentives Can Be Bad for Business," January 1988

  • "No Contest," November 1987

    (For more business-related publications, please see the Rethinking Management page.)

    Back to Top

     

    Interviews and Profiles

    Educational Leadership

  • "Why Students Lose When 'Tougher Standards' Win: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," Sept. 1999

  • "Punished by Rewards?: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," Sept. 1995

    Washington Post

  • "Education's Different Drummer," January 9, 2001

    Hope Magazine

  • "Test Ban Entreaty", January/February 2004 [PDF file]

    American School Board Journal

  • "Battling 'Myths': A Q&A with Author Alfie Kohn" [about homework], February 2007

    English Education

  • "'Fighting the Toxic Status Quo': Alfie Kohn on Standardized Tests and Teacher Education", January 2002

    Los Angeles Times

  • "Crusader Argues School Reforms Hinder Learning," Feb. 22, 2000

    Independent School

  • "In Defense of the Progressive School: An Interview with Alfie Kohn," Fall 1999

    Creative Classroom

  • "Testing on Trial: Educator Alfie Kohn Speaks Out," January/February 2002

    Harvard Education Letter

  • "The Case Against Rewards and Praise: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," March-April 1994

    The Constructivist

  • "A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," Summer 1997

    Growing Without Schooling

  • "Rethinking Discipline: A Conversation with Alfie Kohn," May-June 1997

  • "The Trouble with Rewards: An Interview with Alfie Kohn," September-October 1994

    The Active Learner: A Foxfire Journal for Teachers

  • "Offering Challenges, Creating Cognitive Dissonance," March and July 1997

    Back to Top

    Book Chapters & Forewords

  • "The Trouble with Pure Freedom: A Case for Active Adult Involvement in Progressive Education," in The Directory of Democratic Education, 2nd ed., edited by Dana M. Bennis and Isaac R. Graves (Alternative Education Resource Organization, 2007)

  • Foreword to Psychology of Academic Cheating, edited by Eric M. Anderman and Tamera B. Murdock (Academic Press, 2006)

  • Foreword to Rethinking Rubrics in Writing Assessment by Maja Wilson (Heinemann, 2006)

  • "NCLB and the Effort to Privatize Public Education," in Many Children Left Behind, edited by Deborah Meier and George Wood (Beacon Press, 2004)

  • Foreword to Learning to Trust: Transforming Difficult Elementary Classrooms Through Developmental Discipline by Marilyn Watson (Jossey-Bass, 2003)

  • Foreword to What Happened to Recess and Why Are Our Children Struggling in Kindergarten? by Susan Ohanian (McGraw-Hill, 2002)

  • "A Look at Maslow's Basic Propositions," in Perceiving, Behaving, Becoming: Lessons Learned, edited by H. J. Freiberg (ASCD, 1999) (**)

  • "Television and Children: ReViewing the Evidence," in What to Look for in a Classroom... And Other Essays (Jossey-Bass, 1998) (*)

  • "The Trouble with Character Education," in The Construction of Children's Character - 96th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education, Part II, edited by A. Molnar (Univ. of Chicago Press, 1997)

  • "Cooperation: What It Means and Doesn't Mean," in Cooperation: Beyond the Age of Competition, edited by A. Combs (Gordon & Breach, 1992)

    • Back to Top

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