John I. Goodlad (1920) is a leading educational researcher whose work has had a major impact on school reform, professional development, and curriculum studies. His studies have illuminated many components of education—from teacher training programs, to school administration, to classroom [Page 414]interactions—that affect curriculum implementation. Goodlad's primary object of inquiry has been the site where the curricular rubber hits the road—the school. His 30 books and hundreds of articles describe the arc of a long, varied, and deep engagement with the scene of schooling, or as he has put it a, “Romance with schools.”

One could say that Goodlad's career mirrors the evolution of the institution to which it was devoted. Beginning as a teacher in a one-room schoolhouse, he went on to become a leading ...