Kliebard, Herbet. Struggle for the American Curriculum, 1893-1958. London: Routledge, 2004.

== Summary ==
This
book examines various political and intellectual movements that influenced the
shape of the American curriculum. Due to the varied interest groups, there was
not one reform movement but several over the course of the 20th
century. He argues the reform groups can be broken down into four groups: '''
defenders of the humanist tradition (Herbartians/humanists); promoters of
child-centered curriculum (developmentalists); the application of industry
model; and the school as a model of democracy. Kliebard concludes that each
group has its victories but there was no unconditional surrender or
overwhelming triumph; “it is this ambiguous outcome of the struggle that
accounts for much of the diversity in interpretation that has surrounded the
course of American education in the 20th century” and has led to a
largely “unarticulated, and not very tidy compromise.”  Each left their mark: social efficiency
educator reinforced the belief that education ought to be tied to rewards;
deveopmentalists drew attention to the nature of the child; and social
meliorists reinforced the issue of school in relation to social progress (civil
rights struggle); and the school subject remained as the basic unit
(humanists/traditionalists). He concludes that the National Defense Education
Act (passed in response to Sputnik) transformed this half-century long
curriculum debates.
Example: 19th century societal change: immigration, railroad connections (“one country”), proliferation of the published word, and economic crises led to an increased attention to what students were taught in public schools. Up to the 1890s, the school curriculum was largely based of the theory of the “discipline of the mind” (cites the Yale Report), but was challenged both due to these larger societal changes as well as the increased enrollments in secondary (high) schools. Led to new ideas: Charles Eliot (elective, traditional, science), G. Stanley Hall (child-centered), William T. Harris (traditional), Francis Park and John Dewey (progressive-traditional), Joseph Mayer-Rice (Scientific and efficient management). 
See also: John Rudolph, Adam Shapiro