ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS Vol. 30 No.1 Editor’s notes Welcome to Volume 30 of Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis. The 2009-10 academic year has been a busy one for the journal, with three CFP (calls for papers) being posted on a variety of different top- ics. Volume 30 explores the first of these calls through its focus on the philosophical and conceptual implica- tions of the culture of assessment in higher education. It seems true to say that institutional assessment has become as inevitable as death and taxes, with much research dedicated to ‘assessing’ the effectiveness of this new institutional charge. The five articles that make up Issue 1 of Volume 30 explore this paradigm shift from a variety of perspectives, some take an inter- nal and personal perspective, while others look at the trend from a more distanced standpoint. Over the years I have heard a variety of dissenting voices, largely from faculty, directed at the ‘coloniza- tion’ of higher education, and I wanted to get a ‘snap shot’ of these voices, moving them out of the hallways of our colleges and universities to the ‘public’ domain. In putting out the CFP I also wanted to avoid fac- ulty rants about assessment as well as rubber stamps of its legitimacy (those that feel the issue is resolved through quantitative data alone). To ensure the voices of institutionalized assessment received a fair hearing I enlisted the aid of a guest co-editor, Viterbo’s own Naomi Stennes-Spidahl, Director of Institutionalized Assessment, whose expertise was invaluable in sharp- ening the discourse on assessment and correcting any over-simplifications of the issues. The result, I believe, is an interesting collage of different articles, some of which focus on assessment in action (Moore and Has- singer), others the difficult balance of teaching under the assessment structure (Wodzak), while another on the challenge of chairing departments through the lens of quantitative accountability (Turgeon). These inter- nal perspectives are supplemented by two articles that focus on larger trends within assessment culture, one of which sees assessment as a clear extension of market capitalism (Michaud), while another traces the com- plex connection between pedagogy and accountability (Bach and Carpenter). My hope is that readers will find the selection of articles both intriguing and informative, and as adding an important critical element to the often one-sided discussions of assessment in higher education. Issue 2 of Volume 30 includes two articles from two scholars well-known for their work in the field of EDITOR Jason J. Howard GUEST EDITOR Naomi Stennes-Spidahl Viterbo University, Director of Institutionalised Assessment CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Patrick Costello Glyndŵr University, Wales David Kennedy Montclair State University Judy Kyle Educational Consultant Montreal, Canada Richard Kyte D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, Viterbo University Richard Morehouse, Emeritus Viterbo University Felix García Moriyón Center for Philosophy for Children Madrid, Spain Michael Pritchard Western Michigan University Michel Sasseville Laval University, Quebec David Smith University of Lethbridge, Canada Susan Wilks University of Melbourne, Australia Michael Wodzak Viterbo University BOOK REVIEW EDITORS Gilbert Burgh University of Queensland, Australia Trevor Curnow St. Martin’s College LAYOUT DESIGN ASSISTANT Adam Alexander PUBLISHER Viterbo University La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 Copyright 2005 Analytic Teaching is published twice a year. ISSN 0890-5118 ANALYTIC TEACHING AND PHILOSOPHICAL PRAXIS Vol. 30 No.1 Philosophy for Children, that of Patrick Costello and Richard Morehouse. Costello’s article offers a timely exploration of the status of communities of inquiry within the UK; this is complemented by Morehouse’s piece, which takes up similar concerns but from the perspective of the USA. Together these two articles return us to the original mission of Analytic Teaching, providing an invaluable reminder of what alternative pedagogies can accomplish in the K-12 classroom. Happy reading, Jason J. Howard EDITOR Jason J. Howard GUEST EDITOR Naomi Stennes-Spidahl Viterbo University, Director of Institutionalised Assessment CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Patrick Costello Glyndŵr University, Wales David Kennedy Montclair State University Judy Kyle Educational Consultant Montreal, Canada Richard Kyte D.B. Reinhart Institute for Ethics in Leadership, Viterbo University Richard Morehouse, Emeritus Viterbo University Felix García Moriyón Center for Philosophy for Children Madrid, Spain Michael Pritchard Western Michigan University Michel Sasseville Laval University, Quebec David Smith University of Lethbridge, Canada Susan Wilks University of Melbourne, Australia Michael Wodzak Viterbo University BOOK REVIEW EDITORS Gilbert Burgh University of Queensland, Australia Trevor Curnow St. Martin’s College LAYOUT DESIGN ASSISTANT Adam Alexander PUBLISHER Viterbo University La Crosse, Wisconsin 54601 Copyright 2005 Analytic Teaching is published twice a year. ISSN 0890-51188