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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


