State of the Art Versus the State of Practice: A Discrepancy in Need of Repair

Abstract

Although we possess a significant body of knowledge that could improve education, it seeps slowly and unevenly into practice in the schools. There is a wide discrepancy between the "state of the art" and the "state of practice " in education everywhere but especially in the inner cities and remote rural areas. The author asks, "What should be the characteristics of a system designed to repair the discrepancy?" then proposes a complex diagnosis and prescription to help close the gap between the state of the art and the state of practice in the schools. As an example of the gap between knowledge and practice, the author explores the issue of categorical programs—a system that, he argues, has proven largely ineffective but continues nonetheless. Finally, drawing on the example of the "total system" in scientific agriculture, he suggests a number of design characteristics for a system for knowledge dissemination and utilization in education.