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Early 20th Century
The early 20th Century represented a kind of golden age of progressive educational ideas and reforms led by John Dewey, and later William Kilpatrick and Harold Rugg. Bloom's formative educational years were deeply informed by many of these educational perspectives. -
Bloom is born during the heart of the progressive reform era (1890-1920)
Bloom is raised in small town Pennsylvania by Russian immigrant parents. Bloom was encouraged by his parents to engage his curiosity and invest time in the library.
This is a period of widespread activism (e.g. suffrage movement) and reform (labour laws/protections) in the U.S. brought on by the excesses of capitalism, urbanization and industrialism. -
Publication of John B. Watson's "Psychology as Behaviorist View"
Watson coins the term "Behaviorism" and his ideas quickly become integrated into educational practice. -
World War One 1914-1918
The war stalled (and in many cases, arrested) the momentum of many progressive movements and reforms. -
Black Tuesday and The Great Depression
The excesses of the 1920s (deregulation and laissez-faire economics) reversed many of the reforms of the progressive era, leading to the Great Depression. During the 1920s progressive education models are increasingly challenged by "scientific" techniques in addition to efficiency focused Taylorist models. -
The "New Deal"
Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected in 1932 as Bloom was studying psychology at Penn State. Roosevelt's 1930's "New Deal" project to invest in public services limited much of the later damage of the Great Depression. Education was among the beneficiaries of this new investment. Roosevelt's social democratic vision of reducing socio-economic inequity through public investment inspired Bloom to pursue large scale, public solutions for the educational sector. -
Bloom goes to Chicago
After finishing his studies at Penn State, Bloom went to the University of Chicago to pursue doctoral work with Ralph Tyler as the Great Depression was giving way to World War Two. Tyler argues that the most pressing problem in education is that educational programs lack clearly defined purposes. This observation makes a deep impression on Bloom and his future work. -
Bloom is awarded PhD
Bloom completes his PhD and begins his career as a university examiner just as the United States enters the war, decisively shifting the advantage from the axis powers to the allies. Progressive educational ideals are marginalized in the wake of the war and become further marginalized after the war as "Cold War" hysteria associates progressive educational philosophy with the dreaded influence of "socialism." -
Introduction of the G.I. Bill
With the end of the war, returning soldiers were given opportunities to pursue free post secondary education. The G.I. bill represented a major breakthrough in advancing equity in education. For the first time, members of the working class were invited into university campuses, transforming the previously exclusive academic culture. The G.I. bill was a great source of inspiration for Bloom and his vision to enhance the inclusiveness of the educational system. -
Bloom convenes nation wide consultation with fellow university examiners focusing on classifying the wide range of intended learning outcomes
America's confidence is high in the years immediately following World War Two and the country is primed to engage in sweeping and ambitious projects like the Marshall Plan (initiated the same year). Bloom's efforts to design a shared nation wide framework classifying intended learning outcomes reflected the national spirit of the times. This work would establish the blueprint for the now iconic taxonomy that would follow eight years later. -
The 1950s
Bloom's research into his eventual taxonomy is conducted during this time.
In the U.S., this is an era of ever rising confidence brought on by rapid development, infrastructural growth and accelerated affluence.
The American culture of the 1950s emphasized conformity and progress.
Tyler's Basic Principles of Curriculum and Instruction" is now widely integrated into educational practice.
The behaviorist models of John B. Watson and B.F. Skinner gain greater prominence as well. -
Publication of Bloom's "Taxonomy of Educational Objectives"
Bloom's taxonomy arrives at the height of 1950s optimism. His hierarchical classification of educational outcomes strikes a deep chord among educators and the public alike. Bloom's emphasis on universal subjectivity and teleological linearity is reflective of the 1950s American values. Its hierarchical prioritizing of analysis and creativity would seem to channel progressive goals but framed in a scientific, structural model appealing to the instrumental priorities of the era. -
Sputnik
The optimism of the 1950s is quickly tinged with anxiety when the Soviets beat the Americans into space with the launch of the world's first satellite. This event prompts Americans into examining the "crisis in education." More and more emphasis is placed on science and mathematics to close the perceived gap with the Soviets. Progressive education comes under increasing attack but Bloom's taxonomy gains prominence as a means to promote innovation in the classroom. -
JFK elected/ Bloom goes to Stanford
At Palo Alto, Bloom spends a year at the Center for Advanced Studies in Behavioral Sciences. During this time, Bloom worked on his book "Stability and Change in Human Characteristics", eventually published in 1964. His research, at this time, revealed the critical influence of environment on learners, but it is an influence that decreases over time. From this research, Bloom concluded that early childhood intervention was a crucial dimension in improving learning outcomes for students. -
The "Great Society" and "Head Start"
President Lyndon Johnson continued to push for JFK's solidaristic/idealistic social vision. Civil rights and the so-called "war on poverty" were priorities for the Johnson administration. Johnson called on Bloom to testify before congress about his research on the influence environment has on early learning. This would lead to the Head Start program, a program whose success or failure has been highly contested since its inception. -
Mastery Learning
Buoyed by the broad social vision of the Johnson administration, Bloom developed mastery learning, a program that divided learning goals into digestible units. Bloom argued that his mastery techniques could ensure that 90% of students could achieve all learning goals with adequate time and effective instruction. He believed that this was the way to ensure equality in education. The country was increasingly divided with the Vietnam War, protests, assassinations and riots. -
William Pinar publishes "Heightened Consciousness,Cultural Revolution and Curriculum Theory" launching the reconceptualist curriculum movement.
As Bloom promotes mastery learning and Head Start, the American mood shifts away from large scale projects. After the Watergate scandal and the failure of the Vietnam War, the public's faith in their institution's capacities to solve problems (including education) is deeply compromised. Dissensus seems to permeate the culture. Postmodernism is on the rise on university campuses and the reconceptualist curriculum theories of Pinar and Michael Young challenge Tyler and Bloom's modernist ideas. -
Bloom publishes "Developing Talent in Young People"
By the mid 1980s, Neoliberalism (aka "Reaganism") promotes individual solutions to social inequality and inequity, while cutting taxes and funding to education and other social programs. In response to this new ideology, Bloom focuses his attention on the question of individual genius and how it is attained. His research suggests that 10 years of personal commitment is required for greatness. He argues this can be applied to disadvantaged students as well...but public $ are required. -
1980s and 1990s: The Critical Turn in Pedagogy
Henry Giroux, Peter McClaren (pictured above) as well as bell hooks, Patti Lather, Howard Zinn, etc., introduce Paolo Friere's "critical pedagogy" into American campuses. By the 1990s, their American brand of critical pedagogy reaches its apex of influence, diminishing Bloom's influence. Deviating somewhat from Friere's vision, American critical pedagogy emphasizes ideological critique over action. Bloom worked within the hegemonic framework but similarly sought to end educational inequity. -
Benjamin Bloom dies
Benjamin Bloom's legacy continues to be felt throughout the educational realm in the U.S. and around the world. The taxonomy remains the most enduring element of this legacy and was revised by Anderson and Krathwohl in 2001. There is more to Bloom that is often forgotten. He was driven by a idealism merging elements of modernism and humanism as well as behaviorism and progressivism, best summed up in his words "what any person in the world can learn, almost all persons can learn if..."
