Larry Cuban is a Professor of Education at Stanford University. He teaches courses in the methods of teaching social studies, the history of school reform, curriculum, and instruction, and leadership. He has been faculty sponsor of the Stanford/Schools Collaborative and Stanford's Teacher Education Program.
His background in the field of education prior to becoming a professor includes 14 years of teaching high school social studies in ghetto schools, directing a teacher education program that prepared returning Peace Corps volunteers to teach in inner-city schools, and serving seven years as a district superintendent.
Trained as an historian, he received the B.A. degree from the University of Pittsburgh in 1955 and the M.A. from Cleveland's Case-Western Reserve University three years later. On completing his Ph.D work at Stanford University in 1974, he assumed the superintendency of the Arlington, Virginia Public Schools, a position he held until returning to Stanford in 1981. Since 1988, he has taught three times in local high schools semester-long courses in U.S. History and Economics.
His major research interests focus on the history of curriculum and instruction, educational leadership, school reform and the uses of technology in classrooms. His books include: Oversold and Underused: Reforming Schools through Technology, 1980-2000 (2001); How Scholars Trumped Teachers: The Paradox of Constancy and Change in University Curriculum, Research, and Teaching, 1890-1990 (1999);Tinkering Towards Utopia (with David Tyack), 1995; The Managerial Imperative: The Practice of Leadership in Schools (1988); Teachers and Machines: The Use of Classroom Technology Since 1920 (1986); How Teachers Taught, 1890-1980 (1984); Urban School Chiefs Under Fire (1976); To Make a Difference: Teaching in the Inner City (1970).
