EDUCATIONAL CRITICISM AS A FORM OF QUALITATIVE INQUIRY

This essay describes some of the primary features of educational criti cism, an arts-based approach to qualitative inquiry. We first examine the aims of this approach, focusing on its potential to heighten our p erceptions of the classroom. We next discuss four dimensions of educat ional criticism: descriptive (intended to vividly render the qualities that constitute an educational performance or product); interpretativ e (represented in the conceptual frameworks that allow critics to acco unt for the attributes and patterns of interaction they have observed) ; normative (involving a process of articulating those values that inf orm conceptions of goodness within a given domain); and thematic (conc erned with the utility of extracting some type of general understandin g, image, principle, or lesson that transcends the particular of an in dividual case). Finally, we address questions of rigor as they apply t o educational criticism and other forms of qualitative research. Speci fically, we identify three criteria (consensual validation, structural corroboration, and referential adequacy) appropriate for assessing th e credibility of such work. In suggesting criticism as one potential m odel for educational inquiry, we hope to encourage those researchers w ho seek to create compelling and richly textured accounts of current c lassroom practice.