Remembering David Krathwohl

Charles Spuches (IDD&E Adjunct) … “One might safely conclude that all educators (and everyone involved in education) are familiar with Bloom’s Taxonomy.  Mention of the taxonomy at a recent SUNY ESF Governance meeting, along with the Chicago Cubs winning the Series for the first time in 108 years, have caused me to reflect about the passing of one of my teachers, Chicago native and University of Chicago alumn, Dr. David Krathwohl … Dave has been, in effect, the silent partner in one of the most pervasive tools in education. Dave was a co-author of Benjamin Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Cognitive Domain, senior author of Taxonomy of Educational Objectives: Affective Domain, and co-editor with Lorin Anderson of A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s “Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.” … I was grateful for the opportunity to take courses with Dave, and for him to be one of my three dissertation committee members.  My colleagues and I appreciated his accomplishments and contributions and, at the same time, we were inspired by his passion, kindness. and encouragement…. Nick Smith, who co-authored with David, How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal, reminisced with me recently about David’s lifelong devotion to students, colleagues, and scholarship. Thanks, Nick – and thanks, Dave – you remain a valued teacher and mentor.”

Roger Hiemstra (professor emeritus) “In early September, 1980, within a few days of my arrival at Syracuse University, Dave stopped by my office to both welcome me and offer any help he could provide. I had known about Dave’s many scholarly contributions and was very appreciative of his early kindness. We talked for a few minutes and I explained that I wished to get started on a research agenda quickly. He gave me both encouragement and some sage advice. Then almost every time we saw each other in the hall or in a meeting for several years, he would ask me how my research was going. I will never forget that kindness, quick friendship, and constant support.”

Kristen Flint (MS 2006) … “I received a half-time Administrative Graduate Assistantship in the IDD&E department, (funded by donations from David) from 2004-2006. During that time, I enjoyed many conversations with David while I assisted him with a variety of projects related to his scholarship; and in a few cases had the opportunity to read, discuss my impressions and questions with David prior to the final draft being sent for publication. David was a wonderful mentor who knew how to help young scholars build confidence while increasing their knowledge and skills.”

Jim Ellsworth (PhD, 1998) … “While I’ve told much about Dave Krathwohl over the years—including the Leadership Profile that I wrote of him for the 2007 Educational Media and Technology Yearbook—there are two, more personal, Dave Krathwohl stories I’ve come back to time and time again. The first I’ve told before, in that Leadership Profile…but the second is one which I don’t believe I’ve ever set to writing before—and yet it’ll always be my strongest memory of this great man as mentor and friend…. As many will recall, one of Dave’s most famous books was his 1985 Social and Behavioral Science Research, in which he first set forth his famous “Chain of Reasoning.” I didn’t arrive at IDD&E until 1988, and took his course, Methods of Educational Research in the Fall of 1989, when the book was in the middle of becoming Methods of Educational and Social Science Research: An Integrated Approach.

Dave had finished the draft manuscript and, rather than making us use the old book, made his draft the text, issuing us the relevant chapters for each section of the course. But he didn’t just expect us to read and learn from it—in a great example of practicing what we preach, he invited us to critique it, commenting on passages we found especially helpful, and what might have still been too difficult. This has always impressed me for its recognition that we were both a representative sample of his target audience and—as future researchers & colleagues—learners who would benefit from actual, authentic experience as manuscript reviewers. And it speaks volumes about Dave’s accessibility, integrity, and humility. … This story also has a postscript: when it finally hit the shelves in 1993, I received a mysterious package while stationed at Fort Devens, Massachusetts; in it was a brand new, hardcover edition—bearing his handwritten inscription thanking me for my “many, many pages of comments on the draft,” as well as a typed letter of transmittal drawing my attention to “page xxiii of the Preface,” where he had publicly acknowledged me for those contributions, along with several other students. Thank you, Dave.

My second anecdote comes from his service on my dissertation committee. As I acknowledged in the Preface, Dave was the one member of my committee who was already emeritus when he agreed to serve—and he did so despite the heavy personal responsibility of caring for his beloved Helen through her long twilight with Alzheimer’s. And yet he read every draft, offering incisive observations and sage advice as I chuckled at him getting the last laugh for all my comments on his book! He was always helpful & encouraging, and always kind…and yet it was Dave Krathwohl who—in the Fall of 1997, as I raced down the homestretch, with my Chair and the rest of my committee having cleared me to defend—dropped the bombshell that gave me my one & only scare that I might have to scrap it all and start over. See, I had done a mixed methods dissertation—a qualitative study that used a factor analysis, as a data reduction technique, as a back end—in an era before that was broadly accepted…and, reading my final draft, Dave had some concerns (seeing my full methodology, analysis, and conclusions laid out for the first time) that—wouldn’t you know it—that might have introduced some fatal flaws in my chain of reasoning! Obviously, it didn’t turn out quite that bad…but following those vulnerabilities through 300 pages of development & exposition, pondering their secondary & tertiary effects, and clarifying my reasoning & explanation to his satisfaction took a couple more months, and doomed me to a date of 1998 rather than 1997 on my sheepskin. But it also meant that, when I was sitting in a room with three external readers I’d never met before passing judgment on my final product—rather than being blindsided and trying to stumble through some sort of response coherent enough to salvage my defense, I had slides prepared and a thoroughly-rehearsed explanation I could use to pull it off without a hitch…  Thanks again, Dave.

I really wish that generations of IDD&E students to come could have the same chance to learn from your wisdom, chuckle at your wit, and benefit from your grace and leadership. Of course, thanks to all those publications—and all of us whose professional lives you shaped—to a great extent, they will… Say hi to Don Ely for me.”