CEPress advances a pedagogical vision grounded in the practice of Critical Exploration in the Classroom.

Susan Jean Mayer, aka Shay, is a democratic curriculum and developmental learning theorist who writes on a range of issues related to democratic K-12 practice and on the study of exploratory pedagogies within schools. Mayer has taught in teacher education programs at Brandeis and Northeastern Universities and worked in educational publishing. Her 2012 book, Classroom Discourse and Democracy: Making Meanings Together, draws on democratic educational theory and on classroom discourse research to characterize distinctively democratic discursive features. A recently released co-edited volume, In Search of Wonderful Ideas, explores the use of the pedagogical approach Critical Exploration in the Classroom (CEC) for nurturing a democracy of ideas and advancing assets-based practices within teacher education programs. A new book on the philosophy of pragmatism and progressive pedagogies is scheduled to be released by Routledge in 2023.