But there was relatively little discussion of the process of implementation of school reform, or of its consequences. All reforms were generally assumed to be "progressive," and were interpreted as signs either of spreading democratization or of increasing enlightenment on the part of the state, church, or lay reformers. Furthermore, research rarely strayed from the administrative documents that recounted the activities of state and church agencies, or the writings of pedagogic theorists. The perspective typically adopted was that of the proponents of schooling. The focus of research in educational history until recently has been to trace the origins of new ideas about education or to track down the political and administrative processes by which those ideas were translated into official policy in various European states.
— Schooling in Western Europe by Mary Jo Maynes (Page 1)