This paper explores how a set of curriculum reforms in the United States and England over the past 20 years may be interrelated, according to conclusions drawn from ethnographic investigation and informed by historical reflections. The discussion centers upon the case of informal, open, or progressive education, which has enjoyed a 40 plus--year practice in English primary and middle schools but which appeared as a short-lived movement in the United States in the 1960s and early 1970s. The United States and England have influenced each other for some time, but the fact that similar kinds of curriculum development emerged in both settings may be more indicative of related responses to social and political issues than to distinctive borrowing from each other. In both England and the United States, informal or progressive approaches to primary teaching have been influenced by increased concern for developing children's basic skills, testing their competency and achievement, and stressing professional accountability to the public. Both English and American school practices suggest an ideological flavor to decision-making. In both countries the norm has continued to be more formal primary schools with drill, practice, and testing as common characteristics. A figure illustrates some of the data. A list of 40 references is included. (BJV)