There are several different interpretations of John Dewey and his theories on education. Dewey, though best remembered for his progressive ideas concerning education, was very much into utilizing empirical data to formulate his conclusions regarding education theory. Much of his work revolves around the philosophy of pragmatism and experiential theory.

Dewey, in his time, rejected the predominant philosophy of metaphysics in favor of a natural approach to learning. Simply stated, Dewey believed that experience formed the foundation and the interpretation of knowledge—what we subjectively label as learning. Dewey's notion is that curriculum is more than a set of simple discrete subject matter like math, language arts, and social studies. The curriculum encompasses the daily life experience of the student. Dewey's education philosophy begins with the experiential perspective of the learner, with keen attention focused on how students adapt to different situations and incorporate knowledge into their decisions. It is the incorporation of knowledge and how students use different curriculums to solve problems that most interest progressive educators.

Pragmatism is the philosophy often associated with Dewey. Though pragmatism often is simplified as doing something that works, pragmatism is based upon the notion of experience and empirical data from observation. One interpretation of Dewey and others in the progressive movement was that empirical data would form the basis for instructional practice. The instructional practice of educators should be formed by observation, replicable experimentation, and interpretation of data. These ideas are hallmarks of standards-based education and form many of the underpinnings of contemporary educational theory.

Much of Dewey's work is convoluted in today's modern educational practice. Both progressive and conservative educators lay claim to Dewey to justify implementing assessment strategies and various other methodological approaches. Education and learning continue to be viewed from a behavioral perspective, and, therefore, the theoretical underpinnings of education tend to be ignored. Dewey foremost believed in the idea that empirical data yields many different conclusions on how we learn. Theoretical frameworks form the architecture for experimentation and should not be discounted in designing instructional methodologies.

Dewey supports what has come to be known as progressive education.  Another way of saying that is that Dewey supports student centered learning.  Historically, education is teacher centered.  The teacher decides what will be taught each day/week/semester/etc.  The teacher stands in front and tells students about the how/why/when/where/etc. of that particular subject area.  Dewey wanted to flip that and go with student centered learning.  The student would choose what to study and the teacher would act as a guide and facilitator for that student learning. The student determines the direction and intensity of their learning and is therefore completely based on the intrinsic motivation of the learner.  Dewey also put a lot of emphasis on experiential education, which makes sense along side a student centered learning model. 

His ideas can be seen all over modern day education.  The concept of a "flipped" classroom is along those lines.  Montessori schools are basically entire schools centered around students choosing topics and pacing of education topics.