Chapter 19: Curriculum Development Sources Organization Integration

Curriculum Development "Teaching is a moral activity that implies thought about ends, means, and their consequences." (Zeuli and Buchmann, 1988, p. 147) What should students learn to be well- educated? Curriculum is the moral deliberation on what are the 'right' things to teach.

Curriculum Development Hirsch: Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know (1987) essential literature, ideas, national culture. Bloom: The Closing of the American Mind (1987) abandoning core programs of traditional liberal arts education.

Curriculum Development Curriculum issues raised by A Nation at Risk and No Child Left Behind are still strongly affecting our national agenda. Traditional Values -- Liberal Education? Practical Values -- Education for Work? More Basics? Or More Arts? Breadth Learning? Or Depth Learning? Cultural Changes? Diversity Trends?

Curriculum Development Sources and Levels: Federal Level: NCLB (Public Law ). Unprecedented federal controls K-12, in all 50 states. State Level: Utah State Office of Education. Core Curriculum Development. State-wide testing.

Curriculum Development State Level: Legislated programs. State Mandates: reading improvement, high school graduation requirements. District Level: District mandates. Vary by district: Balanced Literacy, reading specialists, teacher mentors, math and science programs. Commercial Curriculum: Texts, etc.

Curriculum Development School Level: Articulation of curriculum across grade levels, monitoring of state core testing, student mastery levels, monitoring of NCLB testing, school improvement programs, school-wide goal setting. Instructional Leadership: curriculum development responsibilities?

Curriculum Development: Curriculum Development: A province for school inquiry and improvement -- or compliance with external mandates? What is worth teaching? How shall we teach? How shall we assess?

Curriculum Development "Most teachers - when trusted, when given time and money and when given the assistance, choice and responsibility to develop curricula - will make extraordinarily sound decisions about what students should be taught. Often their decisions will be far superior to those made in central offices, state departments or commercial publishing firms." (McEvoy, 1986, NcNeil, 1988)

Curriculum Development: 1) Purpose of the curriculum? 2) Curriculum content? 3) Curriculum organization? 4) Curriculum format? 5) At what level of curriculum development should teachers be involved?

Curriculum Development: Purpose 1) Transmission: of facts, skills, and values to students. 2) Transaction: dialogue between students and curriculum, problem solving, cognitive development. 3) Transformation: personal and social change, movement toward harmony w/ environment rather than control. (Miller & Seller, 1985)

Curriculum Development: Content Curriculum: what is intentionally taught to students in a district, school, or classroom. Curriculum Elements: sequence, continuity, scope, and balance (Doll, 1989) Curriculum Philosophies: essentialism, experimentalism, or existentialism.

Curriculum Development: Bloom's Taxonomy as Model 1) Memory: recall, recognition. 2) Translation: symbolic form, language. 3) Interpretation: relationships among facts, generalizations, values, skills. 4) Application: Solving life problems that requires identification of issue and use of appropriate skills.

Curriculum Development: Bloom's Taxonomy as Model 5) Analysis: Problem-solving using conscious knowledge of cognitive processes. 6) Synthesis: Problem-solving that requires original, creative thinking. 7) Evaluation: Judgment of quality against student designated standards.

Curriculum Development: Organization Discipline-Based Curriculum: (Jacobs, 1989) Disciplines: subjects in separate time blocks. 'Transmission-based learning'. Interdisciplinary Curriculum: common themes, connections between traditional content areas. 'Transactional learning'. Transdisciplinary Curriculum: concept- based learning, real-world problems. 'Transformational learning'.

Curriculum Development: Format Behavioral-Objective Format: Objective / Activity / Evaluation Webbing: Shows relationship of activities around a central theme. With learning outcomes. Multimodal learning. Constructing of learning. Unanticipated learning. Results-Only Format: Provides wide latitude for using materials, activities, and methods. Specific skills to be learned. Reflective choice.

Curriculum Development: The Curriculum Cone: Reflection of Teacher Choice Behavioral Objectives Webbing Results Only

Curriculum Development: Look at the Charts on pp Reflect on your own philosophy and values as an educator. In your view, what would be the values of an 'ideal school'? How would this affect your work as an instructional leader?

Curriculum Development: Levels: Level I: Imitative Maintenance: Reliance on texts, workbooks, routine activities subject by subject. Skills treated as 'ends' rather than means of generating further learning. Readymade materials are used without critical evaluation, resulting in a multiplicity of isolated-skill development activities. Fragmentation of learning.

Curriculum Development: Levels: Level II: Meditative Aware of need to integrate curriculum and deal with emergent conditions. Necessary adaptations, accommodations, and adjustments are made. Wide range of resources for curriculum improvement are used. New ideas, connection to professional literature.

Curriculum Development Levels: Level III: Creative-Generative: Curriculum is examined by teacher and staff. Questions of priority and relationship asked. Constant search for more effective ways of working. Experimentation in classroom. Sharing of insights. Consumers of research. Exercise independent judgment. Professional.

Curriculum Development Levels: Teacher Development: Staff characteristics will vary - low, medium, high in these areas: Commitment to Change Level of Thinking about Curriculum Expertise in Curriculum Procedures (see chart, pp. 297)

Curriculum Development: Cultural Diversity Level 1: Contributions Approach: heroes, holidays Level II: Additive Approach Content, themes, add-ons Level III: The Transformation Approach Curriculum structure changed, issues, themes Level IV: The Social Action Approach Decision-making, social issues, actions

Curriculum Development:..." Begin to close the gap between scholarship and practices by developing well-articulated guidelines for translating theoretical principles into practice, establishing performance standards for educators, and providing professional development to help educators meet those standards. Professional development should be long-term, assisting educators in developing self- understanding, cultural knowledge, and multicultural education skills." (Gay, 2005)