1. David M. Sadker & Karen R. Zittleman Presented by Sara C. Gregg
Teachers, Schools, and Society Ch. 10: Curriculum, Standards, and Testing
David M. Sadker & Karen R. Zittleman
Presented by Sara C. Gregg

2. What is curriculum?

3. This is NOT the curriculum

4. Neither is this

5. What is curriculum?
What happens to students in school. “More than formal content of lessons taught…it is also the method of presentation, the way in which students are grouped in classes, the manner in which time and tasks are organized, and the interaction within classrooms. The term curriculum refers to the total school experience provided to students, whether planned or unplanned by educators.” (deMarrais & LeCompte, 1999, p. 223)

6. The Formal Curriculum
“Since different groups disagree both over the relative value to be accorded to different kinds of knowledge and over the appropriateness of various kinds of knowledge from different groups of people, there never has been a consensus over which body of knowledge was appropriate for all the children in all the schools.” (deMarrais & LeCompte, 1999, p. 227)

7. Core Curriculum 1980s to Present
Clear academic standards
Frequent testing
Requirements for graduation

8. Alfie Kohn (p. 51)
“How can we make teachers ‘align’ their teaching to the state standards?”
“’Alignment’ isn’t about improvement; its about conformity.”
Standards do things to educators and students rather than to work with them.

9. Students resist… Instruction that emphasizes decontextualized skills
Instruction that requires rote recall
Activities intended to raise test scores rather than to answer authentic questions
Lessons that they find neither relevant nor engaging
(Kohn, 2004, p. 155)

10. The Hidden (Implicit) Curriculum (First used by Edgar Z
The Hidden (Implicit) Curriculum (First used by Edgar Z. Friedenberg in the late 1960s)
Winning & losing
Competition
Belonging (or not)
Punctuality
Conformity
Rule abiding behaviors
Respecting authority

11. What kinds of knowledge exist What is valued and by whom
Giroux (1983) defines the hidden curriculum as “those unstated norms, values, and beliefs embedded in and transmitted to students through the underlying rules that structure the routines and social relationships in school and classroom life.”
(deMarrais & LeCompte, 1999, p. 242)
‘Proper’ behavior
Differential power
Social evaluation
What kinds of knowledge exist
What is valued and by whom
How students are valued

12. “…children can flunk out of school more readily by failing to behave in accordance with the hidden curriculum than they can by doing poor academic work. Teachers reward a hard-working slow student but penalize a high-achieving troublemaker or nonconformist.”
(deMarrais & LeCompte, 1999, p. 242)

13. Censorship & the Curriculum
The Null Curriculum
Censorship & the Curriculum
Topics that are not fully addressed or taught at all:
Communism
Civil Rights
Sex/sexuality
Corruption
Slavery
Addiction
Abuses of power
Too conservative
Too liberal
Too traditional
Too avant-garde
Racist
Sexist
Anti-Semitic
Too violent

14. “You Cannot Read the Following!”
Harry Potter
The Chocolate War
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Webster’s Dictionary

15. SHAPING THE CURRICULUM

16. Textbooks
Textbooks are often considered the de facto national curriculum
Dumbing down information
Mentioning phenomenon
Special interest groups often control what goes in and what stays out of textbooks

17. This is NOT the curriculum

18. Alternative Curricula and Transformative Pedagogies
Democratic Education
Critical Pedagogy
Multicultural Education
Feminist Pedagogy
(deMarrias & LeCompte, 1999, p. 249)

19. Democratic Education
Democratic education is concerned with constructing learning communities where children can participate actively and fully in the democratic process. Students learn democratic ideals of equality, liberty, and community by living them in their daily lives.

20. Critical Pedagogy
Language of critique challenges the economic and political power structures in society and the ways people are exploited and oppressed. It asks questions about whose interests are being served. Through language of possibilities, it empowers students to work toward social transformation.

21. Multicultural Education
Focus is on knowledge and affirmation of pluralism in all forms—ethnic, linguistic, gender, religious, sexual orientation, abilities. Provides a more holistic, multidimensional perspective of society. Openly challenges and rejects racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination/oppression through critical pedagogy.

22. Feminist Pedagogy
Focus is on the experiences of women, particularly as related to patriarchal structures of language. Student voice, alternatives to hierarchical classroom structures, and emotional connectedness to each other and to course content are important aspects of this pedagogy.

23. “Literally, we must take our stand with the child and our departure from him. It is he and not the subject-matter which determines both quality and quantity of learning.” (Dewey, 1915, p. 108)