The curriculum is the heart of the secondary school and its continuous revision is at once dependent upon the evolution of theories and the emerging needs of society. Curriculum theory may be regarded as a body of beliefs, assumptions, and knowledge derived through a process of critical analysis and substantiated by study and observation. Four…

General education is the process of developing a framework on which to place knowledge stemming from various sources, of learning to think critically, develop values, understand traditions, and respect diverse cultures and opinions. Its rationale is the freedom enjoyed by an informed citizen. General education has had an unstable history due to…

Trends in curriculum reform are traced, and a number of relevant publications are critiqued. Three volumes issued by the Carnegie Council on Policy Studies deal with the problems and issues of the college curriculum. One volume, by Frederick Rudolph, is a historical survey of the American undergraduate curriculum. A second volume deals with the…

As traditional medical school curricula began to be criticized in the 1950s, various alternatives were proposed, including the organ-system based curriculum (organized around the organ systems of the body) and the problem-based curriculum (organized around clinical problems). From an open systems perspective, any such medical school curriculum…

A study conducted in 1981-82 examined program organization in the secondary division of Western Australia's district high schools. Because small secondary schools throughout the Western World are increasing in number, the study had as its genesis a concern for such schools and an appreciation of the difficulties they face in maintaining viable…

In response to the changing needs of an increasingly diverse society, the Illinois Community College System (ICCS) reformed its curriculum by integrating academic and occupational education. In order to determine the effectiveness of such curriculum integration, a study was conducted, via surveys and interviews, on ICCS' methods, revealing that:…