This report summarizes the first phase of work by the National Institute of Education Curriculum Development Task Force and presents several recommendations for Institute action to effect an informed discussion of the central issues in curriculum development. The report contains three sections. Section one contains information on the charge and…

Defining curriculum design as a critically examined theoretical framework for developing curriculum, this document examines various decision-making processes of planning curriculum. Discussed are the importance of curriculum design, and attempts to examine four systems of curriculum thought, along with curriculum design currently available for…

Reports one aspect of a British curriculum research project which studied the problems and ensuing effects of differing approaches to teaching about race relations to adolescent students. For availability see CS 704 480. (MH)

From a practical, eclectic, and teacher-centered vantage point, this paper reviews previous attempts to classify curriculum development processes, proposes an analytic schema for examing such processes, and explicates an alternative process which has been found to be effective in working with teachers. First, critical distinctions are drawn…

Presents 36 reasons why middle level educators should be cautious of an integrated curriculum approach. Fifteen reasons relate to unsubstantiated claims about the superiority of integrated curriculum, while 21 reasons relate to negative outcomes that might accompany excessive attention to an integrated curriculum. Urges caution and further…

This paper retraces the early development of the social studies curricular pattern of the 1920s and the subsequent division between social studies advocates, represented by the National Council for the Social Studies, and history-centered supporters, represented largely by the American Historical Association. The document maintains that the…

The focus of this paper is on curriculum praxis, or the reflective transaction of curriculum decisions one makes and acts upon, and from which value judgements may be located, clarified, and inferred. The major topic is how values and value judgements relate to curriculum praxis and how they relate to other curriculum decision-making systems. A…

Curriculum deliberation is an approach to constructing, operationalizing, and evaluating curricula. The essay describes the deliberative format, discusses habits that impede deliberation, and makes suggestions for the amelioration of these habits. (RM)

Advocates a quantitative sociological approach to measuring curriculum differentiation and its effects. Research should combine survey with observational methods to examine measures of track organization and instructional activities that are sensitive to organizational and instructional conditions that differ across schools. (Author/BJV)

This yearbook provides a readable, usable, and practical summary of the most commonly applied elements of curriculum development on the contemporary educational scene. Separate chapters discuss: (1) "Contemporary Curriculum Circumstances" (Fenwick W. English); (2) "Curriculum Thinking" (George A. Beauchamp); (3) "Curriculum Content" ( B. Othanel…

Recent information drawn from the Educational Products Information Exchange (EPIE) Institute's six-year survey and assessment of instructional materials used in United States schools is reported in this paper. Among the conclusions, observations, and recommendations reported are the following: as currently practiced in most schools, the selection…

The Michigan English Study of Structure for Curriculum Evaluation (MESSAGE) training session involved 40 leaders of English curriculum study in a 7-day intensive program. They studied objective evaluation in terms of behavior, instruction, and institution; approaches to the English curriculum through instructional objectives that include…

The purpose of this study was to construct a design for developing multicultural curriculum. It was expected that a design for developing multicultural curriculum would be characterized by: (1) a number of fundamental assumptions; (2) a number of elements; (3) organization and dynamics; (4) a cultural context; and, (5) practicality. Four sources…

This report presents the problems and activities of the University of Georgia English Curriculum Study Center in creating a curriculum in written composition for children from kindergarten through grade 6. The design of the curriculum study center is discussed in terms of the rationale behind the study, the necessary basic research, the objectives…

Defining "theorizing" as the activity preliminary to theory completion, this author explains three kinds of curriculum theorizing--structural, generic, and substantive--and sketches the implications of each for practice. (JM)