Normative inquiry in curriculum (NIC) is concerned with a substantive, integrative approach to values so that the curriculum possesses integrity, consistency, and congruity. This article explores definitions and characteristics of NIC, analyzes the role of curricular influences and realities, provides suggestions for getting started, and answers…

Defines "conceptual framework" (an explanatory theory useful for structuring contextual elements within complex settings) and attempts to show its relationship to curriculum research. Discusses two important issues when considering conceptual frameworks in schools: selection of criteria and selection of data collection and analysis…

Rejecting technological, job-training views of curriculum, this article affirms the similarity of good novels to good curriculum as to diversity of voice, transcendent theme, cohesive structure, construction of meaning. Novels do not automatically broaden one's horizons; the reader's expectation for discovering relevant ideas and willingness to…

Describes a curriculum matrix embodying three elements (purpose, substance, practice) and their various dimensions. Argues for a transcendent view of mathematics as a profoundly human, spiritual, astonishing, majestic, and powerful enterprise. Outlines seven mathematical ideas that have transformed human experience by celebrating unlimited freedom…

From its inception, this journal has been committed to publishing quality theoretical and empirical work in the curriculum and supervision areas. Former editor Edmund Short's early years with the journal went well because of his reliance on personal relationships and communication, his commitment to research and theorizing, and his ability to…

Provides an objective critique of Outcome-Based Education (OBE) as a reform strategy and a curriculum process, based on a literature review and experience in North Carolina schools. OBE is theoretically narrow, but charges concerning OBE's technocratic, uncaring orientation lack foundation. The curriculum process allows teacher participation. OBE…

A study of 488 teachers in six school districts reveals that teachers' self-reported inclination to follow or attend to curriculums formulated for their districts are highest when the district is the locus of decision making, followed by the school and the classroom as the locus of curriculum decisions. (MLF)

In response to vocal complaints from colleagues and the need for a more powerful curriculum development tool, a group of experienced faculty at Community College of Philadelphia designed a challenging model. Faculty are required to reexamine their institution and uncover hidden, often conflicting assumptions concerning the nature of knowledge and…

The most effective educational improvement strategy necessitates supervisors and curricularists working with teachers to improve classroom instruction through cooperative curriculum development. This article probes historical antecedents for collaborative efforts between supervisors and curriculum people, focusing specifically on developments in…

The future of curriculum studies is uncertain. Curricular language at the beginning of the 1990s demonstrates several features that inhibit our understanding of curricular phenomena. Persistence of the generic fallacy, confused conceptualizations, uncertain metaphoric transfer from other disciplines, and ideological commitment make optimism…

Differentiates among three levels of teachers' curriculum knowledge as autonomous consumers, consumer-developers, and autonomous developers. Most teachers studied were unfamiliar with curriculum terminology, history, theory, and methods of comparing and evaluating materials. Student teachers must take curriculum courses, and inservice programs…

Presents a bibliography of James B. Macdonald's writings and printed speeches arranged chronologically according to the educator's themes of inquiry. Macdonald's videotaped autobiography identifies four explorative stages: (1) Scientism, (2) person-centered humanism, (3) sociopolitical humanism, and (4) transcendentalism, signaling a need for…

Describes a study examining the effects of a new, reform-driven secondary mathematics curriculum (the University of Chicago School Mathematics Project) on retaining students in the mathematics pipeline. In all three sites studied, the UCSMP curriculum led to slightly fewer math dropouts. Ability and school/socioeconomic effects may be more…

As this case study of a suburban New York school district shows, creating contexts for effective and meaningful curriculum deliberation means combatting the quest for certainty embedded in the nature of institutions. Applying shared decision-making "technology" is not enough. The situation demands a transformation of social relations,…

Before World War II, secondary school mathematics fell on hard times. The war focused educators' and the public's attention on the immediate need for mathematics. Experts conceived of postwar curricula aimed at solving social and scientific problems. Postwar planning was based on three assumptions: functional competence, applications based on…