The purposes of this Newsletter are: to summarize the Consortium's recent experience with the Curriculum Materials Analysis System (CMAS); to report the activities of others using CMAS; and to describe available analyses of curriculum materials, including their prices. Most of the analyses were done by teachers and supervisors in work groups…

Discusses the special problems of evaluation in a curriculum research and development setting. (Editor/RK)

Describes an automated curriculum mapping program at a northeastern school district that enabled the district to obtain a wide range of useful data pertaining to curriculum implementation. Difficulties in mapping procedure and data collection are recounted, an evaluation design is described, and guidelines are provided for efficient maps. (TE)

If discussion of English primary curriculum is ever to develop from its present impressionistic state, it needs to develop a greater concern with the detail of organization and interaction, with the day-to-day commonplace of teaching, and with the conceptual models held by typical teachers. (CS)

A framework, for investigation and criticism of the various forms of reconceptual work on curriculum theory, is proposed. This framework facilitates the identification and discussion of curriculum theory issues that need further conceptualization. Sections discuss historical critique, extended critique, alternative methods, and an evaluation of…

The need to evaluate course materials developed by the High School Geography Project led to the development of an evaluation strategy. Test data was of little use in identifying problems or in suggesting revisions in curriculum, but questionnaire information was useful in rating the effectiveness of the material. There are four critical stages in…

A total sample of three 4-1-4 calendar/curriculum institutions and two control programs were selected for participation in this evaluation research project. Data were collected in three separate but related phases: compilation of institutional data, questionnaire, and interviews. The study concentrated upon the impact of the interim term upon the…

Reports the use of curriculum mapping, a systematic approach to monitoring curriculum implementation and gathering feedback, during one year in a western suburban school district. Describes how administrators can use mapping to manage a school curriculum and identifies methodological problems. (TE)

How best to prepare beginning tachers and what is meant by an adequately prepared teacher are issues that directly influence the structure and practice of teacher preparation programs. A critical review of recent research (1978-1988) on social studies methods classes, examined those with a focus on overall course design and those that focus on a…

A model to study the effects on inquiry teaching, that attempts to correct the gaps found in other experimental evidence, is suggested to teacher educators for the benefit of their trainees as well as all social science education. (JH)

Recent funding changes in Great Britain have shifted the purpose of evaluation to serve the ends of government. Government now has the power to define and prioritize key categories in education and provide a mechanism for control. Claims that evaluation is now little more than consultancy and monitoring and is not research-based evaluation. (NL)

The theory and research resulting from the Writing Research Unit of the Schools Council Project in England has received widespread attention. In response to that attention, and with the opinion that the ideas "Writing across the Curriculum" and "Language across the Curriculum" developed in the Project are fuzzy slogans not…

A review of the rationale and application of formative evaluation in a curriculum development context, this presentation focused on a formative evaluation model designed and field tested through recent industrial education curriculum research and development efforts. In reviewing the rationale for formative evaluation a distinction between…

After the historical background and the contemporary issues of freshman composition program evaluation are discussed in this document, six models for composition instruction are described (grammar and composition, linguistics, literary, essay, radical, and editing), and taxonomies for each model are outlined. These taxonomies are compared to data…