This practitioner brief is one in a series highlighting concrete ways that education leaders can increase educational equity by building supportive learning environments that meet all students' social and emotional needs. The introductory brief to this series suggests that changes at three levels of the education system are needed to promote…

As your school district undertakes the process of evaluating its K-12 reading program, literacy curriculum, or literacy instructional practices, this book will be your go-to resource. Pennell offers a step-by-step guide for educators, school leaders, or professional learning communities to evaluate high-quality instructional materials and…

In the ongoing effort to improve instructional standards in our nation's urban public schools, the Council of the Great City Schools has released resources to help districts determine the quality and alignment of instructional materials at each grade level; to ensure that materials for English language learners are rigorous and aligned to district…

This resource is a compilation of three documents that support the teaching of spelling in today's schools: a discussion of "Why Spelling Instruction Matters", a checklist for evaluating a spelling program, and tables of Common Core State Standards that are linked to spelling instruction. "Why Spelling Instruction Matters"…

There is a growing interest in health literacy and in developing curricula for health care providers and for the general public. However, developing curriculum without accompanying evaluation plans is like starting a race without a finish line, and current measures of health literacy are not up to the task of evaluating curriculum. This research…

This study reinvestigates the systems approach, which is, among educators, a well-recognized approach reflecting the fundamental discourses of the industrial order. The pervasive discourses of the industrial order that failed to invite a holistic view for students have led to a conceptual division. This systemic thinking has thus started viewing…

Background: A growing literature is questioning the appropriateness of a research dissertation for practitioners in education doctoral programs. Although this literature persuasively critiques the prevailing theory-research orientation of most programs and theses, it goes little beyond exhorting change and describing extant alternatives in a few…

Offers suggestions for types and content of curriculum guides as well as for curriculum use and evaluation. (Author/WD)

Argues for a "zero-base" revision of school curricula in order to weed out poorly functioning components. Outlines procedures for carrying out such a revision at both the district and building levels. (WD)

This paper suggests that by thinking about a number of parameters in art and of the array that each parameter suggests, curriculum planners might select, organize, and relate particular experiences with greater assurance that the curriculum will provide adequate and representative ranges of art forms, and address their underlying modes of thinking…

A patchwork approach to curriculum planning can cause inconsistencies. To avoid this a five-step approach is presented. (MD)

Offers practical suggestions for minimizing 14 problems that frequently occur when curriculum programs are evaluated. Timing evaluations, evaluating appropriate factors, making meaningful comparisons, meeting skepticism, selecting tests, selecting evaluators, assessing evaluation results, and maintaining credibility are among the concerns…

Curriculum development should be a comprehensive process requiring a broad-based view of the educational system and its place within society, thus necessitating the use of a systematic curriculum development model. Such a model is provided here. Three references are provided. (DCS)

In evaluating curriculum materials that are being developed for classroom use, students act as learners and teachers at the same time. Two stages of formative evaluation of materials are described: one-on-one and small group evaluation. Sample questionnaires for each type are provided. (CT)

This document is an evaluation of the social science program in the Des Moines (Iowa) Public Schools. The program is a traditional instructional program that grows conceptually with the student and is designed to meet the needs of students and society. The elementary program meets state guidelines and is the expanding horizon program researched…