In the ongoing effort to improve standards-based instruction in the nation's urban public schools, the Council of the Great City Schools published a second edition of "Supporting Excellence: A Framework for Developing, Implementing, and Sustaining a High-Quality District Curriculum." This document is designed to help districts: (1)…

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…

The "Kentucky Model Curriculum Framework" serves as a facilitation guide to help an instructional supervisor, principal, and/or teacher leader provide a rationale for the need to revisit curriculum planning, offering some background information and exercises to generate "future-oriented" thinking, and suggesting a process for…

This "Program and Course Approval Handbook" assists California Community College (CCC) administrators, faculty, and staff in the development of programs and courses and the submission of these proposals for review by the Chancellor's Office. By law, the Chancellor is required to prepare and distribute a handbook for program and course…

This report outlines key components of effective character education and allows schools and districts to assess their efforts in relation to these criteria. The instrument provides a means for reflecting on current practices, identifying short and long-term objectives, and developing or improving a strategic plan. Each of the "Eleven Principles of…

In order to assess how completely a Small Learning Community (SLC) and/or Career Academy is implemented in any given site, and to connect the degree of implementation with the amount of improvement in student performance, two kinds of information are needed. The first is information on the quality of implementation, which can be collected by…

There is no single script for effective character education, but there are some important basic principles. This document presents eleven principles that schools and other groups can use to plan a character education effort and to evaluate available character education programs: (1) Promotes core ethical values and supportive performance values as…

Given the curriculum's importance in the educational process, curriculum evaluation should be considered as essential as a district financial audit. When Fenwick English conducted a 1979 curriculum audit of Columbus, Ohio, schools, the accounting firm encountered numerous problems concerning development, review, and management practices. Planning…

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…

A central mission of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is the promotion of international conflict resolution education by assisting and supporting colleges and universities in their efforts at developing and offering programs, courses, and activities that focus on international peace, conflict, and security. Over the years, a number of…

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)