Examines, from one participant's viewpoint, a summer workshop designed to enable three competing groups to work together to design a new general studies curriculum for the Community College of Philadelphia. Using hermeneutic methods, analyzes participants' progress as both vying interest groups and members of one dialogical community. (13…

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)

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,…

Investigates the nature of curriculum decision making as it occurred in two school-based curriculum development committees in an Ontario, Canada, school district. As Thomas J. Sergiovanni suggests, certain technical, human, and educational forces are necessary but not sufficient for deliberation; symbolic and cultural forces must also be present.…

This document clarifies the ecological-integration approach to curricular decision-making by identifying highlights of the historical development of the ecological perspective. (SI)

Analyzes the processes used by a group of Australian teachers to make curriculum decisions at the school level. Policies aimed at decentralizing curriculum decision making can be supported only if teachers' expertise is fully utilized in the decision-making process. Unless teachers contribute something that administrators cannot, they will be seen…

Summarizes the nature of deliberative theory and examines how it arises in theories of improvement in business and related activities. Deliberation plays a key role in organizational design and high-involvement ergonomics. The concept could be easily applied to educational settings. Those closest to problems should solve them. Contains 47…

Restructuring efforts, including curriculum integration, require that teachers exercise intellectual skills transcending craft wisdom and recipe exchanges. This article explores the tension between teamed middle-school teachers' technical interest in seeking recipes and their deliberationist interest in engaging in fruitful dialog. Teachers…

Presents findings of a project that interviewed students and staff at five Georgia elementary schools to discover students' attitudes toward their schools and teachers. Some students expressed powerlessness; some felt they could make a difference. Issues involving friendship, fairness, and fun predominated. Teachers must participate in their own…

Examines alternatives to the technical orientation of the Ralph Tyler rationale of curriculum planning. Emphasizes the fact that the language and processes of curriculum planning are embedded in metaphysical, philosophical, and moral concerns. Advocates using religious metaphors in models of curriculum planning and discusses how planners' values…