Numerous states have attempted to enact sweeping curricular bans targeting Critical Race Theory (CRT) to prevent educators from teaching content that challenges the white-Eurocentric curriculum of American schooling. In this paper, we build on arguments that curricular bans are not new to education, nor is the resistance enacted by educators to…

In 1966, David Baker, a Black man and esteemed jazz musician and composer, created and developed the Jazz Studies program at Indiana University (IU). The purpose of this study was to investigate how David Baker came to join the faculty and created the Jazz Studies program at IU through an examination of the school's course offerings and historical…

When the Wayne Township Adult Education team shifted from traditional to virtual learning, they made a commitment to continue delivering high quality education. The team created curriculum portals, online registration portals, web pages, and many other innovations to achieve a new level of performance never imagined prior to the pandemic. These…

This is the tenth in a series of articles entitled "The Legacy Project." The Legacy Project focuses on the lives and actions of leaders who have forged our profession into what it is today. Members of the profession owe a debt of gratitude to these leaders. One simple way to demonstrate that gratitude is to recognize these leaders and…

Precious moments in life for an educator are taking time to reflect upon his or her teaching practices to evaluate effectiveness and overall impact. Often this reflection is a weekly if not a daily process for educators using a reflective practitioner model (SchÖn, 1983). For professors, many universities have opportunities for tenured faculty to…

How does a large research university establish a culture supporting student-centered evidence-based teaching? In this paper, we describe Purdue University's "Instruction Matters: Purdue Academic Course Transformation" (IMPACT) which has involved 321 instructors and 529 courses. Of every first-time undergraduate student, who first…

This study examines the development and implementation of a survey-based instrument assessing the effectiveness of a course redesign initiative focused on student centeredness at a large midwestern university in the United States. Given the scope of the reform initiative under investigation in this study, researchers developed an instrument called…

Saint Mary's College, a single-gender Catholic institution in northern Indiana with approximately 1,600 students, has just revised a general education curriculum that had been in place for nearly forty years. The board of trustees unanimously approved the new curriculum in April 2010. In this article, the author discusses seven key lessons learned…

Superintendents and principals can have a positive and decisive impact on student achievement and higher graduation rates. Their essential leadership can illuminate the path to excellence for faculty and students. In upgrading curriculum and instruction, school leaders need to keep abreast of practices proven effective in other districts and…

Indiana's declining SAT scores prompted the publisher of a statewide magazine covering the literary, performing, and visual arts to take action and create a program to use the magazine as a supplemental resource for students. It was believed that such a supplemental resource could enhance critical thinking and writing skills and help raise SAT…

Integrating digital age technology into an industrial age educational system is hard enough. Imagine introducing ed tech to a 450-year-old Jesuit educational paradigm. Find out how to seamlessly combine the NETS with a centuries-old framework to create an effective ed tech strategic plan. This article describes how the author successfully…

The purpose of this paper was to evaluate initiatives the state government announced in 2006 to review the curriculum and assessments, and enhance capacity building and accountability. The methodology for reviewing states' systemic reform policies devised by Achieve, an organisation based in Washington, DC, was applied to identify issues and…

Doubts about effectiveness and relevancy have made the academic preparation of superintendents a reform issue in most states. Attention being given to this topic has inevitably rekindled several fundamental questions such as: To what extent is the academic preparation of superintendents consistent among and within states? What forces control…

Indiana's C-1 Rule and its Comprehensive Assessment and Program Planning System (CAPPS) is a state-imposed educational reform plan intended to bring about major changes in curriculum and instruction in Indiana schools. The C-1 Rule required Indiana school districts to evaluate and conduct followup studies of curriculum development at the local…

Curriculum change and the dynamics of this change were explored by means of a case study of secondary social studies, science, and vocational education curriculums in Gary, Indiana, between 1940 and 1970. The time period is characterized by both unprecedented effort to produce change and slow change in the schools. The study asked how this could…