Effective curriculum development and implementation may be achieved by considering the multidimensional nature of the term "curriculum." A definition of curriculum should be considered in terms of its expressed, implied, and emergent dimensions. The expressed dimension is the written statement of learning objectives, sequence of contents, learning…

To be a marginal student is to experience a strained, difficult relationship with the school environment. It is crucial to understand marginality and to analyze its extent in today's schools. The more intractable problems of school learning are most effectively addressed at an early stage when the relationship between individual and school…

This book examines the conditions for learning from the perspective of those students for whom schools are not productive and satisfying settings. Both current and desired characteristics of school environments are examined from the standpoint of their effect on marginal students. Questions probed include how difficulties begin and why individuals…

The paper describes the different types of cognitive, affective, and physical conditions that constitute a school's learning environment, and explains how the learning environment can create and aggravate deviant behavior in some students. One element of the American school structure is group instruction: groups of students are taught by a…

This paper addresses three considerations for curriculum change: a definition of curriculum which considers learning environments, a set of premises to assist in curriculum planning, and suggested curricular priorities. The first section discusses various dimensions of curriculum, including expressed, implied, and emergent (described in more…

A rationale and methodology for the use of student perceptions in educational decision making, and specifically in the area of curriculum, are presented. Four sections of the paper present ways in which student perceptions may be used: to describe and compare school environments, to compare perceptions of student subgroups within the same…