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)

In response to vocal complaints from colleagues and the need for a more powerful curriculum development tool, a group of experienced faculty at Community College of Philadelphia designed a challenging model. Faculty are required to reexamine their institution and uncover hidden, often conflicting assumptions concerning the nature of knowledge and…

The Virginia Curriculum Revision Plan, developed by Hollis Caswell and Sydney Hall during the 1930s, was showcased as a model that effectively involved teachers, students, and administration in a comprehensive educational improvement project. This article explores teachers' role in developing and adopting the plan and discusses implications for…

Discusses the relationship of selected school environment factors to the implementation of an innovative benchmark testing program. Reviews the research and investigates the relationships of principals' and teachers' stages of concern about benchmark testing and the involvement level, knowledge, staff development activities, and grade levels…

Summarizes study investigating collaborative curriculum development in Alberta, Canada, elementary schools. Focus is "snapshot" capturing extent, rather than quality, of collaboration, based on stratified random sample of elementary school principals. School staffs are moving toward more collaborative curriculum-development mode but are…

Reports results of a year-long reflective coaching project involving a school district and a university. The project involved workshops on instructional techniques and peer coaching skills and 10 coaching cycles pairing a doctoral student coach and a teacher preparing to become a peer coach the following year. The program positively influenced…

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…

A group of 26 high-school physics teachers completed a card-sorting task to prioritize their choices of topics to include in the physics curriculum. Mechanics, electricity, and magnetism emerged as most important. Covering these topics conflicted with teachers' goals to impart deep conceptual understanding of physics in their students. (33…

Study of the status of teachers participating in curriculum development committees revealed that their lack of status impedes professional development. Colleagues' inattentiveness, plus an already heavy teaching load, unsurprisingly caused teachers to respond with a "why bother?" attitude. Clarification of principals' attitudes toward…

In Australia, school-based curriculum development (SBCD) encountered significant problems during the 1970s because of insufficient teacher preparation, unchanging school structures, and conservative community expectations. This article examines SBCD as a 1990s policy option and places it within a professionally oriented context. Because of equity…

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…

Recent British educational reforms, particularly the adoption of a national curriculum, have increased centralized control of education. Since 1988, teachers have witnessed the erosion of universities' role in teacher training, the "marketization" of the national inspection system for schools, and the imposition of school assessment…