“Developing A Quality Curriculum” is a highly organized
informative book that lays down the guidelines for obtaining a “total quality
curriculum” as quoted by the author of this book (A.G., p.3). It was divided
in a way that suits the reader’s understanding and pattern of thinking.
The book explains elaborately the entire organization groups involved in
curriculum work, the building of foundations and components of a district
curriculum, the support and implementation of the curriculum, and finally
the development and auditing of the school and classroom curriculum. Thus,
we can say that it is mainly divided into two parts. The first part deals
with foundations, while the second part tackles curriculum development
in the school and the classroom.
After introducing the reader to the different chapters in the book
the author starts from scratch or square one where he explains who and
which parties are involved in the managing the organization and planning
of curriculum work. There are several teams included in the formation of
a district curriculum. Every member plays an integral part but the Curriculum
Planning Council and the Task Forces assume the biggest role. The Curriculum
Planning Council “serves as the chief management group for identifying
curriculum needs, developing a curriculum calendar, evaluating the curriculum,
and appointing and monitoring the work of task forces.” (A.G., p.10) The
Curriculum Task Forces, on the other hand, accomplish most of the work
of curriculum development. Definitely there are other groups helping the
Curriculum Planning Council and the Task Forces. In addition to that and
before shifting to the actual laying of foundations the author also explains
the generation of a general long-term plan and a specific project plan.
The general long-term plan “is developed by the Curriculum Planning Council”
(A.G., p.12) then the Task Forces prepare the detailed project plans and
reviewed by the Curriculum Planning Council.
After the assignment of the organization system, the real work starts.
The Curriculum Planning Council takes the initiative by laying the three
foundations of the district curriculum. The three foundations are: the
district’s curriculum policy, goals, and vision of a curriculum of excellence.
These foundations set the limits, aspirations and the desired outcomes
of the curriculum under development. The curriculum policy lays the regulations
and laws to what should be taught in schools, the goals propose the outcomes
of desire, and the vision serves as a union of the different efforts towards
a common dream. Although the laying of these foundations demands the cooperation
of all the organization system, it must occur under the leadership of the
Curriculum Planning Council in order to have a unified outcome. Once the
foundations are set the action of renewing or developing a new district’s
K-12 curriculum guide in a particular subject area need to take place.
To renew a curriculum refers to revising and modifying the existing one
and to develop one is to produce an original curriculum. Of coarse, there
are multiple ways in which a curriculum can be created. However, before
starting the whole process the elements that will determine the whole work
have to be known since they shape the whole process. The major work here
is performed by the joint effort of the Curriculum Planning Council and
the Task Forces. They have to lay down the elements since they shape the
whole work; they are the small pieces that give us a full view of the whole
big picture.
Some of these elements include State frameworks and guidelines,
teacher recommendations and research on child and adolescent development.
This is part one of the big picture. Part two is to know what will be produced
whether it was a summary, a framework, a list or any other kind of material.
Part three is the division of roles. Specific roles need to be assumed
by different members of the organization teams. The different members need
to be trained and finally the material to be used determined. The
development of a mastery curriculum is a detailed step-by-step process.
Here I need to clarify what a mastery curriculum is and to differentiate
from the kinds of curricula. All curricula are analyzed under two constructs,
which are “importance and structure.” (A.G., p.27) A mastery curriculum
has high importance and high structure. An organic curriculum has high
importance but low structure. This is not it; there are two other types
of curricula. The teacher-determined enrichment curriculum is of low importance
and high structure and finally the student-determined enrichment curriculum
is of low importance and low structure. Although not all educators welcome
the idea of a mastery curriculum, this book tackles its development and
renewal. The teachers of different subject areas write down the other types
of curricula individually. Now back to developing a new mastery curriculum.
As I mentioned earlier, it is a highly organized process. First the goals
are identified and aligned with the subjects, State frameworks are analyzed,
goals are refined, a knowledge base report is prepared, hallmarks of excellence
and the curriculum framework are developed, the strands are identified,
a chart is developed, then the curriculum materials are outlined, the curriculum
guide is developed, the guide is evaluated, and finally the way of distributing
it is determined. (A.G., p. 34-45) These steps are very elaborate and need
time. However, if the availability of resources were scarce, a district
would rather renew the existing curriculum rather than developing a new
one. Renewal involves revising the goals and the rest of the elements of
the guide and updating the knowledge base.
The work doesn’t stop at distributing the curriculum guide since
now it needs support. Aligning the curriculum, creating supporting material,
and monitoring it obtain support. Aligning the curriculum deals with aligning
the written, the tested and the supported curricula. Supporting material
is used in order aid administrators and teachers. Monitoring the curriculum
can be done through a variety of ways. Making informal observations and
analyzing test scores are two ways.
Now we shift to developing a school curriculum, which requires effective
leadership tasks. The principal has to provide support for teachers in
curriculum work and based on the new curriculum form the school’s own goals
and visions. In coordination with the school’s developed curriculum a classroom
curriculum is created. Teachers can do it individually or in teams. Here
the issue of integration pops to educators. There are different ways of
integration. Subjects can be integrated while keeping them separate or
two or more subjects can be integrated. Both methods can be performed in
different ways but both need the coordination between the teachers of different
subject areas. Then in writing down the syllabus teachers need to pinpoint
where they are using integration. While developing a syllabus teachers
first need to have a portrait of the year, then identify the titles of
the units to be taught, next allocate the time needed for instruction,
and finally systematize the decisions in the syllabus. However, whether
or not teachers create a syllabus, they have to have a yearly plan. They
will never escape this task. These plans indicate what will be taught,
when it will be taught, and for how long it will be taught. If a syllabus
already exists then it can be recorded in the yearly calendar. The only
difference is that the yearly plans delineate the weeks of the school year
and the major events happening during that academic year.
The book ends at emphasizing the importance of conducting a curriculum
audit to ensure quality. First an audit team has to be selected the audit
criteria need to be identified and the issues need to be specified. Finally
after conducting the audit (of coarse the staff would be oriented about
it) an audit report, including the design, the criteria and recommendations
for actions, is prepared. The results of the audit are used to improve
the quality of learning and thus modify the curriculum where modification
is required.
