1 Curriculum in an Era of Standards and Accountability ED 1010

2 Different Definitions of Curriculum The subject matter taught to students A course of study, or a systematic arrangement of courses The planned educational experiences offered by a school The experiences students have under the guidance of the school The process teachers go through in selecting and organizing learning experiences for their students

3 Different Dimensions of the Curriculum The explicit curriculum The implicit, or “hidden,” curriculum The null curriculum Extracurriculum

4 The Explicit Curriculum at Different Grade Levels The current elementary curriculum emphasizes language arts and math, and de-emphasizes science, social studies, art, and music. Middle schools attempt to integrate the curriculum, combining and relating concepts and skills from different disciplines. The junior high and high school curriculum focuses on specialized and separate content courses.

5 The Implicit Curriculum Includes the types of learning children acquire from the nature and organization of the classroom as well as the attitudes and actions of the teacher. Influences the attitudes and values students take away from school. Teachers and their actions exert the strongest influence on the implicit curriculum.

6 The Null Curriculum Includes topics left out of the explicit curriculum Often includes controversial topics or ones that teachers don’t know about or feel uncomfortable teaching Currently is strongly influenced by standards and their corresponding high-stakes tests What is NOT taught?

7 The Extracurriculum Consists of learning experiences that extend beyond the core of students’ formal studies Includes clubs, sports, school plays, and other activities that don’t earn academic credit Low-ability students, members of cultural minorities, and students placed at-risk are less likely to participate in extracurricular activities.

8 The Extracurriculum (continued) Students who participate in extracurricular activities have: higher academic performance and attainment reduced dropout rates lower rates of substance abuse less sexual activity among girls better psychological adjustment, including higher self-esteem and reduced feelings of social isolation reduced rates of delinquent behavior

9 Percentage of public school seniors reporting selected indicators of school success by participation and nonparticipation in extracurricular activities, 1992 Indicators Participants Non-participants No unexcused absences Never skipped classes Have a GPA of 3.0 or above Highest quartile on a composite math and reading assessment Expect to earn a bachelor's degree or higher

10 Forces That Influence the Curriculum Standards and accountability NCLB U-PASS Professional organizations The federal government Textbooks The professional teacher—perhaps more than any of the others

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12 Teacher Influences How does the classroom teacher influence curriculum?

13 A National Curriculum Common in Europe and other industrialized countries UK Japan Why not the U.S.? Runs counter to state and local control of education

14 A National Curriculum (continued) Advocates claim a national curriculum would: Provide coherence and stability across states Create uniform standards across states Opponents claim a national curriculum would: Create a massive and unwieldy federal bureaucracy Not be responsive to local needs and student diversity

15 Curriculum Controversies: Sex Education The need for sex education is suggested by national statistics on teenage sexuality. The majority of parents and the population at large favor some type of sex education. A small minority of parents favor abstinence-only sex education. Research suggests that abstinence-only sex education programs do not increase the likelihood of teenage sex.

16 Curriculum Controversies: Moral and Character Education Character education stresses, teaches, and rewards moral values and positive character traits such as honesty and citizenship. Moral education emphasizes student decision making and moral reasoning.

17 Moral and Character Education (continued) There is general public consensus about the teaching of these values: Honesty Democracy Acceptance of diverse peoples Caring for friends and family members These is less national consensus about the following: Homosexuality Abortions

18 Service Learning – a part of character education Combines service to the community with content-learning objectives to promote ethical and moral development Becoming more popular, with 25% of high school students participating Courts have upheld the legality of required service learning courses.

19 Curriculum Controversies: Intelligent Design A theory suggesting that our universe is the product of an intelligent cause or being versus random, undirected causes such as natural selection. Opponents of intelligent design argue that it is little more than creationism, a religious view that the universe was created by God as described in the Bible. The courts have held that formally teaching intelligent design as an alternative to evolution violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution.

20 Curriculum Controversies: Censorship The following books have been banned from the public school curriculum at various times: Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman Courts have generally sided against censorship as a parental right, ruling that schools and teachers have a right to expose students to different ideas and points of view.

21 Women and Minorities in the Curriculum Critics contend the explicit curriculum over- emphasizes the contributions of white males and has ignored or failed to adequately represent the contributions of women and cultural minorities. Critics of a white, Eurocentric emphasis in the curriculum contend that it sends the wrong message to minority and female students about their capabilities as humans. Efforts are being made to include more literary works by women and cultural minorities in the curriculum as well as their contributions to history. Postmodernism