Developing the curriculum chapter 3

CHAPTER 3:
CURRICULUM PLANNING: A MULTI-
LEVEL, MULTISECTOR PROCESS

Developing the Curriculum
Eighth Edition

Peter F. Oliva
William R. Gordon II

AFTER STUDYING THIS CHAPTER YOU
SHOULD BE ABLE TO:

• Describe types of curriculum planning that are
conducted at five levels and in three sectors.

• Describe an organizational pattern for curriculum
development at the individual school level.

• Describe an organizational pattern for curriculum
development at the school district level.

Oliva/Gordon Developing the Curriculum, 8e. 3-2
© 2012, 2009, 2005, 2001, 1997 by Pearson Education, Inc. All Rights Reserved

ILLUSTRATIONS OF CURRICULUM
DECISIONS

• Examples of curriculum decisions like the following
are being made in some school district somewhere
in the United States on a daily basis. Examples are:
○ A school system has revised a plan for bilingual
education.
○ An elementary school has decided to replace its
reading series with that of another publisher.
○ A school district prepares pupils to take a state-
mandated test.


VARIATIONS AMONG SCHOOLS

• Federal and state legislation and court decisions have
brought about curricular change, but we must also
look elsewhere for other causes or partial causes of
simultaneous development of curricular plans.


SIMULTANEOUS DEVELOPMENTS

• Although highly unlikely, similar curriculum
developments in different school systems may
unfold at the same time by pure chance.

• It is more likely that our country’s efficient systems
of transportation and communication can be
pointed to as principal reasons for concurrent
curriculum development.


SIMULTANEOUS DEVELOPMENTS

• It is often difficult in an enterprise as large as
education to pinpoint the source of a particular
curriculum change, and it is not usually necessary
to do so.

• What is important to the student and practitioner in
curriculum planning is to understand that
processes for effecting change are in operation.
These processes extend beyond the classroom, the
school, even the school district.


LEVELS OF PLANNING

• Curriculum planning is viewed as occurring on five
levels. The five levels of planning are:
1. Classroom
2. Team/grade/department
3. Individual school
4. School district
5. State

• Each level in ascending order exercises authority
over levels below it.


LEVELS OF PLANNING

• Classroom planning is far more important than any
of the successive steps. At the classroom level, the
results of curriculum planning make their impact on
the learners.


SECTORS OF PLANNING

• In sectors, planning takes place in regional,
national, and world sectors.

• The concept of sectors eliminates the hierarchical
and sequence problems of the step model.

• Sectors are distinguished from levels because
powers of the sectors over the five levels are
nonexistent or limited.


A HIERARCHICAL STRUCTURE

• In practice, responsibility for curriculum planning is
spread across the levels of classroom, school,
district, and state.
○ Whereas teachers and curriculum specialists may
participate in curriculum projects at the state level,
their curriculum efforts at that level are purely
advisory. Only the state board of education, the state
department of education, or the state legislature can
mandate incorporating the projects’ results in the
schools’ programs. School systems must follow
specific state regulations and statutes after which,
allowing for state curriculum mandates, they may
then demonstrate initiative in curriculum planning.


LIMITATIONS OF HIERARCHICAL
STRUCTURE

• In our decentralized system of education, authority
for education is reserved to the states. The
regional, national (with appropriate qualifications),
and international sectors may seek to bring about
curriculum change only through persuasion by
working through state and local levels.


LIMITATIONS OF HIERARCHICAL
STRUCTURE

• Officials at the national level can intervene in state
and local school matters only subsequent to federal
legislation that they are empowered and required
to enforce. Additionally the dollar, distributed by
the federal government is, of course, in itself a
powerfully persuasive instrument.


CURRICULUM EFFORTS AT THE VARIOUS
LEVELS

• In order for curriculum decision making to take
place, appropriate organizational structures at
various levels are essential. The five levels are:
1. The Classroom Level
2. The Team, Grade, and Department Level
3. The School Level
4. The School District Level
5. The State Level


LEVEL 1: THE CLASSROOM

• Curriculum planning and development are complex
and demanding responsibilities of the teacher. At
this level many curricular and instructional
decisions are made, especially in selecting delivery
systems, adapting techniques to students’ learning
styles, diagnosing student problems, and
prescribing remediation when needed.


LEVEL 2: THE TEAM, GRADE AND
DEPARTMENT

• Often teachers in a team from a given grade or
particular department are called on to make
curricular decisions. Examples of curricular
decisions at this level are:
○ sequencing subject matter
○ establishing or revising team, grade, or
departmental objectives
○ writing tests to be taken by students of the
team, grade, or department
○ planning tutorial programs for students who do
not do well on state exams


LEVEL 3: THE SCHOOL

• Each institution must provide some mechanism
whereby the curriculum is articulated and
integrated. Curriculum committees or councils exist
in many schools. Examples of decisions at the
school level are:
○ adding new programs for the school, including
interdisciplinary programs
○ evaluating the school’s curriculum
○ planning ways to overcome curricular
deficiencies


LEVEL 4: THE SCHOOL DISTRICT

• Curriculum planning on a districtwide level is often
conducted through the district curriculum council
composed of teachers, administrators, supervisors,
laypersons, and, in some cases, students.
• District-wide committees meet to consider
problems such as these:
○ adding new programs for the district
○ abandoning district-wide programs
○ articulating programs between levels


LEVEL 5: THE STATE
• The state department of education develops statewide
standards of philosophy, goals, and objectives while
providing general leadership to the schools; it
interprets, enforces, and monitors legislated
regulations as well as its own regulations that hold the
force of law.
• It wields great power over the districts. In curriculum
matters it accredits and monitors school programs,
disburses state and federal-through-state moneys for
specific programs, sets specifications for amounts of
time to be devoted to specific content areas, creates
and monitors state assessments, enforces standards
for high school graduation, and judges and publicizes
academic success of its schools.


CURRICULUM EFFORTS IN VARIOUS
SECTORS BEYOND THE STATE

• Planning takes place in regional, national, and
world sectors. Sectors are distinguished from
levels because powers of the sectors over the five
levels are nonexistent or limited. The 3 sectors
are:
1. Regional
2. National
3. International


SECTOR 1: REGIONAL

• Curriculum specialists of a particular region of the
United States, from around the nation, or even
from a number of foreign countries may assemble
and develop curriculum materials that they will
then disseminate or try out in their own schools. In
addition, teachers, administrators and curriculum
specialists may take part on regional accreditation
teams.


SECTOR 1: REGIONAL

• Much of the participation in which school personnel
take part in the regional sector falls into the
category of curriculum evaluation in contrast to
planning or implementation of the curriculum.
Examples are:
○ Commission on Elementary Schools
○ Commission on Secondary Schools
○ regional accreditation associations


SECTOR 2: NATIONAL

• The Department of Education with its large
bureaucracy gathers data, disseminates
information, provides consultative assistance,
sponsors and conducts research, funds projects,
and disburses money appropriated by Congress.


SECTOR 2: NATIONAL

• The national scene is peppered with a variety of
public, private, and professional curriculum
activities, and school personnel from the state level
and below play key roles in some of these
activities. Examples are:
○ Professional Education Organizations
○ Private Foundations and Business Organizations
○ The National Governors Association


SECTOR 3: INTERNATIONAL

• Development of both awareness and understanding
of other cultures (both within and outside of our
borders) remains a high priority of our elementary
and secondary curricula.
• Involvement of American curriculum workers on
the international scene is made possible through
membership in international professional
associations, primarily those based in the United
States. Examples are:
○ International Reading Association
○ World Council for Curriculum and Instruction
○ International Association for the Advancement of
Curriculum Studies.


SECTOR 3: INTERNATIONAL

• Significant efforts primarily in comparing
achievement of students in a number of countries
and in a variety of disciplines have been conducted
on the international level. Examples are:
○ International Association for Evaluation of
Educational Achievement (IEA)
○ International Assessment of Educational Progress
(IAEP)
○ Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development’s (OECD)
○ Programme for International Assessment (PISA).


A FINAL THOUGHT:

• Curriculum development is perceived as a
multilevel, multisector process and as a
collaborative effort. Forces outside the schools also
influence curriculum decision making.


Developing the curriculum chapter 3

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