Notes
Chapter 6: Curriculum, Standards and Testing
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The power of curriculum
o Shape students
o Shape society
o Becomes political
Will discuss how curriculum decisions are made
The Visible Curriculum
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Curriculum: a description of courses offered or a syllabus describing what the students
are supposed to be learning at each grade level and in each subject
Learning in school is different from learning in life: School learning is organized!
o Formal or explicit curriculum: arranging experiences so that intended outcomes
are reached
 Changes to reflect the values of the time period
 The Two Rs in the Seventeenth Century:
o Reading and religion
 Eighteenth Century: Focus on Building a New Nation:
o Emphasis on secular studies began and included vocational
studies
 A Secularized Curriculum for Students in the Nineteenth Century:
o More emphasis on secular studies
 Progressive Education in the First Half of the Twentieth Century:
o New immigrants brought new ideas from progressive
education; included the arts, high school began college
preparation
 Sputnik in Space and a More Demanding Curriculum:
o America’s schools became scapegoats of poor education,
developed a more rigorous curriculum, science learning
 Social Concern and Relevance, 1960s-1970s:
o Rigorous academics at the expense of social concern was
criticized, “open classroom concept” with multicultural
electives
 Back to Basics, Standards and Testing, 1980s-Today:
o Proliferation of electives in the 60s and 70s brought poorer
grades, began eliminating electives and putting more
emphasis on basic courses (core curriculum)
The Invisible Curriculum
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Some of the most important lessons are not found in textbooks
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Implicit or hidden curriculum: learning things that are not always intended but emerge
as students are shaped by the school culture,
o Oftentimes powerful life lessons
 Some are useful, some are destruction
 First step in evaluating the appropriateness of a hidden curriculum is to
“see” it
Null curriculum: Curriculum that is never taught
o When a group decides that a topic is unimportant or too controversial,
inappropriate or not worth time
The Extracurriclum
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Extracurriclum: Teaches the lessons students learn in school activities such as sports and
clubs
A majority of students participate in at least one extracurricular activity
Participation in extracurricular activities has been connected with:
o Higher self-esteem, school completion, civic participation
o Improved race relations
o Higher SAT scores and grades
o Better female health and less stereotypes to conformity
o Higher career aspirations
Underrepresented by low-socio economic students
“No pass-no play”: poor grades prevent students from participating in varsity sports
Who and What Shape the Curriculum?
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The public and press typically focus on the formal curriculum when evaluating schools
Begin thinking about who decides what you teach
o Teachers: develop curriculum formally and informally
o Parental and Community groups: more academic courses, rigorous curriculum,
conservative communities, liberal communities
o Students: given some freedom to select topics for independent projects, research
papers, book reviews, etc.
o Administrators: As instructional leaders, they have substantial influence
o State Government: role has greatened with state standards, curriculum guides, role
of religion, treatment of evolution vs. intelligent design, etc.
o Local Government
o Local school boards, can require courses
o Colleges and Universities: Entrance requirements of what high school students
need to take
o Standardized Tests: state and national tests, SATs, government and public
pressure to push schools to strengthen the curriculum
o Education Commission and Committees: national level committees, national
reports often influence their creation (A Nation at Risk, etc.)
o Professional Organizations: NEA, AFT, NAEYC, subject associations
o Special Interest Groups: Today’s students are tomorrow’s customers, business and
interest groups off teachers free curricular materials promoting their view of the
world
 Student magazines
 Free newspapers
 Teachers must examine products carefully
o Publishers: textbooks are attractively packaged, full of terms and information,
rarely provide in depth information about a subject or include unpopular topics,
textbooks are published to meet marketing demands
o Federal Government: influences through judicial decisions, financial incentives,
and legislation
 No Child Left Behind (2001)
Technology and the Classroom
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Ways Computers Are Used in the Classroom
o Computers offer essential workplace skills
o Are a sign of educational progress
o Are a central part of classroom life
The Digital Divide: the gap between technology have and have-nots
o The gap has been closing recently due to falling technology prices and increasing
numbers of school computer
o Efforts to ensure equal access to computer-related learning opportunities at school
 Must be more push than having access to computers
 Used to develop children’s intellectual competencies and technical skills
The Reign of the Textbook
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Still the most influential curriculum “shaper”
Students around the nation study from the same books, do the same exercises, and are
expected to master the same material
Students spend as much as 95% of classroom time working with textbooks
Textbook adoption states: local school districts typically select their texts from an
official, state-approved list
o Pro: results in higher-quality texts, common state-wide curriculum
o Texas and California Effect: (With Florida and North Carolina): Exert an
enormous influence on what is included (and omitted) from textbooks
 They draw up plans for what they would like to see in a textbook and the
publishers design books to meet the states’ wish lists
 Populous sates: Account for 1 billion dollars of annual textbook sales
o Dumbing Down of textbooks: use less difficult words and shorter sentences
 States won’t buy the textbooks if the reading level is too hard
 Shortening sentences to make reading simple can make understanding
challenging ideas even more difficult
o Mentioning Phenomenon: Texts typically include too many subjects and gloss
over them so quickly that students do not really understand well
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Textbooks receive a lot of criticism, but there are a lot of pros
The Standards Method
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An effort to “fix” America’s schools
o Standards based education: specifies what students should learn, focuses the
curriculum and instruction on meeting these standards, and provides continual
testing to see if the standards are achieved
Content Standards: Detailed what students should know and be able to do in each subject
at each grade level
o Developed by professional education associations, business leaders and citizen
groups
o States adopted content standards and created some of their own
 Federal government was not fully happy with the content standards
created
No Child Left Behind: Tests and Protests
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No Child Left Behind:
o Required annual testing: reading and math assessments for grades 3-8
 Each state deciding on which test to use and what a passing grade
constitutes
 Underperforming schools must improve or be closed
o Academic improvement: states must define academic proficiency for all students
and all students must be proficient in reading and math
 States’ progress is measured annually
 Schools that do not make the adequate yearly progress for two
consecutive years are “underperforming”
o Report Cards: States and school districts must provide the public with report cards
of district and school progress
 Underperforming schools become public
o Faculty Qualifications: teachers must be “highly qualified,” and become licensed
with an academic major in the field they teach
o Not only does NCLB include content standards, but it also includes performance
standards
 How well students learn the content standards
Test Problems: Seven Reasons Why Standardized Test Are Not Working
1. At Risk Students are Placed at Greater Risk:
a. Use the same test for all students
b. Opportunity to learn standard: ensure a level playing field by providing all
students with appropriate educational resources, competent teachers and modern
technology, accommodation of student learning styles
2. Lower Graduation Rates:
a. Grade by grade testing and graduation tests increase school dropouts
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b. Low-performing students who are held back do less well academically and are
much worse off socially and are far likelier to drop out than equally weak students
who are promoted
Higher Test Scores Do Not Mean More Learning
a. Teaching is being redefined as test prep
i. Teaching test taking skills
Standardized Testing Shrinks the Curriculum:
a. Schools have reduced instruction time in art, music, foreign language, social
studies and science to give more time to reading, math and test prep
When Tests Fail
a. Tests are flawed
Teacher Stress
a. Many teachers support high standards but object to learning being measured by a
single test
b. 7 in 10 teachers feel test stress and anxiety
i. Often job dependent
What’s Worth Knowing
a. Specials are given less attention with the current testing movement
b. Raises the questions: what is important to teach? What is worth knowing?
Alternatives to High Stakes Testing
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Most experts agree: student performance should be gauged on multiple assessments:
o Tests, portfolios, formal exhibitions, independent student projects, teacher
evaluations
Authentic Assessments: captures actual student performance, encourages students to
reflect on their work and is integrated into the student’s whole learning process
o Ex: portfolios, journals, interviews, experiments, presentations