Evaluating the Curriculum

Chapter 13 Presentation
J. Bradshaw and A. Hamrick
GFC
Evaluating The Curriculum
Describe several processes for
evaluating the curriculum
Explain the major features of
curriculum evaluation models
Describe how these models can
be used
Describe how these models can
be applied
Describe 8 principles of
curriculum construction and
significance to planners
The Process
2. What is curriculum evaluation?
Instructional evaluation
Assessment of the program and
related areas
Evaluation is the means for
determining what needs
improvement and for providing a
basis for effecting that
improvement
Problems in Evaluation
Albert I. Oliver The 5 Ps
Program
Provisions
Procedures
Products
Processes


Evaluation Models
Limited Models and
Comprehensive Models
Limited Models
Evaluation of curriculum objectives
Specify performance or behavior to be
demonstrated
Include a degree of mastery
State conditions under which the
performance will take place, if not readily
understood
Refer to programs, not specific content and
accomplishments of groups of students
rather than individual students
Limited Models
Curriculum evaluation is the
assessment of achievement of
the specified curriculum
objectives
Observation surveys
Portfolios
Test results
If the curriculum objectives have not been
met, planners must determine whether the
objectives still merit pursuing and if so,
what measures must be taken to achieve
them

8 perennial problems of
curriculum construction and
organization
Scope
Relevance
Balance
Integration
Sequence
Continuity
Articulation
Transferability

Scope
The breadth of the curriculum
content
topics
learning experiences
activities
organizing threads and centers focal
points for learning through which the
schools objectives are to be attained
Explosion of knowledge limiting subject
matter
Scope Continued
Aims Procedure a selection of skills,
concepts, and knowledge to be
incorporated into the curriculum Caswell
and Campbell aim of education is stated,
specific objectives indicated the scope of
the curriculum
Necessary Decisions
What do young people need in order to
succeed in our society?
What are the needs of our locality, state,
nation, and world?
What are the essentials of each discipline?


Relevance
Varying interpretations What is relevant
in the suburbs may not be relevant in the
inner city.

B. Othanel Smith What is most assuredly
useful?
Uses of knowledge
the ability of the learner to relate freely,
bringing about solutions to problems. Abstract
knowledge helps individuals to interpret their
environment which they cannot do without
fundamental knowledge
Balance
Something that schools may not have, but,
apparently should
Halverson a balanced curriculum implies
structure and order in its scope and
sequence leading to the achievement of
educational objectives
Goodlad what kind and how much
attention to give learners and subject
matter
Ronald C. Doll a balanced curriculum for
a given learner at a given time would
completely fit the learner in terms of his or
her particular educational needs at that
time
Integration
The blending, fusion, or unification of
disciplines
Optional and controversial
Hinges on the philosophy of the nature of
knowledge
Traditionally schools have felt that
integration of subject matter was not too
important or detrimental to student
achievement
Progressives feel that understanding is
improved when barriers between
disciplines are removed
Correlation
Relating of subjects to one another while still
maintaining their separateness
Relationships between subjects taught at a
particular school level are shown to students as in
history and literature
Correlation becomes integration when the subjects
lose their identities
Regardless of how the material is presented , the
learner must integrate the knowledge into his or her
own behavior
Sequence
The order in which the organizing elements
are arranged by the curriculum planners
Problems of Sequencing
the maturity of the learners
the interest of the learners
the readiness of the learner
the difficulty of the items to be learned
the relationship between items
the prerequisite skills needed in each case

Continuity
The planned repetition of content at
successive levels, each time at an
increased level of complexity
Spiral Curriculum concepts, skills, and
knowledge are introduced and reintroduced

Expertise Needed demands both
knowledge of the subject field and of the
learners
Articulation
The meshing of organizing elements
across school levels
Horizontal and Vertical correlation and
continuity
Gaps between levels - become a problem
with articulation
Personal articulation students personal
articulation, schools look for ways to
respond to students varied capabilities
Improved articulation eases the movement
of students from one level to the next
Comprehensive Models
The Saylor, Alexander and
Lewis Model
The CIPP Model
Transferability
Learning in school should have
applicability in either a broad or
narrow sense outside of school
and after school years
Education in some way should
enrich the life of the individual
Saylor Model
1. The goals, subgoals, and
objectives
2. The program of education as
a totality
3. The specific segments of the
education program
4. Instruction
5. Evaluation program
The Saylor Model
Evaluation of Goals, Subgoals
and Objectives
Analysis of the needs of society
Analysis of the needs of the
individual
Referring the goals, subgoals
and objectives to various groups
referring the goals, subgoals
and objectives to subject matter
specialists
Use of summative data
Authors version of Saylor
model
Evaluation of instruction
Evaluation of specific segments
Evaluative instruments
Evaluation of total program
Evaluation of the evaluation
program
The CIPP Model
Context
Input
Process
Product
Definition - Evaluation is
the process of delineating,
obtaining, and providing
useful information for
judging decision
alternatives

Four types of decisions and
change
Large change low information
- Neomobilistic change
Small change low information
- Incremental change
Small change high
information - Homeostatic
change
Large change high
information - Metamorphic
change
Authors Model
Standards for Evaluation
Needs to be some agreed upon
standards.
Works Cited
Oliva, Peter F. Evaluating the
Curriculum. Developing
the Curriculum, 5
th
ed. New
York: Longman, 2001, 438-486.