July+7

=Before you get to the "lesson" today. . . .= = =

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I've been thinking a lot about some of the comments over the semester. I realize that this class is very much truncated. You are getting the meat of curriculum design and evaluation for the purpose of being an advocate for curriculum in you school. What is missed in the truncated form is the longer conversations about the theory - the deep ideological structures within curriculum that are beautifully complex and provide so much exciting possibility. When I read responses about negotiating multiple aims within a classroom or (as in macro-structure) of the curriculum of the school, I can't help but wish we'd had more opportunity to explore what it means to serve deep aims that go way beyond achievement to stand apart in terms of beliefs, hopes, and professional imaginations. You can have multiple things going on within a vibrant and ideological gelatinous aim. On a whim, I want to share a Youtube clip that I think demonstrates this in a very abstract way. It's from one of my favorite musical groups, Rising Appalachia. Leah and Chloe are very committed to issues of social justice. They travel the world to work with oppressed women. They also travel to remote areas to learn from indigenous cultures so their music thrives and continually grows (as they also continually grow through their experiences). This is a clip from a concert where they honor multiple forms of representation for their beliefs. It was after Hurricane Katrina. The Hurricane and the injustice that ensued following it affected both of them greatly. They have both lived in New Orleans from time to time. This song became their rallying cry for all the pain suffered by those in New Orleans. I know it's a stretch, but think about how the dancers, artist, and musicians work together even though they are "doing" very different things. All of them are in communion with one another and attentive to their beliefs and values.======

Conclusions and Recommendations It is absolutely essential that you evaluate a curriculum to determine whether it suits your needs. This means far more than merely looking at test scores to see if achievement has gone up enough. You need to consider the curriculum according a large number of factors including the following:
 * the mission of your school
 * the beliefs your school community holds and values
 * the nature and needs of your students
 * the needs and opportunities within your community
 * the resources you have within your school and district
 * the capacities of your teachers
 * the nature of the experience created by virtue of the curriculum

When we only look at test scores and only talk about student achievement, these vital factors are ignored and inappropriate curricula may be used for the sake of a quick fix.

With this in mind, consider your curriculum materials in relation to the things you've read in Hlebowitsh's book and the things we've discussed in class and discuss the following:

=Discussion Questions:=

How is the curriculum evaluated? What additional measures are needed to evaluate the effectiveness of the curriculum in relation to the needs of the educative process (nature of the learner, values and aims of society, and the world of knowledge and subject matter)?