July+5

=Happy 4th - you do not have to discuss for today. You'll want to think about what's posted because it is important for your project.= = ** Curriculum Evaluation ** With all the talk about assessment these days, there seems to be very little talk about EVALUATION. Yes, it is important to assess students. Assessing students should be PART of the curriculum evaluation process. In addition, it is critical that school leaders ensure that the curricula they are using in their schools is adequately EVALUATED. Does the curriculum support the mission of the school? Does the curriculum support meaningful and moral experiences for the school community? Are those experiences consistent with the shared philosophy of schooling within the community? Does the school have adequate resources (human and otherwise) to successfully implement the curriculum? That has been the point of this whole project (and the course, for that matter). You need to be able to draw conclusions about your chosen curriculum and make judgments about the degree to which is right and good for your school. = = = With this in mind, consider the following questions when critiquing your curriculum’s various assessments of students and the degree to which those assessments form a comprehensive evaluation not only of the students’ achievement but other goals and aims and the overall quality of the curriculum itself.

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 * To what degree does your evaluation procedure include multiple measures – and a variety of measures to ensure that one mode of representation is not overrepresented and potentially skewing the results according to skills or capacities that do not necessarily reflect the objectives (e.g. when all assessments in social studies require higher skills in reading or writing)?
 * To what degree do assessments address both dimensions of behavioral objectives: content and behavior?
 * To what degree do the individual assessments become an evaluation system through which teachers and leaders analyze results to make judgments about both learning objectives as well as other curriculum goals and aims? For example, if a school wants its students to be concerned about social issues, to what degree does assessment data provide evidence for that aim?

In addition, rate the evaluation program for your curriculum according to the following criteria:
 * Objectivity
 * Reliability
 * Validity (as well as authenticity)

Also consider the curriculum in relation to these points: = = = With these points in mind, 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)? When you respond, make sure you go beyond the analyzing of test scores that is so often seen in schools today - this is bigger than AYP. = =
 * To what degree are the assessments of students used to evaluate the curriculum?
 * To what degree is that evaluation continuous?
 * To what degree does the curriculum adequately regulate the relationship between curriculum and evaluation (in other words, to what degree does the tail not wag the dog)?