Curriculum Development

1. The area of curriculum is one of controversy, concern, and conflict. Without

doubt, however, educational curriculum is one of societys foundational
components. If there is no substantive change in content with direct classroom
instruction, what is the purpose of revising the curriculum? Change in society is
occurring. The responsibility to address the needs created by this change lies at the
door of educational leaders, classroom teachers, administrators, and community
leaders. The results of this study clearly indicate that attention to some relatively
easily managed details could offer significant improvement in the successful
implementation of effective curriculum revision efforts. It is incumbent upon school
leaders to develop a process that will achieve effective curriculum revision.

2. Administrators and designers should take into account factors such as interior
environment and academic learning space when planning schools to positively
impact student discipline; school design and construction should focus on
specialized learning spaces and other academic areas more than administrative
support spaces when striving to increase teacher satisfaction with physical working
conditions.

3. Step 1: Discuss the concept with your department head, subject

area coordinator, principal and/or the Director of Educational Programs.

Step 2: Submit to the Committee of Department Heads a brief one-

page narrative, which includes the following items:

a. The new course content description and possible title.

b. The length of the new course (quarter, semester, year, or mini).

c. The category of the change a) additional course; b) deletion of course; c)

required course change; d) revision of course content; e) course term change; f)
pilot course or study; g) teacher training proposal; h) facility or budget change; i)
staffing change.

d. The purpose or reason for the curriculum change; the need that has
developed that the change will meet.

e. Project the possible impact on your department's curriculum or on other

curriculum areas. (Impact includes teacher load and salary, master schedule,
budget, enrollment trends, community reaction, and student reaction.)

Step 3: If the proposal in Step 2 is approved by the Committee of

Department Heads, prepare a detailed course proposal as outlined in the form
entitled GUIDELINES FOR DETAILED NEW COURSE PROPOSAL.
 If the proposal just reorganizes the existing curriculum,
proceed to Step 4.

If the proposal significantly changes the outcomes of a

program area, it must be presented to the appropriate K-12 curriculum group for its
input and approval.

Step 4: If the proposal is approved as outlined in the above steps, it

shall be sent to the District Curriculum Council. Should it be approved there, it
would be forwarded to the Superintendent and the Board of Education.

Step 5: At the end of the first year of implementation, the change

will be evaluated through the procedures outlined in the proposal. The results of
this evaluation will be presented both orally and in writing to the spring meeting of
the Committee of Department Heads. (The department head is responsible for the
presentation and for insuring that the evaluation procedures are implemented and
appropriate data collected.) The evaluation will be forwarded to the Curriculum
Council and to the Board of Education.

4. People are influenced when they are young. One of their biggest influences is their education, including their
teachers and peers at school as well. Your statement is basically saying that the education system makes people who
they are, and if people are screwed up (society), it is the fault of the screwed up education system.

5. Curriculum development is a local, regional, or state/provincial level process that

student teachers often have difficulty comprehending. In their eyes, it is something
undertaken by authorities (e.g., regional advisory committee members or school
board writing teams) with years of experience in the school system. The expectation
of the teacher candidates, often enough, is that they will learn how to teach and
thereby become effective at transmitting the knowledge, skills, and attitudes
associated with a particular subject or program. Education practitioners with years
in the profession know differently. Successful practice in the classroom is
inextricably linked to curriculum development-the everyday decisions about both
what to teach and how to teach.

6. They are the knowledgeable and so they need to :

Given information presented in this step, curriculum developers will be able to:

describe, identify, and apply the three essential components (conditions,

performance, and standards) to state measurable intended outcomes;
identify, apply, and evaluate categories and terms of each category of learner
skills: knowledge and intellectual skills (cognitive); physical action and motor skills,
(psycho-motor); and feelings and attitudes (cognitive); and

identify and apply life skills in determining curriculum content and activities.

7. As we accept the changing needs of our schools, we accept the changing needs
of the curriculum. To effectively implement these changes, however, we must begin
to learn more about the process of systemic change, how to implement it
effectively, and how to incorporate the ideal of teacher leadership throughout the
curriculum revision process. To effect long-lasting change in classroom instruction, a
substantive change must first occur in the curriculum.The building leader must
collaborate even more effectively with his/her staff and constituencies. No one
individual can be responsible for the entire curriculum revision process; it is truly a
team-approach

8. School districts across the nation have begun revising instructional programs in
an effort to meet societys demands for a 2lst century workforce. Determining what
these needs are, how to address them, and how to revise established curriculum
often rests in the laps of many building level administrators. Often these building
principals find themselves at the center of a controversy they did not want, do not
deserve, and cannot fix. Yet, they are charged with full responsibility for the often
mandated curriculum revision process. Many times these same educational
leaders have not had adequate preparation for, nor do they have a full
understanding of, what is expected, with regard to the curriculum revision project.
This demand for change to meet the needs of a 2lst century educational program is
challenging even the best educational leaders.

9. When children do not learn, it is evident that they have not been taught. In other
words, the teaching failed. But why does the teaching fail so frequently in the
traditional classroom, and why is such a large number of students labeled disabled,
dyslexic, or immature? I believe that the principal cause of failure is the curriculum.
I do not believe that the children who fail are odd" in their orientation to the world,
that their learning styles are different in type from those children who succeed, or
that their failure is their fault. I further believe that the reason the curriculum has
not been addressed as the cause of failure is that the traditional educator is not
highly literate in the technical details of curricula or how to change them.
Curriculum developers need to find out the cause of these problems so as not to
repeat history and it would give room for improvement.

10. Managing the curriculum is a key ingredient to the success of any accounting
program. In some ways it has come to represent a black box through which we try
to force students and faculty to produce quality accounting graduates for the broad
needs of the profession.

Curriculum change and innovation is an extremely important part of a university's

mission. It is one, however, that has been overlooked in the past. Because of the
tremendous changes taking place in the accounting profession, the need for
curriculum change and innovation is taking on new and substantial importance.
Managing such a process will become, therefore, an increasingly important part of
your job as an accounting administrator.

Because society's values and needs change over time. In the 1950s, there was a lot more emphasis on the home
economics and industrial arts type of things, more emphasis on simply memorizing facts and rules. Nowadays, with
technology shifts, and an economy that is based on different skills, if we had the same curriculum, it would be a
catastrophe. Curricula have changed to meet the different needs that we have now.