Deciding What to Teach and Test: Developing, Aligning, and Auditing the Curriculum (Vol 4 of the Successful Schools Series)

By Fenwick W. English

Book Overview

This comprehensive book explores the day-to-day problems school teachers and administrators encounter in the area of curriculum, instruction and evaluation.

Developing curriculum is a political as well as an educational activity and practitioners should be aware of hidden′ political realities and value systems at work in their schools. In this book, the author proposes that there are three forms of curricula: formal, informal and hidden, with manifestations of these forms in the written, taught and tested curricula. English shows how these elements are brought together in developing curriculum.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803960190
• ISBN13: 9780803960190
• Release Date: January 1992
• Publisher: Corwin
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 5.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.5" x 5.8"

Customer Reviews

Curriculum and instruction

This is a very good book for administrators but more useful to the classroom teacher. It was required reading for one of my administration classes. However, I think this book should have been required during my methods courses. It speaks of aligning curriculum and classroom instruction. The debate is whether to frontload (develop the curriculum and then choose the standardized test) or backload (develop the curriculum after choosing the test). The author talked about the tests measuring the children's life experiences and not totally testing subject mattter, which is why some standardized tests are bias. The role of the administrator in testing, as an instructional leader and not just a manager of people, was also discussed. This book is a must have for anyone who administers any type of test to other people.