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Part IV Curriculum Development: Products and Issues

A Footnote. While controversy continues over numerous issues in education, organizations like the
Accelerated Schools Project,289 Coalition of Essential Schools,29o Commission on the Skills of the
American Workforce,291 Core Knowledge Foundation.I'" and National Alliance for Effective
Schools293 continue to work with schools to try to find answers to improving education.

Questions for Discussion ____________________________________________________

6.

What general guidelines would you recommend for

curriculum planners to follow in dealing with
controversial curriculum issues?

7.

What current curriculum developments do

you predict will be universally accepted ten
years from now?

3.

What are some current controversial curricular

issues not included in this chapter?

4.

How do you account for repeated efforts to reform

the public schools?

5.

What measures would you recommend in reforming

and restructuring the public schools?

Supplementary Exercises __________________________________________________

8.

Take each of the fourteen curriculum issues discussed in this chapter and state your position on
each. Give reasons for your position.

9.

Select one of the current curriculum issues,

search the literature, review local practices,
and document with references the degree to
which it appears to be an issue both nationally
and locally. Show your position on the issue
and suggest ways for solving it.

10.

Document any instances of the following curriculum problems within the past three years in the
school district you know best:
a. racial conflicts
h. religious conflicts
11. gender inequity
12. schoolbook protests

13.

Prepare a position paper on including the following in regular classes:

a. physically handicapped (Note: Comment on
whether they should be referred to as "physically
challenged" instead of "physically handicapped.")
14. children with behavior disorders
15. the gifted

16. Refer

in this chapter to the list of u.S.

Supreme Court decisions on church-state
disputes, con-

sult references in school law, and report the significance of these cases.

17.

Select any current curriculum program, locate

one or more research studies on this program, and
draw conclusions on its effectiveness.

18.

Find out your state's guidelines, curricula,

and/or policies regarding sexuality education.

19.

Tell how a school system you know well

handles protests about books and other materials.

20.

Report on any alternative education available in

your school district.

21. Either

from the literature or from a field visit, assemble data on the success or failure of a charter
school.

22. Write a report on the extent of home schooling in a

district you know well.

23. Prepare

a report on a successful multicultural education program at any level of a school district with
which you are familiar.

II. Prepare a report showing your position on the question

whether gender inequity exists in the schools and, if
so, whether one gender or the other suffers
disproportionately.