A r c h i v e d I n f o r m a t i o n

Study of Curriculum Reform - October 1996

Study Aims and Study Questions

A research plan was developed as the foundation for a set of nine case studies--three each in mathematics, science and thinking across the disciplines--to be conducted during the 1992-93 and 1993-94 school years. The culmination of a year of preparation, the plan reflected insights gained through prior work of the Curriculum Reform Project, including an extensive literature review, a set of commissioned papers and a national conference of practitioners and policymakers. It includes a set of research questions and a conceptual framework having multiple perspectives for viewing the questions and subsequent data collection.

The Research Questions

Among the prominent research questions are ones pertaining both to the substance of the reforms and the means by which the reforms were put in place. The substance of the reforms includes attention to both the content of the curriculum and the instruction by which students acquire it. The means by which the reforms are put in place includes particular attention to systems thinking and the overall patterns of reform activities.

The substance of reform. The following questions are among those addressed with respect to the curriculum reforms themselves.

How are the sites defining their purposes and goals of reform with respect to students, teachers and the rest of the system?
What changes have occurred in the content of instruction?
What changes have occurred in the means of instruction, i.e., how are teachers fostering students' ability to construct desired learning outcomes?
What has been the impact on student learning and what can be inferred from positive results about various ways of teaching science, mathematics, and higher order thinking?
How "deep" are the changes; i.e, have the beliefs of students, parents and teachers changed?
To what extent and how is the learning and teaching of thinking skills being transferred across disciplines?

The means of reform. Attention also is directed to how people got to where they are. This investigation includes looking for patterns of support throughout the system and examining how people monitor their progress toward desired goals.

What are the mechanisms for change?
How do implementation efforts play out in classrooms; i.e. what happens in classrooms when teachers embrace the spirit of the reforms espoused by the various national groups?
How are sites developing high quality content that meets the needs of their full range of students?
How are sites developing teachers' abilities to use a constructivist way of teaching?
What are the dynamics of change as viewed from a teaching and learning perspective among (a) students, (b) teachers and (c) the rest of the system?
How are sites working out the trade-offs related to financial and expertise resources?
To what extent has the process of reform been top-down, bottom-up, or some combination of the two?
What are the means of system support? To what extent and in what ways are the system support strategies congruent with a constructivist view of teaching and learning?
To what extent does the approach to change at the sites reflect systems thinking?

Conceptual Framework

Fully understanding a complex and dynamic situation requires examining it from a variety of perspectives. Looking at it from a variety of vantage points provides a fullness of understanding not possible when seen during a limited time span, through the eyes of only selected categories of participants, or from the standpoint of selected interactions within the total dynamic setting.

Many perspectives are built into the conceptual framework to ensure that field observations and interviews acquire data needed for a wide range of analyses. Coherent portrayals of the situation in each school later will require a limited number of analyses, but at the beginning a fairly broad set of perspectives is demanded, as described below.

Time perspective. The conceptual framework for this research is based on looking at a "slice" of the present (portions of one academic year) to understand (1) the past from which it came, (2) the present (in terms of influences, results and dilemmas), and (3) the perceptions of future destinations held by the various people involved. As a result the research questions stated above must be expanded upon to give a form such as the following.

What are the past patterns of school practice from which the current practices emerged?
What is the nature of current school practice?
What is the future which the various actors envision as their intended destination?

Influences, results and dilemmas. To understand more of how changes over time have and are occurring, it is necessary to examine the dynamics of the situation including the following.

What influences (e.g., pressures, supports or barriers) have affected these reforms?
What have been the results of these reforms?
What dilemmas have arisen for the various actors in these reform efforts?

Multiple dimensions. These questions about influences, results and dilemmas encompass at least the following four dimensions:

Personal: influences based in the knowledge and beliefs of the individual actors involved in the reform effort as these beliefs and knowledge relate to such matters as the discipline, teaching, learning, school and students.
Interactional: influences based in the interactions of people in classrooms or other settings.
Contextual: influences arising in the social, cultural, structural, organizational, political, or historical context.
Historical: influences arising from past events and their resultant structures, patterns of interaction, and convictions of people.

Interest group perspectives. What are the perspectives of the following at each site and how do they compare: students, teachers, administrators, policymakers, and parents? How does the reform as defined at each site map onto reform ideas as defined by (1) professional groups at all levels, and (2) the public in general?

Systems thinking. How can a systems approach to analyzing these reforms help in understanding the changes?

Subject-matter perspective. Because of the importance of subject-matter considerations within this research, the research questions must be explored from both discipline and non-discipline specific perspectives.

Critical components. The following guides to observation, questioning and analysis are used.

Student goals and expectations as exhibited in intended and actual learning outcomes.
Teacher professionalism as reflected in professional development activities and participation in professional work such as curriculum development.
Vision as indicated by changes in school curricula or pedagogical practices, school routines or daily operations, and statements of vision.
Curriculum, instruction and assessment design including the degree of complementarity of these three.
Changing roles of students, teachers, administrators and parents, with attention to their responsibilities and the interrelationships of these roles.
Resource allocation, including both financial allocations and the expenditure of professional time.
Means of expanding the reform to additional individuals and groups, or portions of the curriculum.

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[Summary Review of Literature]

[Case Study Summaries]