EDCI 547 Foundation of Curriculum Studies

Learning Outcomes / Objectives

Differentiate between assessment and evaluation of a curriculum;

Define curriculum evaluation?

Why should the curriculum be evaluated?

Approaches to curriculum evaluation.

Models of curriculum evaluation.

INTRODUCTION

In our last session we discussed the implementation of the curriculum plan. We looked at why people resist change, the role of teachers, students, administrator and parents in ensuring the successful implementation of change.

In this session, we will focus on determining whether the curriculum plan implemented has achieved its goals and objectives as planned.

In other words, the curriculum has to be evaluated to determine whether all the effort in terms of finance and human resources has been worthwhile.

Various stakeholders want to know the extent to which the curriculum has been successfully implemented.

INTRODUCTION (cont’d)

The information collected from evaluating a curriculum forms the basis for making judgements about how successfully has the programme achieved its intended outcomes and the worth or value of the programme.

Teachers often find themselves having to evaluate curriculum materials.

Is the curriculum better and fulfilling the needs of the children and the society?

Curriculum materials are devised to help students learn. It will be important to use the materials with students and to take into account students' actions and reactions.

This is all the more relevant when the intentions of the materials are in terms of reasoning skills, understanding, attitudes and values rather than specific practical skills or factual knowledge. How well is your curriculum working?

The question can only be answered by considering:

How well your curriculum accomplishes what it sets out to achieve?

How well does it meet the wider aims of the curriculum?

How well does it allow all young people to achieve high standards?

What are the strengths of your current curriculum and what are areas for further development?'

Why Must We Evaluate the CurriculumBefore understanding how to evaluate curriculum we must first know why we should evaluate any curriculum. The reasons are:

Students could be dissatisfied with the current curriculum and methods of teaching.

Students are not achieving the desired goals set in the curriculum.

There is a change in the student market.

The professional expectations could be changing, which in turn call for a change in the curriculum.

There could also be changes in the time and staff resources.

What is the difference between Assessment and Evaluation?

Assessment focuses on learning, teaching and outcomes. It provides information for improving learning and teaching. Assessment is an interactive process between students and faculty that informs faculty how well their students are learning what they are teaching. The information is used by faculty to make changes in the learning environment, and is shared with students to assist them in improving their learning and study habits. This information is learner-centered, course based, frequently anonymous, and not graded.

Evaluation focuses on grades and may reflect classroom components other than course content and mastery level. These could include discussion, cooperation, attendance, and verbal ability.

Dimension of Difference Assessment Evaluation

Content: timing, primary purpose

Formative: ongoing, to improve learning

Summative: final, to gauge quality

Orientation: focus of measurement

Process-oriented: how learning is going

Product-oriented: what’s been learned

Findings: uses thereof Diagnostic: identify areas for improvement

Judgmental: arrive at an overall grade/score

Summary of the Key Differences Between

Assessment and Evaluation

Curriculum EvaluationWhat is evaluation?

Evaluation is the process of collecting data on a programme to determine its value or worth with the aim of deciding whether to adopt, reject, or revise the programme.

Programmes are evaluated to answer questions and concerns of various parties.

The public want to know whether the curriculum implemented has achieved its aims and objectives; teachers want to know whether what they are doing in the classroom is effective; and the developer or planner wants to know how to improve the curriculum product.

How does some of the experts in the area define curriculum evaluation?

McNeil (1977) states that “curriculum evaluation is an attempt to throw light on two questions: Do planned learning opportunities, programmes, courses and activities as developed and organised actually produce desired results? How can the curriculum offerings best be improved?” (p.134).

Ornstein and Hunkins (2009) define curriculum evaluation as “a process or cluster of processes that people perform in order to gather data that will enable them to decide whether to accept, change, or eliminate something- the curriculum in general or an educational textbook in particular”

Worthen and Sanders (1987) define curriculum evaluation as “the formal determination of the quality, effectiveness, or value of a programme, product, project, process, objective, or curriculum” (p.22-23).

Gay (1985) argues that the aim of curriculum evaluation is to identify its weaknesses and strengths as well as problems encountered in implementation; to improve the curriculum development process; to determine the effectiveness of the curriculum and the returns on finance allocated.

Oliva (1988) defined curriculum evaluation as the process of delineating, obtaining, and providing useful information for judging decision alternatives. The primary decision alternatives to consider based upon the evaluation results are: to maintain the curriculum as is; to modify the curriculum; or to eliminate the curriculum.

Approaches To Curriculum EvaluationGoal-based

Determining whether pre-stated goals of educational or training programs were met.

Goal-free

Uncovering and documenting what outcomes were occurring in educational or training programs without regard to whether they were intended program goals focus.

Responsive (contingency-unforeseen event)

Comparing what was intended for instruction to what actually was observed.

These approaches are based on the classical curriculum evaluation models as presented by Stufflebeam and Shinkfield (1990)

Functions of Curriculum EvaluationUrevbu (1985: 64-70) has also identified two functions of curriculum evaluation:

informing decision-makers on the state of affairs of certain curriculum programmes or syllabuses, and

enabling teachers to evaluate themselves

Formative and Summative Evaluation

Formative Evaluation:

The term formative indicates that data is gathered during the formation or development of the curriculum so that revisions to it can be made.

Formative evaluation may include determining who needs the programme (eg. secondary school students), how great is the need (eg. students need to be taught ICT skills to keep pace with expansion of technology) and how to meet the need (eg. introduce a subject on ICT compulsory for all secondary schools students).

In education, the aim of formative evaluation is usually to obtain information to improve a programme.

In formative evaluation, experts would evaluate the match between the instructional strategies and materials used, and the learning outcomes or what it aims to achieve.

For example, it is possible that in a curriculum plan the learning outcomes and the learning activities do no match. You want students to develop critical thinking skills but there are no learning activities which provide opportunities for students to practice critical thinking.

Formative evaluation by experts is useful before full-scale implementation of the programme. Review by experts of the curriculum plan may provide useful information for modifying or revising selected strategies.

In formative evaluation learners may be included to review the materials to determine if they can use the new materials.

For example, so they have the relevant prerequisites and are they motivated to learn. From these formative reviews, problems may be discovered.

For example, the curriculum document may contain spelling errors, confusing sequence of content, inappropriate examples or illustrations. The feedback obtained could be used to revise and improve instruction or whether or not to adopt the programme before full implementation

Summative Evaluation

The term summative indicates that data is collected at the end of the implementation of the curriculum programme.

Summative evaluation can occur just after new course materials have been implemented in full (i.e. evaluate the effectiveness of the programme), or several months to years after the materials have been implemented in full.

It is important to specify what questions you want answered by the evaluation and what decisions will be made as a result of the evaluation. You may want to know if learners achieved the objectives or whether the programme produced the desired outcomes.

For example, the use of a specific simulation software in the teaching of geography enhanced the decision making skills of learners.

These outcomes can be determined through formal assessment tasks such as marks obtained in tests and examinations.

Curriculum Evaluation ModelsHow should you go about evaluating curriculum?

Several experts have proposed different models describing how and what should be involved in evaluating a curriculum.

Models are useful because they help you define the parameters of an evaluation, what concepts to study and the procedures to be used to extract important data.

Numerous evaluation models have been proposed but three models are discussed here.

Stufflebeam CIPP Model (1971)Context

Planning decisionsWhat needs are to be addressed?

Are objectives defined for the programme?

Input

Structuring decisionsWhat resources are available?

What alternative strategies should be considered?

What plan has the best potential?

Process

Implementing decisionsHow well is the plan being implemented?

What are the barriers?

What revision are needed?

Product

Recycling decisionsWhat result are obtained? Were needs reduced?

What should be done with the programme?

Tyler’s Objectives Model (1949)Tyler’s principle deals with evaluating the effectiveness of planning and actions;

Curriculum should be evaluated in relation to its pre-specified set of objectives;

Requires an objectives-based curriculum model;

Evaluation measures fit between student performance and objective;

Methodology will depend on the evaluator’s definition of ‘measurement’ (standard setting);

Stenhouse’s Research Model (1970s)Evaluation as part of curriculum development;

Continuous cycle of formative evaluation and curriculum improvement at school level;

Relationship between curriculum developer and evaluator is central;

Curriculum developer offer solutions;

Evaluator is the practical man who temper enthusiasm with Judgment;

The developer is the investigator; teacherAutonomous professional self-development through self-study

Study of others and testing ideas

Four Phases of Curriculum Evaluation

1. Aspects of the curriculum to be evaluated:

The evaluator determines what is to be evaluated which may be the total school system, a particular district, a particular grade level or a particular subject.

The objectives of the evaluation activity are clearly stated.

2. Data CollectionIdentify the information to be collected and the tools for collecting the data which may involve interviews, giving of questionnaires, tests, collection of documents and so forth.

The evaluator also identifies the people from whom data is to be collected

3. Analysis of Information

The data collected is analysed and presented in the form of tables and graphs.

Statistical tools are often used to compare significant differences and to establish correlation or relationship between variables.

4. Reporting of Information

Reports are written describing the findings and interpretation of the data. Based on the findings, conclusion are made on the effectiveness of curriculum implementation efforts.

Recommendations are made to reconsider certain aspects of the curriculum

Method Overall Purpose Advantages Challenges

questionnaires,

surveys,

checklists

when need to quickly and/or

easily get lots of information

from people in a non

threatening way

-can complete anonymously

-inexpensive to administer

-easy to compare and analyze

-administer to many people

-can get lots of data

-many sample questionnaires

already exist

-might not get careful

feedback

-wording can bias client's

responses

-are impersonal

-in surveys, may need

sampling expert

- doesn't get full story

interviews

when want to fully

understand someone's

impressions or experiences,

or learn more about their

answers to questionnaires

-get full range and depth of

information

-develops relationship with

client

-can be flexible with client

-can take much time

-can be hard to analyze and

compare

-can be costly

-interviewer can bias client's

responses

documentation

review

when want impression of

how program operates

without interrupting the

program; is from review of

applications, finances,

memos, minutes, etc.

-get comprehensive and

historical information

-doesn't interrupt program or

client's routine in program

-information already exists

-few biases about information

-often takes much time

-info may be incomplete

-need to be quite clear about

what looking for

-not flexible means to get

data; data restricted to what

already exists

Summary of Data Collection Instruments

Method Overall Purpose Advantages Challenges

observation

to gather accurate

information about how a

program actually

operates, particularly

about processes

-view operations of a

program as they are

actually occurring

-can adapt to events as

they occur

-can be difficult to

interpret seen behaviors

-can be complex to

categorize observations

-can influence behaviors

of program participants

-can be expensive

focus groups

explore a topic in depth

through group discussion,

e.g., about reactions to an

experience or suggestion,

understanding common

complaints, etc.; useful in

evaluation and marketing

-quickly and reliably get

common impressions

-can be efficient way to

get much range and

depth of information in

short time

- can convey key

information about

programs

-can be hard to analyze

responses

-need good facilitator for

safety and closure

-difficult to schedule 6-8

people together

case studies

to fully understand or

depict client's

experiences in a program,

and conduct

comprehensive

examination through

cross comparison of

cases

-fully depicts client's

experience in program

input, process and results

-powerful means to

portray program to

outsiders

-usually quite time

consuming to collect,

organize and describe

-represents depth of

information, rather than

breadth