1. Curriculum Overview
By: Jackelyn Garcia-Rodriguez
CIT-0609
Nova Southeastern University

2. What Is Curriculum?
• In my opinion, curriculum can be defined in many
ways.
• Curriculum comes from the Latin “to run a
course”, therefore, if a definition is formulated
from this literal translation, curriculum should
then be defined as the course of study students
must go through in order to achieve success in life.
In my opinion, this would include every
experience students encounter throughout their
school years, including the Arts and extra
curricular activities.
• With this, constant changes to the curriculum
would also be pertinent, as life and it’s demands
are constantly changing and being challenged.

3. What Is Curriculum? Cont…
• “Curriculum…is
built, planned, designed, and
constructed. It is
improved, revised, and
evaluated.”(Oliva & Gordon, 2013.
P.3), so it is in the greatest interest of
student’s across America that those
changes in fact can occur on a
continuous basis, so that
improvements are constantly being
made in our education system.

4. What is Curriculum? Cont…
• Curriculum has also been defined as a set of
topics, subjects, or courses that are
predetermined by national and state
education experts, in efforts to set a guideline
for teachers that will ensure students meet
the highest standards in education and
standardized tests.

5. What is Curriculum? Cont…
• Several terms such as, spiral, comprehensive, and core
are added to the word curriculum to refer to different
types and delivery methods.
• For example, core curriculum is referred to the central
mandated subjects that basically determine the
student’s academic achievement.
• Spiral curriculum will be a delivery method in which
topics are revisited within or throughout grade levels.
• Comprehensive curriculum is referred to a set of
subject areas that include the arts that should be part
of a student’s schooling experiences.

6. Curriculum & Instruction
• Curriculum and instruction go hand in hand. The
relationship between the two is one that is closely
related as the delivery of the curriculum would
constitute as instruction.
• The way in which curriculum is delivered will
determine if the student will achieve what curriculum
intended the student to achieve.
• The term instruction is usually referred to as teaching
and it is the direct result of lesson planning , on which
the teacher carefully plans ahead the delivery, tools,
and resources that will be used in order to instruct the
preset curriculum.

7. Bases for Curriculum Planning
• Throughout the past several
decades, the content and delivery of
curriculum across schools in the
United States has changed
significantly.
• Major events in the United States
legislation have brought on some of
those changes in the bases for
curriculum planning and have
affected the classrooms directly.

8. Bases for Curriculum Planning
• The 1989 National Goals, or what was later called
Goals 2000 in 1994, was in my opinion a set of goals
that shifted our government’s focus back to education
and set the building blocks for what would later follow.
• Those goals set the tone for what would eventually
constitute the national No Child Left Behind Act, signed
by President George W. Bush in 2002, the Voluntary
Pre-kindergarten Education program ( VPK), and
recently the Common Core State Standards Initiative,
that has embarked almost the entire nation to teach to
the same high standards.

9. Bases for Curriculum Planning, Cont…
Some bases for curriculum planning that should be
considered would be those that affect the institutions
and those that affect the people directly. Some
examples are:
1. Current and reliable research
2. Differences amongst learners
3. Educational goals and standards
4. Changes in real-life expectations and challenges
5. Cruciality
6. Functionality
7. Observability

10. Criteria to Plan, Develop, and
Implement Curricula
• In my opinion, school culture or it’s
philosophy and climate should be important
factors influencing the development and
implementation of curriculum in our schools.
• A school’s location and
demographics, including community’s
economic status, and ESE population are all
criteria that should also be considered.

11. How can values affect
curriculum planning?
• Values and educational philosophies can
alter significantly the planning and
development of specific curricula. This is
why a school’s mission and philosophy
should be taken into account when
curriculum is instructed and
implemented.
• However, curriculum planners should
always keep in mind the entire
community, it’s social needs and
demands, as well as national, state, and
local issues when considering curriculum
development.

12. How can values affect curriculum
planning? A Few Examples …
Moral values are also relative and subject to the
community and culture at hand. Teachers are no
longer expected to teach students core
curriculum only, but moral issues that will enable
them to become compassionate and contributing
citizens.
When teaching a community that values self
worth, equality amongst all community
members, and productivity, curriculum will be
inevitable altered in order to conquer these
goals.

13. How can values affect curriculum
planning? A Few Examples Cont…
• Education Philosophies will also change and
influence curriculum development.
• Idealism, Realism, Experimentalism, and
Existentialism are all philosophies that differ
greatly in the way they see education and it’s
purpose for humanity.
• Curriculum may also be influenced by budget
cuts and the values of the current government
as education is concerned.

14. How can values affect curriculum
planning? A Few Examples Cont…
• In a section within the NEA website titled Voices from the
Classroom, letters from teachers explaining why comprehensive
curriculum is important are featured. These letters compel the
reader to do away with the idea of replacing subjects like Music and
Art with further Reading and Mathematics interventions. It argues
that liberal arts in many cases motivate students to stay in school
and achieve better results in their academics.
• Similarly, the National PTA organization website, has also issued a
position statement where they state their support towards the
inclusion of programs that promote public awareness of the arts
and art education.
• In a school where comprehensive curriculum is a priority as a school
philosophy, instruction will inevitably be influenced.

15. How can values affect curriculum
planning? A Few Examples Cont…
• According to an article posted on the American Federation of Teachers (
AFT) website, lack of “layering” in the implementation of mathematics in
the US is what has caused the lack of improvement in student’s
mathematical achievement when compared to other countries.
• In high achieving countries “The number of topics that children are
expected to learn at a given grade level is relatively small, permitting
thorough and deep coverage of each topic. For example, on average, nine
topics are intended in the second grade. The U.S., by contrast, expects
second-grade teachers to cover twice as many mathematics topics. As a
result, the U.S. curriculum is accurately characterized as "a mile wide and
an inch deep.” (Schmidt, 2003)
• If this philosophy was taken into consideration when planning
curriculum, curriculum development and its implementation would both
be influenced by it.

16. Conclusion
In conclusion, curriculum development and its
implementation is a collective effort by all
stakeholders, guided by national and state
standards in hopes to provide our nation’s
children with the necessary tools to become
productive citizens and successful human
beings.

17. References
• National Goals Education Panel.(2002).Complete Information for All
Goals. Retrieved on September 2nd, 2012 from:
http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/negp/page3-1.htm
• Oliva, P., Gordon, W. (2013). Developing the Curriculum. 8th ed.
Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Education, Inc.
• Schmidt, Willliam ( 2003). The Role of Curriculum. Retrieved on
January 19th, 2013 from:
http://www.aft.org/newspubs/periodicals/ae/fall2005/schmidt.cfm
• Comprehensive Curriculum (2002-2013).V oices from the
Classroom. Retrieved on January 19th, 2013 from:
http://www.nea.org/home/12957.htm