Marsh & Willis: Curriculum

Chapter 7: Curriculum Implementation

Curriculum Implementation

• Definition: The process of enacting the planned curriculum (or)

• the translation of a written curriculum into classroom practices

• The Text uses the analogy of a play.

One truth about curriculum implementation

• There are 1000’s of written curriculum documents gathering dust on a shelf because they were never implemented.

A new curriculum is going to be implemented, so ……….

• A teacher must ask….

• How do I do it?

• Will I ever get the “hang” of it?

• Who can I trust to help me ?

• Am I getting it right?

• Is it really helping my students?

• Know it is going to take time…...

Useful terms to remember for curriculum implementation

• Fidelity of Use: Staying very close to the prescribed written document

• Adaptation: Individual, creative versions of the written curriculum

Four themes in professional literature on curriculum

implementation (Fullan et al.)

• Adoption ( 1960’s)

• Implementation(1970’s)

• Standardization (1950’s - 1990’s)

• Restructuring ( 1990’s - present)

Adoption

• A formal decision by the school district was sufficient to ensure its classroom use.

Implementation

• Focused on single innovations without taking into account simultaneous innovations.

Standardization• Testing of students and teachers

• Criticism: It trivializes the teaching profession

Restructuring

• Most recent

• Changing characteristics of schools to include (1) partnerships, (2) career ladders, (3) coaching, and (4) mentoring

Discovering and Describing what happens in Implementation

• Very difficult to do

• Do you focus on curriculum materials, what teachers are doing, or what students are doing?

• When should data be collected

• How should data be collected?

• How should data be evaluated?

Implementation: Student Activities and Achievements

• Never forget: New curriculum implementation is to provide better opportunities for students to learn

• Walker and Schaffarrick analyzed 26 evaluations of major national innovative curricula with those using traditional curricula. Conclusion: No substantial advantages for innovative curricula

Implementation: Use of Curriculum Materials

• Surveys suggest that students spend 80% of their time engaged with particular curriculum materials.

• In 1980’s checklists were developed for providing ratings of curriculum materials in use: Innovations Configuration (IC), the Practice Profile (from the DESSI study), and the Internet

Implementation: Teacher Activities

• Not easy to do: Methodological difficulties

• Best suggestion: Use existing means for measuring teachers activities or devise one’s own methods such as checklists and rating scales.

Research on Implementation (Fullan & Pomfret):

Fidelity of Implementation• This perspective assumes that the planned

curriculum must be highly structured and teachers must be given explicit instructions about how to teach it. The teacher is the “curriculum illiterate.”

Research on Implementation: Adaptation of Implementation

• On-site modifications in the curriculum

• Trade-offs are made between developers and teachers

• Mutual Adaptation: adjustments made to both the innovative curriculum and to the institutional setting/ a two-way street between the developers and the teachers

Debate: Fidelity of Use versus Mutual Adaptation

• Which perspective do

you choose? WHY?

4 Most Prominent Approaches Supporting Curriculum

Implementation• Action Research

• Concerns-Based Adoption Model (CBAM)

• Curriculum Alignment

• Comprehensive School Reform Programs (CSRP)

Action Research

• A particular kind of problem-solving

• Teachers:

• Analyze a problem

• Plan a program

• Enact the program

• Evaluate the program

• Repeat the process

3 Levels of Subtypes to Action Research (McKernan)

• Scientific: Group is directed by an expert to produce efficiency and effectiveness

• Practical-collaborative: Group directs itself collectively to develop new practices

• Critical: The groups acts to remove constraints and become emancipatory

Concerns-Based Adoption Model(CBAM)

• Emphasis is on the teachers

• Purpose: To provide data to help teachers successfully implement a new curriculum

• 3 sequences:

• Stages of Concern (SoC)

• Levels of Use (LoU)

• Innovations Configuration (IC)

CBAM:

• Theoretical model widely used for the implementation of curriculum innovations.

• Belief: Collective change results from changes in individuals and how they relate to each other.

• Change is a highly personal experience

Stages of Concern (SoC)

• Focuses on teachers’ feelings as they become involved in the implementation

• 7 Developmental Stages from 0-6 with O being Awareness to 6 being Refocusing on exploration of universal benefits. See Text

• Information is derived from questionnaires and rating scales

• This information useful for inservice activities

Levels of Use (LoU)• Tracking what teachers actually do during the

implementation of a new curriculum

• 8 Levels ranging from 0 - VI (IVA&IVB) with O = Non-use to V and VI =Integration (user combines his/her efforts with the innovation) and Renewal (user reevaluates the use of the innovation, seeks major modifications, and examines new developments)

• See Text

Innovation Configurations(IC):Definition:The operational forms (the

configurations) of the innovation• Inventory of essential characteristics of the

curriculum from the perspectives of the developers and the teachers

• Helps everyone clearly identify the differences between the planned and enacted curriculum

• Provides a basis for debate and discussion and for possible adjustments to the curriculum

Curriculum Alignment

• Extensive testing to be sure that there is alignment between the planned curriculum and the enacted curriculum

• A strict interpretation of fidelity of use which permits little or no adaptation

• Adopted in some states more than in others/ California (1980’s)/ Jury still out.

Comprehensive School Reform Programs (CSRP) (Jury still out)

• A series of approaches begun in the 1990’s

• Made possible by the Comprehensive School Reform Demonstration (CSRD) passed by Congress in 1998

• Funding available as long as curriculum implementation focuses on the “whole school”

• Can receive awards of at least $50,000

• Must select a reform program from a catalog of 33 approved research-based models