Developing Researched Curricula

As a Top Voice in K-12 Education, I contribute regularly to LinkedIn's collaborative articles. In this process, I have found that there are unfortunately few or no contributors to many of the most intriguing and systemically important articles. For instance both What's the best way to design a K-12 curriculum based on research? and How can you create a research-based curriculum that reflects your professional growth? both had no contributions before I added mine.

Here is my contribution to these important topics. I hope you will contribute also. (Note, due to the limitations on contributions, I was not able to put all of this in those collaborative articles ?? )

Finding Your Purpose and Vision

Determining the purpose of the curriculum is critical, because to adapt a quote from Yogi Berra : If you don't know where you are going, they probably will wind up someplace else. In other words, if you don't truly focus on why the curriculum is important to the students and the students' future, and have a vision of what you want that future to look like, then at best your work will haphazardly get them closer to a better future, and at worse, take them away from a better future.

One model that is helpful in considering the full purpose of the curricula, and having a full vision for the broad outcome desired is to consider each of the Circles of Context the student exists within in the present, and will exist within in the future, and how the education will benefit different contexts.

1. Their physical selves
2. Their minds
3. Their families
4. Their social groups
5. Their culture
6. Their careers and economy
7. Their civic engagement
8. All humanity
9. All life
10. The physical universe

While the curriculum does not necessary need to focus on all these contexts, at least by considering each context, there is less chance for gaps in your vision.

Reviewing the Research and Literature

With your purpose and vision now defined, you can start to research the literature. But, often at this point, curriculum developers only focus on research about how to teach, yet there are actually five distinct areas of research that are important:

1. What specific competencies/content should the students learn? While you have a broad purpose and vision, filling in the details benefits from good research. For example, if your broad purpose is to help students get high paying jobs, then research should be done about what specific skills and knowledge will likely be of most benefit to students in getting these types of jobs.
2. How will your curriculum develop/deliver these competencies/content? While "direct instruction", reading, and homework are the traditional means of helping students learn, these are likely not the most effective ways to do this. What does the literature say about effective ways for students to learn?
3. How will your curriculum evaluate student learning? Traditionally written exams are used to evaluate how much students have learned, but evidence suggests that these only have limited capability to predict future real life performance. So look at the literature about what measurement methods are likely to have the greatest validity in predicting how well students will be able to use the competencies/content they have been learning in the contexts of their future selves.
4. How will feedback be provided to students in your curriculum? There is mounting evidence that we learn most from feedback and improving based on feedback, yet traditionally a student will turn in their work, get it marked, and then not do anything else with that feedback. Thus it is important to research about how feedback can be provided and used to have the most value for students.
5. What level of learning will the curriculum consider sufficient? In the end of the learning, the student will generally earn some type of designation about how well they learned. This may be a letter grade/mark and/or it may be a certificate/diploma/degree/etc. Research should be conducted about what "cutpoints" of evaluation should be considered for a pass or fail, and for specific grades, and what these specific grades should represent. Unfortunately, this is rarely considered in traditional curricula.

Designing Your Curriculum Framework and Map

This process is usually iterative with conducting research. In that while doing your research of literature, especially the research about what competencies/content should a student learn, you will likely be starting to build the outline of the full curriculum. Further, while doing the research on promising practices for how to develop students' competencies/deliver content, and how to validly evaluate this learning, and how to provide feedback, and what level of learning should be considered sufficient; all of this research should be helping to fill out the curriculum framework/map.

Developing Curriculum Educational Resources

Don't only think of educational resources as "handouts" or "materials". The most effective education has interaction. Even reading has the most educational value when it is contemplated, reflected on, and thought about how to use by the learner. Also, consider how the educational resources might be used in an online context, because as COVID showed, it is critical to also consider this modality.

Collaborating and Sharing Your Curriculum

During the development, it is extremely valuable if you are able to bring in various collaborators who are subject matter experts (SMEs), but don't only look for traditional SMEs. Practitioners in the field often will provide a viewpoint that can be missed by only talking with other academics.

And when the curriculum is ready to be shared, continue to get feedback from those who you are sharing the curriculum with. Further, if there was any public funding of your curriculum then consider the ethical duty to release the curriculum as an open educational resource so that it can benefit the public who paid for it.

Continually Improving Your Curriculum

Curriculum should never be "final". The world and our understanding of it is changing all the time. Even in subjects like "history", our understanding of what happened is changing, and an idea that was once mainstream may often no longer be valid. Further, the needs of the students are changing, as their world is changing around them. And, to think that the methods used in the curriculum to facilitate learning are perfect is foolish and conceited. Thus, as the curriculum is applied, there should be a way to learn from its implementation. The method of Lesson Study as developed in Japan is one excellent way to do this, as is simply reflecting after each student lesson, and thinking of improvements.

Remember...

Curriculum can only be considered successful, if what the students learn bring them value in their lives. Researching only "direct instruction" and not considering all 5 major parts of the formal learning process (content/competencies, delivery/development, evaluation, feedback, and graduation) is having curriculum that will not be as successful as it could be.