What learning really matters for today's learners? In this article, David N. Perkins promises not to provide the answer, but rather to consider how we might think about the question. Learning that matters--which he calls lifeworthy learning--is characterized by four earmarks: opportunity, insight, action, and ethics. Educators should ask…

Alternative routes into teaching, particularly in urban school districts, are becoming increasingly prevalent. Four features capture the range of variation in these programs: the nature of the provider, specific labor market needs, the timing and focus of coursework and fieldwork, and the focus of recruitment and selection. The issue of student…

The nonprofit organization Common Core looked at curriculums, standards, and assessments in nine nations that consistently outrank the United States on the Programme for International Assessment (PISA) to see whether differences in countries' PISA scores are due to differences in the content they teach. Findings revealed that top-performing…

Curriculum specialists with doctoral degrees were surveyed to determing their opinions on the optimal course content for doctoral programs for curriculum developers. (GW)

A detailed survey of secondary schools in Illinois found a superfluity of course titles, low enrollments in foreign languages, and fewer academic than other courses. (Author)

Choice of curriculum content should follow four research-based principles: learning is a domain-specific skill; general learning ability is highly correlated with general knowledge; learning a subject requires comprehension of general principles illustrated by specific examples; and broad general knowledge is the best entree to deep knowledge.…

Article focused on providing curricula which allow as wide a choice of adult roles for children as possible. (Author/RK)

Describes futures programs at seven schools that (1) treat the study of the future as an investigation of alternatives; (2) place emphasis on process, not content; (3) see futures studies as a form of values clarification; and (4) display a consistent concern with the development of a sense of consequence. (MLF)

Outlines the inadequacies of conventional curriculum guides. The emerging emphasis on the use of curriculum alignment is presented as a promising alternative with four major advantages: (1) local control of the curriculum, (2) textbook adoption by local needs, (3) better pupil achievement, and (4) simpler curriculum monitoring. Includes a…

Outlines research on how expert teachers function in the classroom. Shows the structure of an expert teacher's lessons and how she handles content in the teaching of mathematics. The studies suggest that content knowledge is critical and that expert teachers manage time and academic engagement equally well. (MD)

There is a trend toward more interstate uniformity of statutes with respect to curriculum; however, there are only three topics that more than half of the states have in common in legislated curriculum: alcohol and narcotics, the U.S. Constitution, and physical education. (JD)

Text from a speech delivered by the past president of the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development declares that a liberating education offers students abundant knowledge, that content by itself does not liberate individuals, and that individuals employ knowledge in their own liberation. (MLF)

Although needed reforms of the social studies curriculum have been identified, recommendations for procedures for achieving these reforms are lacking. The author offers practical and simple steps to take in three areas: scope, sequence, and classroom realities. (Author/JM)

Another in a series of articles summarizing results of a study sponsored by the National Science Foundation, discusses the minimal impact of curriculum revision due to the extraordinary social complexity of schools and systems. (Author/MLF)