Deciding what should be included in a curriculum has long been a topic of controversy. The struggle to identify what should be taught in schools has been evident throughout the development of American schools and continues today. This article discusses the importance of needs assessment throughout the curriculum development process. Needs…

It is one thing to lament the financial pressures put on universities, quite another to face up to the poverty of resources for thinking about what universities should do when they purport to offer a liberal education. In "Powers of the Mind", former University of Chicago dean Donald N. Levine enriches those resources by proposing fresh…

This paper examines research on multicultural education and multiculturalism and two forces, prevailing social and political dimensions, that impinge upon the full implementation of multiculturalism in higher education curriculum. Multicultural education is defined as one that incorporates the concepts of cross-cultural understanding and reflects…

The Center for International Business Education at Florida's Daytona Beach Community College (DBCC) was established to help internationalize business programs at the college. This report provides an overview of progress made at DBCC in 1994-95, discussing international business courses and programs developed and resources that have been committed…

The Fluency First in English as a second language (ESL) project at City College (New York) began as a result of the high failure rate among ESL writing students at the college, and the fact that this kept many students from entering the regular college courses. Revision on the ESL reading and writing curricula, beginning in 1987, focused on…

College Reading Improvement Programs (CRIPs) have become increasingly significant in higher education because there is an increased need for the services they provide in colleges and universities. The first such program appeared in 1915. From 1956 to the present, research has documented a marked increase in the number of CRIPs. In examining the…

A substantial change in the core curriculum and general education requirements at Syracuse University provided the context for an interdisciplinary approach to encouraging foreign language study among undergraduates. A unique "continuing skill requirement" dictates that students in upper division courses sharpen and consolidate skills…

Faculty and student opinions about general education at Southwest Texas State University were assessed, along with the effect of the matrix administration structure. Views concerning the present requirements and structure of general education were surveyed, based on administration of faculty and student questionnaires. The survey data revealed…

This study examined W. Doyle's notion of academic task as content representation in the college setting, examining the products students were asked to produce, the operations they were required to use in order to produce those products, the cognitive operations required and resources available, and the accountability system involved. Interviews…

Efforts to strengthen faculty involvement in international programs that were undertaken by Cook College, the agricultural and environmental unit of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, are discussed. Reasons for international program activities are identified, including program enrichment, the self-interest of the university, and…

Eight basic gaps in the college teaching and learning process are described, and teachers are encouraged to use classroom research as a "zipper" to help close them. The gaps include those between: (1) teaching and learning, to be remedied by clear definition of teaching goals and continuous feedback on learning outcomes; (2) teaching and testing,…

Issues in the development of an undergraduate linguistics major are discussed for linguists wanting to initiate such a major at their institution. The discussion, which assumes the pre-existence of service courses in linguistics, addresses administrators' questions and concerns in deciding whether to implement a major program, including: the…

Recent research and trends in the humanities are discussed in terms of their implications for community colleges. First, initial results of a survey of students in Washington community colleges are outlined, including the findings that 46% of the students attended the colleges straight from high school and that the more liberal arts courses the…

This overview of the treatment of ethnic minorities in the curricula of library schools includes a brief review of research on sexism, racism, and library services for minority groups; a discussion of library school programs for minority students; and an examination of contemporary library school course content in which courses covering topics…

In addition to describing the traditional college curriculum and comparing historical moments in curriculum change in America, this history defines other historic dimensions: prescription versus free choice, general versus specialized education, elite versus egalitarian education, mass versus individualized instruction, autocratic versus…