DEVELOPING A SECONDARY SCHOOL ENGLISH CURRICULUM

• Main Author: DICOSTANZO, PETER JOSEPH
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-1982
• Subjects: Curricula; Curriculum development; Teaching
• ISBN: 9798204222182

This study addressed the need for a curriculum development process designed for loosely-coupled systems which seem to exist in schools today. It included systematic involvement of the classroom teacher and at the same time resulted in programs that were academically respectable and intellectually rigorous. The setting chosen was sufficiently unique that the study seems likely to advance knowledge in the field of curriculum development. The administration of the William Penn School District, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was interested in developing a process that could be used for continued curriculum work. The district was merged by state mandate and ordered by the Human Relations Commission to desegregate. One way the district has complied was by developing a state-approved long-range plan calling for the merger into one high school and two junior high schools. One undertaking was to unify its heretofore fragmented language arts curriculum, the focus of this study. The type of research used was what Oliver calls "action research." In this sense it was a study within the curriculum that is applicable here and now. This curriculum development process found that by utilizing the curriculum mapping technique developed by English and Glatthorn's Curriculum Mastery Theory members from English departments, even from separate component schools, can overcome the obstacles imposed by a system that is loosely-coupled. Additionally, this curriculum development process resulted in producing materials that were familiar to the teachers and are currently being used.