Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction



Foundations of Curriculum and Instruction

Planning a curriculum is quite a large task. There are all sorts of standards to consider when beginning a plan. The first step is to know the national standards. Besides the national standards, there are, state standards, local standards, school district standards, and per school standards. But that isn't all. There are also the standards of the one doing the planning.

There is no one single set of curriculum standards to follow. Most areas of study have national organizations. Each organization has its own set of standards. The problem with this is that in some areas of study there is more than one national organization. Usually where more than one national organization exists there are also conflicting aspects of curriculum standards (Kelly, 2010).

Each state is responsible for designing its own curriculum plan. States can choose to use a set of national standards or develop their own. How a state goes about planning curriculum standards is based largely on political and philosophical interests (Kelly, 2010).

Our country strongly believes that schools should be controlled on a state level (Kelly, 2010). Most school districts follow their own states curriculum standards. The states standards are only a guideline for schools to follow and leave a wide avenue for interpretation and revision.

Now this brings us to individual schools. Schools within each district are required to follow the standards set forth by their district (Kelly, 2010). At this point another set of standards come into play. Each teacher has their own set of standards. Teacher's standards are based on the subject they are teaching and how they feel is the best way to teach the subject.

How courses are taught is a fundamental part of the classroom standards of curriculum. With the technological innovations of today, there is huge arsenal of teaching methods that can be employed by teachers. Teaching methods are as vastly different as the people that teach them.

The development of standards is the first step in the curriculum planning process. Here, in the 21st century, there is a great need for curriculum reform. Standardized forms of education can no longer be used if school buildings are to remain in use as institutions of learning. There are many more convenient avenues of learning now and more and more people are taking advantage of technology. Families no longer have to be forced to have their children attend any certain school just because it is in the district.

Children can now attend any school in the world that has advanced into the internet as a way of delivering curriculum to its students. Students can now design their own curriculum based on their interests, goals, and logistics.

Distance learning has many benefits but also some negative aspect that may affect our children in years to come. It is possible that children who learn via a computer instead of a classroom could have some social issues as adults. There are advantages to being in a classroom of your ...