EDU 526 Theory and Research in Curriculum and Change

Spring, 2009

Professor Joanne Larson
Time:   Thursdays, 4:50 - 7:30 PM
Room:  Dewey 2-110D
Office Hours: By appointment
Phone: 275-0900
E-mail: joanne.larson@rochester.edu

Course Description:
This is a required course for doctoral students in the Teaching and Curriculum program in which students will study the breadth of the literature on curriculum and change in education. Curriculum theory and history and the research on educational change and reform will provide an historical context for understanding the field of education broadly defined.

Course Requirements:

1. Research Paper (60% of grade): This assignment is designed to facilitate students’ depth of understanding of curriculum and change. Each student will select a major curriculum framework/issue or school reform as the focus of research. Using Foucault’s concept of genealogical study, students will analyze the curriculum/reform attending to the political, social, and economic relations at particular historical moments. Questions may include: 1) How did this curriculum/reform develop? 2) What are the political, social, and economic consequences of this curriculum/reform? 3) How is this curriculum/reform “lived”? The project will do more than narrate “about” the selected curriculum/reform; rather, the analysis will describe its underlying discourses, how they are experienced, by whom, and with what consequences. Students are expected to ground their analysis in a solid theoretical position.

2. Critical Commentaries (30% of grade): Students will be required to write ten critical commentaries during the semester (3 points each). Students will select at least one passage from each of the assigned readings per class session that has challenged their point of view, told them something new, or had some other significance for them. A brief (one paragraph) discussion of why the passage/s was selected will give context to the selected text. Do not go beyond one page for this assignment. These analyses will be used as the basis for class discussion. 2-3 student questions will be selected each class to generate discussion.
   
   
3. Poster Presentation (10%): Prior to turning in the final research paper, students will display their work in a poster presentation. Feedback from this session should help students complete the final paper. Displays should include: the curriculum/issue or school reform examined, research question, theoretical framework, analysis, and conclusion/implications.

NO LATE ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED

Required Texts:
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many. London: Routledge.
Flinders, D. & Thornton, S. (2004). The curriculum studies reader, Second Edition. New York/London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists. London: Routledge.
Tyack, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Additional readings will be posted on Blackboard.

Recommended:
Pinar, W. (1995). Understanding curriculum. New York: Lang.

Grading:
Research Paper:                       60 points
Critical Commentaries:             30 points
Poster Presentation:                  10 points
Total:                                       100 points

Class Schedule:
(1) January 15
Overview of the course

(2) January 22*
Foundational Questions
Readings:
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many, pp. 1-16. London: Routledge.
Pinar, W. & Bowers, C.A. (1992). Politics of curriculum: Origins, controversies, and significance of critical perspectives. Review of Research in Education, 18. 163-190.
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists, pp. 1-20. London: Routledge.

(3) January 29*
Postmodern questions
Readings:
deAlba, A., Gonzalez-Gaudiano, E., Lankshear, C., & Peters, M. (2000). Curriculum in the postmodern condition, pp. 1 – 22. New York: Lang.
Matus, C. & McCarthy, C. (2003). The triumph of multiplicity and the carnival of difference: Curriculum dilemmas in the age of postcolonialism and globalization. In W. Pinar (Ed.). International handbook of curriculum research, pp. 73 – 82. New Jersey: Erlbaum.
Scheurich, J. & McKenzie, K. (2005). Foucault’s methodologies: Archaeology and Genealogy. In N. Denzin & Y. Lincoln (Eds.). The Sage Handbook of Qualitative Research, Third Edition, pp. 841-868. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

(4) February 5*
Hegemony of Change
Readings:
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 7: Goodlad: School Curriculum Reform in the United States, pp. 61-70.
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many, pp. 18-61. London: Routledge.
Tyack, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform, pp. 1-39. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.

(5) February 12*
Historical Roots
Readings:
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 1: Bobbitt: Scientific Method in Curriculum-making, pp. 1-16; Chapter 6: Tyler: Basic principles of curriculum and instruction, pp. 51-59;
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists, pp. 21-51. London: Routledge

(6) February 19*
Implementation, Control, and Resistance
Readings:
Foucault, M. (1975/1984). The means of correct training/Panopticism. In P. Rabinow (ed). The Foucault reader, pp. 188-213. New York: Pantheon.
Lipman, P. (2006). “This is America”: The political economy of education reform against the public interest. In G. Ladson-Billings & W. Tate (Eds.) Education research in the public interest: Social justice, action, and policy, pp. 98-116. New York: Teachers College Press.
Tyack, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform, pp. 40-84. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.

(7) February 26*
Readings:
Changing the conversation
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 2: Dewey: My pedagogic creed, pp. 17-23; Chapter 4: Counts: Dare the schools build a new social order, pp. 29-35; Chapter 5: Kliebard: The rise of scientific curriculum making and its aftermath, pp. 37-46.
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists, pp. 53-71. London: Routledge

Recommended:
Pinar, Chapter 4: Understanding curriculum as historical text: The reconceptualization of the field, 1970-1979

(8) March 5*
Controlling Discourses
Readings:
Apple, M. (1990). Ideology and curriculum, pp. 1-25. New York: Routledge.
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 18: Controlling the work of teachers, pp. 183-197.
Tyack, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform, pp. 85-109. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.

(9) March 12*
The Pedagogical Challenge
Readings:
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 12: Freire: Pedagogy of the oppressed, 125-133; Chapter 28: Gay: The importance of multicultural curriculum, pp. 315-321.
Ladson-Billings, G. (2006). From the achievement gap to the education debt: Understanding achievement in U.S. school. Educational Researcher, 35(7), 3-12.
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists, pp. 72-102. London: Routledge

Recommended:
Pinar, Chapter 5: Understanding curriculum as political text

(10) March 19*
Power and Ideology
Readings:
deAlba, A., Gonzalez-Gaudiano, E., Lankshear, C., & Peters, M. (2000). Curriculum in the postmodern condition, pp. 125 - 148. New York: Lang.
Foucault, M. (1990/1978). The history of sexuality: An introduction, pp. 81-102. New York: Vintage.
Miller, J. (1996). Teachers, researchers, and situated school reform: Circulations of power. Theory into Practice, 35(2), 86-92.

(11) March 26*
Unpacking Marginalization and Inequity
Readings:
Pinar, Chapter 6: Understanding curriculum as racial text
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 19: AAUW: How schools shortchange girls: Three perspectives on curriculum, pp. 205-228; Chapter 24: McNeil: Creating new inequities: Contradictions of reform, pp. 275-284; Chapter 27: Thornton: Silence on gay and lesbians in social studies curriculum, pp. 307-313.
Jewitt, S. (2006). “If you don’t identify with your ancestry, you’re like a race without a land”: Constructing race at a small urban middle school. Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 37(2). 144-161.

(12) April 2
Deconstructing Power Relations
Readings:
Gore, J. (1998). Disciplining bodies: On the continuity of power relations in pedagogy.
Datnow, A. (2000). Power and politics in the adoption of school reform Models. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 22(4), 357-374.
Scott, D. (2008). Critical essays on major curriculum theorists, pp. 103-146. London: Routledge
Recommended:
Pinar, Chapter 9: Understanding curriculum as poststructuralist, deconstructed, postmodern text

(13) April 9
Challenges of Implementation
Readings:
Curriculum Studies Reader, Chapter 17: McLaughlin: Implementation as mutual adaptation: Change in classroom organization, pp. 171-181.
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many, pp. 62-116. London: Routledge.

(14) April 16
NO CLASS SESSION
Challenging Futures
Curriculum Studies Reader: Chapter 26: Eisner: What does it mean to say a school is working? pp. 297-305.
Tyack, D. & Cuban, L. (1995). Tinkering toward utopia: A century of public school reform, pp. 110-142. Cambridge. MA: Harvard University Press.
Datnow, A., Hubbard, L., & Mehan, H. (2002). Extending educational reform: From one school to many, pp. 117-145. London: Routledge.

(15) April 23
Poster Session and Closing discussions

(16) April 30
Final Papers due by 5:00pm