Curriculum evaluation

Definitions

Curriculum evaluation is an integral part of the curriculum. The curriculum is the totality of what happens in the education process as a result of intentions- purposes, learning activities, learning outcomes, resources- human and material, evaluation processes, means for change and development, school practices and culture.

Curriculum evaluation is the means by which the value of this total process is assessed. It involves gathering evidence to judge the degree of realization of aims and to enable decisions to be made on future progress. As a guide to decision making, it needs to be transparent, fully informing the many groups involved in these decisions. Curriculum evaluation has a number of important functions.

Ø  It guides and guards the quality of education processes and benchmarks the outcomes.

Ø  For public accountability purposes, it provides evidence that public money is being agreeably spent.

Ø  It promotes and improves high quality processes and outcomes at individual institutions and provides a basis to disseminate sound practice, leading to overall system improvement.

Ø  It informs parents on the progress of their children and on how to assist their future decisions and work.

Ø  It provides teachers with comparative data on the effects and efficacy of their teaching.

Ø  It is the major effective means of curriculum improvement as it provides information on what works well and what is unproductive or even harmful.

Questionnaire

A formal list of questions designed for a particular inquiry. This is very similar to a test and with the same advantages and disadvantages and is often used in a mail-out, thus broadening the set of people contacted. This broadening is, of course, at the cost of being able to control the conditions. A test is administered under set and supervised conditions. With a mail questionnaire, such control is not possible.

Survey

A description of a particular topic or institution in a comprehensive way. This might be an examination of the effectiveness of rural schools, both in terms of participation and performance. This may be done through sending out and analyzing questionnaires or, more elaborately, through visits, interviews and telephone contacts. The internet provides new modes of contact. In the united kingdom recently, the ministry established education action zones to combat underacheivemtn in the most deprived urban areas. An EAZ consists of a secondary school and its feeder primary schools and the project provided special support to raise achievement levels. After a year of activity, a survey revealed the following positive results.

Case study

A detailed study and analysis of a particular instance to provide insights into characteristics and reasons for them. This is an intensive look at a particular situation to penetrate beneath the surface of test results, for example and seek to determine reasons. Case studies of both success and failure may provide beneficial information and insights to use in other situations. The case study can be of the work of an individual student or of an entire school. The choice of this approach is made where it is useful to explain the causes of results rather than just to describe them. It may wll use all the tools described here.

Interview

A fact-to-face discussion on a particular topic. This approach is frequently used as data for a survey or for selection purposes for a task or job. Reliability is not high for this tool unless the interview is carefully planned and executed. Low reliability means low validity, also.

Portfolio

A collection of work from an individual or group sometimes produced for  a particular purpose. Traditionally this is the means by which artists exhibit their productions, e.g. paintings or sculptures. The proponents of ‘authentic evaluation’, such as darling-hammond (1993) and mcdonald (1996) see it as a means of access to a representative collection of an individual’s work, revealing development over time and the capacity to complete long or difficult tasks. Examinations with their tight time limits can never reveal these characteristics.