UNIT IV

CURRICULUM STUDY AND EVALUATION

Curriculum development is a planned, thoughtful and deliberate course of actions

that ultimately enhance the quality and impact learning experiences for children.
Curriculum development means a continuous process or never ending process. It
is difficult to trace out its origin. The outcome of teaching is known through
students achieving and learning. The assessment of objectives is done on the
basis of change of behaviour of the learners. Learning experiences are provided
through the desirable change of behaviours of the pupils which are evaluated
with help of examination. The main focus of the curriculum is to develop the
students

Role of UGC in Curriculum Development:

UGC was first formed in 1945. It recommends curriculum frameworks and

guidelines, fostering a balance between academic knowledge and practical skills.

Functions:

• To enquire into the financial needs of the Universities.

• Allocate and disburse grants for development and maintenance.
• Promote and coordinate university education.
• Makes rules and regulation for appointment and service of teachers and
staffs in the university and colleges.

The University Grant Commission plays an important role in the development of

curriculum, as explained below-

* It reviews and updates curriculum which is the essential ingredient of its

academic system.

* It works in coordination with other related bodies towards curriculum

development like NCTE.
* It also cooperates in curriculum creation programme with International level
organisations.

* For the development of curriculum, the committees for each subject is

constituted.

* It upgrades/reframe the curricula in various subjects at the UG/PG levels;

* It organises training programmes, workshops, seminars, and conferences.

* It advises the central goverment and state governments on the measures for
the improvement of university education.

* It allows to provide fellowships and scholarships to students.

* It monitors its 24 hour's educational channel Vyas through which it imparts

education to students from various streams.

* It monitors an educational curriculum and scrutinizes the proposals from

universities for new courses and grants.

So, UGC plays a significant role in the curriculum development process.

Irrespective of this, it collects information on University Education system in India
and compares the same with the education system in other countries.

National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE):

Since 1973, the National Council for Teacher Education was an advisory body for
the central and State Governments, on all matters pertaining to teacher
education, with its secretariat in the Department of Teacher Education of the
National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). The NCTE as a
statutory body came into existence in pursuance of the National Council for
Teacher Education Act, 1993 on 17th August, 199. It has its headquarters at New
Delhi and four regional committees at Bangalore, Bhopal, Bhubaneshwar and
Jaipur. The NCTE in Delhi as well as its four regional committees and academic
wings to deal respectively, with finance, establishment and legal matters with
research, policy planning, monitoring, curriculum innovations, coordination,
library and documentation in service programmes. Its headquarter is headed by
the chairperson, while each regional committee is headed by regional director.

Role of NCTE in Curriculum Development:

It lays down norms for any specified category of courses or training in teacher
education including course content and mode of curriculum. It makes
recommendations to the central and state governments, universities, UGC and it
recognizes Institutes in matters of preparing plans and programmes for teacher
education.From time to time, NCTE brings about necessary changes in curriculum.
It prepared National Curriculum Framework For Teacher Education(2009).This
curriculum has given a systematic and comprehending framework for teacher
education and also highlights the strategies to implement it. In this curriculum
framework almost every aspect of teacher education got preference.

The NCTE (2009)paved the way for implementing of curricular areas by giving
practical and reasonable strategies. Its main role is to achieve planned and
coordinance development of teacher education system throughout the country
which is important part of curriculum Development. It aims at training an
individual for equipping them to teach pre-primary, primary, secondary and
secondary stages in schools, non-formal and part-time education.It also promotes
and conduct innovation research in various areas of teacher education.

It has revised the regulations in 2014 that includes

* Establishment of teacher education in institutions that consists of multi-

disciplinary education programmes.

* Each programme curriculum gives importance to education, ICT, inclusive

education, etc.

* Open and distance learning has developed and improved the performance due
to inbuilt quality assurance mechanisms.
University in Curriculum Development :

University plays an important role in implementing se curriculum and its

responsibilities are discussed below-

* It facilitates the collaboration with community colleges to ensure that the

materials are suitable for college’s student population and methods of
instructions.

* It ensures materials can be accessed electronically by students, allowing their

use for distance learning.

* It works with an industry and employee groups to ensure that the material will
prepare the students to meet emerging workforce needs.

* It collaborates with the community college's members in each region to

support the discrimination and use of these materials.

Thus, university plays a significant role in curriculum development process and

tries to ensure that it can provide proper guidance to the learners.

Curriculum is an instructional and educative programme by following which the

pupils achieve their goals, ideals and aspirations of life. The curriculum should
integrate cognitive affective and psychomotor objectives and abilities.

Curriculum development have to satisfy the different foundations of curriculum

and thereby they could be adopted in multi-cultural classroom settings. Hence,
great effort should be taken to frame such a curriculum before executing the
process of teaching at all levels of education.

Curriculum Evaluation Approach:

Curriculum Evaluation Approach is the way of dealing with a curriculum, a way

doing/creating/designing/ thinking about a curriculum. There are various
curriculum approaches facilitate differentiation by widening the options available
for students to learn and be assessed. With a variety of approaches, students
react with creativity, enthusiasm, and greater knowledge retention.
The following are some of the approaches of curriculum in planning,
implementing and evaluating the curriculum.

i. Behavioral Approach

Behavioral approach to curriculum is usually based on a blueprint. In the

blueprint, goals and objectives are specified, contents and activities are also
arranged to match with the learning objectives. In education, behavioral approach
begins with educational plans that start with setting goals or objectives. The
change in behavior indicates the measure of the accomplishments.

ii. Managerial Approach

In this approach, principal is the curriculum leader and at the same time
instructional leader who is supposed to be the general manager. The general
manager sets the policies and priorities, establishes the direction of change and
innovation, planning and organizing curriculum and instruction. Curriculum
managers look at curriculum changes and innovations as they administer the
resources and restructure the schools.

Some of the roles of the Curriculum Supervisors are:

* Help develop the school's education goals

* Plan curriculum with students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders

* Design programs of study by grade levels

* Plan classes or school calendar

* Prepare curriculum guides/ teacher guides by grade level or subject area

* Help in the evaluation and selection of textbooks

* Observe teachers' activities and their functioning

* Assist teachers in the implementation of the curriculum

* Encourage curriculum innovation and change

* Develop standards for curriculum and instructional evaluation

iii. System Approach

The organizational chart of the school represents a system approach. It shows the
line staff relationships of personnel and how decisions are made. This systems
approach gives equal importance to the following:

• Administration
• Counseling
• Curriculum
• Instruction And Evaluation

iv. Humanistic Approach

The humanistic approach considers the formal or planned curriculum and the
informal or hidden curriculum. This approach is rooted in the progressive
philosophy and child-centered movement. It considers the whole child and
believes that in curriculum the total development of the individual is the prime
consideration. The learner is at the center of the curriculum; anything in the
schools can be evaluated in term of its contribution to the students overall
learning and its cost. Evaluation helps to gather data to support a decision to
accept, change, or eliminate something. It serves to identify strengths and
weakness of curriculum before implementation and the effectiveness of its
delivery after implementation. Each Approach expresses a perspective about
Curriculum Development which Impacts on:

> The design of the curriculum

> The role of schools

> Administrators

Teachers

> Learner

> Curriculum Specialist

> Requirements for Evaluation and implementation

CRITERLA FOR CURRICULUM EVALUATION

There are four major criteria for assessing the workability of the curriculum;

• Subject: In the curriculum various subjects are included such as - Hindi,

English, mathematics, Physical Sciences, Biological sciences, History, Home
science, Psychology, Sociology, Physical Education, Art and Drawing etc.
The structure of content of these subjects is determined for the curriculum
development.
• Experiences: the curriculum provides the following type of experiences to
the students, social, historical, geographical (time and place sense)
physical, political, civic senses, religious, spiritual and reactive experiences,
expression of ideas facts and events.
• Skills: Some curriculum provides the situations for developing skills or
psychomotor activities- languages reading writing, speaking, observation,
perception use of different type instrument in the workshops and field
works communication skills, craft-work, verbal and non-verbal
communication skills. It is related to psychomotor objectives.
• Attitude and Values: The types of curriculum for provide the experiences
for developing affective domain of the learners. The feeling, belief
attitudes and values are developed. It develops self-confidence, honesty,
sensitivity, sincerity, morality, objectivity, character and adjustment.

CURRICULUM EVALUATION MODELS

1. Tyler's Evaluation Model

Tyler's goal attainment model or sometimes called the objectives-centered model

is the basis for most common models in curriculum design, development and
evaluation. The Tyler model is comprised of four major parts. These are:

➢ Defining objectives of the learning experience

➢ Identifying learning activities for meeting the defined objectives organizing
the learning activities for attaining the defined objectives
 ➢ Evaluating and assessing the learning experiences

The Tyler Model begins by defining the objectives of the learning experience.
These objectives must have relevancy to the field of study and to the overall
curriculum (Keating, 2006). Tyler's model obtains the curriculum objectives from
three sources:

▪ The student
▪ The society
▪ The subject matter

The objective oriented approach was developed in 1930s and was credited with
the works of Ralph Tyler. Tyler regarded evaluation as the process of determining
the extent to which the objectives of a project are actually attained. He proposed
that for one to evaluatea project he/ she must:

o Establish broad goals or objectives of that project

o Classify the goals or the objectives
o Define those objectives in measurable terms
o Find situations in which achievement of objectives can be shown
o Develop or select measurement techniques
o Collect performance data
o Compare performance data with measurable terms stated

When defining the objectives of a learning experience Tyler gives emphasis on the
input of students, the community and the subject content. Tyler believes that
curriculum objectives that do not address the needs and interests of students, the
community and the subject matter will not be the best curriculum.

The second part of the Tyler's model involves the identification of learning
activities that will allow students to meet the defined objectives. To emphasis the
importance of identifying learning activities that meets defined objectives, Tyler
states that "the important thing is for students to discover content that is useful
and meaningful to them" In a way Tyler is a strong supporter of the student-
centered approach to learning. Overall, Tyler's model is designed to measure the
degree to which pre-defined objectives and goals have been attained. In addition,
 the model focuses primarily on the product rather than the process for achieving
the goals and objectives of the curriculum. Therefore, Tyler's model is product
focused. It evaluates the degree to which the pre-defined goals and objectives
have been attained.

Project Goals
/ Objectives

Activities Actual
specified performance
performance standards
standards

Specified discrepancy

Tyler's Model

From the Tyler's figure above, the beginning point of the curriculum development
is educational objectives. Educational objectives are clear statements of what it is
students know or be able to do as a result of a programme. Once the objectives
are clearly delineated, the next angle of the triangle is concerned with designing
and organizing the educational experiences that are likely to helps students
master those objectives. The final stage of the triangle is concerned with the
determining the whether the objectives are being attained, that is evaluating the
programme in terms of the objectives. The objectives based evaluation focused
inclusively on the degree of attainment of the pre-specified objectives of the
specific statements of educational objectives in terms of student behavior and
specific content. Once the objectives are explicitly delineated, the next step is to
develop assessment techniques that permit students to demonstrate the
behavior in question. If the objective is clearly stated, the form the assessment
can take is also clear.

Once measures of the objectives are developed, they are adminıstered as pre-
test to students before the prgoramme begins. The pre-test provides a baseline
against which to compare performance at the end of the programme, when the
students take the post- test. Changes from pre- test to post- test in the
percentages of the students mastering each objective become the key criteria of
the programme's success.

Tyler's posited four fundamental questions or principles in examining any

curriculum in schools.

These four fundamental principles are as follows:

i. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain?

ii. What educational experiences can be provided that is likely to attain
these purposes?
iii. How can these educational experiences be effectively organized?
iv. How can we determine whether these purposes are being attained or
not?

Advantages of the Tyler's Model

- It forces programme personal to be clear about their indented outcomes

and can be used to hold them accountable for attainment of outcomes.
- It minimizes disruption and instruction on the part of the evaluator, who
only appear briefly to administer tests.
- The objectives are relatively inexpensive, particularly when standard
machine scored tests are used.
- It provides easily quantifiable, "objectives" information about student
performance.
- It is easy to assess whether the project objectives are being achieved.
- The model checks the degree of congruency between performance and
objective.
 - The model focuses on clear definition of the objectives.
- It is easy to understand in terms of implementation
- It produces relevant information to the project

Limitation of the Tyler's Model

- The problem is that main goals cannot be specified in terms of easily

measured behavior objectives, e.g. goals of preparing children to be good
citizen.
- Most of the behavioral objectíves are often a difficult process involving
complex issues of feasibility, reliability, and validity.
- Programme often have unintended outcomes that may be more important
than the goals of a programme either positively or negatively.
- Focusing on whether objectives have been atained does not address the
worth of the objectives themselves. It tends to focus on terminal rather
than on-going programme performance
- It has a tendency to focus directly and narrowly on objectives with the little
attention on the worth of the objectives.
- It neglect the value of the objectives themselves.
- It neglect the transaction the occurs within the project being evaluated.
- It neglect the context in which the evaluation is taking place
- It ignores important outcomes other than those covered by the objectives.
- It promotes linear, inflexible approach to evaluation
- It does not take unplanned outcomes into account. This is because it
focuses on thestated objectives
- It does not pay enough attention to process evaluation. In other words it
does not consider how the activities that lead to achievement of project
objectives are carried.
- performance standards

Taba Defines ‘curriculum’ as containing a statement of the aims and of the

specific objectives; it indicates some selection and organisation of content; it
either implies or manifests certain patters of learning and teaching .Because the 3
4 objective demand or the content organisation requires it includes a program of
evaluation of the outcomes.

Taba’s Philosophical ideas on Curriculum Development: At least four principles

that seems to govern her vision of curriculum theory and curriculum development
were:

1. Social processes, including the socialization of human beings, are not linear,
and they cannot be modelled through linear planning. In other words, learning
and development of personality cannot be considered as one-way processes of
establishing educational aims and deriving specific objectives from an ideal of
education proclaimed or imagined by some authority.

2. The reconstruction of curricula and programmes is not a short- term effort but
a long process, lasting for years.

3. Social institutions, among them school curricula and programme is more

effectively rearranged if, instead of the common way of administrative
reorganisation-from top to bottom- a well -founded and co-ordinated system of
development from bottom to top can be used.

4. The development of new curricula and programmes is more effective it is based

on the principles of democratic guidance and on the well-founded distribution of
work. The emphasis is on the partnership based on competence, and not on
administration.

Taba’s Model of curriculum Development:

Hilda Taba is the developer of this model of learning. Taba believed that there has
a definite order in creating a curriculum. This model is used to enhance the
thinking skills of students. She believed that teachers are aware of the student’s
needs. Hence, they should create specific teaching-learning situations for their
students. They should adopt an inductive approach to teaching i.e. from specific
to general rather than the traditional deductive approach, starting from general
and building to the specifics. Taba promotes the “Down-Top model” or Grassroot
approach. Taba argued that curriculum development should follow a sequential
and logical process and she suggested for more information input in all phases of
curriculum development. she also claimed that all curricula are composed of
fundamental elements. The main idea of this model is that the students are at the
fore front to the curriculum. She believed that there must be a process for
evaluating student achievement of content after the content standards have been
established and implemented. The main concept of this model is that teacher
must be involved in the curriculum development. Taba's grassroot model has
seven steps as listed below, advocating a major role for teachers.

STEPS OF HILDA TABA MODEL:

1Diagnosis of learners need

2. Formulation of Objectives

3. Selection of Content

4. Organisation of content

5. Selection of learning experiences

6. Organization of learning activities

7. Evaluation

1. Diagnosis of learners need: The teacher who is also the curriculum designer
starts the process by identifying the needs of the students for whom curriculum is
to be planned. For example: Majority of students are unable to think critically.

2. Formulation of Objectives: After the teacher has identified the needs of learner
that require attention, he or she Specify the objectives by which needs will be
fulfilled.

3. Selection of Content: The objective selected or created suggest the subject

matter or content of the curriculum. Not only objectives and content should
match, but also the validity and significance of the chosen content needs to be
determined. i.e. the relevancy and significance of the content.

4. Organisation of content:A teacher cannot just select content but must organise
it in a Particular Sequence taking into consideration the maturity of learners, their
academic achievement and their interests

. 5. Selection of learning experiences: Content must be presented to students and

they must be engaged with the content. At this point teacher should select
appropriate instructional methodology that will involve the students with the
content.

6. Organization of learning activities: The learning activities be organized in a

sequence depending both on content sequence and learner characteristics. The
teacher needs to keep in mind the student he or she will be teaching.

7. Evaluation:The curriculum planner must determine that what objectives have

been accomplished. To assess the achievement of learning objectives, evaluation
procedures need to be designed.

BENEFITS OF USING THE TABA MODEL:

1. This model taps into higher- order thinking skills.

2. Builds comprehension skills such as inference, synthesizing and summarizing.

3. Gifted learners will thrive with the opportunities to explore questions with
multiple correct answers.

4. Questioning is open ended, No clear right or wrong response.

5. When grouped together students work collaboratively with others to build

skills with speaking and listening’

6. Provides an opportunity for healthy classroom discussions before and after

generalizations are made.

LIMITATIONS OF USING THE TABA MODEL:

 1. Can be difficult for some students to handle the open- ended aspect of the
model.
2. Without clear direction it may be difficult for teachers, to plan and prepare
questions for the path of the students take.
3. Difficult to adapt for all subjects, and even some types of texts.
4. Texts most be chosen in advance.

APPLICATION OF THE TABA MODEL:

Taba model is currently used in most curriculum designs.

- Identifying the needs of the students.
- Developing objectives.
- Selecting instructional method.
- Organising learning experiences.