Decisions About Curriculum

    Who should make decisions about curriculum?  I wish I could say that teachers should be the ones deciding what should be taught in education, but I can't.  Even though teachers are responsible for implementing curriculum, I don't think most teachers are capable of determining what actual information should be taught.  I think of times when an entire faculty has had to work together to align curriculum.  Teachers have enough difficulty spiraling an already existing curriculum that trying to determine what should be taught over the course of thirteen years seems impossible.  I also think about the different curriculum ideologies that Shiro (2008) writes about in his "Introduction to the Curriculum Ideologies."  Unless all of the ideological thinking among teachers developing the curriculum is similar, the curriculum would be all over the place, much as it is today. 
    That said, I don't think that politicians should be making curriculum decisions at all.  Knowing that educators have and would have a difficult time developing curriculum, I don't think we should give power to people outside of the education field.  I believe that politicians have a vested interest in education, but I think it's to serve their own interests, not necessarily to better serve the better interests of the students in schools.  What concerns me the most is the haphazard nature that some politicians seem to have when handling such a huge responsibility.  In "Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change" (McKinley, 2010), we learn that the Texas Board of Education did not consult any historians, sociologists, or economists when they were revising their state curriculum, even though they were making changes to how history, sociology, and economy were taught.    
    I think that curricular changes should be a collaborative effort among all involved parties and that those in education should have a stronger voice, but not the only voice.  I also believe that data should be a large part of the discussion.  Data can be a disliked word in the current age of Response to Intervention, and similar programs, but it plays an important role in education.  When deciding what should be taught in language arts, for instance, data should be used to determine what aspects of typical language arts curricular are most effective.  Hopefully this would lead to a more balanced approach where all aspects of literacy are focused on equally. Maybe the we could avoid the phonics vs. whole language debate, and end up with a curriculum that teaches students both. 
    Collaboration, among multiple parties, could also help resolve some of the ongoing disputes about what should or shouldn't be included in a curriculum.  No curriculum will ever satisfy everyone and I don't know if it's possible to develop a curriculum that doesn't offend someone.  In an ideal world, we could develop a curriculum that was built upon the facts, without being colored by one's political, religious, or other strong views.  Unfortunately, this won't happen.  If curriculum is developed collaboratively, with a diverse group of individuals who are looking out for the needs of the students, then maybe we can develop content that is as accurate as possible and is reflective of our American population.  If our curriculum is to be effective it needs to be reflective of our students, and the only way to do that is to be developed by a group of people that is also reflective of our students.  This issue gets at the main topic of Stolzenberg's "He Drew a Circle that Shut Me Out" (1993).  The plaintiffs in the case felt that the school district had not considered their needs when choosing a reading curriculum and parents were upset because they felt the reading text infringed on their religious beliefs.  Even though the plaintiffs ultimately lost the case, such a case could have been avoided if the views of the parents had been considered when the local school district had been developing the curriculum.
    I am not saying that school districts are obligated to, nor should they address the beliefs of all of the people in their local school district , but this case was not about one single family, it involved multiple families.  If the district had thought more carefully about their "clientele," they could have chosen a different textbook that met their curricular needs but also met the needs of the families in their school district.  This could have avoided families feeling uncomfortable and could have avoided numerous legal expenses.
    There is no clear-cut answer as to who should write curriculum.  What is clear to me is that curriculum development needs to be a collaborative effort among many invested parties.  These groups need to consider the needs of the students and families in their local area and if these needs are considered, curriculum could, and should look different across the country.  An effort must be made to consider the needs of the students we are serving.  Data can help us meet these needs by helping those who are developing curriculum determine what should be included and what should not be included.  Those developing curriculum also need to ensure that they are advocating the instruction of as many unbiased facts as possible.  If curriculum writers work collaboratively and keep the needs of the students in mind, we are likely to end up with higher quality, more well-rounded curriculum that better serves our students.

References:
McKinley, Jr., J.  2010.  Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change.  New York Times, March 12 

Schiro, S.  2008.  Introduction to the Curriculum Ideologies. Curriculum Theory (Thousand Oaks, CA:  Sage Publishing).

Stolzenberg, N.  1993.  He Drew a Circle that Shut Me Out.  Harvard Law Review 106 (3):  581-667.