What Factors Are at Stake When Evaluating a Curriculum?

Since this topic is at the core of my curriculum paper, I will be brief here.



1) Does the curriculum address 21st century skills? If so, are they clearly defined and outlined?

2) Does the curriculum meet the needs of the students of your particular school? Meaning, is the curriculum challenging and engaging in terms of student motivation? If so, how?

3) Are the creators of the curriculum given latitude to take risks in this curriculum? In other words, if it is a literature course, are there modern works or works from other cultures, particularly areas which are not popular right now?

I subscribe to Marzano's theory of a guaranteed and viable curriculum and I think schools need to realize that they need to make the distinction clear between the two. I think all three of my criteria for curriculum can fall into what Marzano is advocating. 21st century skills need to be guaranteed and viable in curriculum across the country, as does student motivation and "thinking outside the box" to beat that dead horse, which is another way of stating my third criteria.