Deciding What to Teach and Test

Fenwick W. English (Ph.D.) is the R. Wendell Eaves Senior Distinguished Professor of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a position he has held since 2001. As a scholar/practitioner he has held positions as a school principal and superintendent of schools in California and New York and as a department chair, dean, and vice-chancellor of academic affairs at universities in Ohio and Indiana. He is the former President of the University Council of Educational Administration (UCEA) and of the National Council of Professors of Educational Administration (NCPEA). His research has been reported in national and international academic forums. He edited the 2006 SAGE Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration, the 2009 SAGE Library of Educational Thought and Practice: Educational Leadership and Administration; and the 2011 SAGE Handbook of Educational Leadership (2nd Ed.). In 2013, he received the Living Legend Award from NCPEA for his lifetime contribution to the field of educational leadership.

Praise for the Second Edition:“The strengths in this book are characteristic of all of English′s works. The language is easy to follow, the text is set up in logical development by chapters, and the focus of his work is constant. He never strays from the topic or goes off on a tangent. Most important, his information is practical, doable, and sensible. The book is easy for practitioners, teachers, administrators, and those involved in the daily work of schools to adapt to their needs and make it work for them.”

• Preface: America’s Continuing Educational Canterbury TalesAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorIntroduction to the Third Edition1. The Function of Curriculum in Schools1.1 What Is Curriculum?1.2 Curriculum Design and Delivery1.3 Curriculum Coordination and Articulation1.4 Combining Design and Delivery Issues in Schools1.5 Formal, Informal, and the Hidden Curriculum1.6 Curriculum and the Cultural Arbitrary1.7 Conventional Practices and Complaints About Curriculum1.8 The Necessary Requirements of an Imperfect Curriculum1.9 A Clarifying Model of the Critical Curricular Relationships and Terms2. A Template for Curriculum Construction2.1 The Traditional View of Developing Curriculum2.2 Using a Needs Assessment to Develop a Curricular Framework2.3 Constructing Curriculum With Gap Data2.4 Constructing “User Friendly” Curriculum Work Plans2.5 Moving From Curriculum Content to Work Tasks2.6 Constructing “User Friendly” Curriculum Guides2.7 Essential Elements in Curriculum Guides2.8 Setting Content Priorities and Expressing Time Values2.9 A Word About Sequence and Stress2.10 A Recommended Curriculum Guide Format3. Aligning the Curriculum3.1 The Process of Alignment by Frontloading3.2 The Process of Alignment via Backloading3.3 How to Do Alignment3.4 Other Issues in the Alignment Procedure4. The Challenge of Curriculum Leadership in the Teaching and Testing Nexus4.1 Considering The Full Responsibility for Curriculum Leadership4.2 Who Benefits From the Perpetuation of the Cultural Capital Embraced by State Imposed Accountability Models?4.3 Avoiding Deficit Mindsets, Models, and Cultural Marginalization of Others4.4 Not All Data Are Valuable or Relevant4.5 Avoiding Outmoded Management Models4.6 Understanding the Drawbacks of Top-Down Supervisory Approaches4.7 The Nexus of Curriculum Leadership4.8 Some Concluding ThoughtsGlossary of TermsReferencesIndex