Analyzing the Curriculum

Mr. Posner's writing style infused both a sense of the practical, with enough theoretical background to create a readable textbook. As I traversed through the chapters, I slowly began to ccomprehend the true complexity of writing and interpreting curriculum. And, once I completed his book, I felt as though I had learned an entirely new way of viewing curriculum, not as a static document, but rather, as an active voice, and constantly evolving essential component of the professional educator's toolbox. Many Thanks. Respectfully, Mark Kazuo Bradley 500 University Avenue, Apt. # 519 Honolulu, Hawaii 96826

After you get over sticker shock on the price of this book, buy it if you are in need of a basic understanding of how curriculum has been organized and developed in American education. No other publication is comparable to it for its succinct overview of the curriculum process and those who have most profoundly shaped it. However, it does not provide in-depth commentary on the movers and shakers in this field. Likewise, those seeking a detailed history of curriculum development are advised to look elsewhere. I used this book in a curriculum course I taught and students found it quite accessible.

Posner's field is curriculum development, and he has written extensively about how teachers, administrators, supervisors, and ultimately the public thinks about curriculum and curriculum reform. In this book, Analyzing the Curriculum, he presents tools to understand the conflicts within education and education reform, by underlining the implicit assumptions in all forms of curriculum reform. These assumptions include (1) how learners learn, (2) how teachers teach, (3) the locus of reform (university-based, collegially based in the school); (4) the political contexts of reform. He provides several detailed examples of curriculum analysis, ranging from Jerome Bruner's Man: A Course of Study and Jerrold Zacharias' Physical Science Study Committee (both university-based reform curricula) to the "whole language" movement. In each case he is fair to the merits and demerits of the curriculum in question.This is the kind of book you can imagine teacher education colleges use. It has a steep price and apparently is not discounted.