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Curriculum Development
Domains of Curriculum Studies
Evaluation

Curriculum Evaluation

📝 Cheat Sheet

Curriculum Evaluation

Curriculum evaluation

  1. Assesses the worth of students, practices, materials, or programs.
  2. Can be a starting point, an end, or a means for continuous renewal.
  3. Focus ranges from one classroom to a whole program.

Evaluation is the domain that judges whether a curriculum is working. It is the first of the three domains that close the loop, feeding the change and inquiry that follow.

What curriculum evaluation is

Curriculum evaluation is an attempt to assess the worth of students and of educational practices, materials, or programs. It is not only a test of learners; it judges the teaching practices, the materials, and the program itself.

Evaluation can play three roles in the life of a curriculum. It can be a starting point that tells you where to begin, an end that tells you what was achieved, or a means for the continuous monitoring and renewal that keeps a curriculum current. Its focus can be as narrow as the students in one classroom or institution, or as wide as a whole program.

Traditionally, evaluation is done to check whether pre-specified goals were achieved by applying pre-specified means. In other words, it asks: did we reach the aims we set, using the methods we planned?

Assessment and evaluation are not quite the same. Assessment gathers evidence about one thing, such as a learner’s grasp of a topic or a teacher’s method. Evaluation weighs all that evidence to judge worth: was the learning good, was the program worth running? Evaluation is the judgement built on assessment’s evidence.
❓ Pop Quiz
A school uses curriculum evaluation throughout the year to keep adjusting and renewing its program. Which role of evaluation is this?
Flashcard
What does curriculum evaluation assess?
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Answer

The worth of students, practices, materials, and programs

It can act as a starting point, an end, or a means of continuous renewal, and its focus ranges from one classroom to a whole program. Traditionally it checks whether pre-set goals were met by pre-set means.

❓ Pop Quiz
What separates evaluation from assessment?

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Last updated on • Talha
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